Raja Ram Mohan Roy : Father of Renaissance in Bengal as well as India.

3D Picture of Great Raja Ram Mohan Roy created by Me (Manash Kundu)

Raja Ram Mohan Roy :

Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Maker of Modern Bengal.

3D Picture of Great Raja Ram Mohan Roy created by Me (Manash Kundu)

Born: May 22, 1772
Died: September 27, 1833
Achievements: Founded Atmiya Sabha and Brahma Samaj. Played a key role in abolition and Sati. Fought for the rights of women.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy is known as the 'Maker of Modern India'. He was the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, one of the first Indian socio-religious reform movements. He played a major role in abolishing the role of Sati. Raja Rammohan Roy was a great scholar and an independent thinker. He advocated the study of English, Science, Western Medicine and Technology. He was given the title 'Raja' by the Mughal Emperor.

Early Life:
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born on May 22, 1772 in village Radhanagar in the District of Hooghly in Bengal. His father Ramkanto Roy, was a Vaishnavite, while his mother, Tarini, was from a Shakta background. Raja Ram Mohun Roy was sent to Patna for higher studies. By the age of fifteen, Raja Rammohun Roy had learnt Bangla, Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was against idol worship and orthodox Hindu rituals. He stood firmly against all sort of social bigotry, conservatism and superstitions. But his father was an orthodox Hindu Brahmin. This led to differences between Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his father. Following differences he left the house . He wandered around Himalayas and went to Tibet. He traveled widely before returning home.

After his return Raja Ram Mohan Roy's family married him in the hope that he would change. But this did not have any effect on him. Raja Ram Mohan Roy went to Varanasi and studied the Vedas, the Upanishads and Hindu philosophy deeply. When his father died in 1803 he returned to Murshidabad. He then worked as a moneylender in Calcutta, and from 1809 to 1814, he served in the Revenue Department of the East India Company.

His Work on Social Reform:

Old Black and white Picture of Raja Ram Mohan Roy with his signature

In 1814, Raja Ram Mohan Roy formed Atmiya Sabha. Atmiya Sabha tried to initiate social and religious reforms in the society. Raja Ram Mohan Roy campaigned for rights for women, including the right for widows to remarry, and the right for women to hold property. He actively opposed Sati system and the practice of polygamy.

He also supported education, particularly education of women. He believed that English-language education was superior to the traditional Indian education system, and he opposed the use of government funds to support schools teaching Sanskrit. In 1822, he founded a school based on English education.

Painting on Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

In 1828, Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the 'Brahma Samaj'. Through 'Brahma Samaj, he wanted to expose the religious hypocrisies and check the growing influence of Christianity on the Hindu society. Raja Ram Mohan Roy's efforts bore fruit when in 1929, the Sati system was abolished.

Death:
In November 1830 Ram Mohan Roy traveled to the United Kingdom as an ambassador of the Mughal emperor to plead for his pension and allowances. Raja Ram Mohan Roy passed away on September 27, 1833 at Stapleton near Bristol due to meningitis.

However, ten days after arriving in Bristol he fell ill with meningitis, and died on 27 September 1833. He was initially buried in the grounds of Beech House, but ten years later his friend Dwarakanath Tagore had him reinterred at Arno's Vale. A chattri (funerary monument or mandir (shrine) was designed by William Prinsep and built with sponsorship from Dwarakanath Tagore.  In 1997 a statue of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was built at Bristol.

In 1997 a statue of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was built at Bristol.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Hindu College:
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine India Today. In 2010, the year the college was upgraded to university status, it was ranked 3rd in India.

Hindu_college_calcutta1851

It was established in 1817, making it one of the oldest educational institutions in India. It was founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and a number of other eminent personalities of Bengal, such as Raja Radhakanta Deb, Maharaja Tejchandra Ray of Burdwan, David Hare, Justice Sir Edward Hyde East, Prasanna Coomar Tagore and Babu Buddinath Mukherjee.

Abolition of Sati system by Raja Ram Mohan Roy:

Picture of Evil Sati-Pratha

"From about 1812, the Bengali reformer Raja Rammohan Roy started his own campaign against the practice. He was motivated by the experience of seeing his own sister-in-law commit sati. Among his actions, he visited Calcutta cremation grounds to persuade widows not to so die, formed watch groups to do the same, and wrote and disseminated articles to show that it was not required by scripture."

On 4 December 1829, the practice was formally banned in the Bengal Presidency lands, by the then governor, Lord William Bentinck. The ban was challenged in the courts, and the matter went to the Privy Council in London, but was upheld in 1832. Other company territories also banned it shortly after. Although the original ban in Bengal was fairly uncompromising, later in the century British laws include provisions that provided mitigation for murder when "the person whose death is caused, being above the age of 18 years, suffers death or takes the risk of death with his own consent".

Full Figure Painting f Great Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Raja Ram Mohan Roy to be called the ‘Maker of Modern India’. Without giving up what was good and noble in the past, he laid the foundations for a great future. He put an end to the horrible custom of burning the living wife with the dead husband. He was a great scholar and an independent thinker. He advocated the study of English, Science, Western Medicine and Technology. He spent his money on a college to promote these studies.
Author - C.N.Jayalakshmidevi.

My Respect toward great Raja Ram Mohan Roy Through my 3D art

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the Father of Renaissance in Bengal as well as India. His thinking and scientific knowledge take him ahead of that time.His reform movement both in Social and Education system build a solid infrastructure for Modern Bengal and as well as Modern India.

My Respect toward great Raja Ram Mohan Roy Through my 3D art