Raja Rammohan Roy


The weakness and decay of Indian society were exposed by the conquest of the West. As a result, thoughtful Indians began to search for the flaws in their society and ways to correct them. Ram Mohan Roy, who is rightly regarded as the first great leader of modern India, was a central figure in the awakening. The stagnation and corruption of contemporary Indian society, which was dominated by caste and convention at the time, bothered Ram Mohan Roy. Superstitions abound in popular religion, which are exploited by ignorant and corrupt priests. The upper classes were egotistical, and they frequently put their own narrow interests ahead of social concerns.
 
Raja Rammohan Roy

ABOUT RAJA RAMMOHAN ROY:

•    Roy had a deep love and respect for the East's traditional philosophic systems, but he also believed that only Western culture could help to regenerate Indian society. 
 
•    Roy, in particular, wished for his countrymen to accept a rational and scientific approach, as well as the principles of human dignity and social equality for all men and women. 
 
•    He was also a supporter of the country's introduction of modern capitalism and industry.
 
•    He was a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought. He was a well-versed scholar who spoke Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, English, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, among other languages.
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•    He had studied Sanskrit literature and Hindu philosophy in Varanasi as a young man, as well as the Koran, Persian, and Arabic literature in Patna. He was also well-versed in Jainism as well as other Indian religious movements and sects. 
 
•    He studied Western thought and culture in depth. He only learned Greek and Hebrew in order to study the Bible in its original form. He's famous work Gift to Monotheists was written in Persian in 1809. In this work, he presented compelling arguments for the worship of a single God over the worship of many gods.
 

ATMIYA SABHA:

Roy arrived in Calcutta in 1814 and quickly gathered a group of young men with whom he founded the Atmiya Sabha. Ram Mohan Roy, in particular, was a staunch opponent of idol worship, caste rigidity, and the prevalence of meaningless religious rituals. He held the priestly class responsible for encouraging and instilling these practises. 
 

VIEW ON RELIGION AND CASTE SYSTEM:

•    All of Hinduism's major ancient texts, according to Roy, preached monotheism, or the worship of one God. To prove his point, Roy published Bengali translations of the Vedas and five of the major Upanishads. In addition, he published a number of tracts and pamphlets in support of monotheism.
 
•    Roy published his Precepts of Jesus in 1820, in which he attempted to separate the New Testament's moral and philosophic message from its miracle stories, which he praised. Roy wished for Christ's high-moral message to be incorporated into Hinduism. The missionaries became hostile to him as a result of this. 
 
•    Roy fought back against the missionaries' ignorant attacks on Hinduism and philosophy. At the same time, he developed a warm attitude toward people of other faiths. Roy believed that all religions preach the same message and that their adherents are all brothers beneath the surface.
 
•    He believed that the caste system was a double-edged sword that created inequality while also dividing people and robbing them of their patriotism. Roy was particularly opposed to the caste system's rigidities, which he claimed "has been the source of lack of unity among us."
 

BRAHMO SAMAJ:

Roy founded the Brahma Sabha, later known as the Brahmo Samaj, in 1829 with the goal of purifying Hinduism and preaching theism, or the worship of one God. The Vedas and Upanishads were to serve as the twin pillars of the new society. The Brahmo Samaj emphasised human dignity, opposed idolatry, and condemned social evils such as Sati practise. 
 
Raja Rammohan Roy

VIEW ON EDUCATION:

Ram Mohan Roy was one of the first proponents of modern education, which he saw as a key tool for spreading modern ideas throughout the country. 
 
•    David Hare, a watchmaker who came to India in 1800 and spent his entire life promoting modern education in the country, founded the famous Hindu College in 1817. He aided Hare in his educational endeavours with great enthusiasm. From 1817, Roy ran an English school in Calcutta at his own expense, where he taught mechanics and Voltaire's philosophy, among other subjects.
 
•    In 1825, Roy founded the Vedanta College, which offered courses in both Indian and Western social and physical sciences. Ram Mohan Roy embodied the earliest signs of India's rise to national consciousness. 
 
•    Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian journalist who was a pioneer. He published journals in Bengali, Persian, Hindi, and English to disseminate scientific and political knowledge, to educate public opinion on current issues, and to represent popular demands and grievances before the government.
 

OTHER CONTRIBUTION:

•    Roy denounced the Bengal Zamindars' oppressive practises, which had reduced peasants to a state of misery. Roy demanded that the maximum rents paid by actual land cultivators be fixed in perpetuity so that they, too, could benefit from the 1793 Permanent Settlement. Roy also spoke out against the imposition of taxes on tax-exempt lands.
 
•    Roy demanded that the Company's trading rights be abolished, as well as the imposition of heavy export tariffs on Indian goods. 
 
•    Roy called for the Indenisation of superior services, the separation of executive and judiciary, jury trials, and judicial equality between Indians and Europeans.
 
•    Roy was a keen observer of international events, supporting the causes of liberty, democracy, and nationalism wherever he went and opposing injustice, oppression, and tyranny in all forms. The miserable state of Ireland under the oppressive regime of absentee landlordism was condemned by Roy.
 
•     He publicly stated that if Parliament failed to pass the Reform Bill, he would emigrate from the British Empire.

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