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Brahmo Samaj was one of the associations that worked towards growing civil rights movements in India in the 1800s. It was a monotheistic organisation of Hinduism. They began by conducting meetings at Calcutta in 1828. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the founder of the Brahmo Samaj. The association is known as the Brahmo Sabha. The Brahmo Sabha started Brahmoism, the most recent lawfully recognised religion in Bangladesh and India. It reflects its basis on improved spiritual Hinduism with essential features of Judeo-Islamic faith and practice.
Brahmo Sabha
Brahmo Sabha means the “Society of Brahma” in Sanskrit. It is also known as Brahmo and spelt Brahma, an atheistic activity founded in Hinduism at Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1828. The Brahmo Sabha does not accept the control of the avatars, the Vedas, and does not believe in samsara or Karma. They adopted the practice of Christianity and condemned polytheism image worship.
The Samaj was influenced and spread across the country. The two considerable eminent leaders of the Brahmo Samaj were Kesh Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore, the father of Ravindranath Tagore. Kesh Chandra Sen travelled across Bombay and Madras to circulate the announcement of the Brahmo Sabha.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Founder of Brahmo Samaj
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born in a Bengal, well-to-do family, probably in 1772. He learned Persian at Patna, Sanskrit at Banaras, and Arabic. He also learned Greek, Hebrew, and English. He knew Latin and French languages too. He not only studied Hinduism but also had a depth knowledge of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
His works include Hindi, Persian, English, Bengali, and Sanskrit. He started newspapers in two languages, one in Persian and one in Bengali. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was sent to represent England in 1831 by a Mughal Emperor and was given the title “Raja.” He welcomed the opening of English teaching in India, which was essential to encourage civilisation and scientific knowledge. He struggled to remove restrictions on the press and believed in the freedom of the press. He took up the complex and forbearing job of publishing the Upanishads and Vedas. He condemned image worship and believed in the power of one God.
Socio and Religious Reforms
His most outstanding achievement in religious reform was the setting up of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, and the Brahmo Samaj was the first significant association of religious reforms. It prohibited idol worship and denied pointless rites and rituals. The Samaj also denied its members from attacking any religion.
The most outstanding achievement in social reform was the abolition of Sati in1829. He had seen how his elder brother’s wife was forced to commit Sati. His movement against Sati provoked the resistance of the traditional Hindus, who badly attacked him. He realised that the practice of Sati was due to the shallow position of Hindu women. He supported the abolition of polygamy and desired women to be enlightened, educated, and given the right to inherit property.
Principles of Brahmo Samaj
- The Samaj condemned Polytheism & image worship
- It tossed belief in holy avatars
- It declined any scripture that would relish the ultimate authority’s position of transcending human reason and conscience
- It denounced the Caste System
- It carried no actual perspective on the ‘doctrine of Karma’
- To Clarify Hinduism and lecture on Monotheism
Notable Leaders of Brahmo Sabha
- Keshab Chandra Sen
- Ashwini Kumar Datta
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
- Maharshi Debendranath Tagore
In 1866, a break occurred in the Samaj when Keshab and his group members maintained extreme views than the authentic Brahmo people. They announced liberation from the customs and caste by the power of authority. The group endorsed and performed widow remarriage, opposed purdah’s custom, and condemned caste division and inter-caste marriage.
They also bombarded caste rigidity, began carrying their food along with the people of the Depressed castes and different religions, fought for the restrictions levied on education, food, and drink and denounced the Hindu resistance. This campaign impacted the same reforms movements across the country. This grouping rose in supremacy, the power of the other group, which revealed a slight interest in socio- reforms, declined.
When Keshab Chandra Sen arranged marriage for his daughter to a Prince of Cooch Behar, both groups were well underage. Thus he violated his reformist principles, and his followers formed a third Samaj called the Sadharan Samaj. This Samaj carried out the socio-reforms by teaching Upanishads.
Conclusion
However, the Samaj flourished in various parts of India. In 1921 Rabindranath Tagore founded the Visva Bharati University in place of Brahma Samaj. The impact of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Keshab Chandra Sen in Britain was also reflected in the twentieth century. As Raja Ram Mohan Roy died in 1833 in England, his cemetery was buried and became a pilgrimage spot for the Brahmos visiting the National Indian Association and the United Kingdom. Hence, we should always be grateful to those social reformers, freedom fighters, Indian philosophers who sacrificed and contributed their life to building this nation.
