Raja Rammohan Roy
By Illa Vij

A REMARKABLY courageous man; who dared to think far ahead of his times, was Raja Rammohan Roy. He was born in a well-to-do zamindar family on May 22, 1772, in Radhanagar village in West Bengal. As a young child, he attended a traditional Bengali school and also learnt Persian and Arabic from a maulvi. He learnt the languages so well that his father sent him to Patna, known for its institutions that imparted both Persian and Arabic.

Over a period of time, Rammohan studied the Koran and Islamic philosophy (Persian and Arabic were the official court languages). Rammohan was convinced of the fact that there was only one God and he felt that he could not follow Hinduism in the traditional sense. In order to avoid an embarrassing situation for his parents or a conflict, he left home and set out to travel far and wide. He learnt a lot about Islam during his wanderings. He also stayed in Tibet where he studied Buddhism. From there, he went to Varanasi, where he learnt Sanskrit. He was very impressed by the Vedanta and the Upanishadas. As mentioned in the Koran, he found the concept of one God in the Vedanta also.

In 1803, Rammohan wrote Tuhfat-ul-Muwahiddin (A Gift from the Monotheists). He wrote it in Persian but the introduction was written in Arabic. In 1805, he went to Ramgarh where he joined the civil services of the British East India Company as an assistant to the Revenue Officer, John Digby. In Ramgarh, he studied religious books of the Jains. When Rammohan’s brother died, his sister-in-law was compelled to perform sati. That’s when Rammohan vowed that he would ensure that this inhumane custom was uprooted and done away with. Since he did not get much support from the British Government, he started his crusade against sati, single-handedly.

In 1814, Rammohan settled down in Calcutta. He founded the Atmiya Sabha in 1815, and began work against social evils. His friends Dwarkanath Tagore and Nand Kishore Bose supported him. He wrote against sati and did all that he could to convince the people that sati was against all Shastras. Finally, Lord Bentick, the Governor-General, put a ban to it in 1829.

Rammohan also discovered that, according to the ancient scriptures, a widow had a share in her husband’s property along with her sons, and that a daughter was entitled to one-fourth of her father’s property. Inspired by these findings, he wrote a treatise on "The Encroachment on the Rights of the Hindu Females". He was in favour of widows remarrying. He realised that all the evils grew from ignorant minds. Hence, he felt that it was essential to spread education. He was in favour of people learning English so that they could be well aware of various happenings in the world. He also realised the importance of science.

Rammohan’s broad-minded outlook and foresight gave rise to a movement called "Indian Renaissance" (New Awakening). In 1822, he started the Anglo-Hindu school. He also founded Vedanta College. While promoting western education, he also promoted Bengali. He completed 14 major works in Bengali and 10 in English. He also translated the Vedanta into English, Hindi and Bengali. He composed many hymns and verses.

Rammohan went to England as the first Indian Ambassador. There he worked hard to get the best for all Indians. He wanted the educated Indians to get higher posts, and sought reduction in the taxes levied on peasants. Physically exhausted, he went to Bristol for a short holiday. He was invited by his friend, Dr Carpenter. Suddenly, he fell ill and suffered from high fever. Despite the care given by his friend, he passed away on September 27, 1833. As he died, he spoke the sacred word Om.

Raja Rammohan Roy was a man of great determination and courage. He spread the light of wisdom and opened numerous closed minds, giving the generations to come a better life.