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27th September 1833: Raja Rammohan Roy, educationist and social reformer passes away

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 9/27/2021 1:37:41 PM

The Bengal Renaissance was a unique socio-cultural movement in India, where intellectuals and social activists in Bengal, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, attempted to reform the educational, social, and cultural aspects of life in the state. They succeeded in bringing about a revolution in social thought, not only in Bengal but also across India. Raja Rammmohan Roy, the Father of the Bengal Renaissance, passed away on 27th September 1833. Raja Rammohan Roy was born on 22nd May 1772 to a Bengali Brahmin family whose surname was Bandyopadhyay. A keen observer and quick learner from a young age, he showed an interest in study and learnt Bengali, Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. The wide scope of his reading led him to become a free thinker who questioned all forms of oppressive behaviour. Due to his disagreements with this orthodox father Rammohan travelled to Tibet and spent some time there studying Buddhism However his questioning of traditional practices such as idol worship and advocacy of free thinking ideas led to his moving back to Bengal. He took up employment with the East India Company and was sent to Murshidabad. In 1805 he published his first book in Persian "Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin" or "A Gift to Monotheism". This shook-up the Muslim clergy of the time. Rammohan attempted to find a synthesis between traditional Hindu thought and modern Western ideas of individual freedom and the rights of the individual. He developed a deep knowledge of the Hindu scriptures and Vedic literature as well as the holy books of Jainism. He also learnt Tantrism from the tantric Hariharananda Tirthaswami. Parallely he began to study English further and kept upto- date with developments in European politics and the revolutionary changes occurring in France as a result of the French Revolution. As the Dewan of Rangpur district he organized informal discussions between the heads of different religious communities. He also established good friendships with some of the British missionaries of the time such as Joshua Marshman, William Carey and William Ward. Rammohan Roy returned to Kolkata in 1814 and founded the Atmiya Sabha in 1815. This social organization was devoted to the promotion of discussion between the faiths and the search for universal truths across the religions.