Rammohun Roy

Raja Rammohun Roy (1774—1833) was a great champion of liberty and civil rights in colonial India. He was also a true cosmopolitan who envisioned a world without borders. A tireless crusader for religious and social reform, Rammohun attempted a progressive reinterpretation of Hinduism and tried to improve the lot of socially marginalized groups such as women. Yet, in spite of his lofty public presence, Rammohun was a hugely controversial figure. He shocked the Hindu orthodoxy by his support to the abolition of Sati, offended evangelists by separating the moral message of Christ from the purely theological, and was often dragged into legal disputes over family property. By the time of his death in Bristol, he was as much resented as respected, both at home and abroad. Using relatively unexplored sources, this elegant and accessible new biography by Amiya P. Sen paints a fascinating portrait of one of the legendary makers of modern India.

This exceptional work is a study of the interreligious views of Raja Rammohun Roy - the 19th century's premier Hindu reformer, theologian, and polemicist – whose many initiatives heralded a rebirth of Hindu identity, both in India and abroad. The momentum of Roy's initiatives continued thereafter in all of India's efforts in religious, social and political transformation. His works and ideas awakened a self-awareness to discover the past, making it relevant to the present and visualizing a promising future. Herein is discussed Roy's meeting with both Islam and Christianity, an encounter that sharpened the Hindu mind to come to terms with these two vigorous Abrahamic faiths - one of which held a long and checkered history in India and the other, the faith of colonial domination.

Rammohun Roy, the father of Indian renaissance, released waves of enlightenment which, in course of time, developed into a mighty current and set the country on the path of progress and modernity. Throughout his life, he fought against social and religious bigotry and evils. With his immense love for freedom, his driving passion for truth, his profound study and understanding of the scriptures, and a modern, democratic political outlook, Rammohun Roy waged an unending war against medievalism. He served the nation in manifold fields, including education, literature, journalism, emancipation of women and other reforms. Saumyendranath Tagore, who needs no introduction, presents a well-knit and succinct account of the variegated personality and work of the great patriot.

This book investigates Rammohun Roy as a transnational celebrity. It examines the role of religious heterodoxy - particularly Christian Unitarianism - in transforming a colonial outsider into an imagined member of the emerging Victorian social order It uses his fame to shed fresh light on nineteenth-century British reformers, including advocates of liberty of the press, early feminists, free trade imperialists, and constitutional reformers such as Jeremy Bentham. Rammohun Roy's intellectual agendas are also interrogated, particularly how he employed Unitarianism and the British satiric tradition to undermine colonial rule in Bengal and provincialize England as a laggard nation in the progress towards rational religion and political liberty.