Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Raja Ram Mohan Roy:

      A great scholar and social reformer of the late 18th century, Raja Ram Mohan Roy blended philosophy of religion with service to humanity. 

      He was born in a Brahamin family in a village in Bengal called Ramnagar on May 22,1772.He was named Ram Mohan. He was educated in sanskrit, bengali and arabic in school. He learnt English later pursuing higher studies. 

     While he was young he was influenced by the principles of Socrates and Aristotle. He also believed in the vedas and the upanishads and opposed to superstition and religious fanaticism. 

   He translated vedas and upanishads into Bengali and English. His book Gandhiya Vyakharam, in Bengali is the best of his prose works. 

B

     Raja Ram Mohan Roy was opposed to illtreatment of women. He created awareness of empowerment of women and worked for the abolition of sati, the practice of burning the funeral fire of her husband. 

     Being a humanist and a religious reformer, he founded the Brahma Samaj in Calcutta in 1828.It emohasised the ideals of one God and universal brotherhood. He visited England in 1831 as the ambassador of the Moghul emperor, Akbarshah. He died in September 1833 at the age of 61.

He was well known as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and was considered the father of modern India by introducing western ideas of liberal democracy and reaffirming his faith in the vedas. He gave a sense of direction to the development of India.