Raja Ram Mohan Roy a great reformer
Photo: SSC
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a great reformer, thinker, so much ahead of his times, one of the makers of modern India, a versatile personality and the founder of the Brahma-Samaj was born on 22nd May, 1772 in Radhanagar, a village in West Bengal.
When this so remarkable man was born there was an all-round decline in all walks of life. The law and order was in shambles, moral values, social concerns and religious institutions were at their lowest and the economy in a chaos. It was a time when the whole country was drowned in many superstitions, dead and useless rituals and caste, creed, and religious narrowness reigned supreme. It was a time when women were looked upon as helpless creatures worthy only to be confined to homes and hearths.
Ram Mohan Roy came with his scientific temper, broad outlook, championship of freedom, liberal and fundamental reforms and harbinger of equality and humanism. He thought differently and much ahead of his times. His ideas, ideals and practices helped a lot in the reawakening and renaissance in the country.
He wanted to combine the righteousness of Western and Indian culture. He was against traditional Hindu practices and echoed his voice against Sati system, polygamy, caste rigidity and child marriage. He was greatly moved by his sister-in-law’s death who became Sati.
He put remarkable efforts in the education system of India. To modernize the education system, Raja Ram Mohan Roy established many English schools. He set up the Hindu college at Calcutta in 1822. He assisted Alexander Duff to establish the General Assembly’s Institution. Roy promoted and urged that science, technology, western medicine and English should be taught at Indian schools.
To politically educate people, Raja Ram Mohan Roy even published magazines in different languages including English, Hindi, Persian and Bengali. Noticeable magazines published by him were the Brahmonical Magazine, the Sambad KaumudiandMirat-ul-Akbar.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy died on 27 September 1833 in Bristol because of meningitis.
Though India has made a progress in some areas and left behind certain social evils condition of women is still far behind what it should be. Reformists like Raja Ram Mohan Roy should be born again in India to remove all sorts of evils from the society.
