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Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Born: August 14, 1774Died: September 27, 1833

Raja Ram Mohan RoyRaja Ram Mohan Roy is known as the 'Maker of Modern India'. He was the founder of the BrahmoSamaj, one of the first Indian socio-religious reform movements. He played a major role in abolishing the role of Sati. Raja Rammohan Roy was a great scholar and an independent thinker. He advocated the study of English, Science, Western Medicine and Technology. He was given the title 'Raja' by the Mughal Emperor.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born of a distinguished Brahmin family in Bengal. After liberal education he entered the service of the East India Company and rose to high office.

Essentially a humanist and religious reformer, he left the Company to devote his time to the service of his people. Profoundly influenced by European liberalism, Ram Mohan came to the conclusion that radical reform was necessary in the religion of Hinduism and in the social practices of the Hindus. He founded the BrahmoSamaj at Calcutta in 1828, which was initially known as the "BrahmoSabha."

Ram Mohan's claim to be remembered in Indian history is as the originator of all the more important secular movements in that country. His services to the cause of the abolition of suttee are well-known. He was the first feminist in India and his book, Brief remarks regarding modern encroachments on the ancient rights of females (1 822), is a reasoned argument in favour of the equality of women.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

He argued for the reform of Hindu law, led the protest against restrictions on the press, mobilised the Government against the oppressive land laws, argued the case for the association of Indians in Government and argued in favour of an English system of education in India.

Ram Mohan came to England in 1831 as the ambassador of the Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II. In 1832 he visited Paris, returning to England the same year, and coming to stay at Beech House, Stapleton Grove, Bristol in 1833. During his visit to the city he worshipped at Lewin's Mead Chapel.

However, ten days after arriving in Bristol he fell ill with meningitis, and died on 27 September 1833. He was initially buried in the grounds of Beech House, but ten years later his friend Dwarakanath Tagore had him reinterred at Arno's Vale. A chattri (funerary monument or mandir (shrine) was designed by William Prinsep and built with sponsorship from Dwarakanath Tagore. (See photograph.) In 1997 a statue of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was built at Bristol.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Roy demanded property inheritance rights for women and, in 1828, set up the BrahmoSabha, which was a movement of reformist Bengalis formed to fight against social evils. Rammohan Roy's experience working with the British government taught him that Hindu traditions were often not respected or thought as credible by Western standards; this affected his religious reforms. He wanted to legitimize Hindu traditions to his European acquaintances by proving that "superstitious practices which deform the Hindoo religion have nothing to do with the pure spirit of its dictates! The "superstitious practices" Rammohun Roy objected included sati, caste rigidity, polygamy and child marriages. These practices were often the reasons British officials claimed moral superiority over the Indian nation. Ram Mohan Roy's ideas of religion sought to create a fair and just society by implementing humanitarian practices similar to Christian ideals and thus legitimize Hinduism in the modern world.

Social Reforms of Rammohan

Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered as the pioneer of modern Indian Renaissance for the remarkable reforms he brought in the 18th century India. Among his efforts, the abolition of the sati-pratha-a practice in which the widow was compelled to sacrifice herself on the funeral pyre of her husband-was the prominent. His efforts were also instrumental in eradicating the purdah system and child marriage. In 1828, Ram Mohan Roy formed the BrahmoSamaj, a group of people, who had no faith in idol-worship and were against the caste restrictions. The title 'Raja' was awarded to him by Mughal emperor Akbar, the second in 1831 when Roy visited England as an ambassador of the King to ensure that Bentick's regulation of banning the practice of Sati was not overturned.

Achievements

In 1830, Ram Mohan Roy travelled to the United Kingdom from the Khejuri Port, which was then the sea port of Bengal and is currently in East Midnapore, West Bengal. At the time, Roy was an ambassador of the Mughal emperor Akbar II, who conferred on him the title of Raja to convince the British government for welfare of India and to ensure that the Lord Bentick's regulation banning the practice of Sati was not overturned. Roy also visited France.

Roy died at Stapleton, which was then a village to the north east of Bristol but currently a suburb, on September 27, 1833. His cause of death was meningitis; he was buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery in southern Bristol.

Life in England and death (1830 – 1833

Statue in College Green, Bristol, England

Cenotaph

Epitaph for Ram Mohan Roy on his cenotaph

Cenotaph of Ram Mohan Roy in Arno's Vale Cemetery, Bristol, England

The tomb was built by Dwarkanath Tagore in 1843, 10 years after Rammohan Roy's death in Bristol on Sep 27, 1833; the tomb is located in the Arnos Vale Cemetery on the outskirts of Bristol. In 1845, Dwarkanath Tagore arranged for Rammohan's remains to be removed and returned to India through Roy's nephew, who had accompanied Dwarkanath for this purpose to Britain. Rammohan's relics were cremated near Kolkata on February 28, 1846 by his family.In September 2006, representatives from the Indian High Commission came to Bristol to mark the anniversary of Ram Mohan Roy's death. During the ceremony Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women sang Sanskrit prayers of thanks.