The Quintessential Reformer’s Mind- Raja Ram
Mohan Roy
The comatose Indian society came alive as people of sterling
character and calibre such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar,
Keshubchandra Sen, Dwarakanath Tagore among others populated the landscape of
Bengal. This period is justifiably called as the Bengal Renaissance. The body of their work in social, economic,
political and religious spheres dramatically altered the thought process of a
moribund society.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was to establish Brahma Samaj, a
precursor to Brahmo Samaj. Keshubchandra Sen and Dwarakanath Tagore carried the
movement further.
He was born to Ramakanto Roy and TariniDevi on 22nd
of May in 1772 at Radhanagar and left for his heavenly abode on September 27th
1833 at Bristol.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy did not find religious or spiritual
succour in the orthodoxy, ritualism and traditions of Hinduism. He was opposed
to idolatry. Thus he embarked upon an arduous journey to Tibet in order to seek
sanctuary in Buddhism. But he discovered Tibetan Buddhism merely mimicking Hinduism,
in particular idolatry and ritualism. He disapproved and was critical of their
modus-vivendi. This frustrated the febrile mind.
This had an anatomic impact on his mind,
as a group of Tibetan women saved his life from a group of marauding Tibetan
monks and people. This great escape left an indelible
impression on his ingenious mind. Raja Ram Mohan Roy began to revere the
feminine form of this extraordinary creation and emancipation of agonised women
was to become the leitmotif of his crusade.
This became a struggle against the unjust practice of
Sati- a cruel practice of polygamy which victimised womanhood, education of
women and the restoration of property rights of the fairer sex. These causes
were later championed by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The high noon in the
liberation of women was the passage of the Widow Remarriage Act in 1856. This
was truly a momentous achievement. Mutiny for women a year before the first freedom
struggle launched in India!
He established Brahma Sabha which later metamorphosed
into Brahma Samaj in order to discover the quintessential and pristine tenets
of Hinduism and Christianity.
He went on to say, ‘There is only one God. No one
equalises him. He has no end. He is present in all his beings.’ This clearly is
indicative of an evolved soul who eschewed negativity in his mind
and was willing to embrace the modern and contemporary.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s admiration of the Christian faith
resulted in his publishing the ‘Precepts of Jesus’, wherein he wrote,
‘Christianity admirably calculated to elevate man’s ideas to high and liberal
notions of the God.’
In order to grasp the nuances of Hinduism and Christianity
he learnt Hebrew and Greek languages. He went on to understand the various
dimensions and strands of Christian thought and Hinduism. This convinced him
that people view Hinduism through blinkered eyes and that pure theism in
Hinduism was laden by the dust of superstition.
The intrepid social reformer pioneered the vision of a
resurgent India and laid emphasis on unity of India, unshackling the caste
system, breaking through the rigidities which divided the Indians and
developing a feeling of patriotism among the denizens of this land. He strove
for unity of India and purity of all religions. In one stroke he deftly
championed social, political and religious reforms in the country. This mindset
certainly was epochal for that period of time.
A man blessed with enormous intellectual rigour, he
learnt ten languages and thus calling him a polyglot would not be unfair. He
also studied several religious texts such as those of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Christianity and Islam in depth. He mastered Bengali and wrote a primer in his
mother tongue.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, steadfastly opposed imparting of
Sanskrit, though he venerated our scriptures. This may appear contradictory on
the surface. But at the subaltern level his philosophy can be appreciated. He
hypothesised by stating that this would act as a deterrent in dissipation of
knowledge among the masses. He succinctly described the opposition by stating, ‘The
learning concealed under its most impervious veil is far from sufficient to reward
the labour of acquiring it.’
His interest in spreading awareness, knowledge and
education acted a pivot in the establishment of Presidency College and Hindu
College of Calcutta, English School of Calcutta and the Vedanta College. He petitioned
to the East India Company advocating the spread of the English language and
education. This reflects the imagination and farsightedness in the mind of
a quintessential
social reformer.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy also donned the avatar of a
trailblazer in journalism- as journals were brought out in Bengali, Persian,
Hindi and English. These journals spread scientific, literary and political
knowledge of the period. It also ventilated the grievances of the people
against the potentate.
While censorship was abolished by Lord Hastings in 1817,
a variety of restrictions were enforced on publication of certain subjects. He
launched a strident struggle against these encroachments by appealing to the
Supreme Court, King-in-Council among others. Though he did not live to see the
landmark changes, Charles Metcalfe removed the tyrannical prohibitions in the
media in the year 1835. This is emblematic of a robust mind always in pursuit of
reforming various mores and shackles which enveloped the society. It makes us
ponder as to how far sighted these luminaries were who laid the foundations of
a robust democracy in the country.
The fertile mind of Raja Ram Mohan Roy launched
a three pointed grapple on the following issues:
a) The
Jury Act of 1827, which denied permission for Hindus and Muslims to be part of
the proceedings if the trial was against a native
b) Petitioned
against renewal of the Company Charter. He toured England in this connection in
1831.
c) Path
breaking changes such as urging greater representation of Indians in the army,
the separation of executive and judiciary, codification of civil and criminal
laws.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy though
an internationalist, empathised deeply with the impoverished peasantry in
India, the indiscriminate manner in which the landlords and Zamindars were
acquiring wealth by exploiting the hapless farmer and the heavy duties imposed
on our exports.
He was a man far ahead of
his times- a precursor to what the Indian National Congress led by Mahatma
Gandhi and other leaders advocated. Raja Ram Mohan Roy represented a new
defining spirit of inquiry, a thirst for knowledge, and embodied a critical
appraisal of our halcyon days with a mind in search of something new, in
order to be a true harbinger of change.
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