Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Biography, Contribution, Books and More

The spread of Western education aroused a new consciousness among the people of India, and this led to the beginning of the social reform movement. In the 19th century, one of the pioneering figures of this social reform movement in India was Raja Ram Mohan Roy. As a precursor to the Indian Renaissance and an influential social and religious reformer, his contribution was undeniable.

Reforming the moribund religious thoughts and social systems of the time and imbuing the nation with new vitality through the knowledge and science of the West was his life’s mission. For these reasons, he was addressed by titles such as ‘the first modern man of India‘ and ‘the father of modern India.’ Recognizing the innovative power of Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s reform activities, Rabindranath Tagore addressed him as the ‘Pathfinder of India.’

Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Early Life

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born in an honoured and religiously rich Zamindar Brahmin family on May 22, 1772 AD, in the village of Radhanagar in the Hooghly district of Bengal. His father’s name was Ramkanta Roy, and his mother was Tarini Devi or Phul Thakurani.
• There was a religious difference between Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s parents. His father was a Vaishnava, and his mother was a Shaiva. Growing up in this environment, he was drawn to religious and philosophical thoughts from his childhood. One noteworthy incident in his childhood was the funeral of his sister-in-law, where he witnessed the horrific practice of Sati, which later became a source of inspiration for his reformist thinking.
• Due to the land revenue system introduced by the British government, Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s family had acquired considerable financial prosperity at that time. In 1793, after Lord Cornwallis’s implementation of the Permanent Settlement, the importance of land as property had increased. In a letter to the Board of Directors of the Company on March 6, 1793, Cornwallis wrote, “The vast amount of capital that is now accumulated in the hands of the native landholders That capital can be invested to buy land if the security of land ownership can be increased.” Fulfilling Cornwallis’s dream, Raja Rammohan Roy purchased large tracts of land after Regulation VII in 1799. Apart from earning income from Zamindari, he used to give loans to the company’s employees against interest. So, from the very beginning, he had faith in British rule and was also seen to have an appreciative attitude towards the British administration.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Education

• The educational journey of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was extremely diverse and significant. At the age of just nine, he began learning Bengali and some Sanskrit in a village school. Later, he went to Patna and studied Persian and Arabic at the local madrasa, where he read the Quran, the writings of Sufi poets, and the translated works of Plato and Aristotle. His education began in Calcutta, where he studied various subjects.
• He studied Tantra under Hariharananda Tirthaswami. In his political life, he was influenced by the thoughts of philosophers like Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Jeremy Bentham.
• He then went to Banaras and delved deeply into the study of the Vedas, Upanishads, and Hindu philosophy. At the age of sixteen, he wrote a rational critique of Hindu idol worship, reflecting his independent and rationalistic worldview. Raja Ram Mohan Roy mastered 12 languages, including Bengali, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Hindi, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and English. This linguistic proficiency helped him familiarize himself with various religious and philosophical texts, which he later translated into Bengali. In his quest to understand the nature of religion, he read the Quran in Arabic, the Upanishads and Vedas in Sanskrit, the New Testament in Greek, and the Old Testament and Talmud in Hebrew.
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked in the East India Company’s Writing Service from 1803 to 1815. He started out as Thomas Woodroffe’s private clerk (Munshi), who was the Registrar of the Appellate Court in Murshidabad. After leaving Woodroffe’s service, he took up employment with company collector John Digby. Ram Mohan worked for Digby for many years at Rangpur and other places, where he reestablished his relationship with Hariharananda. However, he did not work for too long and moved to Murshidabad to focus on literature and social reform work.
• He travelled to England in 1830 as an ambassador of Akbar Shah II, the Mughal Emperor, who gave him the title of Raja at King William IV’s court.

Contribution of Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Raja Ram Mohan Roy dedicated his life to various endeavours. We can find Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Contributions and his major role in society. His progressive activities and contributions can be divided into several categories:

Religious Reforms of Raja Ram Mohan Roy

• In 1815, Raja Ram Mohan Roy formed the Atmiya Sabha with a section of the aristocratic class, to reflect his religious ideas. The main objective of this Atmiya Sabha was to oppose the dogmatism and idolatry of Hinduism. The notable members of this assembly were Dwarkanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, Ram Chandra Vidyabagish, Nandkishore Basu, Kalinath Ray, and Baidyanath Bandopadhyay. However, the activities of the Atmiya Sabha did not satisfy him.
• The traditional Hindu pandits whom Raja Ram Mohan Roy defeated in his anti-idolatry debates included Utsavananda Vidyabagish, Mrityunjay Vidyalankar, Radhakanta Deb, and Subrahmanya Shastri.
• As a further step, he formed the Brahmo Sabha on August 20, 1828, and on January 23, 1830, the name of this organization was changed to Brahmo Samaj in Chitpur, Calcutta. People of all castes, religions, and classes would come to this assembly for worship and discussion. Through the Brahmo Samaj, he propagated monotheism. Rabindranath Tagore described Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s religious thought as the eternal religion of humanity.
• When he founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, he had no intention of creating a separate religion or religious community. He had taken up the task of religious and social reform within Hinduism itself.
• After his death, Debendranath Tagore and Akshay Kumar Datta led the Brahmo Samaj. Emphasizing the infallibility of the Vedas and monotheism, Debendranath Tagore gradually gave the movement an increasingly radical and revolutionary character. Keshab Chandra Sen became a member of this Brahmo Samaj in 1857.
• Tarachand Chakraborty was the first secretary of the Brahmo Sabha. The Brahmo Sabha had prayer gatherings every Saturday evening. The main objective of this organization was to quickly awaken religious consciousness among people and to promote the propagation of the principles of monotheism.
• In the Renaissance of the 19th century, Raja Ram Mohan Roy played a pioneering role in the field of religion with the cooperation of the British rulers. In 1828, he wrote to a friend, “It is, I think, necessary that some changes should take place in their religion, at least for the sake of their political advantage and social comfort.”
• In September 1821, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, William Adam, and Dwarkanath Tagore jointly formed the Calcutta Unitarian Committee.

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Social Reforms of Raja Ram Mohan Roy

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy had a remarkable role in social reforms as well. He had raised his voice against the prevalent Hindu practice of sati (widow burning). The Christian missionaries in Serampore were the first to protest against this inhumane practice. Governor General Lord Wellesley and William Carey requested the government to prohibit this practice.
• Through regulations in 1812, 1813, and 1817 and the activities of the missionaries, the incidents of Sati started to decline from 1818 onwards. In that very year, i.e., 1818, Raja Ram Mohan Roy first attacked the practice of Sati. However, even before Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in 1817, the Chief Pandit of the Supreme Court, Mrityunjay Vidyalankar, had written a significant article criticizing the practice of Sati.
• According to official records, the number of Sati cases was 839 in 1818, 650 in 1819, and 598 in 1820, and this number gradually decreased to 463 in 1828. Raja Ram Mohan Roy repeatedly expressed his views against the practice of Sati in his edited newspaper “Sambad Kaumudi.” As a result, the current Governor General, Lord William Bentinck, issued Regulation XVII on 4th December 1829, to prohibit the practice of Sati. The first signatory of the petition (with 300 signatories) sent to the government to ban Sati was Kalimatha Ray, king of Taki, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the second signatory.
• Among the contemporary newspapers, Sambad Kaumudi, Samachar Darpan, Indian Gazette, Calcutta Journal, Friends of India, The Bengal Hurkaru, and Chronicle had opposed the practice of Sati.
• Another notable aspect of Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s social activities was that he was a supporter of establishing women’s legal rights to inherited property. In 1822, he wrote a pamphlet supporting women’s rights to their husband’s property.

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Educational Reforms of Raja Ram Mohan Roy

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a leading advocate for the introduction of Western education and modern scientific studies in India. He realized that for the national interest, i.e., to save the country from the medieval feudal social system and superstitions and to lead the country towards progress, the necessity of Western education existed. That is why in 1791, he opposed the establishment of the Sanskrit College in Varanasi, founded by Jonathan Duncan.
• On 1st December 1823, Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote a letter to the current Governor General of India, Lord Amherst (1823-1828 AD), in which his awareness towards Western education was very clearly expressed. He wrote in the letter that if it is the desire and policy of the British government to keep the Indians in the darkness of ignorance, then there is no better way than providing education in the ancient Sanskrit language. If the improvement of every Indian is the goal of the government, then it is necessary to adopt a liberal and advanced policy in education. If the Sanskrit College is established, the students will only acquire knowledge of grammar, Vedanta, logic, and spiritual subjects, but this knowledge will be worthless in practical life. Therefore, he emphasized the inclusion of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and anatomy in the curriculum.
• However, there was an inconsistency in Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s thoughts and actions. He established the Vedanta College in 1825 AD for the study of Vedanta and the propagation of monotheism.
• He established the first English-medium school in Calcutta in 1816 AD to promote Western education. In 1822 AD, this school was named Anglo-Hindu School, and later it was renamed Indian Academy.
• In 1817 AD, on 20th January, in Calcutta, he assisted David Hare in establishing the Hindu school (then known as Hindu College).
• In 1830 AD, on 13th July, he assisted Alexander Duff in establishing his General Assembly’s institution.

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Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Contribution to Journalism

• ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ (Weekly Newspaper 1821 AD) in Bengali and ‘Mirat-Ul-Akhbar’ (1822 AD, 12 April) in the first Persian language were notable examples of newspapers published by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The main objective of his published newspapers was to make the general public aware of public welfare, the importance of newspapers and journalism, and to organize public opinion.
• ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ was his main weapon in the struggle against the Christian missionaries’ religious conversion. He was the first to protest for the freedom of the Indian press. He launched a massive movement against the 1823 AD Licensing Regulation Ordinance introduced by John Adams and the Jury Act introduced by the East India Company in 1827 AD. In 1823, the East India Company even tried to stifle the press by issuing a press ordinance. He was the first to vehemently protest against this policy of the British government by filing a petition in the Supreme Court and later in the Privy Council.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy Books

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s first writing was ‘Tuhfat-Ul-Muwahhidin’ (To the Monotheists). This book was written in Persian, although the introduction was in Arabic. He wrote this book in 1803 AD (alternately 1804) as a result of his religious passion in early life. In this book, Raja Ram Mohan Roy strongly spoke about the existence of an Almighty, by whom the entire universe has been created and is being controlled. He made a bitter criticism of the irrational activities and superstitions of the religious intermediaries. According to him, they create obstacles in the intellectual and rational development of the common people.
• In 1809 AD, he wrote ‘Gift to Monotheists.’ Attracted by the Vedanta philosophy, in 1816 AD he translated five main Upanishads: Kena, Katha, Isha, Mandukya, Mundaka, and ‘Vedantasara’ into Bengali.
• Influenced by the moral teachings of the New Testament of Christianity, in 1820 AD he wrote the book ‘Precepts of Jesus’ in English.
• In 1822 AD, Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote a pamphlet supporting women’s rights to their husband’s property, and in 1827 AD he translated the ancient text ‘Vajrasuchi Upanishad’ against the caste system.
• In 1823 AD, in the pamphlet ‘Appeal to the Christian Public,’ he criticized the supernatural doctrines of Christianity. He even wrote the notable book ‘Gaudiya Vyakaran’ in 1833 AD from the Calcutta School-Book Society, which was the first complete Bengali grammar book.
• Some other notable books are Remarks on the Defense of Hindu Theism (1821), Exposition of the Practical Operation of the Judicial and Revenue System of India (1832), and Final Appeal to the Christian Public (1823).

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Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Death

Raja Ram Mohan Roy died in Bristol, England on September 27, 1833 AD where he was on an official visit as an ambassador. He was buried there, which completed his remarkable tour of service as a social reformer in the emergent India.

Conclusion

Finally, it can be said that Raja Ram Mohan Roy belonged to the Bengali and Indian Renaissance. He was the first Indian thinker who contemplated the future of the Indian subcontinent on the global stage. According to him, “The greater our intercourse with European gentlemen, the greater will be our improvement in literary, social, and political affairs.” Later on, India’s social reform initiatives carried on in the footsteps of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s FAQ