The Bengali Renaissance and Brahmo Samaj

2.1 Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833)

Ram Mohan Roy was the most multifaceted reformer of 19th-century India — a product of both traditional Hindu scholarship (Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian) and Western liberal education (English, Greek, Hebrew).

Religious Reform

• Founded Atmiya Sabha (1815) for religious discussion — precursor to Brahmo Samaj.
• Founded Brahmo Sabha (1828, later Brahmo Samaj) — advocating a rational monotheistic Hinduism based on Upanishads; opposed idol worship as a corruption of authentic Hinduism.
• Translated Vedic texts including the Vedanta Sutras and Upanishads into Bengali and English to make them accessible.
• Published Tuhfat ul Muwahhidin (1803, in Persian/Arabic) — argued against idol worship using rational theology.

Social Reform

• Campaigned relentlessly against sati — published pamphlets, debated orthodox Brahmins, petitioned the government.
• His Conference Between an Advocate and Opponent of Burning Widows Alive (1818–19) was the key textual weapon.
• Supported widow remarriage, women's education, and the rights of women to inherit property.

Educational Reform

• Supported David Hare's Hindu College (Calcutta, 1817) for Western-style education.
• Published India's first bilingual weekly newspaper, Sambad Kaumudi (1821, Bengali), and Mirat-ul-Akhbar (1822, Persian) — India's first political journal.
• Opposed the Oriental tradition in education — supported English-medium scientific education.

Political Reform

• Went to England (1830) to lobby for the continuation of Sati Regulation and other matters before the Privy Council — first Indian to travel to England for political purposes.
• Died in Bristol, England, 1833, where he received the title "Raja" (from the Mughal Emperor).

2.2 Brahmo Samaj — Three Generations

Generation	Leader	Period	Key Development
1st generation	Ram Mohan Roy	1828–33	Founded; rational monotheism; anti-sati campaign
2nd generation	Debendranath Tagore (Rabindranath's father)	1843–66	Reorganised; rejected Vedic infallibility; more devotional approach
3rd generation	Keshab Chandra Sen	1858–75	Split into Brahmo Samaj of India (Sen, more radical) and Adi Brahmo Samaj (Debendranath's followers, 1866); Sen's "New Dispensation" movement (1880) added Christian elements

Sadharan Brahmo Samaj (1878): Another split from Sen's faction — formed by those who disagreed with Sen's autocratic style and his allowing his 14-year-old daughter to be married (violating his own principles of minimum marriage age).

Impact of the Brahmo Samaj

The Brahmo Samaj was most influential in Bengal and among the educated urban elite. It introduced the idea that Hindu society could reform itself from within using reason and scripture. This became the model for all subsequent Hindu reform movements.

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