UN1VBH T Of
R. Cambray & Co.
CALCUTTA.
RAMMOHUN ROY
THE
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
THE LATE
SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET
AND COMPLETED BY A FRIEND.
SECOND EDITION
Edited By
HEM CHANDRA SARKAR, MA.
Calcutta:
1914
LOAN STACK
RAJA RAMMOHAN RAY.
O. RAV A HONM.
PREFACE.
THE Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy,
which Miss Sophia Dobsoii Collet had under-
taken to compile, but which was not finished
at the time of her death, was completed by a gentle-
man at her dying request and was published
privately by Mr. Harold Collet in 1900. The
book, though greatly appreciated by the admirers
of Raja Rammohun Roy, had not the opportunity
of a wide circulation. When the first edition
was exhausted I requested Mr. Collet to bring out
another edition. Mr. Collet wrote to me that he
had discharged his duty by bringing out the first
edition and was notable to take the responsibility
of another edition. On my requesting to give
me permission to bring out a new edition, Mr.
Collet gladly made over the copyright to me.
While preparing the present edition I thought it
would be desirable to embody into it all the new
matters that have been brought out up to this time
regarding the life and work of Rammohun Roy. I
have therefore tried to include in the present
volume everything worth preserving out of the
voluminous literature about Rammohun Roy that
has grown up during the last thirty years. I have
also embodied in it all the materials of permanent
interest in Miss Mary Carpenter's Last Days of
Raja Rammohun Roy, which was omitted by Miss
Collet and the continuator, as that book has long
been out of print and there does not seem to be
any probability of its being reprinted in the near
774
VI RAMMOHUN ROY
future. My endeavour has been to make the pre-
sent volume a complete up-to-date collection of all
available information about the Father of modern
India.
Though the present edition has considerably
exceeded the compass of its predecessor, I have
taken care to keep it in tact ; all new matters have
been given as foot-notes, when possible, or in the
appendix and the introduction. In giving extracts
I have scrupulously adhered to the spelling of the
original sources. The footnotes supplied by me
have been enclosed within brackets to distinguish
them from the footnotes in the original.
I am happy that I have been able to prefix a
brief sketch of the life of Miss Collet ; my only
regret is that it is not fuller. I hope, however,
it may serve to remind the new generation of
Brahmos our immense debt of gratitude to that
noble-minded English lady.
The Nest, Knrseong. j HEM c^^ SARKAR.
15th. Auust, 1913. )
CONTENTS
PAGE
SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET, A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ix
INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... xxxiii
CONTINUATOR'S NOTE ... ... ... ... Ixxxtti
CHAPTER
I. SEARCHING FOR TRUTH ... 1
His birth at Radhanagar— Second and Third Marriages-
Leaves home to study Buddhism in Tibet— Settles at
Benares— Birth of his elder son— First acquaintance with
Mr. John Digby— Death of his father.
II. THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET 10
Publishes his first work— Enters Bengal Civil Service-
Death of Jaganmohun Roy and Suttee of his Widow—
Ramtnohun's Vow — Birth of Rammohun's second son-
Residence in Calcutta.
III. FIRST REGULAR CAMPAIGN . SPIRITUAL THEISM VERSUS
IDOLATRY AND SUTTEE ... ... 23
Rammohun settled in Calcutta — Founds the Friendly
Association — Translates the Vedanta into Bengali— Writes
Abridgement of it, and publishes it in Bengali, Hindu-
stani, and English— Translates Kena and Isha Upanishads
— Letter to Mr. Digby— "Defence of Hindu Theism, I. and
II."— Translates Mandukya, Munduk and Katha Upa-
nishads— English edition of his first Tract on Suttee-
Discussion with Subrahmanya Sastri— Second Tract
on Suttee.
IV. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR CAMPAIGNS AGAINST TRINITARIAN
ORTHODOXY ... ... 56
Precepts of Jesus— Appeal to the Christian Public — Second
Appeal— Mr. Adam's conversion— Brahminical Magazine
—Calcutta Unitarian Committee formed— Sambad Kau-
mudi started— Mirat-ul-Akhbar— Brief Remarks on Ancient
Female Rights—Starts Anglo-Hindu Scchool— Answers to
Four Questions— Monthly Meetings— Third and Final
Appeal to the Christian Public— Memorial against Gov-
ernment Press Order— Letters in Hurkaru— Ram Doss
papers— Cessation of Mir at— Rajah of Burdwan begins
Jaw suit against Rammohun Roj— Letter to Lord
viii RAMMOHUN ROY
CHAPTER PAGB
Amherst— Humble Suggestions to hia Countrymen who
believe in one God— Scottish Missionaries— Medicine for
the Sick— Letter to Rev. H. Ware on Prospects of Christ-
ianity—Appeal for Famine in S. India
V. JOURNALISTIC AND EDUCATIONAL PIONEER WORK 93
The Enlighter— Sam&ac/ Kaumudi, &c.— Press regulations
—Appeal to the King in Council— Modes of Worship—'
Bengali Grammar— Son acquitted— Builds Vedant College.
VI. FOUNDING THE BRAHMO SOMAJ ... ... ... 121
Religion the Root of his life— Relation to Hinduism and
Christianity— Divine Worship by means of the Gayuttree —
Unitarian Services— Why do you frequent a Unitarian
Place of Worship ?— Adam's Lectures for Natives— British
Indian Unitarian Association— Hindu Services— Adam
resigns— First meeting of the Brahmo Somaj.
VII. THE ABOLITION OF SUTTEE ... ... ... 142
Increase of Suttee— Lord Amherst declines to order total
suppression, and leaves India— Lord William Bentinck
arrives — His minute on Suttee — Ramrnohun's letter on
European Indigo planters— Abolition of Suttee— The Jury
Bill— Title of Rajah— Adi Samaj building opened— Trust
Deed— Duffs School— Rammohun sails for England.
VIII. EMBASSY TO EUROPE ... ... ... ... 173
Rammohun sails from Calcutta — Calls at Cape Town-
Arrives in Liverpool— Manchester— London— East India
Company— Bedford Square— Presented to the King— Re-
form Bill passed— Paris— London— Bristol— Illness, death
and burial.
Appendix
Sonnets ... ... ... ... ... 243
Autobiographical sketch ... ... ... ... 249
Rammohun Roy— the Father of Political
Regeneration of India ... ... ... ... 253
Rammohun Roy — as a Jurist and Politician ... ... 256
Raj a Rammohun Roy— as a man of letters ... ... 259
The National and the Universal in Raja Rammohun Roy 263
The Spirit of Rammohun Roy ... ... ... 266
INDEX ... ... ... ... ... 273
LIST OF SOURCES USED IN THIS LIFE ... ... 277
RAMMOHUN'S WORKS ... ... .., ... 279
•
Sophia Dobson Collet.
SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET,
A Biographical Sketch.
BY THE EDITOR
Since its foundation, the Brahmo Samaj, the Thelstic
Church of modern India, has attracted the warm admiration
and enthusiastic devotion of a few large-hearted Europeans —
men and women. One of the most remarkable among these
was the late Miss Sophia Dobson Collet. Her connection
with the Brahmo Samaj was almost of the nature of a ro-
mance. Impressed by the magnetic personality of the founder
of the Brahmo Samaj, whom she had seen in South Place
Chapel, London, when she must have been a girl of ten or
eleven, she remained a most loyal and devoted supporter of
his church throughout life. Though not in complete agree-
ment with the tenets of the new movement, she was ever
vigilant in her solicitude and unwearied in her exertions for
its advancement. No member, not even a devoted mission-
ary, could have worked harder for, or watched with warmer
interest, the progress of the infant church. A life-long in-
valid, ailing constantly from many bodily infirmities, she
procured and preserved, from a distance of many thousand
miles, every bit of information about Brahmos and the
Brahmo Samaj which was unknown even to workers on the
spot. To be able to read the publications concerning the
new church, she, late in life, learnt the Bengali language. Her
information about the Brahmo Samaj was wonderful in every
way. It is not too much to say that she was the greatest
authority on the contemporary history of this movement. She
carried on extensive correspondence with many Brahmos. It
is a pity that her letters have not been preserved and no re-
X A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
cord of her life has been published by those who knew her
personally. To her the Brahmo Samaj owes, indeed, a deep
debt of gratitude unspeakable ; and by this community her
memory should ever be cherished with love and esteem.
With a view to reminding the younger generation of
Brahmos of their indebtedness to this noble-hearted English
lady, the following brief sketch is prefixed to her greatest
work, the Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy, by one
who has always felt profound gratitude and veneration
towards Miss Collet for her invaluable services to the Brahmo
Samaj.
Sophia Dobson Collet was born on the 2nd Feb., 1822 in
a Unitarian family of London long connected with India.
Her great grand-uncle Joseph Collet, was Governor of Fort
St. George ( Madras ) for about two years from 1719. The
family has still in its possession a curious model, about two
feet high, of Governor Collet in court-dress, which was made
in India after the original and sent home to his brother,
Samuel, from whom Miss Collet was descended. Her mother's
brother, Captain Collet Barber also was in the service of the
East India Company.
Miss Collet's father was a merchant. He died when she
was but four years of age. Owing to an accident to her
mother sometime earlier Miss Collet was an invalid from her
birth, being afflicted with curvature of the spine. On account
of her physical defects she seemed not to have been sent to
school, but was carefully educated at home, principally by her
mother's sister, Miss Mary Barber, a lady of remarkable
sweetness and nobility of character and of eminent culture.
Miss Barber was greatly loved, not only by her nieces and
nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews but also by a
large number of friends not related to her, who too would call
her "Aunt Mary".
The family connections with India might have had some-
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xi
thing to do with Miss Collet's interest in the Brahmo Samaj.
But the great impetus came when she saw Raja Ram-
mohun Roy in South Place Chapel, London. Though then only
a girl of tender age, she must have been greatly impressed,
for throughout her life she retained a warm attachment for
the Raja, whom she always used to call "Rammohun". In
her later life she was most anxious to bring out a Life of
the Raja. She often used to say to friends that her one
desire was to live long enough to complete her book about
Rammohun. How strong that desire was is evident from the
note of the gentleman, who, at her earnest dying request,
completed the work. Miss Collet wrote to him "I am dying.
I cannot finish my 'Life of Rammohun Roy. But when I
enter the Unseen, I want to be able to tell Rammohun that
his Life will be finished. Will you finish it for me ? "
The little girl of ten never forgot Rammohun or lost
sight of his work. Quietly she kept watching and collecting
every detail of information about the Samaj, which the
Master had founded before leaving his beloved land to die in
England.
Her earliest writing about the Brahmo Samaj that we have
been able to trace was a letter in the British Quarterly Re-
view for July 1869 refuting certain allegations against Keshub
Chandra Sen. By this time she had put herself in communi-
cation with the rising leader of the progressive section of the
Brahmo Samaj, for whom she entertained great admiration
and regard until the Cooch Behar marriage brought about
an unfortunate revulsion of feeling.
The British Quarterly Review for April 1869 published an
article on the "Brahmo Samaj or (Theistic Church) of India",
tracing its growth from its origin in 1830 under Rammohun
Roy down to its latest phase under the influence of Keshub
Chandra Sen. In this article, in spite of a general fairness of
tone, the reviewer concluded by making the following grave
xii A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
charge against Keshub : "Like Chaitanya and other great
teachers of Hinduism, Keshub Chandra Sen permits the more
degraded of his followers to prostrate themselves before him
and worship him." Miss Collet at once wrote a letter to the
editor contradicting the charge against Mr. Sen, whom she
called her friend. She also wrote to the Daily Telegraph, the
Inquirer, the Unitarian Herald and other papers to remove
the false impression so created.
To vindicate the position of Keshub Chandra Sen more
fully and to give the English public a correct idea of the
Brahmo Samaj, Miss Collet contributed an article to the
Contemporary Review of Feb., 1870 under the title of "Indian
Theism and its Relation to Christianity." With reference to
it the Illustrated London News wrote : "The Contemporary
Review is better than it has been for a long time. The most
interesting paper is Miss Collet's excellent account of the
Hindu religious reformers, the Brahmo Samaj." The Spectator
similarly observed : "This number (of the Contemporary
Review] is more than usually varied and interesting. The
most noticeable article is Miss Collet's Essay on Indian
Theism and its relation to Christianity, reviewing the present
position of a movement which has been well-known for the
last forty years as the Brahmo Samaj." In this article Miss
Collet gave a full and clear account of the Brahmo Samaj
from its foundation by Raja Rammohun Roy, through its
development under Maharshi Debendra Nath Tagore, down
to its then recent activities under Keshub Chandra Sen. The^
name of the Brahmo Samaj was not quite unknown in Eng-
land. Miss Cobbe had previously sketched the rise and
progress of the Brahmo Samaj down to 1866; and Miss
Carpenter had also recently added some new details to the
stock of popular information on the subject. But the true
nature and power of the Brahmo Samaj, were never "traced
out so clearly," (thus Allen's Indian Mail remarked) "as in
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xiii
Miss Collet's paper". It created a great interest in the new
religious movement of India among the more enlightened
British public. The article was reproduced and commented
upon widely in the British Press. As one main object of Miss
Collet in writing the paper was to vindicate the position of
Keshub Chandra Sen, who had been accused first of being a
Christian at heart and subsequently of recanting his Christian
confession, a large part of it was devoted to explaining the
real position of Mr. Sen. These accusations were based on
two lectures which he had recently delivered on "Jesus Christ,
Europe and Asia5' and on "Great Men" within an interval of
about six months. Miss Collet, though avowedly a Christian
who nursed, at this period, a faint hope that Keshub might
yet accept Christianity, showed from the utterances of the
Brahmo leader that there was no inconsistency in his position.
An English contemporary, in reviewing the article, wrote :
"Her avowed sympathy with the popular Christianity does
not blind her to the real worth of its young Indian rival, or
tempt her to mistake the fables of prejudiced opponents for
truthful pictures of the Church established by Rammohun
Roy, and largely renewed by Keshub Chandra Sen. In her
essay there is none of the small unfairness to a rival worship
which led the writer in the British Quarterly Review to accept
the scandals lately circulated against the present leader of
young India's revolt from Brahmanism, The Eastern tendency
to hyperbole in jesture as well as speech gave Keshub Chandra
Sen's enemies a seeming handle for accusing him of
letting his disc'ples offer him divine honours, while the
homage invariably paid by him to the human excellences of
the Christian redeemer round the bitter resentment of those
Brahmoists who saw in it a concession to the believers in a
triune Godhead. At one moment he was accused of being
an orthodox Christian ; and then because another of his
lectures referred to Christ as but one of many prophets, his
xiv A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Christian critics charged him with cowardly recantation of
his former sentiments. Miss Collet however has the good
sense to see how little his various utterances contradict each
other, and how entirely they all belie the notion of his seek-
ing to set himself up as a superhuman mouth piece of the
God he worships. She has the honesty to interpret the
Brahmoist leader by himself, instead of taking the cue from
others, or from isolated passages in Keshub Chandra Sen's
writings. His lecture on Great Men, as she truly observes,
supplemented the argument of his previous lecture on Jesus
Christ. From the two thus taken together, it is easy to see
how naturally such a man might hold up Jesus as the great
bond of connection between East and West, the highest
model of human holiness and purity, 'the greatest and truest
benefactor of mankind', without for a moment pledging him-
self to any one article of the Trinitarian theology, or for-
getting his own doctrine that 'eyery man is, in some measure,
an incarnation of the divine spirit'." It will thus be seen
that Miss Collet was entirely successful in her object of vindi-
cating the position of Babu Keshub Chandra Sen. She
concluded her advocacy of the Brahmo Samaj with the follow-
ing fervent appeal to the British public : "They thirst after
the 'One God without a second', the uncreated Father of
spirits, and long to sweep away all that may seem to obscure
His perfect light. Now this is surely a right instinct, and the
indispensable foundation of all religion that deserves the
name. It should also be remembered that, in God's 'education
of the world,' every lesson has to be mastered separately. It
took the Hebrews some centuries to learn their pure Theism,
and only when that was for ever rooted in the heart of the
race was the eternal son revealed. It is possible that some
process may be in store for India, where the Gospel has
hitherto taken so little hold of native minds as to suggest the
idea that some hidden link needs to be supplied between it
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET XV
and them. If so, such preparation is certainly beginning,
however unconsciously under the Brahmo Samaj. Whatever
their imperfections they are doing a work for God which
greatly needs doing, and which He will surely 'lead into all
truth' in His own time and in His own way. Let us not,
then, refuse our Christian sympathies to these Hindu Unita-
rians, as fellow-worshippers of our common Father, fellow-
learners of the teaching of His Son, fellow-seekers of the king-
dom of Heaven "
With her characteristic thoroughness she republished the
article of the Contemporary Review in pamphlet form with
some additions and alterations. The Spectator of London, in
the course of a sympathetic review, characterised it as a
"most able and interesting account of the religious tendencies
of the movement". Keshub Chandra Sen's visit to England, of
course, made Miss Collet very glad of the opportunity of
closer association with his friend. She prepared the ground
for him before hand and insured the success of his visit by
awakening the interest of the British public in the Brahmo
Samaj. Throughout the period of his sojourn in England, she
worked strenuously and incessantly for making the visit pro-
ductive of the best results. Indeed, much of the success of
Mr. Sen's English visit and the warm reception accorded to
him was due to the efforts of Miss Collet. She followed up
her writings in the newspapers by preparing a volume of Mr.
Sen's lectures. Allen's Indian Mailvi March 29, 1870, con-
tained the following announcement. "We are glad to learn
that the interest lately shown by the English public in the pro-
gress of the sect which now owns him (Keshub Chandra Sen)
as its chief leader is about to be gratified by the publication of
some of the Baboo's lectures, including those on 'Christ',
'Great Men' and 'Regenerating faith,' all of them delivered in
the last three or four years. These have already been printed
in Calcutta, where the preacher's eloquence and breadth of
XVI A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
charity have been appreciated even by those who disliked
or distrusted his theology. Miss Collet, the editor, who'
has already thrown much light on the character of the new
Theistic movement in India, also proposes, we believe, to
accompany the lectures with a historical sketch of the Brahmo
Samaj from the materials furnished by Mr. Sen himself.'
The volume, which was named "The Brahmo Samaj," was
published by Allen & Co. In addition to the lectures
already mentioned, it contained also the lecture on "The
Future Church." Later on, Miss Collet prepared another
edition of it with the addition of some tracts, sermons and
prayers of Mr. Sen. In fact, she took every possible
measure to bring Mr. Sen and his utterances to the general
notice of the British public.
Babu Keshubchandra Sen arrived in London in
March and received a very cordial welcome. But there
were some people who tried their utmost to belittle him
and his work. They communicated to the press every
little gossip that they could catch hold of, likely to discredit
Mr. Sen in the public eye. With reference to these, the
Daily News tactfully remarked : "Our Hindu visitor,
Chunder Sen was doubtless aware when he came before
the British public that, if he received the most cordial of
we!comes, he would also be subjected to unsparing criti-
cisms. Accordingly the festival at the Hanover-Square
Rooms has been succeeded by letters in our own and other
Journals, in which the Hindu reformer's mission and declara-
tions are discussed with all the freedom that can be desired."
Miss Collet took upon herself the task of guarding the reputa-
tion of her friend against these free lances of the Press.
The Times in its issue of the I3th June, 1870 published
the following insinuating note from a correspondent : "While
Babu Keshubchandra Sen is creating an interest in London
which surprises many here who know the antipathy of his
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET XV11
community of Brahmos to Christianity, and while he him-
self is most sincerely urging the duty of England to send
out teachers to the zenanas of India, a relation of his, a
widow, has excited the animosity of the whole class of
Brahmos by being baptised by the Church Missionaries.
The lady who visited the zenana of Gunesh Soondery Debee
and her mother had given both Christian instruction for two
years. There was no compact, as has been asserted, and as
is sometimes the case, to abstain from such instruction. The
widow, a lady of 17, sought baptism after she had left her
mother's house and had proved her knowledge and the sin-
cerity of her motives : at one time her mother was about to
do the same. She was allowed free intercourse with her
family, who did their best, even to promising her marriage
with a rich landholder, to shake her constancy. At last her
mother was induced to sign an affidavit to the effect that the
widow was only 14, and on this a writ of Habeas Corpus was
issued. As no one restrained the lady, she appeared with a
native and an English missionary in the court next morning.
I happened to be present, and only one look at the widow
was sufficient to show that she was above 16, the legal age of
discretion. When the case finally came on, a native barrister,
who, Bengali-like, had lectured in grandiloquent terms on the
rights of woman and the woes of Hindu widows, rested his
case on the occurrence of certain Hindu texts which justify
the perpetual slavery of woman. Mr. Justice Phear was
somewhat caustic in his remarks on this, showing that the
Habeas Corpus would thus become not a means of personal
liberty, but of hopeless imprisonment. The whole question
was one of age and discretion. The judge decided that the
lady was of the age of 17, and in the chambers examined her
as to her knowledge. The trembling widow, before a Judge
and two barristers, and questioned by a Hindu interpreter
ignorant of Christian terminology, did not satisfy the Judge
XVlii A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
as to her knowledge of 'Genesis, Exodus and Matthew', but he
ruled thus : — 'I could see nothing to indicate that she had not
sufficient capacity to choose in the matter of her own creed.
For nothing, I apprehend, is clearer than that personal discre-
tion of that sort does not, in the eye of the law, depend upon
the mental culture or intellect of the individual. If it were so,
there would be an end of the liberty of the poor and the ig-
norant.' After another interview with her mother, the widow
persisted in choosing Christianity, and was allowed to go to
the mission-house. I feel assured Babu Keshub Chandra
Sen would never have encouraged his followers in the silly
intolerance which they have displayed. But those who,
ignorant of Brahmoism, imagine that it is a broad sect of
Christianity while even the most liberal missionaries declare
that they find the Brahmos their most bitter opponents,
would do well to study this case. A few, like Keshub Chandra
Sen, are sincere, and will be unable to rest where they are.
The majority are men who, dissatisfied with idolatry and the
moral restraints of Hinduism, rejoice in a system too vague
to control their conscience, too lax to demand moral courage
or self-sacrifice." Another correspondent, referring to the
same incident, wrote from Calcutta to the Record and
drew from it the following moral : "While Keshub is exhi-
biting himself in England as the Reformer and Apostle of
Progress, here his relations and confraternity are denying to
a poor woman the most inalienable rights of personal liberty.
Verily, it seems as if this most instructive case had happened
providentially, at a time when the good people of England
needed to have their eyes opened to the true character of the
'freedom of conscience' which 'theistic' professors are disposed
to accord."
Miss Collet addressed a long letter to the Spectator refut-
ing this charge of intolerance against the Brahmo Samaj.
Having mentioned the allegations of the correspondents of
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xix
the Times and the Record, she wrote: "As these statements
are being widely circulated here, may I request space to cor-
rect them on the authority of those concerned ?
"Babu K. C. Sen writes to me, — 'It is not true, as has
been alleged, that the girl is a near relative of mine. She is of
the same caste ( Vaidya ) and may be a distant connection of
our family. • But I never knew her, and I never heard of her
before the events in question happened. She was not a member
of the Brahmo Samaj before her conversion to Christianity, but
was a Hindu.' Babu K. C. Sen's brother, Babu Krishna B.
Sen, wiites to the Calcutta Daily Examiner to make precisely
similar statements. The Indian Mirror^ the organ of the
Brahmo Samaj Mission, also contradicts the report that the
girl was in any way connected with the Brahmo Samaj, and
doubts family relationship to its leader, — and to the insinua-
tion made by the missionaries that the B. Samaj had had
some connection with the action taken by the plaintiffs for
the recovery of the girl, the Mirror replies, 'to this statement
we are authorised to give an unqualified contradiction.' Babu
Keshub, also referring to the charge that the Brahmo Samaj
persecuted the girl, writes to me This is simply untrue, and
morally impossible. One or two individual Brahmos perhaps
supported the case, as friends and relations of the mother of
the girl, not as Brahmos. One of them was a cousin [Naren-
dra IN ath Sen] who was engaged as the attorney for the
prosecution/ It is probable that this circumstance combined
with the fact that the girl's family name was also Sen, gave
rise to the idea that Babu Keshub's relation and confraternity
were persecuting her.
"2. But the further question arises — supposing that a few
Brahmos did interest themselves in the case, why were they
arrayed against Christian Missionaries, unless from a bigoted
repugnance to a native's conversion ? Because this appeared
to be a cause, not of independent adult conversion, but of a
XX A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
young girl eloping from home under the clandestine persua-
sion of a zenana teacher. Her actual age was not proved one
way or the other ; her mother said she was fourteen, while she
herself claimed to be over sixteen (the usual age of Hindu
majority) , and the Judge believed himself to be bound in law
to accept the latter statement as made by the missionaries in
return to the writ of Habeas Corpus. Upon this narrow techni-
cal point the decision turned ; but the Judge gave the follow-
ing unfavourable estimate of the girl's state of mind as the
result of his private examination of her : — 'I could not help
coming to the conclusion that the young lady is exceedingly
ignorant and very ill-informed upon that particular subject
which she says has engaged her attention, and which has
been the particular purpose of instruction for the last two
years. It appears to me from that short interview that she
does not possess a single tangible idea which can be called
correct. Her ignorance of the one sacred Book is in itself
simply marvellous, and I am not blind to the danger which
exists when a girl so young, so ignorant, and so inexpe-
rienced, leaves the society of those amongst whom she has
lived all her life, and goes to live in the society of those
strangers whose names even she does not know.' The Rev.
Mr. Vaughn, who examined her previous to baptism, writes to
the Indian Mirror saying that she was too frightened to give a
clear account to the Judge of what she knew. On these points
it is impossible to form a decision at a distance ; but it is
noteworthy that the course taken by the missionaries in this
affair has been condemned by nearly all the Calcutta Press,
and that Christian public opinion is increasingly setting
against these conflicts with heathen parents for the bodily
possession of juvenile converts.
"3. Of course Babu Keshub frankly states his disapproval
of this 'barrack system', as it is called. But in opposing it,
he does not feel that he is opposing the missionaries, but only
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xxi
some of their modes of conversion. That body for whom
alone he is at all responsible, the 'progressive Brahmos,' are
not, he says, enemies of Christianity. All the leading men
among them honour Christ, and cannot, therefore, hate or
persecute his servants. Trusting that these explanations may
remove some of the misconceptions that are abroad, —
I am, Sir, &c.
S. D. Collet."
The sequel to this story was, briefly, as follows : About
three months after her baptism, Ganesh Sundari, for
reasons variously stated and never clearly explained, ran
away from the mission compound to her mother's house.
As her eldest brother refused to allow her to stay there, her
uncle took her away. But the controversy in the Press
continued for some time ; and Miss Collet had to take up her
pen every now and then. The lady was given shelter in a
Brahmo home, as her Hindu relations would not admit her
into their homes for fear of losing caste. This was made the
occasion for fresh misrepresentations in the public press ; and
the Brahmos were accused of having enticed her away, of
forging a letter in her name &c. A letter from one, Mr.
Vaughn incriminating the Brahmos, having been
reproduced in the Spectator of London, Miss Collet warmly
defended her friends. She wrote: "It is true that she is now
staying with a Brahmo, because no Hindu was found ready
to receive her. In fact, the Brahmo gentleman did try if
she might be taken under the protection of a Hindu, but in
this he was not successful. Her mother could not v for fear
of caste, continue to give her shelter at home, and Mr.
Vaughn himself admits that she is accessible to Christian
visitors in her Brahmo residence." "It can be no pleasure to
any Christian", she added in conclusion, "to dwell upon those
miserable contentions, and I only write of them to clear my
Brahmo friends from misapprehension."
xxii A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
In the midst of such unpleasant and vexatious controver-
sies, Miss Collet continued her more serious literary work on
behalf of the Brahmo Samaj. Her volume of Keshub
Chandra Sen's lectures being well received by the English
public, she prepared, before the end of the year 1870, another
edition of it with the addition of some sermons and prayers.
In reviewing this book, the Glasgow Herald (January 12, 1871)
announced the preparation of a History of the Brahmo
Samaj by Miss Collet. "Miss Collet/' wrote the Glasgow
paper, "by whom this volume is edited and who has done
much already to acquaint us with Indian Theism, has in
preparation a History of the Brahmo Samaj, which we are
sure will be looked for with much interest, especially by the
readers of Keshub Chandra Sen's Lectures and Tracts."
Shortly afterwards, Miss Collet brought out another
book under the title of "Keshub Chandra Sen's English
visit.'' It was a volume of more than six hundred pages
filled with reports of various public meetings which Mr. Sen
had attended during his English visit and the sermons and
addresses delivered by him on those occasions. It was a
work involving great labour; and it is surprising how Miss
Collet with her infirmities could accomplish it. But for her
careful compilation much of these materials would have been
lost. In reviewing it, the Spectator (March 25, 1871) wrote:
"The indefatigable pen by whose instrumentality mainly
Keshub Chandra Sen and his great Theistic movement in
India have been introduced to the literary notice of the
English public, has here been employed, chiefly we imagine
for the benefit of the great Hindoo Missionary's native
followers, in preparing a tolerably complete record of his
English visit, and all the more important receptions and
addresses by which it was signalised. This volume will, no
doubt, be read with great interest and gratification by those
adherents of the Brahmo Samaj, — and they are not few, —
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xxiii
who can read English ; and it will indeed be to them a
valuable testimony to the genuine sympathy felt with them
in England."
The interest awakened in England by the visit of Babu
Keshub Chandra Sen led to the formation of a committee
for rendering aid to the Brahmo Samaj. A meeting was held
in London for the purpose on the 2ist July, 1871. Miss
Collet was one of the leading organisers. The meeting
resolved that their "first efforts should be to raise sufficient
money for the purchase of an organ for Mr. Sen's church in
Calcutta, and do this at once as a beginning, so that at the
great gathering in Calcutta in January 1872 this organ might
be played, and so join all voices in one harmony." The
result was the organ which is still in use at the Bharatbarshiya
Brahma Mandir in Calcutta.
By this time the Brahmo Samaj was in the full swing of
the controversy regarding the Brahmo Marriage Bill. The
measure met with the successive opposition of the orthodox
Hindus and the members of the Adi Brahmo Samaj. Miss
Collet, with her characteristic energy, threw herself on the
side of the progressive Brahmos. She advised and encouraged
the Indians in England to send up a memorial in support
of the Bill, and herself wrote in the newspapers to remove
misconceptions. Allen's Indial Mail, which in those days
was an influential journal about Indian questions, remarked
thus in one of its issues : "It is evident that the provisions
of the Bill must be modified, so as to ensure the older
Brahmos perfect freedom to marry in their own way -9 and
the title and preamble of the Bill must be so altered as to
leave them no fair ground for complaint." In reply to this,
Miss Collet wrote (September 26, 1871): "If you examine
the Bill, you find that it does not in any respect interfere
with the freedom of the older Brahmos to marry in their own
way. The preamble states : — Whereas it is expedient to
xxiv A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
legalise marriages between the members of the sect called the
Brahmo Samaj, when solemnised according to the provisions
of this Act &c.' thus leaving the question entirely open
whether marriages between Brahmos solemnised in other
ways require legislation or not."
With her usual thoroughness, Miss Collet prepared and
published a pamphlet on "Brahmo Marriages, their past
history and present position" indicating the difficulties of the
progressive Brahmos. The Spectator thus reviewed the
pamphlet : "The author explains very clearly the difference
between the old idolatrous marriages and those which the
Indian Theists have celebrated and the doubts which have
arisen as to the legal validity of the latter. She shows how
difficult it was to remedy the mischief without bitterly
alarming native public opinion — how any remedy which only
required persons anxious to enter into a valid marriage
without idolatrous rites, to disclaim adhesion to the
orthodox religious systems of India, would have the
effect of subverting caste, because not compelling those
who made such a disclaimer to regard themselves
wholly outcasts from Hindu Society. On the other hand,
the proposal to legalise only the marriages of persons
who should declare themselves adherents of the Brahmo
faith alarmed the old school conservative Brahmos, who pro-
fess to believe their marriages (though not idolatrous) quite
legal, and who fear greatly any wider breach between them-
selves and Hinduism. On the whole subject Miss Collet
passes a very clear judgment and shows herself altogether
much more mistress of the question than the writer who not
long agodiscussed it, not too liberally in \hePallMall Gazette"
The Indian Mirror (Oct. 26,1871) wrote : "Among the pam-
phlets we have received by the last mail is one entitled
Brahmo Marriages : their past history and present position'
by Miss S, D, Collet. It is gratifying to find that the able
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLT ET XXV
author, whose name is quite familiar to our readers, has
taken up the most important topic of the day in India and
treated it in so exhaustive and convincing a manner as is
most likely to influence public opinion in England. The
pamphlet exhibits an amount of research which is truly
remarkable." This pamphlet, the narrative portion of which
was subsequently embodied by Miss Collet in her Brahmo
Year-Book for 1879, remains the clearest and fullest history
of that exceedingly interesting episode in the reform move-
ment of modern India viz., emancipation from the ty-
ranny of caste and priesthood in matters of matrimony. It
records how, step by step, the present law regulating reform
marriages came to be enacted.
Now we pass on to a more elaborate and sustained effort
on the part of Miss Collet to present the work and activities
of the Brahmo Samaj to the public. This was her compila-
tion of the "Brahmo Year-Book,'' which came out year after
year for seven years from 1876 to 1882. Considering the
fact that the compiler was not herself a member of the com-
munity, nor had she any direct personal acquaintance with
the churches the minutest details of the work and organisation
of which she undertook to chronicle from a distance of many
thousand miles, the work must be pronounced a marvellous
monument of labour and the power of keeping accurate in-
formation. The seven volumes of Miss Collet's Brahmo
Year-Book are together a store-house of information about the
Brahmo Samaj during a most important epoch in its history.
They include the period of the zenith of Babu Keshub Chandra
Sen's ascendancy in the Brahmo Samaj, immediately preced-
ing the Cooch Behar marriage and the troubled times that
followed until the practical conclusion of the disastrous
agitation- When Miss Collet commenced the work, she had
no idea of the coming catastrophe. Her object in under-
taking the compilation has been told in the preface to the
4
xxvi A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
first volume : "The Brahmo Samaj or Theistic Church of
India is an experiment hitherto unique in religious history.
It has been received with warm sympathy by some observers,
with suspicion and dislike by others ; but very little is gene-
rally known of its actual condition or principles beyond
what may be gleaned from the speeches and writings of a few
of its leaders who have visited England ; consequently,
the most absurd misapprehensions exist on the
subject in many quarters. The object of the present public-
ation is to supply periodically recent and reliable information
on the chief representative features of this Church, so interest-
ing alike to the practical Christian and religious philosopher."
It will thus be seen that the main object of Miss Collet was
to enlighten the British public about the Brahmo Samaj.
But the Brahmo Year-Book, must have been not much less
illuminating to the Indian reader and even to Brahmos them-
selves. For, Miss Collet, with a marvellous patience and per-
severance, collected and set forth every scrap of information
regarding even the smallest Brahmo congregations and insti-
tutions scattered throughout the length and breadth of India,
the existence of many of which had not been known to
Brahmos themselves in other parts of the country, so that
Miss Collet's publications came as a revelation to contemporary
Brahmos ; and to succeeding generations of Brahmos they
will always be a most valuable and interesting record of their
church at a very critical epoch. The work must have involved-
an enormous amount of correspondence and a very careful
reading of the periodicals and publications of and about the
Brahmo Samaj : and it is a wonder how Miss Collet, with her
chronic ill-health, could manage it in the way she did.
The aiduousness of her labours will be understood from
the fact that no one could continue the work after she
had been compelled to give it up on account of increas-
ing infirmities, though repeated efforts were made by
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET XXV11
persons in actual contact with the work of the Brahmo
Samaj.
The series begins with the year 1876. The first volume
opened with a general introduction giving a brief sketch of the
history of the Brahmo Samaj from its foundation and an account
of its ideals and existing organisation. Then followed a
general survey of the Brahmo Samajes and their work with a
complete list of Theistic congregations in India and a detail-
ed account of the more important among them. The next
volume was prepared on the same plan, with the addition of
an account of Brahmo literature and of new developments in
the Samaj. But soon after the publication of the second
volume, the Brahmo Samaj was swept over by the whirlwind
of the Cooch Behar marriage controversy, and necessarily the
greater part of the third volume was occupied with it. The
incident proved a great shock to Miss Collet. We have seen
with what warm admiration she regarded Babu Keshub
Chandra Sen at first and how zealously she defended him
against attacks in the press. The change from that
feeling must have been most painful. In after life she used
to call it her greatest "idol-breaking." But her interest in
the Brahmo Samaj did not diminish with her disappoint-
ment in Keshub Chandra Sen. Even in the darkest days of
that trouble, she did not lose her faith in the Brahmo Samaj.
With the most anxious solicitude she watched the progress of
the schism and chronicled it year after year with the utmost
scrupulousness and marvellous insight. She did not thrust
her own opinion on the readers, but in disputed matters gave
the versions of both the pat ties, leaving the reader to draw
his own conclusion. The Brahmo Year-Book for 1878 will
remain as the fullest source for the history of the second
schism in the Brahmo Samaj.
With the gradual subsidence of the agitation the
points at issue could be more clearly seen and the
xxviii A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
resulting situation better understood. Miss. Collet did
not share the popular European notion that with the
break-up of the power of Keshub Chandra Sen the
Brahmo Samaj had suffered a total ship-wreck. But she had
the insfght to see a renewed vitality of the Brahmo Samaj
in this momentous struggle for principle. Miss Collet watched
with great satisfaction the gradual development of the Sadha-
ran Brahmo Samaj. In the preface of the Year-Book for
1880, she writes : "Now it is perfectly clear that the Sadharan
Brahmo Samaj have fairly entered upon this coustitution-
al course, and are really acquiring habits of mutual help and
combined action which have already accomplished excellent
practical results and are in themselves a most wholesome
discipline." She could now look upon the future of her
favourite Theistic movement in India with hope and assurance.
She quoted with hearty approval the judgment of Count
Goblet d'Alveila that the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj "appears
to be henceforth unquestionably called to take the direction
of the movement which the church of Keshub seems to have
lost beyond recall."
In the volumes for 1880 and 1881 Miss Collet gives detail-
ed accounts of the development of Mr. Sen's views in his later
life leading to the adoption of the name 'New Dispensation.'
Babu Pratap Chandra Mazumdar, the Asst. Secretary of the
Brahmo Samaj of India, criticised some of the statements in
the volume for 1880. To this Miss Collet replied in the
volume for 1881 ; and she substantiated her statements by
quotations from the authoritative publications of the Brahmo
Samaj. At the same time, where she had been wrong, she
frankly admitted and apologised for her misstatements. As
a historian, Miss Collet was scrupulously fair and impartial,
and her aptitude and passion for collecting facts marvellous.
Many Samajes bore testimony to the accuracy of her state-
ments and passed resolutions conveying their gratitude to her
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xxix
for her self-imposed, disinterested labours in compiling the
Brahmo Year-Book. It is much to be regretted that
she did not write a complete History of the Brahmo Samaj
which the Glasgow Herald had announced in 1871 that she
had been preparing, The reason for the non-fulfilment of
this project was her extreme scrupulousness as a historian.
She would, not write a single sentence for which she had not
unquestionable authority. But though she did not herself write
a History of the Brahmo Samaj, it is to her initiative that we
owe Pandit Sivanath Sastri's two recent volumes on the
subject. For, she it was who induced Pandit Sastri during
his visit to England to write a complete History of the
Brahmo Samaj. Besides the article in the Contemporary
Review already noticed, she published two other pamphlets
bearing on the history of the Brahmo Samaj, one in 1871,
called An Historical Sketch of the Brahmo Samaj, and the
other in 1884 under the heading, Outlines and Episodes of
Brahmic History. Not only are they very convenient sketches
of the modern Theistic movement in India for the ordinary
public unacquainted with the history of the Brahmo Samaj,
but even many Brahmos will find in them many incidents
and episodes to interest them in the history of their church,
not known to them before.
Now we turn to the last but not the least of Miss Collet's
manifold services to the Brahmo Samaj — her Life of the
Founder. Rammohun Roy died in 1833. Nearly fifty years
passed away but no adequate biography of the great religious
reformer of modern India was written. In 1866, just on the
eve of her visit to India, Miss Mary Carpenter published a
small volume, entitled "The Last Days in England of the
Rajah Rammohun Roy," but it was not a complete biography.
The necessity of compiling such a biography was suggested
at the second of the memorial meetings organised by the
endeavours of the newly constituted Sadharan Brahmo Samaj
XXX A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
in January 1880. In 1881, Babu Nagendra Nath Chatterjee
brought out a Life of Rammohun Roy in Bengali. It was a
comparatively small volume. In the subsequent editions,
however, the author greatly enlarged it, in which task he was
largely indebted to the researches of Miss Collet. But as yet
there was nothing which could be given to the non-Bengali
reader. How early Miss Collet conceived the idea of writing
a Life of the Raja cannot now be definitely ascertained, but
from her ardent admiration for Rammohun it would seem
that she had had the work long in view. In the Brahmo
Year-Book for 1882, while reviewing the Bengali Life of the
Raja by Babu Nagendra Nath Chatterjee, she wrote : "The
author has kindly granted me permission to make use of it
in the biography of the Raja which I hope soon to compile."
But the book was not quite ready even at the time of her
death, which took place on the 2/th March, 1894. The long
delay is another proof of her scrupulous desire to be thorough
and accurate as a historian. Mr. N. Gupta, perhaps the last
Indian gentleman to whom she could speak, writes to me to
say that on her death-bed she told him "her only regret was
that she could not finish the Life of Rammohun, though she
had neglected her own affairs for the purpose." But she
would not allow the work to appear before the public until
she should have satisfied herself that all available sources had
been consulted. For twelve long years she worked incessant-
ly, and devoted to this work every moment that she could
snatch in the midst of her failing health. To verify one date
she would work six months. With what conscientious scru-
pulousness she used to write will be abundantly clear from
the published fruit of her labours. She consulted every avail-
able authority in England and in India. She never rested
satisfied with second-hand information, but always tried to
get at the original sources. Her Life of Rammohun Roy is
an ideal of conscientious biography. Thoroughness, passion
for perfection, was the most prominent feature of Miss Collet's
character. We may, in this connection, transcribe the follow-
ing interesting confessions of Miss Collet, kindly supplied by
one of her nieces as having been written by Miss Collet when
it was the fashion to get one's friends to write their confessions
in one's album : —
"Your favourite virtue — Thoroughness.
Your favourite qualities in man — Faithfulness to a noble
ideal, blended with sense and spiced with
humour.
OF SOPHIA DOBSON COLLET xxxi
Your favourite qualities in woman — Sweetness and sense,
bracketed equal, with conscience to take care of them'
Your favourite occupation — Writing theology.
Your chief characteristic — Enthusiasm streaked with
cowardice.
Your idea of happiness— Listening to perfect music per-
fectly executed.
Your idea of misery — Tooth-ache in the middle of the night.
Your favourite colour and flower — Blue. White garden lily.
If not yourself, who would you be ? — An accomplished
M. A. Oxon, just beginning active life.
Where would you like to live ? — In the suburbs of London.
Your favourite prose authors — R. H. Hutton, F. W. New-
man, Emerson Colonel Higginson.
Your favourite poets Tennyson, Matthew Arnold,
Whittier, Lowell.
Your favourite painters and composers — Raphael, Guido,
Handel, Mendelssohn, Miss Flower.
Your favourite heroes in real life — St. Augustine, Mendels-
sohn, Mr. Gladstone, Keshub C. Sen.
Your favourite heroines in real life — Vivia Perpetua and
Mrs. Adams
Your pet aversion — Hypocrisy and overbearingness.
What character in history do you most dislike ? — John Calvin.
What is your present state of mind ? — Tranquil satisfaction.
Your favourite motto — "Open to the light."
(November 27. 1876 — (Signed) Sophy Dobson Collet.
A word or two about Miss Collet's religious views will
perhaps be looked for here. From her enthusiasm for the
Brahmo Samaj one is likely to conclude that she was a pure
theist ; but that impression would notbe correct. Miss Collet
was, as we have seen, born in a Unitarian family. But her
religious views underwent many changes. She had passed
through many and interesting phases of religious experience.
When she had passed out of her inherited Unitarian convic-
tions, she was for some time a sceptic. Subsequently she
came under the influence of the late Mr. R. H. Hutton, the
editor of the Spectator, who had been in his earlier life trained
for the Unitarian ministry. With Mr. Hutton she approached,
if not actually joined, the Church of England, though of
course she was always very broad and liberal. She has left
an autobiographical sketch describing the successive phases
of her religious experience. Unfortunately, however, it has
not been published.
XXXli A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
The object of this brief sketch would not be fulfilled with-
out a grateful acknowledgment of Miss Collet's warm recep-
tion o^ and valuable help to, successive batches of Indians
who went to England from the time of the visit of Keshub
Chandra Sen and Ananda Mohan Bose down to the date of
her death. Brahmo gentlemen in London found in her a
most kind friend and well-wisher, ever ready to assist them
with sound advice and guidance, How cordial was that relation
and how valuable her help will be understood from the follow-
ing letter written to Miss Collet by the late Mr. Ananda
Mohan Bose, when leaving England at the end of his four
year's stay. He wrote from the 5. S. Hindustan : "I sit down
to send a few lines bearing my love and kindest remembranc-
es to you. How sorry I felt at the shortness of our parting
interview, when I had had to tear myself away for another
engagement, and at my inability to see you again, as I had
some faint hopes of doing ! * * * But however short the
time, I could see you at the last ; amongst the pleasantest of
all the memories I carry with me of the years I have spent
in England will be the thought of the happiness and pleasure
I have derived from your acquaintance and friendship. A
recollection of this will ever be engraved in my heart, and
often and often I shall look back with regretful joy on those
days when I have been with you, and derived a strengthening
and cheering influence from your example and words.'' Miss
Collet kept up regular correspondence with many Brahmo
friends. Though not in complete agreement with the Brahmo
Samaj in theology, she had completely identified herself with
it in interest. The Brahmo Samaj was uppermost in her
heart and mind. The Brahmos felt her to be one of them-
selves. She used to write in Bengali very affectionately to
many Brahmo ladies whom she had never seen. The Brahmo
Samaj never had a warmer friend and more sincere well-
wisher. Miss Collet's memory should be cherished with the
kindest regard by successive generations of Brahmos for the
many and valuable services she rendered to their cause.
INTRODUCTION.
BY THE EDITOR
history of India falls into three broad, clearly-marked
divisions. There are the early days of exuberent vitality,
creative vigour, many-sided progress, stretching far into the
dim past— the India of the Rishis, of the Upanishads, of the
Buddhist gospel of love and service, the India of the epics
and the schools of philosophy. We might denote the whole
of this long period by the one comprehensive name of Anci-
ent India. This was followed by a long era of gradual de-
cline, of intellectual and spiritual stagnation, of moral and
social degradation, of superstition and servitude — a veritable
dark age which might be called Mediaeval India. Since con-
tact with the West awakened the country from this long death-
like slumber, a fresh career of honour and distinction, of in-
tellectual power and spiritual grandeur, of social regeneration
and national progress has been ushered in. This new era has
been significantly called the Rammohun Roy epoch ; for he it
was who heralded this era embodying as he did the purest
and loftiest aspirations of New India in his own wonderful
life and giving inspiring expression to them with his pro-
phetic voice.
Rammohun Roy was truly an epoch-making man. No
epoch in the history of a nation can be more fittingly named
after a man than modern India after Raja Rammohun Roy ;
and no man has a juster right to be called the prophet of an
era than the Raja of the present epoch in India. Rammohun
Roy was born at a momentous juncture in the history of
, India and was, under the providence of God, destined to
mould the national life in all its bearings, as few have done in
the history of the race. The political, social and religious life
XXXIV INTRODUCTION
of New India has been permanently stamped with the perso-
nality of Rammohun Roy and his name will remain indisso-
lubly associated with the history of modern India.
At the time of Rammohun Roy's birth a dense cloud of
darkness was brooding over the country. For centuries to-
gether the muses of India had been silent. No voice of
commanding genius relieved the silent monotony of this long
period. The great masters of Sanskrit literature had long
since disappeared, while the vernacular literature of none of
the provinces had secured any eminence or recognition. The
profound speculation of the Indian mind had become a thing
of the past ; the schools of philosophy were extinct and in
their place pedantic wrangling on trivial technicalities passed
lor profundity of thought and learning. The fountain of reli-
gious inspiration was not indeed quite dried up. The inmost
spring of India's national life welled up again and again, but
only to be lost in the surrounding wilderness. The fate of the
great religious teachers and movements of this dark age served
only to bring into clearer view the evil days which had fallen
on the land. Their message of spiritual religion was not
understood and their followers soon degenerated into sects,
intensifying the very evils which the Masters had striven to
eradicate. The last of the prophets was Sri Chaitanya of Nadia,
who flourished in the fifteenth century ; his gospel of love
gradually sank into hollow sentimentalism in the hands of
his unworthy followers.
With the decay of knowledge and the deadening of cons-
cience moral corruption and social degeneracy passed unchal-
lenged in the country. Blind superstition and gross ido-
latry reigned supreme from one end to the other. Outward
ceremonials, scrupulousness about eating and drinking, signs
and symbols had usurped the place of living faith, cleanliness
of heart and integrity of conduct. Personal purity in the
I male sex was not considered necssary at all. The sense of
INDIA AT THE BIRTH OF RAMMOHtW XXXV
justice was dead. Men could marry any number of wives
successively or even simultaneously ; but women, even little
girls of five or six, if they happened to lose their husbands,
whom perhaps they had never seen except at the hour of the
'so-called wedding, were not allowed to marry again, but were
condemned to drag on a miserable existence deprived of all
the comforts of life, or, what was still more inhuman, burnt
alive on the funeral pyre of their husbands. In some parts
of the country female children were killed as soon as they
were born ; and the first born were not unoften thrown into
the rivers in propitiation of the gods.
Politically, the country was passing through the confu-
sion of a transition period. The Mahommedan sovereignty
had collapsed. The Mahrattas proved unequal to holding
the falling sceptre. The sovereignty of the land was in-
evitably passing into the hands of the East India Company.
By the time Rammohun Roy reached manhood the chapter of
this conquest was practically completed. But the British
people had not yet fully assumed the duties and responsibi-
lities of sovereignty. Their main concern was yet commerce
and acquisition of wealth, The Mahommedan system of admi-
nistration was allowed to continue with as little disturbance as
possible. The new masters of the country were sorely appre-
hensive of losing their recently acquired territories by a sudden
rising of the fanatical orientals. They seemed to have been
mortally afraid of exciting the religious prejudices of the
people. Successive Governors, though keenly aware of the
inhuman cruelty of Sati, dared not intefere with it, lest the
Company's rule should be in danger, Education was not yet
considered to lie within the province of Government.
There were no schools throughout the length and breadth of
the country, except the Tols and Maktabs and Pathsalas
where Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian were taught with the ele-
ments of arithmetic.
XXXVI INTRODUCTION
Such was the condition of the country when Raja Ram-
mohun Roy was born. We cannot explain his career and
work by his environments. Rammohun Roy was undoubt-
edly not the product of his age. Rather, the age was largely
his creation. Rammohan Roy had none of the benefits and
facilities of education which the young men of a generation or
two later enjoyed, mainly through his labours. .Politically,
socially and educationally there was not yet any glimpse of
light. The greatest glory of Rammohun Roy lay in this, that
in the midst of thick, brooding darkness he saw afar the vision
of a New India and bravely laboured against large odds, as
will be seen in the following pages, to bring it nearer. Ram-
mohun Roy seems to have early realised the mission of his
life and steadily prepared himself for it. Before he completed
his sixteenth year the religious degradation of his country
disclosed itself to him and he wrote against the current idol-
worship with such force that it led to the expulsion of the
boy of sixteen from his ancestral home. Rammohun Roy
cheerfully accepted the ordeal and proceeded to utilise it in
preparing himself for his life-work. The four years of exile
were spent in the study of the religious systems of the past
under the reputed guardians of the ancient lore and a personal
survey of the condition of the country, In the course of his
wanderings Rammohun Roy went up as far as Tibet to
study Buddhism. Soon after his return home he again pro-
ceeded to Benares and spent about 12 years in close and
earnest study in that ancient seat of Hindu learning and ortho-
doxy and it must have been here that the foundation was laid
of his vast erudition in Sanskrit literature. Towards the latter
half of this period he began to learn English ; possibly his
chief object in this was the investigation of the Christian
scriptures, for at this time he had no desire to enter Govern-
ment service, it being only due to the pressing request of Mr.
Digby that he subsequently accepted a post under him.
THE RANGE OF RAMMOHTJN'S WORK XXXVii
Even while in the service of Government he was steadily and
diligently preparing himself for the main work ; he had all
along contemplated an early retirement with a view to devote
himself entirely to the great mission of his life, which he was
enabledto do in 1814, when he settled in Calcutta with all his
plans fully matured.
That work comprised the entire range of national aspira-
tions and activities, Raja Rammohun Roy was not merely
the founder of a religion ; religion was no doubt the main
spring and the chief concern of his life, but his wonderful
genius in its all comprehensive reach embraced the whole
national life and his breath of inspiration and his consecrated
labours succeeded in creating a New India — an India new all
round. In 1814, when Raja Rammohun Roy came to settle
in Calcutta, the country was yet in deep slumber ; by 1830,
when he left our shores for England, the new life fairly set
in, and the beginnings of thse political, social and religious
activities which have since spread over the whole country were
clearly visible. During the short interval the Raja laid the
foundations of the various movements which together make
up a nation's life. Here was the fountain whence the streams
of national life and activities issued and rapidly spread over
the land. Let us briefly indicate the connection of Raja
Rammohun Roy with the awakening of India at the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century.
The great proximate cause of the national awakening
was the introduction English education. Raja Rammohun
Roy with his prophetic vision realised that, if India was to
rise and take her legitimate place among modern nations, she
must have modern scientific education after the model of the
West. Accordingly, as soon as he was settled in Calcutta,
he began to move for the introduction of English education.
But in this, not only was he hampered by the indifference
and prejudices of his own countrymen, but even many well
xxxviii INTkODUCtlON
meaning Englishmen of high position were against him, as
would be seen from the detailed narratives of his life. When
Rammohun Roy started work in Calcutta, there were no
public schools worth the name for the teaching of English
anywhere in India. Ramkamal Sen, the author of the first
English Bengali dictionary, discribes in his preface how the
first English captain who sailed over to infant Calcutta, sent
ashore asking for a dobhashia or interpreter. The Seths who
acted as middlemen between the English merchants and
the native weavers in the sale and purchase of piece goods,
in their ignorance, sent a dhobi or washerman on board. To
that washerman, who made a good use of the monopoly of
the English that he acquired, Ramkamal Sen ascribes the
honour of being the first English scholar amongst the people
of Bengal, The mere vocabulary of nouns, adverbs and
interjections which for nearly a century made up all the
English of the Bengalis became enriched and improved when
Sir Eliza Impey established the Supreme Court in Calcutta
in 1774. The growing business of the court made the next
generation of middle class Bengalees a little more familiar
with English. Interpreters, clerks, copyists and agents were
in demand alike by the Government and the mercantile
houses. Self interest stimulated enterprising Bengali youths
to learn English from European and Armenian adventurers.
One, Sherbourne, a European, kept a school in the Jorasanko
quarter, where Dwarkanath Tagore learned the English
alphabet. Martin Bowl in Amratola taught the founder of
the wealthy Seal family. Aratoon Petroos was another who
kept a school of fifty or sixty Bengalee lads. The best among
the pupils became teachers in their turn, like the blind Nitya-
nanda Sen in Colootolah and the lame Udyacharan Sen, the
tutor of the millionaire Mullicks, As remarked above, the
Government had not yet undertaken the responsibility of
public instruction, The year previous to the "settlement of
RAMMOHUN'S EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES xxxix
i
Raja Rammohun Roy in Calcutta, the Court of Directors,
under the pressure of the Parliament, enjoined "that a sum
of not less than a lakh of rupees, in each year, shall beset
apart, and applied to the revival and improvement of lite-
rature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India
and for the introduction and promotion of knowledge of
the sciences among the British territories of India." But it
was not till many years afterwards that this sum was made
available for the promotion of English education. In 1780
Warren Hastings had founded the Madrassa, a Mahommedan
College in Calcutta for giving instruction to Mahommedan
boys in Arabic and Persian. In 1791 Jonathan Duncan,
Resident at Benares, did the same thing for the Hindus by
establishing the Benares Sanskrit College, avowedly to culti-
vate "their laws, literature and religions." The Fort William
College was established at Calcutta in 1800 for the benefit
of the members of the civil service. But up to the arrival of
Rammohun Roy in Calcutta there were no public schools for
the systematic teaching of English to Indian boys.
No sooner had Rammohun Roy settled in Calcutta than
he began to concert measures for the introduction of English
education among his countrymen. It will be seen that all
the three agencies that have been at work during the last
hundred years, for the diffusion of education on western lines
in India, viz, private bodies, Government institutions, and
Christian missions, owed largely to his initiative in the begin-
ning. The earliest public institution for the teaching of English
in India was perhaps the Hindu College of Calcutta, establish-
ed in 1819. It owed its origin to a discussion at the Atmiya
Sab ha of Rammohun Roy in 1815. The story of the estab-
lishment of that memorable institution was told by the great
missionary educationist, Dr. Alexander Duft, before the Select
Committee ofthe House of Commons in 1853, and we cannotdo
better than reproduce it here, Dr. Duff said in his evidence : —
xl INTRODUCTION
"The system of English education commenced in the
following very simple way in Bengal. There were two persons
who had to do with it, — one was Mr. David Hare, and the
other was a native, Rammohun Roy. In the year 1815 they
were in consultation one evening with a few friends as to
what should be done with a view to the elevation of the na-
tive mind and characters. Rammohun Roy's position was
that they should establish an assemply or convocation, in
which what are called the higher or purer dogmas of Vedanta
or ancient Hinduism might be taught ; in short the Panthe-
ism of the Vedas and their Upanishads but what Rammohan
Roy delighted to call by the more genial title of Monotheism.
Mr. David Hare was a watchmaker in Calcutta, an ordinary
illiterate man himself •, but being a man of great energy and
strong practical sense, he said the plan should be to institute
an English School or College for the instruction of native
youths. Accordingly he soon drew up and issued a circular
on the subject, which gradually attracted the attention of the
leading Europeans, and among others, of the Chief Justice
Sir Hyde East. Being led to consider the proposed measure,
he heartily entered into it, and got a meeting of European
gentlemen assembled in May 1816. He invited also some of
the influential natives to attend. Then it was unanimously
agreed that they should commence an institution for the
teaching of English to the children of higher classes, to be
designted the Hindu College of Calcutta."
Rammohun Roy threw himself into the project with cha-
racteristic energy but, with a rare self-effacement, voluntarily
withdrew tfrom the committee, as some of the orthodox
Hindu leaders on account of his religious views, objected to
being his colleagues on it ; which, however, did not affect
his zealous exertions in its behalf from outside.
The share of Raja Rammohun Roy in inducing the
Government to interest itself in the introduction of English
LETTER TO LORD AMHERST xll
education in India is wellknovvn. We have already mention-
ed that in 1813 the Director of the East India Company
decided to set apart a lakh of rupees from the revenues of the
country for educational purposes, when the question of the
utilisation of this amount came up for discussion, there arose
a difference of opinion among the high officials, including
the members of the Council of the Governor-General ; one
party wished to devote the Government grant to giving
stipends to Pandits and Moulvis and scholarships to Arabic
and Sanskrit students and to publishing oriental manuscripts
for the revival of classical learning, and were called the
Orientalists. The other party were for establishing schools
and colleges on the model of English public schools for the
spread of western scientific and literary education and were
called the Anglicists. The battle raged for several years, till
it was finally settled by the memorable decree of Lord Ben-
tink's Council of the 7th March 1835. Rammohun Roy had a
large share in bringing about this momentous decision. At
first the Orientalists were in the ascendant and succeeded in
securing the Government grant for their purpose. In 1823
Raja Rammohun Roy addressed to Lord Amherst, then
Governor General, a long letter which would alone immortalise
his name. In it he advocated by unanswerable arguments the
introduction of western education after the English model.
The story has been told in full detail by Miss Collet. All we
need point out here is that, but for Rammohun Roy's season-
able intervention, the introduction of English education in
India might have been indefinitly, at least for a long time,
postponed. Though no immediate satisfactory reply was given
to his letter, the success of the cause of the Anglicists now be-
come assured ; for when Rammohun Roy wrote on behalf of
the dumb millions of India, demanding modern scientific
education, it was felt that the ultimate triumph of the plea
could not be far off.
B
xlii INTRODUCTION
Equally prominent was the part Raja Ramrnohun took in
drawing the Christian missions into the field of Indian edu-
cation. As soon as Rammohun Roy became acquainted with
the several Christian denominations of Europe and America,
he began to interest them in the problem of Indian education.
He lost no opportunity of pressing upon them the importance
and advantages of imparting modern scientific education
to the people of India. We find him repeatedly writing to
Unitarian leaders of his acquaintance in England and Ame-
rica "to send as many serious and able teachers of European
learning and science and Christian morality unmingled with
religious doctrines as your circumstances may admit, to
spread knowledge gratuitously among the native community."
The Unitarians were not able to render the aid desired, but
a similar request at another quarter bore excellent fruits, Rev
James Bryce, the first Scottish Chaplain in Calcutta, was
persuaded by Raja Rammohun Roy to write to the home
authorities to send missionaries for the spread of know-
ledge and learning. Let us tell the story in the words of
Dr. George Smith, the biographer of Dr. Duff. He writes :
"It was Rammohun Roy too, who was the instrument of the
conversion of the first chaplain, Dr. Bryce, from the opinion
of the Abbe Dubois that no Hindu could be made a true
Christian to the conviction that the past want of success was
largely owing to the inaptitude of the means employed.
Encouraged by the approbation of Rammohun Roy, Dr. Bryce
presented to the General Assembly of 1824 the petition and
memorial which first directed the attention of the Church
of Scotland to British India as a field for missionary exer-
tions." Rammohun Roy, as an attendant of the St. Andrews
Kirk, supported this memorial, in a separate communication.
It was in response to this appeal that the Rev. Alexandar
Duff, the pioneer of Educational Missions in India, was sent
over by the Church of Scotland in 1830,
CO-OPERATION WITH DR, DUFF xliil
Rev Alexander Duff arrived in Calcutta in 1830. The
young missionry received a most cordial welcome and
valuable help from Raja Rammohun Roy, but for whose
timely co-operation he might have had to go back in
disappointment. Let us again quote from the biographer of
Dr. Duff: "In a pleasant garden house in the leafy suburbs
of Calcutta, Raja Rammohun Roy, then fifty-six years of
age, was spending his declining days in earnest meditation
of divine truth, broken only by works of practical benevolence
among his countrymen, and soon by preparations for that
visit to England, where in 1833, he yielded to the unconge-
nial climate. 'You must at once visit the Raja', said General
Beatson, when Mr. Duff presented his letter of introduction,
'and I will drive you out on an early evening'. Save by
Duff himself afterwards, justice has never been done to
this Hindu reformer, this Erasmus of India." So the two
remarkable men met, the far-sighted Indian listened to the
young Scotchman's statement of his objects and plans and
expressed general approval. Continues the biographer of
Dr. Duff:—
"Greatly cheered by the emphatic concurrence of Ram-
mohun Roy Mr. Duff said the real difficulty now was, where
or how, to get a hall in the native city ; for the natives owing
to caste prejudices, were absolutely averse to letting any of
their houses to a European for European purposes. Then if
a suitable place could be got, how could youths of the res-
pectable classes be induced, since he was resolved to teach
the Bible in every class, and he was told this would con-
stitute an insuperable objection. Rammohun Roy at once
offered the small hall of the Brahmo Sabha in the Chitpore
Road, for which he had been paying to the five Brahmin
owners £5 a month of rental Driving at once to the spot,
the generous Hindu reformer secured the Hall for the Chris-
tian missionary from Scotland at £4 a month, Pointing to a
xliv INTRODUCTION
punkhah suspended from the roof, Rammohun Roy said with
a smile, 'I leave you that as my legacy.'
"After a few days five bright-eyed youths of the higher
class, mostly Brahmanical, called upon Mr. Duff at Dr.
Brown's where he still resided, with a note of introduction
from Rammohun Roy stating that those five, with the full
consent of their friends, were ready to attend him whenever
he might open the school."
But the troubles did not end here. On the day of the
opening of the School, i3th July 1830, as Dr. Duff put a copy
of the Bible into the hands of each of the boys, there was
murmuring among them, which found voice in the protest
of a leader. "This is the Christian Shastra. We are not
Christians ; how then can we read it ? It may make us
Christians, and our friends will drive us out of caste." Ram-
mohun Roy had thoughtfully anticipated the crisis. And
now he presented himself on the occasion. He gently per-
suaded the boys that there was no harm in reading the
Christian Shastra. Christians like Dr. Horace Hayman
Wilson had read the Hindu Shastras but they had not become
Hindus. He himself had read the Koran but that had not
made him a Mussalman, So the remonstrants were satis-
fied for the time. Day after day for a month Rammohun
Roy would visit the school and frequently thereafter till he
left for England. That small school was the pioneer of the
splendid Missionary educational institutions which have done
so much for the diffusion of education in India.
Rammohun Roy did not rest satisfied with helping others
with his counsel and influence. With that entire devotion
to purpose and thoroughness in execution which character-
ised all his efforts, Rammohun at a considerable expense es-
tablished a school, called the Anglo-Hindu School, for im-
parting free education in English to Hindu boys. Two
teachers were employed, one on a salary of Rs. 150 and the
CREATOR OF BENGALI PROSE xlv
other of Rs. 70 a month. Nearly the whole of the cost was
met by the Raja from his own not superabundant resources.
The school flourished for several years and did much good.
Maharshi Devendranath Tagore received his early education
in this school. One of its special features was the imparting
of religious and moral instruction along with secular
education, a course on which Rammohun Roy laid great
emphasis.
Another great service which Raja Rammohun Roy ren-
dered to the cause of education was the creation of Bengali
prose literature. Though primarily affecting Bengal, it has
indirectly exercised a highly beneficial influence over the
whole country. The intellectual progress of a nation must ul-
timately depend upon the development of her mother tongue.
During the last hundred years there has been a vast and wide-
spread progress in the vernaculars of the country. In Bengal,
in this matter as in many others, Raja Rammohun Roy was
the pioneer. At the time of his birth Bengali literature did
not count for anythiug. There had been some poets, whose
extant writings are of considerable poetical merit ; but
of prose, which is after all the currency of a nation's intellec-
tual life, there was none. There were no religious, philosophi-
cal, historical or literary books or essays in Bengali prose.
Rammohun Roy was the first to employ Bengali prose in
expressing serious thought and making it a powerful medium
of popular enlightenment and education. He translated
Sanskrit scriptures, conducted religious controversies, wrote
articles on moral and social subjects in simple, elegant
Bengali prose. He even wrote text books on grammar, geo-
metry, geography and other useful subjects in Bengali. He was
also the father of that branch of literature which has become
so common and so potent a factor of modern civilisation, viz,
journalism, in Bengali, As early as 1819 he started a Ben-
gali journal, called the Samvad Kaumudi} which was perhaps
INTRODUCTION
the first Bengali journal, and was largely instrumental in
bringing about the transformation of thought and life in the
province. Thus arose a new Bengali literature, which has
steadily grown in volume and power ever since.
Equally important was the Raja's contributions to the
revival of Sanskrit study in Bengal. In his time Sanskrit was
at a very low ebb in the province. Sanskrit learning was
mainly confined to a mechanical cramming in grammar and
the Smritis, The Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Vedant were
almost forgotten. Though an earnest advocate of modern
scientific culture, Rammohun Roy was no less ardent in his
admiration for and insistunt on the revival of the ancient
Aryan culture. At the discussions of the Atmiya sabha as to
the best means for the elevation of the Indian people, at
which David Hare was present, Rammohun Roy seriously
contended at first that "they should establish an assembly or
convocation in which what are called the higher or purer
dogmas of Vedantism or ancient Hinduism might be taught."
But later when he came to stand in favour of western scienti-
fic education, he did not altogether abandon his plea for the
revival of ancient Hindu learning, but persevered single-hand-
ed in his scheme and at last in 1826 succeeded in establish-
ing a Vedanta college. He appears to have built a
house and spent every month a considerable sum of money
for it.
To convince people of the excellence of the ancient
Hindu religious literature he, further, published some of the
master pieces of the early times with translations in Bengali,
English and Hindi. This had of course, the desired effect ;
others, following in his footsteps, laboured in this rich field ;
and there has grown a lively interest in the study of an-
cient Hindu religious literature of which Rammohun was the
inaugurator. Eminent scholars of the present day have borne
testimoney to the value of this phase of the Raja's labours,
FATHER OF POLITICAL AGITATION xlvil
Pandit Kalibar Vedantabagish, a well known Vedantic scholar
of recent times, observed at a public meeting in commemora-
of the 63rd anniversary of the Raja's death that "a great boon
had been conferred on the country by Raja Rammohun Roy
in reviving the study of Vedanta philosophy in Bengal and
acknowledged in feeling terms how he was himself indebted to
the Raja for having been first led to the study of the Vedanta
by the Raja's writings on the subject in the Tattwabodhini
Patrika."
The inestimable blessings which Rammohun Roy conferred
on his countrymen by establishing the Brahmo Samaj has
somewhat overshadowed the greatness of his services in
other spheres. Not only was Raja Rammohun Roy the in-
augurator of a new era in the religious history of India, he was
equally the Father of the modern political awakening of the
country. At the celebration of the death anniversary of the
Raja on 27th, September, 1904, The Hon'ble Babu Surendra
Nath Banerjee said, in the course of a speech, to be found
in the Appendix : "Let it be remembered that Rammohun
was not only the Founder of the Brahmo Samaj and the pio-
neer of all social reform in Bengal, but he was also the Father
of constitutional agitation in India." Before the time of Ram-
mohun Roy's public activities in Calcutta there was no glim-
mering of a political life in the country. People had no
conception of their civil rights and privileges ; nobody ever
thought of approaching Government to make known their
grievances and ask for redress. Raja Rammohun Roy was the
first to enunciate the rights and privileges of the people, and
in the name of the nation to speak to the Government of
their duties and responsibilities as the sovereign power.
The first stand made by the people of India in defence of
their civil rights was when Raja Rammohun Roy, in his own
name and in the name of five of his friends, submitted a
memorial to the Supreme Court in Calcutta, on the 313!
xlviii INTRODUCTION.
March, 1823 against the Ordinance of the then acting
Governor-General, Mr. Adarn, prescribing that thenceforth
no one should publish a newspaper or other periodical with-
out having obtained a licence from the Governor-General in
Council." The conception as well as the execution of the
memorial was Rammohun Roy's own. Miss Collet has justly
said of the memorial, "it may be regarded as the Areopagi-
tica of Indian history. Alike in diction and in argument, it
forms a noble landmark in the progress of English culture
in the East."
Whether for cogent reasoning or for convincing appeal
the memorial could hardly he excelled. It would do credit
to any statesman of any age. With a broad, liberal, far-
sighted statesmanship it enumerates the inestimable blessings
of a free press both for the rulers and the ruled. After this
Rule and Ordinance shall have been carried into execution,
your memorialists are therefore sorry to observe, that a
complete stop will be put to the diffusion of knowledge and
the consequent mental improvement now going on, either
by translations into the popular dialect of this country from
the learned languages of the east, or by the circulation of
literary intelligence drawn from foreign publications. And
the same cause will also prevent those Natives who are better
versed in the laws and customs of the British Nation from
communicating to their fellow subjects a knowledge of the
admirable system of Government established by the British
and the peculiar excellencies of the means they have adopted
for the strict and impartial administration of justice. Another
evil of equal importance in the eyes of a just Ruler is that
it will also preclude the natives from making the Government
readily acquainted with the errors and injustice that may be
committed by its executive officers in the various parts of
this extensive country ; and it will also preclude the Natives
• from communicating frankly and honestly, to their Gracious
RAMMOHUN'S FAR-SIGHTED STATESMANSHIP xlix
sovereign in England and his Council, the real condition
of His Majesty's faithful subjects in this distant part of his
dominions and the treatment they experience from the local
Government ; since such information cannot in future be
conveyed to England, as it has been, either by the transla-
tions from the Native publications inserted in the English
newspapers printed here and sent to Europe or by the
English publications which the Natives themselves had in
contemplation to establish, before this Rule and Ordinance
was proposed. After this sudden deprivation of one of the
most precious of their rights which has been freely allowed
them since the establishment of the British power, a right
which they are not, cannot be, charged with having ever
abused, the inhabitants of Calcutta would be no longer
justified in boasting, that they are fortunately placed by
Providence under the protection of the whole British nation
or that the King of England and his Lords and Commons
are their Legislators, and that they are secured in the
enjoyments of the same civil and religious privileges that
every Briton is entitled to in England."
When this memorial was rejected by the Supreme Court,
the Raja prepared a fresh memorial to be submitted to the
King. Miss Collet has characterised this latter as "one of the
noblest pieces of English to which Rammohun put his hand.
Its stately periods and not less stately thought recall the
eloquence of the great orators of a century ago. In a
language and style for ever associated with the glorious
vindication of liberty it invokes against arbitrary exercise of
British power the principles and the traditions which are
distinctive of British history." It was really a marvellous
production, considering the age and the circumstances under
which it was written. But it had produced no better results
than its predecessor. The Privy Council in November, 1825,
after six months' consideration declined to comply with the
C
1 INTRODUCTION
petition. As a final protest, Rammohun Roy stopped his
weekly Urdu paper, Mirat-ul-Akhbar, declaring his inability
to publish it under what he considered degrading conditions.
In 1827 Rammohun Roy made another spirited protest
against the illiberal policy of the Government, which reveals
his ever wakeful solicitude for the rights of his countrymen as
well as his deep political insight. In 1826 a jury Bill for
India was passed, which came into operation in the begin-
ning of 1827. Rammohun Roy prepared and sent up to
both Houses of Parliament petitions against it signed by
Hindus and Mahommedans. On this occasion the Raja took
his stand on the injustice and injudiciousness of making
invidious religious distinctions in the administration of a
country like India. The circumstances of the case will be
clearly understood from the following concise statement in
a letter written by Rammohun Roy on the i$th August, 1828
to Mr. J. Crawford : "In his famous Jury Bill, Mr. Wynn,
the late President of the Board of Control, has by introducing
religious distinctions into the judicial system of this country,
not only afforded just grounds for dissatisfaction among the
Natives in general, but has excited much alarm in the breast
of everyone conversant with political principles. Any Natives
either Hindu or Mahommedan, are rendered by this Bill subject
to judicial trial by Christians, either European or Native, while
Christians including Native converts, are exempted from the
degradation of being tried either by a Hindu or Mussalman
juror, however high he may stand in the estimation of
society. This Bill also denies both to Hindus and Mussal-
mans the honour of a seat in the Grand Jury, even in the
trial of fellow Hindus or Mussalmans. This is the sum total
of Mr. Wynn's late Jury Bill of which we bitterly com-
plain." Rammohun Roy supported his contention by re-
ferring to the miseries of Ireland arising out of civil discrimi-
nations between different religious beliefs. With reference
THOROUGHNESS AND VIGOUR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY, H
to this letter, the biographer of the Raja remarks : "There
is here in germ the national aspiration which is now
breaking forth into cries for representation of India in the
Imperial Parliament, 'Home Rule for India' and even
'India for the Indians.' The prospect of an educated India,
of an India approximating to European standards of culture,
seems to have never been long absent from Rammohun's
mind, and he did, however vaguely, claim in advance for his
countrymen the political rights which progress in civilisation
inevitably involves. Here again Rammohun stands forth as
the tribune and prophet of New India."
Indeed, the thoroughness and vigour of the Raja's
political efforts were astonishing. Even at that early age he
carried his political agitations to the very centre of the seat
of authority. His visit to England, fraught as it was with
manifold consequences, had a far-reaching effect on the
politics of India. One of the main objects which he had in
view in going to England was to lay before the British
public the cause of India, and in this mission, he was remark-
ably successful. "Rammohun Roy's presence in this country,"
says the English biographer of the Raja, "made the English
people aware, as they had never been before, of the dignity,
the culture and the piety of the race they had conquered in
the East. India became incarnate in him, and dwelt among
us, and we beheld her glory. In the court of the King, in
the halls of the legislature, in the select coteries of fashion, in
the society of philosophers and men of letters, in Anglican
church and Non-com formist meeting-house, in the privacy
of many a home, and before the wondering crowds of
Lancashire operatives, Rammohun Roy stood forth the visible
and personal embodiment of our eastern empire. Wherever
he went, there went a stately refutation of the Anglo-Indian
insolence which saw in an Indian fellow subject only a
'black man' or a 'nigger', As he had interpreted England to
Hi INTRODUCTION
India, so now he interpreted India to England. But it was
not merely by his silent presence and personality in England
that he advanced the cause of India ; but during his three
years' stay in that country he worked strenuously and inces-
santly on her behalf.* He lost no opportunity of pressing
the claims of India on those who were responsible for her
good Government. He went to England at a very opportune
time. The Charter of the East India Company was to be
shortly renewed. Rammohun Roy had purposely chosen this
time for his European visit that he might influence the
authorities in inserting, in the new Charter provisions for the
better administration of his country. His hopes were amply
realised. He was asked to give his evidence before the Select
Committee of the House of Commons appointed in February
and reappointed in June 1831 to consider the renewal of the
Company's Charter, and he submitted his evidence in writing.
His two papers on the Judicial and the Revenue systems of
India, which appeard in the blue books and were subsequent-
ly reprinted by him, are master-pieces of political information
and insight, and might be read with profit even at this day,
while they must have largely influenced the decision of
the authorities in his time. One cannot but be struck
with the accuracy and exhaustiveness of the information and
the soundness and breadth of the views of the writer.
Among the principal measures he advocated were the substi-
tution of English for Persian as the official language of the
* Miss Carpenter writes that during the residence of Rammohun
Roy in England "his time and thoughts were continually occupied with
the proceedings of the Government, and affording information and
advice whenever they were required. Everything else was made sub-
servient to this great object. Frequently was the noble form of the
illustrious stranger seen within the precincts of our Houses of
Parliament, as those still remember who were there thirty-five
years ago."
RAMMOHUN'S DEMOCRACY liil
courts of law, the appointment of native assessors in the civil
courts, trial by Jury, separation of the offices of Judge and
Revenue Commissioner, of those of Judge and Magistrate,
codification of the criminal law and also of the civil law in
India, large employment of Indians in the civil service of the
country and consultation of public opinion before enacting
legislation. It is remarkable that, though himself a Zamin-
dar, Rammohun Roy earnestly pleaded the cause of the
agricultural peasants as against the Zamindars. He showed
that, though the Zamindars had greatly benefitted by the
Permanent Settlement of 1793, the condition of the actual
cultivators continued as miserable as ever, the Zamindars
being at liberty to enhance the rent constantly. " Such is
the melancholy condition of agricultural labourers, " he wrote,
"that it always gives me the greatest pain to allude to it."
The remedy he asked for was, in the first place, the prohibi-
tion of any further rise in rent and, in the second, a reduction
in the revenue demanded from the Zamindar so as to ensure
a reduction in rent. Thus Rammohun was the champion
of the people at large and not of the class to which he him-
self belonged, Many of the reforms advocated by him have
already been carried out, and the political leaders of the
present day are still working out the programme laid down
by him. Babu Surendra Nath Banerjee thus acknow-
ledges in the address already referred to the political foresight
of the Raja : " It is remarkable how he anticipated us in some
of the great political problems of to-day."
To turn next to the social work of Raja Rammohun Roy.
The great reform with which his name will remain associated
for ever is the abolition of Satz. But for his timely co-opera-
tion it is doubtful if the British Government could have
suppressed this flagrant evil ; it would certainly have conti-
nued for a much longer time. This inhuman custom had
prevailed in India for many centuries and a few fitful efforts
llV INTRODUCTION
under the Hindu and Mahommedan rule to abolish it had
ended in failure, At the time when Rammohun Roy turned his
attention to this shameful wrong, it was, if anything, steadily
on the increase. Though individual kind-hearted officers
looked upon the custom with abhorrence, the attitude of the
Government itself was that of laisser faire ; successive
Governors declined to interfere with it for fear of wounding
the religious susceptibilities of the people, which might lead
to trouble, It was the efforts of Raja Rammohun Roy that
made possible the drastic measures so promptly taken,
Though there had been some talk and correspondence among
the official circles as to their duty, it is evident that, but for
the appearance of the great reformer on the scene, no decisive
steps would have been taken at least for a long time, Ram-
mohun Roy, by incessant agitation prepared the public mind
on the one side and strengthened the hands of the Govern-
ment on the other. By means of his writings and discussions
he created a powerful public opinion in favour of the abolition
of the cruel custom. He showed conclusively that the Hindu
Shashtras did not enjoin the burning of widows along with
their husbands, and thus disarmed the objection of inter-
ference with the religious rites of the people. He removed
all obstacles real or interposed, in the way of Government
action. But even then the Government hesitated for a
considerable time, and Rammohun Roy had to appeal to
them in the name of humanity with all the earnestness of
his nature, before they could be persuaded to take the
momentous step. Rev. W. J. Fox justly remarked in wel-
coming the Raja on his arrival in London : — "There is no
doubt that it was greatly through his firmness, his enlightened
reasonings, and his persevering efforts, that the Government
of Bengal at last thought themselves enabled to interdict the
immolation of widows. His arguments and his appeals to
ancient authorities held sacred by the Brahmins, enlightened
PIONEER OF SOCIAL REFORM. Iv
the minds of many of them ; and made the merciful inter-
position of Lord William Bentinck and his Council, no longer
regarded by them, and by persons connected with the East
India Company at home, as an interference with the religions
of the Hindus." It was a great triumph of reason and
humanity. A cruel wrong, a barbarous and inhuman atro-
city, was blotted out from the face of the Hindu society. The
yearly toll of many hundreds of noble, unselfish lives was
stopped for ever. But more important than the immediate and
visible good that resulted, a great principle was enunciated,
a new era in the hoary Hindu society was inaugurated. The
abolition of Sati marked the secure foundation of the social
reform movement in India. For centuries past the Hindu
society had been at the mercy of blind tradition and heartless
custom. Cruel wrongs, gross injustices, disgraceful supersti-
tions had passed unchallenged from generation to generation.
Rammohun Roy dared, for the first time after the lapse of
many centuries, to challenge the unquestioned authority of
custom and tradition. He enunciated and upheld the dictates
of reason, conscience and humanity against prejudice and
public opinion and appealed to the intelligent authority of
the shastras against the blind, slavish submission to tradition,
born of ignorance which passed for piety. Rammohun Roy
taught the people to realise that everything that had come
down from the past was not ideal and that a living society
stood in constant need of readjustment to varying cir-
cumstances, Thus a new era of conscious, active reform was
inaugurated in the Hindu society, of which Raja Rammohun
was the leader and pioneer.
It is noteworthy that in his efforts for social reform Raja
Rammohun Roy made use of all the three different methods
the claims of which have often been placed in mutual anta-
gonism in later times. He utilised every available aid from
the Shastras ; but he had faith as well in the reason, con-
Ivi INTRODUCTION.
science and common sense of men, and always appealed to
the humanity and moral sense of people. His controversial
writings, appealing by turns to common sense, conscience and
the authority of the Shastras, are admirably suited to the
purpose of carrying conviction. He also did not hesitate to
seek the aid of Government, where necessary and possible,
to further his scheme for the improvement of social efficiency.
Thus not only was he the pioneer of the social reform move-
ment in modern India, but he also laid down the lines along
which the work should be carried on.
Rammohun Roy did not rest satisfied with the mere
preaching of reform principles, but boldly proceeded to carry
them out in his own life and conduct. His daring visit to
Europe was an example of heroic courage and practical
reform. He was the first Hindu to cross the ocean. It was
really the breaking of a spell, as it has been said, "which
for ages the sea had laid on India." We can understand
the daring intrepidity of the act from the fact that even
after Rammohun Roy had furnished an axample, it was but
rarely followed for many subsequent years and even now,
there are hundreds who, even after receiving the highest edu-
cation are still afraid of doing what Rammohun Roy did
nearly a century ago. For India it was truly a momentous
step — an act of liberation. The English biographer of the
Raja does not in the least overestimate the significance of
this great enterprise in saying that "the consequences for his
countrymen are such as to make this act alone sufficient to
secure for its author a lasting distinction."
During the few crowded years of his public life, the Raja
set his hand to several items of the social reform programme
of the present day. He denounced in scathing terms the
many injustices and ill-treatments which women were sub-
jected to in the Hindu society of his day. He deplored the
ignorance and the lack of education of women, while indig-
WARM SYMPATHY FOR WOMAN, Ivii
nantly repudiating the insinuations against the intellectual
and moral capacities of the gentler sex. He firmly believed
that with "proper education and facilities for improvements,
women would prove in no way inferior to men." His chival-
rous regard for women made him keenly sensitive to their
wrongs and miseries. He wrote strongly against polygamy.
He pointed out how the Hindu Shastras did not permit more
than one marriage except under certain specified conditions.
It is even said that he advocated the passing of a State
Regulation to require a man before marrying a second time to
obtain a license from a Magistrate or some other authorised
Government officer certifying to such a defect in the existing
wife as alone according to the Shastras justified a second
marrige. The miseries of Hindu widows did not fail to
attract the sympathy of his tender heart ; but he had no
time to do much for them. In an early issue of the Samvad
Kaumudi ( No 6 of 1821 ) we find a proposal to raise a Fund
in aid of helpless Hindu widows. After his departure for
England there was a wide-spread rumour that on his return,
he would introduce the remarriage of Hindu widows.
Rammohun Roy was opposed to the existing system of
caste distinctions in Hindu society. He held that the supe-
riority or inferiority of men depended on their own respective
merits and not on the accident of birth. He alone was a
Brahmin who knew and was devoted to Brahman. With a
view to propagating this spiritual principle of sociology,
the Raja began the publication of a Sanskrit treatise by
Mrityunjaya Bhattacharya, against the caste system, together
with a translation and annotations in Bengali by himself.
This work, however, was not completed, only the first chapter
being published in 1829. He was keenly alive to the evils
of the caste system. Writing to a friend in 1828, he observed:
"The distinction of castes introducing innumerable divisions
and subdivisions among them has entirely deprived them of
D
Iviii INTRODUCTION.
patriotic feeling, and the multitude of religious rites and
ceremonies and the laws of purification have totally disquali-
fied them from undertaking any difficult enterprise."
Thus it will be noticed that Rammohun Roy's scheme of
social reform was exhaustive and thorough-going, though with
his unfailing, practical wisdom he concentrated his attention
on the more urgent problems then before him. With the
passion of the reformer for justice and humanity he combined
the practical wisdom of the statesman, which made him the
most successful reformer of modern India.
But the greatest work of Rammohun Roy was undoubted-
ly in the field of religion, Here he stands forth not only as
a reformer of Hinduism but as the bearer of a message and
mission for all humanity. The cardinal principle of his reli-
gious faith was — One God, Father of all, and spiritual wor-
ship. Early in life there dawned on his mind the light of
a universal religion which knew no distinction of race or
colour, country or nationality, as a bar to men of all types
and traditions standing on the basis of their common human-
ity and worshipping their common Father in spirit and in
truth. This early faith, after the tests and trials of his entire,
eventful career, after searching criticism at the hands of
numerous adversaries from various standpoints and after
mature deliberation on his own part, found expression in the
memorable trust deed of the Brahmo Samaj, the place of
worship which he established for the exercise of universal
spiritual religion. It was dedicated to the "worship and
adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable and Immutable Being,
who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe, but not
under, or by any other name, designation or title, peculiarly
used for and applied to, any particular being or beings, by
any man or set of men whatsoever, and that no graven image,
statue or sculpture, carving, painting, picture, portrait or
likeness of any thing shall be admitted within the messuage,
THE APOSTLE OF UNIVERSAL RELIGION. llX
building, land, tenements, hereditaments and premises ; and
that no sacrifice, offering or oblation of any kind or thing
shall ever be permitted therein." The Trust-deed directed
that the place should be available as a place of ''public
meeting of all sorts and descriptions of people, without dis-
tinction, as shall behave and conduct themselves in an order-
ly, sober, religious and devout manner." Thus he stands
forth as one of the earliest exponents, if not the very
earliest, of the modern liberal religious movement, which
recognises the working of the spirit of God in all religions
and finds His revelation in the scriptures of all races. While
the religious world was yet sharply divided between the
Hindu and the Mlechha, the Christian and the Heathen, the
Moslem and the Kafir, while even the advanced religious
thinkers of the west, with all the advantages of rapidly
expanding scientific knowledge and culture, were still
unable to rise above sectarian narrowness and the inheritance
of tribal, ethnic or national conceptions of God and religion,
this wonderful Indian, without any opportunities for culture,
any enlightened public sentiment for support, realised a con-
ception of universal religion, which transcended all barriers of
clime and colour, creed and custom. The religious thinkers of
Europe and America were still busy with the problems of ver-
bal inspiration, validity of miracles and such other questions ;
their vision did not yet stretch beyond the confines, of
the Bible and Christendom. But on Rammohun Roy
there already dawned so early the full-orbed glory of one
God, one humanity and one ever-progressive revelation.
Before the first quarter of the nineteenth century was over,
we find him speaking with profound veneration of the
Vedanta and the Bible and the Quoran. It is no wonder
that his contemporaries failed to understand him, and that
even to this day the Hindus claim him to have been a Hindu,
the Christians, a Christian and the Mahommedans a Zabardust
Ix INTRODUCTION.
Moulvi. Even an enlightened and open-minded disciple and
co-worker likea the Rev. Mr. Adam was puzzled over the
enigma of this great mind. It is interesting and amusing
to find Mr. Adam, towards the close of his association with
Rammohun Roy, making the following confession to a
common friend, Dr. Tuckerman : ''Rammohun Roy, I am
persuaded, supports this institution, not because he believes
In the divine authority of the Ved, but solely as an instru-
ment for overthrowing idolatry. To be candid, however,
I must add that the conviction has lately gained ground
in my mind that he employs Unitarian Christianity, in the
same way, as an instrument for spreading pure and just
notions of God, without believing in the divine authority of
the Gospel."
The facts were as stated by Mr. Adam ; only the insinua-
tion contained in the passage is groundless. There was
no inconsistency or unworthy policy in the position of Ram-
mohun Roy. His catholic mind rose to a height where the
narrow limits of sectarianism ceased to exist for him. He
was accordingly described by Mr. Adam in a letter to
another friend as "both a Christian and a Hindu" — a descrip-
tion which Rammohun Roy himself approved of as a true
picture of his religious altitude. The truth is, as his English
biographer says of him in another connection, that the "Raja
was no merely occidentalized oriental, no Hindu polished
into the doubtful semblance of a European. Just as little
was he, if we may use the term without offence, a spiritual
Eurasian. If we follow the right line of his development
we shall find that he leads the way from the Orientalism of
past, not to, but through Western, culture, towards a civiliza-
tion which is neither Western nor Eastern, but something
vastly larger and nobler than both." Similarly, it might be
said of him that he was neither entirely a Hindu nor exclu-
sively a Christian but something larger and nobler than both.
RAMMOHUN'S RELIGIONS POSITION. Ixi
He led the way from the Hinduism of the past, not to, but
through Christianity, into the Universal Church of spiritual
Theism, which embraced all that was precious and inspiring
in Hinduism as well as in Christianity. His religious position
was, we believe, correctly and very aptly summed up in the
words of the memorial tablet over his tomb at Bristol, "a cons-
cientious and steadfast believer in unity of the God-head
who consecrated his life with entire devotion to the worship
of the Divine Spirit alone." It was not a mere philosophical
opinion, but a living faith, which he hoped and believed was
to be the religion of humanity. It was not even eclecticism,
stringing together passages and sayings from different
scriptures ; but in his own soul Rammohun Roy saw the
vision of a living faith, which, with his growing acquaintance
with the religious literature of the world, he found hidden
in all religions under the crust of ages. He realised that true
Hinduism as much as true Christianity or true Mahommed-
anism, was not far away from his own inmost faith. It was
this liberalism of fellowship that the followers of sectarian
religions naturally misjudged in him, but that really led him
not to object to being called a Hindu or a Christian. He
saw with the prophet's eye that a time would come when
the boundaries of creed and scripture and prophet would
merge, if not melt away, and men of all races, the east and
west, north and south, would sit together in adoration at the
feet of "the Eternal, Unsearchable and Immutable God".
The foundation of this liberal universal religion, and catholic
worship, fitly marked the crowning act of his eventful life.
He was hardly understood at the time, even by his followers.
But to-day the ideal of Rammohun Roy has spread and is
making rapid progress throughout the civilised world.
Churches and sects are unmistakably moving towards the
position which Rammohun Roy occupied in solitary
grandeur a century ago.
Ixil INTRODUCTION.
To India his mission has proved to be of the most far-
reaching consequences. It has laid the axe at the root of
the evil growth of centuries. With the unerring precision
of the prophet under the sure guidance of a divine dispensa-
tion, Rammohun Roy laid the foundation of a living spiritual
faith and formed the nucleus of a progressive catholic Church,
which, in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties, has
spread to every part of this vast land and made its way
among almost all the races and communities that comprise
its immense population. The Brahmo Samaj, which is the
concrete embodiment of his religious and social ideal, has
thoroughly discarded idol worship, and the fetters of caste and
priestcraft, the bondage of infallible guru and book, which
for centuries domineered oppressively over the spirit of the
nation and defied successfully all endeavours at reformation.
In a country divided and sub-divided into innumerable castes
and sub-castes, sects and sub-sects and among whom there was
not the commonest amenities of fellowship, it has already united
men of all castes and creeds language and nationalities,
— Hindus, Mahommedans and Christians, Bengalis, Marhattas
Parsees and Telugus, Indians and Europeans into a close
spiritual and social brotherhood.
It has given to the world a pure, spiritual religion not
fettered by a narrow creed or confession, not confined in blind,
exclusive allegiance to one particular book or prophet, but
free and progressive, wedded to truth and righteousness
from whatsoever source they come, owning the scrip-
tures and prophets of all ages and countries as its
own so far as they prove helpful and stimulating to the
higher life.
It has brought a message of deliverane to the submerged
millions of India and extended equal intellectual and spiri-
tual fellowship to womankind, who for ages have been cut off
from light and culture and doomed to a narrow, ignoble life
GREATNESS OF THE MAN, Ixiii
under many cruel wrongs and injustices. While the Brahtno
Samaj has thus formed an advanced community with a lofty
domestic and social ideal, numerically not yet very large,
it has also profoundly affected the mass of the people, who are
being rapidly leavened with the new ideals. Rammohun's
spiritual influence is not confined to the Brahmo Samaj alone;
he is verily the spiritual Father, the Guru of New India.
Leaving alone the work, if we look at the man, we find all
testimonies agree in giving the impression of a personality
of extraordinary influence. In whatever society he moved he
evoked warm and enthusiastic admiration. Mr. Adam,
with his several years' intimate knowledge of him wrote : "I
was never more thoroughly, deeply and constantly impressed
than when in the presence of Rammohun Roy and in friendly
and confidential converse with him, that I was in the presence
of a man of natural and inherent genius, of powerful under-
standing and of a determined will, a will determined with
singular energy and uncontrollable self-direction, lofty and
generous purposes." The Rev. W. J. Fox, after an association
with the Raja for only two years, said of him in the course of
a memorial sermon after his death : " We shall see his face
no more ! His presence has passed away as a poetic image
fades from the brain ! But it has left impressions which will
long endure; influences of good, wide and deep here, yet
wider and deeper in the distant land of his nativity. And
being dead, he yet speaketh with a voice to which not only
India but Europe and America will listen for generations."
An English correspondent of Dr. Channing, Miss Lucy Aikin,
who came in frequent contact with the Raja, wrote of him to
the American religious reformer : " He is indeed a glorious
being, — a true sage, as it appears, with the genuine humility
of the character, and with more fervour, more sensibility, a
more engaging tenderness of heart than any class of character
can justly claim," An American physician of London, Dr,
Ixiv INTRODUCTION.
Boot, wrote of the Raja in a letter* to Mr. Estlin : "To me
he stood alone in the single majesty of, I had almost said,
* The letter is so interesting that it is worth reproduction in its
entirety. It is as follows :— -
24, Gower Street, Bedford Square,
2?th November 1833.
My dear Sir, — Your kind, most kind, letter of yesterday, has this
moment reached me, and I have shed tears over it, at the fresh recollec-
tion of the sorrow that has thrown a deep shadow over the future hopes
and happiness of my life. I feel most sincere gratitude to you for your
valuable services, and your devotion and tenderness over the sick bed of
our late beloved friend. God knows I have deeply sympathised with you
in the painful responsibility of your situation and I can well assure that
everything which the soundest medical judgment and the deepest solici-
tude could suggest was done. In the feelings of all around me here,
who^dearly loved him, you and Dr. Prichard are spoken of with sincere
and grateful respect, and the blessing of a just man made perfect now
rests upon you.
Your account of the change in your feelings towards the Raja, from
the influence of the reports that had reached you, has very deeply
affected me, for knowing the Rajah so well, it is the most striking evi-
dence of the force of the human prejudice that I have hitherto met
with, — I mean on the part of those who misrepresented him to you ; for
your yielding to those representations arose from the same sensibility
that led you first to admire him in his works. I thank God that you had
an opportunity of tearing yourself the veil from your eyes, and that the
primitive love and admiration you cherished for him was confirmed by
your personal intercourse with him : confirmed to be rendered immutable
by the seal of Death !
To me he stood alone in the single majesty of, I had almost said per-
fect humanity. No one in past history or in the present time ever came
before my judgment clothed in such wisdom, grace and humility. I
knew of no tendency even to error. To say he was not the disciple of
Christ, that he even smiled in approbation of infidelity, and joined those
thoughtless and weak and ignorant men who set themselves up against
the testimonies of the human heart, which asserts the truth of religion
against the wit and follies of the vainest and the cleverest head, is to
belie his whole life. I have often talked with him on religious subjects,
TRIBUTE OF MR. BOOT. Ixv
perfect humanity. No one in past history, or in present time
ever came before my judgment clothed in such wisdom, grace
and have seen him among sceptics. He was never more free and
unembarrassed and cheerful than when arguing with those who had a
logical and acute mind. He often told me that he always introduced the
subject when he met the historian of India, and that his object in the
argument was to show the insufficiency of human reason for the produc-
tion of the highest moral worth, and the highest happiness. He even
contended that 'the spirit that was in Christ Jesus and unknown and un-
revealed till his mission, directed the human mind to more elevated
purer and more disinterested thoughts, motives and actions, than the
noblest philosophy of antiquity did or could do ; that the Christian
precepts left nothing to desire or to hope for through futurity ; that as a
system of morality, it was alone able to lead to purity and happiness here
and to form the mind for any conceivable state of advancement here-
after. He often beautifully said, 'I can never hope in my day to find
mankind of one faith, and it is my duty to exercise the charities of life
with all men.' He did not go about with the spirit of proselytism. He
argued only for the sense of religious obligation, and emphatically
assured us that all his experience of life had exhibited to him virtue and
self-respect and happiness in its true elements, even in proportion to the
intensity of that sense. He was the humblest of human beings, and
ardent as he was in the faith of his selection he was sensibly disturbed
if religion was spoken lightly of, or argued but reverentially before
woman. He would often smile and speak jocosely when the turn of the
discussion made him uneasy from his sensibilities towards woman being
awakened ; and those who knew him, saw by his manner and looks that
he adopted this lightness of manner in hopes that the subject would be
dropped.
I was once in his presence where a father was expressing doubts of
Christianity before two of his daughters, who were near forty and before
three other ladies. He expressed himself most forcibly in defence of the
immutable truth of religion, and when the conversation was resumed by
the sceptic, he touched lightly and with levity on the diction and ex-
pressions of the other, and often in the intervals sat as if he were ab-
stracted and unconcerned in what was said ; and when appealed to, he
in the same careless manner criticised the language of his opponent,
without touching the sense. A lady whom he loved sat by me, and said
8
Ixvi INTRODUCTION.
and humanity. I knew of no tendency even to error.*** He
was the most liberal, the most amiable, the most candid of
in an under tone to me : 'The Raja appears to smile at everything.' I
replied, 'Your woids import more than you mean, and you mistake his
present feelings ; he is visibly distressed, and wishes the subject to be
dropped. She observed him closely and said I was right, as he took
an early opportunity of calling his attention to something else. He soon
after left the party. I had an engagement with him the next morning,
and the first subject he spoke of was the conversation of the night before,
and he expressed himself highly offended that a father should, before his
own daughters, confess his infidelity, and so far forget himself as to say
anything to shake the faith of a female. He added, 'it is more painful
to me to argue with sceptics before women, for there is no hope of its
leading to good, and there must be pain where it is our duty to give
pleasure always ; I never permitted religion to be discussed before my
daughters or wife.' I can only say that at every visit my admiration of
him grew with my intimacy with his mind and actions. He was the
most liberal, the most amiable, the most candid of men. His generosity
was unbounded ; his most touching politeness was an instinct of his
nature ; it never left him to his most familiar associates ; while he paid
just deference to rank in obedience to the conventional etiquette of
society, he honoured above all men the poor gardener whom he met
with in some rich establishment in India, who had, uninfluenced by the
authority of his superiors, examined the scriptures, and adopted the
faith of the unity of God. He went to the garden every day to
talk with him ; he often said to us 'I could have taken him
in my arms as a brother. I called with him on Dr. Tuckerman, Mr.
Deway, and Mr. Phillips of America, and when he had shaken hands
with them he said, with his countenance lighted up with emotion, 'I am
so happy to be with Unitarians.' He did not mix in the sect as some ex-
pected, and reflections were often passed upon him. Mr. Fox has touch-
ed this with admirable force in his sermon. The object of the Raja \vas
to mix with and know all sects. One of his greatest desires was to see
Catholicism in Rome. He admired the obedience to duties in the Catho-
lics and always spoke of them in this light with admiration. Whatever
faults were mixed with their faith, he recognised in their attention to the
poor and sick, the noblest spirit of Christianity. One of the last argu-
ments I heard from him was his defence of them, against one who urged
EXAMPLE OF COMPLETE HUMANITY. Ixvil
men. His generosity was unbounded, his most touching
politeness was an instinct of his nature, it never left him to
his most familiar associates."
Such high estimates bordering almost on extravagance,
were not in the least exaggerated. The character of Rammohun
Roy with the noblest qualities of the intellect, heart and
soul harmoniously developed was really a picture of perfect
symmetry. In the combination of intellectual greatness with
breadth of sympathy and nobleness of soul, it was an example
of almost as complete a humanity as has ever been seen in
the history of our race. Even the outward features were
proportionate to the grandeur of the mind within, as will
be seen from the following sketch, which appeared in the Court
Journal of London for Oct. 5. 1833, just a week after his
death. 'The Raja in the outer man, was cast in nature's
finest mould : his figure was manly and robust, his carriage
their acting under artificial stimulus. He contended that what they did
was enforced on all, by the very example of Christ ; and that the stimulus
was their faith in the force and truth of that example.
But I must stop. When I think that I shall see him no more ; that
the beauty of his countenance, the picturesqueness of his eastern costume,
the kind reception, the noble example of virtues never felt, at least so
powerfully, in others, the hope I had entertained of his future usefulness,
the certainty I had of his present happiness, and all his enlarged affec-
tions,— when I think that these have passed away forever of my
brief existence, I feel a sorrow such as I never felt before, and one which
can only find consolation in that pure religion of which he was so able a
defender. His loss has given tenfold value in my mind to his writings,
and I have studied them with a subdued feeling since his death, and
risen from their perusal with a more confirmed conviction of his having
been unequalled in past or present time. Peace to his sacred memory !
Present my best respects to Miss Acland and Dr. Carpenter, and
believe me.
My dear Sir,
Sinccrly and gratefully yours
T. BOOT.
Ixviii INTRODUCTION.
dignified : the forehead towering, expansive and commanding :
the eye dark, restless, full of brightness and animation, yet
liquid and benevolent and frequently glistening with a tear
when affected by the deeper sensibility of the heart •, the
nose of Roman form and proportions ; lips full and indicative
of independence ; the whole features deeply expressive, with
a smile of soft and peculiar fascination and which won
irresistibly the suffrages to whom it was addressed."*
Dr. Carpenter quoted the following description of the
Raja's personal appearance from the Asiatic Journal : "The
person of Rammohun Roy was a very fine one. He was
nearly six feet high ; his limbs were robust and well propor-
tioned, though latterly, either through age or increase of bulk
he appeared rather unwieldy and inactive. His face was
beautiful ; the features large and manly, the forehead lofty
and expanded, the eyes dark and animated, the nose finely
curved and of due proportion, the lips full and the general
expression of the countenance that of intelligence and
benignity.'*
The intellectual powers of Rammohun Roy were admit-
tedly of an extraordinary type. The inscription on his tomb
at Bristol puts the matter modestly when it says, "To great
natural talents he united a thorough mastery of many languag-
es and early distinguished himself as one of the greatest
• This description is in complete agreement with that by Dr.
Carpenter, and with the portrait now in the Bristol Museum, painted by
Briggs R. A,, which was pronounced by Dr. Carpenter as the best portrait
extant, "It gives, indeed, the impression of a less bulky person than
the Raja's was, in at least the latter part of life ; and the mouth does not
satisfy me in its form or its expression, but the rest of the countenance,
the attitude of the figure, and the hands — beautifully significant as well
as masterly painted give that expression to the whole which those who
contemplate Rammohun Roy as the Hindu sage and reformer would
most desire."
INTELLECTUAL EMINENCE, IxiX
scholars of his day." The intellectual eminence of the man
was in evidence before he passed out of boyhood ; at the
early age of sixteen, he composed a book against idol-worship,
which appeared to his father formidable. In mature life, the
great powers of his intellect stamped themselves on every-
thing to which he put his hand ; whoever came into contact
with him felt the impress of a superior mind.
One manifestation of the rare intellectual powers of Ram-
mohun Roy was in his marvellous mastery over many
different langunges. His knowledge of Sanskrit literature in
its various branches was profound. In Arabic and Persian he
was thoroughly at home, which got him the title of Zabardust
Moulvie. At an advanced age he commenced the study of
Hebrew and Greek and acquired a perfect mastery over these
two different languages, so much so that his English bio-
grapher says with perfect justice : "The acquaintance which he
shows with Hebrew and Greek and with expository literature
is, considering his antecedents, little less than marvellous."
His command over the English language was a marvel
to all who knew him. It was not until he was twenty-two
that he began to learn English ; but within a short time he
came to wield a beautiful style of writing, which was the
envy of many English men of letters. In a letter to the Raja,
Jeremy Bentham, the celebrated philosopher wrote : "Your
works are made known to me by a book, in which I read a
style which but for the name of a Hindu, I should certainly
have ascribed to the pen of a superiorly educated and instruct-
ed Englishman." In the same letter while praising the great
work of James Mill on the History of India, he makes the
remark, "though as to style I wish I could with truth and
sincerity pronounce it equal to yours."*
As a theologian, Rammohun Roy was incomparable in his
* Vide Bowring's Works of Bentham, vol. x., p. 586.
INTRODUCTION.
day. He was equally at home in Hindu, Christian and
Mahommedan theology ; and he could and did, single-handed,
hold his own against Hindu Pandits, Christian Missionaries
and Mahommedan Moulavies in religious discussions. Ram-
mohun Roy has justly been called the greatest intellect of
our country since Sankaracharya. The biographer of Dr.
Duff calls him the Erasmus of India.
His vast learning and subtle powers of debate made him
a most formidable controversialist, The editor of the Indian
Gazette^ in reviewing his Final Appeal to the Christian
Public, spoke of the Raja as "a most gigantic combatant in
the theological field —a combatant who, we are constrained
to say, has not met with his match here." One Mr. Anderson
of the firm of Colvin & Co. of Calcutta, once said that at his
house conferences used to take place frequently between
Rammohun Roy and learned European gentlemen of the
time, and he heard the latter invariably saying at the close
of the discussions, " we will think over the matter." One
admirable feature of Rammohun Roy was that he never lost
his temper in controversy.
Rammohun Roy had a very quick and at the same time,
tenacious memory. Once a Pandit came to the Raja to
wrangle on a certain Tantra. Rammohun Roy had never
read the book. So he fixed an hour the following day for
the discussion. After the Pandit had left, he procured a copy
of the Tantra from the library of Sobha Bazar Raja and
applied himself to it Next day the Pandit came at the
appointed hour and there was a hard discussion ; the points
raised by his opponent were answered by the Raja to the
satisfaction of all, and the Pandit went away discomfitted.
His application and powers of concentration of mind were
equally great. While at Radhanagar, one morning after the
bath, he entered his study and began to read the Ramayana
of Valmiki, which he had not read before. He had asked
RAMMOHUN'S TENDERNESS OF HEART. Ixxi
people not to disturb him. The hour of dinner was over,
yet none dared to approach him. When the ninth hour was
past his mother asked an old gentleman to go to him in his
study. As the latter peeped in, the Raja made a sign
requesting to be excused a little longer. It is said that he
finished the whole of the Ramayana at that one sitting.
Rammohun Roy kept up his studious habits to the last.
Mr, Sutherland, a fellow-passenger with the Raja on his
voyage to Europe, tells us that "on board the ship during
the greater part of the day he read, chiefly Sanskrit and
Hebrew."
Great as the Raja was in intellect, he excelled still more
in the virtues of the heart. His sympathy extended to the
furthest corners of the earth, while he had a most tender
feeling for those near to him. He was a model of domestic
virtues. Though not himself very fortunate in domestic life,
he treated all his relations with a regard and affection undis-
turbed by their conduct. In spite of his parents' uncommonly
harsh dealing with him, he always proved a loving and
dutiful son. Of his mother Dr. Carpenter says : "Through
the influence of superstitious bigotry, she had been among
his most bitter opponents. He, however, manifested a warm
and affectionate attachment towards her ; and it was with a
glistening eye that he told us she had 'repented' of her
conduct towards him. Though convinced that his doctrines
were true, she could not throw off the shackles of idolatrous
customs." "Rammohun" she said to him before she set out on
her last pilgrimage to Juggernath, where she died, 'you are
right ; but I am a weak woman, and am grown too old to
give up those observances which are a comfort to me." The
Raja was likewise a most generous and loving friend. To
servants and inferiors he was always extremely kind and
courteous.
His sympathies were wide as the world, Everything
Ixxii INTRODUCTION.
that tended to the good of his fellow being warmly appealed
to his loving nature. The sufferings of his countrymen
were a heavy load on his heart. It was this that led him to
scorn delights and live laborious days. In England, while
at Church, he was often found to shed tears, though there
was nothing in the sermon to occasion it. Once a friend
asked him what made him weep. The Raja replied that the
remembrance of his poor countrymen gave him no rest.
The miseries of Indian women made a deep impression on
his tender heart at an early age ; and throughout his life he
laboured hard and incessantly to improve their lot ; as witness
his efforts for the abolition of Sati, his exposure of the evils
of polygamy and Kulinism, his protest against the modern
encroachments on women's rights in the property of parents
and husbands. In fact, the cause of women seemed to appeal
to him in a special manner. Even European ladies were struck
by his deference to and sympathy for women. Miss Lucy
Aikin in a letter to Dr. Channing soon after the death of the
Raja (Dated Hampstead, October, 23, 1833) wrote of him :
"Scarcely any description can do justice to his admirable
qualities, and the charms of his society, his extended know-
ledge, his comprehension of mind, his universal philanthropy,
his tender humanity, his genuine dignity mixed with perfect
courtesy, and the most touching humility. His memory I
shall cherish with affectionate reverence on many accounts,
but the character in which I best love to contemplate him
is that of the iriend and champion of woman. It is impos-
sible to forget his righteous zeal against polygamy, his warm
approval of the freedom allowed to women in Europe, his
joy and pious gratitude for the abolition of suttee. Consider-
ing the prejudices of birth and education with which he had
to contend, his constant advocacy of the rights and interests
of the weaker sex seems to me the very strongest proof of his
moral and intellectual greatness,"
RAMMOHUN'S BREADTH OF SYMPATHY, Ixxiii
The fact is every form of injustice and tyranny excited
strong, righteous indignation in him, and to all worthy, strug-
gling causes he gave his whole-hearted sympathy and sup-
port. Whether it was the fight for constitutional government
in Spain, the struggle of the Italians for emancipation from
the Austrian yoke, the agitation for good government of
Ireland, the conflict over the abolition of slavery in America,
or the movement for the amelioration of the condition of Indian
women, Rammohun Roy's sympathy poured in unstinted
measures on the side of justice and humanity. Distance of
space and differences of language and nationality seemed to
produce no deterring influence on his great mind. When
the intelligence reached India that the people of Naples,
after extorting a constitution from their despotic King, were
crushed back into servitude by the Austrian troops in
obedience to the joint mandate of the crowned heads of
Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sardinia and Naples, Rammohun
Roy wrote to Mr. Buckingham, begging to be excused from
an important engagement, as he was much "depressed by the
late news from Europe". "From the late unhappy news,"
he goes on to add, "I am obliged to conclude that I shall
not live to see liberty universally restored to the nations of
Europe, and Asiatic nations, specially those that are
European colonies, possessed of a greater degree of the
same blessing than what they now enjoy. Under these
circumstances 1 consider the cause of the Neapolitans as my
own, and their enemies as ours. Enemies to liberty and
friends of despotism have never been, and never will be,
ultimately successful."
Love of freedom was the passion of his soul. He exulted
in the triumph of liberty in any quarter of the globe.
The story is told by Miss Collet how at Cape Colony
on his way to England, the sight of the tricolour flag
on two French ships lying at anchor in Table Bay fired
F
Ixxiv INTRODUCTION.
his enthusiasm. Lame as he then was, owing to a serious
fall from the gangway ladder, he insisted on visiting
them. The sight of the republican flag seemed to render
him insensible to pain. When the news of the three days'
revolution at Paris in July, 1830 reached Calcutta, his
enthusiasm was so great that "he could think or talk of
nothing else." And we are told that, when the news of the
establishment of a constitutional government in Spain was
received in India, Rammohun Roy gave a public dinner
in Calcutta. His feelings about the British Reform Bill of
1832 are well known. He had publicly avowed that, in
the event of the Bill being defeated, he would renounce his
connection with England for all subsequent times. When
the Bill was passing through its concluding stages in
the House of Lords, his excitement was so great that he
could not even write to his friends.
His cosmopolitan sympathies were so genuine and earnest,
that whoever came into contact with him imbibed them in-
sensibly. He seemed to move in a lofty atmosphere of
large humanity and world-wide sympathy. Miss Aikin,
writing under date, September 6th, 1831, says : "Just now
my feelings are more cosmopolitan than usual ; I take a per-
sonal concern in a third quarter of the globe, since I have
seen the excellent Rammohun Roy."
Rammohun's will-power was, likewise, of an extraordinary
character. His was a will determined, as Mr. Adam tells us,
with singular energy and uncontrollable self direction to lofty
and generous purposes. He seemed to feel, to think, to speak,
to act as if he could not but do all this, and that he must
and could do it only from and through himself, and that
the application of any external influence distinct from his
own strong will would be the annihilation of his being and
identity. He would be free or not be at all. .....Love of free-
dom was perhaps the strongest passion of his soul, — freedom
INDEPENDENCE OF MIND. Ixxv
not of action merely, but of thought. No external pressure
could deflect him an inch from the course he had chalked
out for himself, no obstacles, however serious, daunted
him. Dr. Carpenter once wrote ; " It always seemed to
me that his was a mind which, while looking to a higher
guidance, was to shape its own course." His great mind
moved straight to its appointed goal or end undeterred by
frown or favour, impediments or incoveniences. Failure
never discouraged him, fear never overtook his stout heart.
This strength of will and independence of mind had
been in evidence even in the boy, as when, for his anti-idol-
atrous attitude the lad of sixteen was turned out of the
ancestral home, to wander without friend or fortune over
the country and even beyond its borders, then so full of un-
speakable dangers. Nor did he return home, until called
back when the natural, parental love had asserted itself over
the religious bigotry of his father. This was a feat which
would alone suffice to mark him out as an extraordinary
man — enfante terrible.
The same love of independence dictated his stipulations
with Mr. William Dfgby when accepting Government
service under him. Evidently he had been known to Mr.
Digby for sometime, and the latter would appear to have
been attracted towards him and possibly himself offered the
appointment. Rammohun Roy was in need of some employ-
ment ; owing to the strained relations with his family, he was
to earn his own livelihood. But even then his self-respect
would not allow him to submit to the degrading ways of
the civilians of those days. He made an express condition
that Mr. Digby in his intercourse should uniformly treat
him as a gentleman, — a condition which, be it recorded
to the honour of that worthy Englishman, was always
scrupulously observed. Again, from a more exalted person-
age than Mr. Digby Rammohun Roy did not flinch from
Ixxv! INTRODUCTION,
exacting the same deference. It is said that Lord William
Bentick, the then Governor-General, once had occasion
to consult him on some important matter and so sent
over one of his aides-de-camp for him. To this messen-
ger from the Governor-General Rammohun Roy made
answer, " I have now given up all worldly avocations, and am
engaged in religious culture and in the investigation of truth.
Kindly express my humble respects to the Governor-General
and inform him that I have no inclination to appear before
his august presence, and therefore I hope that he will pardon
me." The aide-de-camp, wondering at the audacity of the
man, reported the matter to Lord Bentick, who enquired
what he had said to Rammohun Roy. The aide-de-camp
replied. "I told him that Lord Wiliam Bentick, the Governor-
General, would he pleased to see him." The Governor-
General answered, " Go back and tell him again that Mr.
William Bentick will be highly obliged if he will kindly see
him once." This done, Rammohun Roy visited the Governor-
General, whose relations with him ever afterwards continued
as respectful as they were cordial.
It is, too, this refined sense of self-respect that explains
the remarkable outburst of feeling at the overtures of
Bishop Middleton, who held out prospects of honour and
advancement in case Rammohun Roy should embrace
Christianity. The whole story is narrated in details by
Miss Collet on the authority of Mr. Adam ; and it need not
be repeated here.
Yet Rammohun Roy was one of the most modest and
considerate of men that ever lived. This "tenacity of per-
sonal independence, this sensitive jealousy of the slightest
approach to encroachment on his mental freedom was," Mr.
Adam is careful to add, "accompanied with a very nice per-
ception of the equal rights of others, even of those who differ-
ed most widely from him." To high and low, and to the
RAMMOHUN'S INDOMITABLE WILL. Ixxvil
low even more than to the high, he was by nature and on
principle always courteous with religious scrupulousness. Mrs.
Davison, the wife of a minister in London, to one of whose
children the Raja was godfather, wrote of him, !< for surely
never was there a man of so much modesty and humility !
I used to feel quite ashamed of the reverential manner in
which he behaved with me. Had I been our queen, I could
not have been approached and taken leave of with more
respect."
It was finally his strength of will, combined with his faith
in God, that carried him through the innumerable difficulties
on his path amidst the determined opposition of the Hindus
and Christian missionaries alike ; the more unscrupulous of
his adversaries even went the length of attempting his
life. He had to walk in the streets of Calcutta armed with
swords and revolvers. For some time he was compelled
to go to and come back from the Brahma Mandir with
the windows of his carriage shut for fear of being stoned,
But single-handed, he stood firm against all violence
as against all seductions. He was not the man to be
seduced from his God-ordained work by any underhand
or unfair means. When the Baptist Missionaries declined
to print in their press his reply to their attacks, hoping
thereby to silence him, as there was no other press then
in Calcutta, Rammohun forthwith set up a press of his own
at a considerable cost and trouble to himself, and brought
out the " Final Appeal to the Christian Public." Though a
small thing, this circumstance is a characteristic indication of
the energy and determination of Rammohun Roy. One is
also struck with the unbounded faith and perseverance of the
man. It is remarkable how, though his repeated memorials
to Government had been set aside with scant courtesy, he
still went on urging on the authorities here and in England
the needs and grievances of his countrymen. Everything
Ixxviii INTRODUCTION
leaves the impression of a man of indomitable will and un-
conquerable tenacity of purpose.
At the same time the Raja was the most gentle and un-
assuming of men. In matters which did not involve the
surrender of principle he was always yielding and concilia-
tory. People frequently took advantage of his goodness ;
and though he was well aware of it, he would not mind it,
Miss Carpenter, who speaks from personal knowledge, says :
"The extraordinary courteousness and suavity of his general
demeanour, and his habitual care to avoid giving unnecessary
pain, would have made those who enjoyed his society think
of him only as a most delightful and intellectual companion,
did not some observation incidentally reveal what were the
ever present subjects of his thoughts." The Rev. Mr. Fox
in the memorial sermon preached after the Raja's death said :
" In social intercourse he endeared himself to natives of many
countries and to persons of all parties, ranks and ages ;
attracting a regard which no celebrity could have conciliated
but which flowed spontaneously toward that goodness which
in him was the soul of greatness." This giant in intellect and
energy of will was simple as a child in private and social
dealings.
Lastly, as to the religious depth and fervour of this man
of God. The extraordinary intellectual powers and un-
common energy of will of Rammohun Roy have somewhat
overshadowed his no less remarkable depth of devotion.
There are people who, dazzled by his intellectual eminence
and public activities, fail to recognise his spiritual greatness ;
yet religion was the under-current, "the master bias," of his
many-sided genius. His English biographer says with true
insight, "He was above all and beneath all a religious
personality. The many and far-reaching ramifications of his
prolific energy were forth-puttings of one purpose. The
root of his life was religion. He would never have been able
EAGERNESS FOR WORSHIP. Ixxix
to go so far or to move his countrymen so mightily as he did
but for the driving power of an intense theistic passion."
The worship of the one True God was the mission of his
life and the delight of his soul. To establish the spiritual
worship of the Spirit-God, the Father of all mankind, was
the supreme concern of his life. Wherever he went he
first strove to win a band of fellow-worshippers. Long before
the foundation of the Brahmo Samaj and while he was yet in
the service of the East India Company at Rungpur, we find
him bringing together, with great difficulty, a few kindred
susceptible souls for joint religious exercises. As soon as
he arrived in Calcutta, he formed the Atmiya Sabha, the
chief object of which was spiritual worship, and later on he
organised the Unitarian Committee for purely theistic
worship. Prior to this he constantly attended the Scotch
Presbyterian services at St. Andrew's Church, Calcutta, though
he did rot fully agree with their religious views ; so strong
was his hankering for religious woiship. Rammohun Roy's
cook who had accompanied him to England and h?,d oppor-
tunities of knowing him intimately, said that "worship of God
was Rammohun Roy's first daily work." Miss Hare, who
was a constant companion of the Raja during his residence
in England, noticed that, often, even while driving in the
streets, he would close his eyes and offer up silent prayers
to God,
He longed for daily domestic service ; but alas, this
hankering remained unsatisfied. Soon after his arrival in
Calcutta he went to visit the Baptist missionaries of Seram-
pore and stayed for the family prayer in the house of Rev.
Mr. Carey, with which, says one of the missionaries, "he was
delighted". Mr. Carey presented him with a copy of Dr.
Watt's 'Hymns'. The Raja promised he would treasure up
the hymns in his heart; and so he did, carrying the book
with him to the last days of his life. It has been stated on
Ixxx INTRODUCTION
the authority of an associate of the Raja, that "Whenever
he spoke of universal religion he was so much moved that
tears came out from his eyes." People generally think of
Rammohun Roy as an intellectual giant, a great theologian
and reformer, but he was not more intellectual than devout
and emotional. His love for Hafiz and Saadi witnesses to
the emotional side of his religion. He was far from an
abstract theologian ; he was not a mere dry Vedantist ;
but in him there was a happy harmony offnana, Bhakti> and
Karma^ the intellectual, emotional and practical aspects of
religion. His many-sided activities were the outcome of his
inner spiritual life. To him, as he used to say constantly,
the service of man was the highest expression and fruition
of worship.
Such was the great personality, who heralded the dawn
of a new ern in India at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Miss Collet has laid us under a deep debt of
gratitude by recording the story of this great and eventful life,
which we are sure will be read by successive generations of
India with joy and enthusiasm.
CONTINUATOR'S NOTE
"1 am dying. I cannot finish my 'Life of Rammohun
Roy.' But when I enter the Unseen, I want to be able to
tell Rammohun that his Life will be finished. Will you finish
it for me ?" Such was Miss Collet's message. It was sent to
one whom she had never so much as seen, who had taken no
part in the movemeuts which she had most at heart, and
who had only the vaguest knowledge of her hero. The
work was not at all along the line of his main pursuits. But
to a request of this kind, utterred on the threshold of the
eternal world, he felt there could be only one answer. It
came to him as a mandate which he could not disobey, — a
mandate none the less imperative because wholly unexpected
and unprepared for.
In undertaking the task he has endeavoured simply to
complete the author's work. Of the immense mass of material
which he used, almost all had been collected by her during
long and laborious years of patient research : there was
scarcely a source he drew from, which she had not indicated,
Her general impression of Rammohun's character he has veri-
fied and followed. He has adhered to her method of spelling
- Indian names, excepting in quotations of titles and passages
from other works, where he has reproduced the spelling, how-
ever arbitrary or inconsistent, of his sources. Being himself
no expert in Indian affairs, he gladly acknowledges the tech-
nical aid he has received from Miss E. A. Manning, Mr. N.
Gupta and Mr. Ananda Mohun Bose. But the work in con-
ception, outline, materials and in all but concluding literary
execution is and remains Miss Collet's.
The author died on the 2?th March, 1894, The conti-
nuator regrets that the work has not appeared sooner. The
delay has been occasioned, first by the interposition of
obstacles for which he was not responsible, and next by the
exigencies of other and more inexorable duties. His part
has had to be done in snatches of leisure that were very rare
and very brief.
1XXX1V RAMMOHUN ROY
What is it to me, then, that no eye that meets mine
Shines with a kindred light ? that should I speak
That which burns in me, O, no tongue so strange
As my unfeigned utterance ; that my acts even,
Beget bewilderment ; and are construed
Clear from their purposes ? This should not trouble me,
Nor mortal solitude oppress my spirit ;
It is for me to walk my single road.
There is in heaven a holy sympathizer,
Shall smile to find me faithful.
WILLIAM CALDWELL ROSCOE,
Violenzia, Act 4, Scene 7.
CHAPTER I.
( 1772—1803 )
Searching for T>utb,
1772, May 22. — His birth at Radhanagar,
1781-82. — Second and third Marriages.
1787. — Leaves home to study Buddhism in Thibet.
1790-91. — Returns home and shortly afterwards settles at Benares,
1800. — Birth of his elder son, Radha Prasad.
1801. — First acquaintance with Mr. John Digby, of Bengal C.S.
1803. — Death of his father, Ram Kant Roy.
Rammohun Roy was born in the village of Radhanagar,
near Krishnagar, in the Zilla of Hugli, on the 22nd of May,
1772.*
His pedigree has been preserved up to a very early date,
but we need not trace it in detail beyond his great grand-
He Much uncertainty has existed as to the year of Rammohun's birth.
The date most frequently accepted is that given on his tombstone, viz.,
1774 ; but I give the earlier date in the text on the following authorities : —
The Rev. C. H. A. Ball, in a letter to the Sunday Mirror of Jan. 18, 1880,
reported that Rammohun's younger son Rama Prasad Roy, said in 1838
before a circle of friends and clients in Calcutta, — "My father was born at
Radhanagar, near Krishnagar, in the month of May, 1772 ; or according
to the Bengali era, in the month of Jyaishtha, 1179." Mr. Dall asked
for the day of birth, but Rama Prasad was unable to give this. The fact
has since, however, been supplied by another lineal descendant of Ram-
mohun, Babu Lalit Mohun Chatterji, who has stated that "Rammohun
Roy was born in the year 1772, on the 22nd day of May." For this and
other details I am indebted to the kindness of Babu Phani Bhusan
Mukherji, of Rajshahee College, who learnt them from Babu Rabindra
Nath Tagore, to whom Babu L. M. Chatterji had given the information.
2 RAMMOHUN ROY,
father, Krishna Chandra Banerji,* who entered the service of
the Nawab of Bengal, and received from him the title of "Roy
Roy,v afterwards contracted into Roy, which has ever since
remained the designation of the family. This occurred
during the reign of the Emperor Aurungzib ( 1619-1707. )
Krishna Chandra is said to have been an acute and able
man, and a zealous member of the Vaishnava sect. He
had three sons ; Hari Prasad, Amar Chandra, and Braja-
binode. Brajabinode Roy was wealthy and philanthropic and
devotedly attached to his gods. He was employed under
the Nawab Siraj-ud-Dowla in some honourable position at
Murshidabad, but on account of some ill treatment, he
quitted that employment, and spent the rest of his life at
home. His fifth son, Ram Kant Roy, was the father of our hero.
But Rammohun's maternal ancestors belonged to the rival
sect of the Saktas, of which his mother's father was a priest, —
a curious conjuncture of antecedents for the future reformer
of Hinduism. How this came to pass is thus narrated : —
As Brajabinode Roy lay dying on the banks of the Ganges,
a man named Shyama Bhattacharjya, of Chatara near
Serampore, came to him requesting a boon. He was of
honourable parentage, and his family were well known as the
priests of the locality. The kind-hearted Brajabinode readily
consented, and swore by the Ganges to grant the boon ;
whereupon Shyama Bhattacharjya asked permission to bestow
his daughter in marriage upon one of Brajabinode's sons.
Now as he was not only the priest of a rival sect, but a
Bhanga Kulin^ the dying man felt as if he had been trapped,
* [According to Pandit Mahendranath Vidyanidhi, who made careful
investigations, it was the great great grand-father of Rammohun Roy,
Parasuram Banerjee, who first accepted office under the Mahammadan
rulers and was rewarded with the title of Roy-Roy. Edi.J
t A Bhanga (or broken) Kulin is a Kulin who has broken his
ul or Caste.
PARENTS. 3
but having sworn by the Ganges, he could not break his
word. So he called his seven sons and requested them, one
by one, to make good his promise. All refused except the
fifth son, Ram Kant, who readily accepted the unwelcome
bride, and in due course married her. They had three
children : the eldest was a daughter ( name not recorded ) ;
the second and third were sons, Jaganmohun and Rammonun.
The daughter married one Sridhar Mukherji, said to have
been a clever man (whose father is reported to have lived to
his 1 25th year ), and her son, Gurudas Mukerji, was much
attached to his uncle Rammohun, and is said to have been
the tatter's first convert in his own family.
Ram Kant Roy had also another wife, of whom nothing
is known except that she had a son named Ramlochan, of
whom but little is recorded. But it is quite evident that
Ramohun's mother was the mistress of the household.
Her name was Tarini, but she was always called Phulthakurani,
*.£., "the fifth son's wife." She was a woman of strong
character and of fine understanding, and appears to have
had considerable influence over her husband,*
* [ She was evidently a remarkable woman both for the firmness of
her will and her piety. After the death of her eldest son she took the
management of the family property in her own hands and conducted the
intricate affairs of the estate satisfactorily. Her treatment to her great son
does not seem to have been always kind. When Rammohun Roy left the
ancestral house at the age of about sixteen she was, as natural, deeply
affected. But afterwards she was very harsh to him for his heterodox
religious views. It is even said that Rammohon Roy was compelled to
leave the ancestral home and his native village on account of her hostility.
Mr. Adam at a public meeting in London soon after the death of Ram-
mohun Roy, said that she had brought a suit against Rammohun Roy in
the Supreme Court to disinherit him. Yet Rammohun Roy was invariably
respectful and affectionate towards her, and is said to have won her to his
views. In her old age she is reported to have said to Rammohun Roy
that he was right, but she was too old to change her views. Like many
Hindu ladies she was very devout. In her old age she made a pilgrimage
4 RAMMOHUN ROY.
All that is recorded of Ram Kant Roy shows him to have
been an upright and estimable man. He, like his father,
served for a time ( as a Sarcar ) under Siraj-ud-Dowla, but
subsequently retired to Radhanagar.* Here he rented some
villages from the Raja of Burdwan, which seems to have
been the first beginning of a long series of disputes
between the Raja and the Roy family. Judging from the
full report of a lawsuit brought against Rammohun Roy
many years later by this Raja, he appears to have been so
unscrupulous a man that we may fairly conclude him to
have been in the wrong in his early conflicts with Ram Kant
Roy, who was often so disgusted with the treatment he
received that he would neglect his affairs for a while, and
retire to meditate and tell his Harinain beads in a garden
of sacred Tulsi plants. He was very devout, and a staunch
believer in Vishnu as the Supreme God, and in Rama
as the last incarnation but one of Vishnu. Fortunately
for his domestic peace, his Sakta wife was soon led to adopt
his beliefs, which she did so heartily as to occasion some slight
friction with her father, if legend speaks truly.
to the shrine of Jagannath at Puri. Though sufficiently rich, out of
regard for the deity, she walked all the distance of about 300 or 400
miles) ; this for a respectable Hindu lady, who never before walked out
of the precincts of her home, was a remarkable feat. At Puri she used
to sweep the yard of the temple daily for a year, as a devout service to
the presiding god. Edi. ]
* [According to the investigations of Pandit Mahendra Nath
Vidyanidhi, Krishna Chandra Banerjee, the great grand-father of Ram-
mohunRoy>and not his fath er or grand-father, migrated to, and settled
at Radhanagar. Krishna Chandra Banerjee, at the recommendation of
an official in the service of the Nawab of Murshidabad, was engaged and
sent by the Raja of Burdwan to settle accounts with and realise the
arrears of rent from Anantaram Chaudhuri of Khanakul. Krishna Chandra
accordingly had to come to Khanakul and stay there for some time.
He was pleased with the locality and settled there permanently, selecting
a site on the left bank of the river Darakeswar opposite Krishnagar. Edi.]
EDUCATION. S
Such was the home into which Rammohun Roy was born.
His father spared no expense in his education ; and local
traditions assert that he showed great intelligence at an early
age, and possessed a remarkably tenacious memory, never
forgetting anything which he had once heard or read. After
completing his school course of Bengali education, he took
up the study of Persian ( then the Court language throughout
India), and soon became fascinated by the mystic poetry
and philosophy of the Persian Sufis, for which he retained
an ardent attachmet throughout his life. He was next sent
to Patna to learn Arabic, and (it is said, by his mother's
desire) to Benares to learn Sanskrit. At Patna his masters
set him to study Arabic translations from Euclid and
Aristotle, and he then also made acquaintance with the
Koran. All these influences, especially the last, tended
inevitably towards the disintegration of his earliest
religious beliefs, which had been very fervent. His friend,
William Adam, wrote of him in 1826:— "He seems to
have been religiously disposed from his early
youth, having proposed to seclude himself from the
world as a Sannyast, or devotee, at the age of fourteen, from
which he was only dissuaded by the entreaties of his
mother." It is said that his reverence for Vishnu was at
one time so great that he would not even take a draught
of water without first reciting a chapter of the Bhagavat
Puran. The boundless veneration which he is said to have
entertained for his father's household deities, is still more
characteristically illustrated by the story that he could not
bear to witness the performance of the Yatra (or popular
play) of Man Bhanjan, in which the god Krishna weeps
clasping the feet of his fair Radhika, and his peacock head-
gear and green clothes are seen rolling in the dust.
Another anecdote is reported of his Hindu period, — that
" for the attainment of knowledge and wisdom," he had, at
6 RAMMOHUN ROY.
a great expense, a certain ceremony performed for him 22
times, called Purashcharan^ consisting in a repetition of the
name of a deity, accompanied with burnt offerings.
But Rammohun was not to pass out of this early phase
without one mark of Hinduism which remained to colour his
whole life. While yet a mere child, his father married him
three times. The first bride died " at a very early age '* ( not
specified), and after her death, as we learn from William
Adam's letters, " his father, when he was only about nine
years of age, married him within an interval of less than a
twelvemonth to two different wives. This was in perfect
conformity with the usuage of his caste [the Kulin Brahman]
and was done when he was incapable of judging for himself."*
At last came the inevitable break. All accounts agree
that it was preceded by much theological discussion between
Rammohun and his father, and it is probably to this period
that we should refer the following reminiscences of Mr. Adam,
given in his Memorandum of 1879.
" It is not often that we get an insight into Hindu family life, but his
[Ram Kant Roy's] son gave me a slight glance at least in referring to
the amicable differences that arose between himself and his father on
this subject. I inferred from what R. R. said that he always left it to
his father, as the head and most venerable member of the family, to open
the question which he thought fit to moot, and when he had finished his
immediate argument, he was generally willing to listen to his son with
patience, which sometimes, however, forsook him. The son's response
after the necessary perliminary admissions, usually began with the adver-
sative particle ^Buf (Kintu). ' But notwithstanding all this, the orthodox
conclusion you aim at does not follow.' The father complained of this,
and on one occasion, at least, burst out in the tone of remonstrance, as
of an injured party : ' Whatever argument I adduce you have always
your Kintu, your counter-statement, your counter-argument, your counter-
conclusion to oppose to me.' The son recounted this to me with half
* The first of these two wives was the mother of his children. She
died in 1814. The second wife survived him.
EARLY TRAVELS. 7
a smile on his lips and a touch of humour in his voice, but without any
expression of disrespect to his father.
What follows may best be told in the words of Dr. Lant
Carpenter :
" Without disputing the authority of his father, he often sought from
him information as to the reasons of his faith ; he obtained no satis-
faction ; and he at last determined at the early age of 15, to leave the
paternal home, and sojourn for a time in Thibet, that he might see
another form of religious faith.* He spent two or three years in that
country, and often excited the angers of the worshippers of the Lama
by his rejection of their doctrine that this pretended deity — a living
man — was the creator and preserver of the world. In these circum-
stances he experienced the soothing kindness of the female part of the
family ; and his gentle, feeling heart lately dwelt with deep interest, at
the distance of more than forty years, on the recollections of that period
which, he said, had made him always feel respect and gratitude towards
the female sex."
The precise extent and duration of his travels is not
known ; f but they appear to have lasted about three or four
years, and to have been terminated by a message of recall
from his father, who is said to have grieved much at his
absence, and to have shown him great kindness on his return.
* Review of the Labours, Opinions > and Character of Rammohun Roy,
1833, pp. 101-102. Dr. Carpenter adds in a foot-note: "The statement
made in the preceding [i.e., the above] sentence, I heard from the Rajah
himself in London, and again at Stapleton Grove [Bristol]." This testi-
mony is important as distinctly contravening the story that Rammohun
left home on account of a family disagreement caused by his having
" when about the age of sixteen composed a manuscript calling in question
the validity of the idolatrous system of the Hindus ; " a story which,
although repeated by all Rammohun's biographers, was never heard of
till after his death, and rests upon no authority whatever, except the
spurious " autobiographical letter " published by Sandford Arnot in the
Athenaum of Oct. 5, 1833.
f [Rammohun Roy wrote a few articles about his early travels in the
Sambad Kaumudi, but unfortunately no copies of that magazine could
be found. Edi.]
8 RAMMOHUN ROY.
But all accounts agree that he did not remain long under
the family roof, the incompatibility being too great. Our
only actual knowledge as to his next step is derived from
his own evidence in the Burdwan lawsuit already referred
to, in which he states that "so far from inheriting the pro-
perty of his deceased father, he had, during his lifetime,
separated from him and the rest of the family, in consequence
of his altered habits of life and change of opinions, which did
not permit their living together." Whither he betook himself
none of his biographers seem to have known ; but happily
the missing fact is supplied in the letters of his friend, William
Adam, who wrote in 1826 that Rammohun, after relinquishing*
idolatry, " was obliged to reside for ten or twelve years at
Benares, at a distance from all his friends and relatives, who
lived on the family estate at Burdwan, in Bengal." Referring
to this period, another friend has testified as follows : — ' So
strongly were his feelings wrought upon by the alienation
which then commenced, that through life, under the pressure
of dejection or disease, the frowning features of his father
would rise unbidden on his imagination." *
Probably he fixed his residence at Benares on acccount
of the facilities afforded by that sacred city for the study of
Sanskrit ; and if so, we may conclude that it was chiefly at
this period that he acquired his extensive knowledge of the
Hindu Shastras. Certainly it was not till then that he began
family life on his own account, for his eldest son, Radha
Prasad, was born in the year 1800, when Rammohun must
have been about twenty-eight years old, — apparently seven
years after his return from travel. On what resources he
then subsisted does not appear. The only lucrative occu-
* A Discourse on the Occasion of the Death of Rajah Rammohun Roy,
by W. J. Fox, London, 1883, pp. 16-17. As I have never seen this fact
mentioned anywhere else, I conclude that Mr. Fox heard it from Ram-
mohun himself, with whom he was on very friendly terms.
RESIDENCE AT BENARES. 9
pation in which he is ever known to have been engaged was
his work in the Civil Service under the East India Company ;
but that must certainly be referred to a later date, as he
only began to learn English in 1796, and had not obtained
much proficiency in it by 1801. Probably, however, in such a
seat of Hindu learning as Benares he might have obtained
employment by copying manuscripts. In any case, he seems
to have remained there until his father's death in 1803. It
is a relief to know that after all their differences, the father
and son were together at the last. This we learn from Mr.
Adam, who reports as follows in his Memorandum :
" R. Roy, in conversation, mentioned to me with much feeling that he
had stood by the deathbed of his father, who with his expiring breath
continued to invoke his God — Ram ! Ram ! with a strength of faith and
a fervour of pious devotion which it was impossible not to respect although
the son had then ceased to cherish any religious veneration for the
family deity."
Ram Kant Roy was succeeded in his estate by his son
Jaganmohun. Rammohun inherited no portion of his father's
' property. *
* In Rammohun's evidence on the Burdwan law-suit, he describes his
own position as that of "a son separating himself from his father during
his lifetime, and by his own exertion acquiring property unconnected with
his father, and after his father's death inheriting no portion of his father's
property."
CHAPTER II.
(1803—1814.)
Throwing Down the Gauntlet*
Rammohun publishes his first work, Tuhfafatl-Muwahhidiny or A Gift
to Monotheists.
He enters the Bengal Civil Service.
1805, May 9.— Mr. John Digby becomes Register at Ramgurh.
1808, June 15. — Mr. Digby becomes Register at Bhagalpur.
1809, Oct- 2O- — Mr. Digby becomes Collector at Rungpur.
1811. — Death of Jaganmohun Roy and suttee of his widow.
Rammohun's vow.
1812. — Birth of Rammohun's second son, Rama Prasad Roy.
1814. — Rammohun takes up his residence in Calcutta.
Relieved from the fear of paining his father, Rammohun
soon began to make his heresies known to the world. He
removed to Murshidabad, the old Moghul capital of Bengal,
and there he published his first work, a treatise in Persian
( with an Arabic preface), entitled Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin,
or, A Gift to Monotheists. This was a bold protest against
the idolatrous element in all established religions,* the drift
of the treatise being that while all religions are based on one
common foundation, viz., the belief— justified by the facts, —
in One Supreme Being who has created and sustains the
* By a very natural mistake, the subject of this treatise was long
supposed, in England, to form its actual title, and the essay was always
designated by the name — "Against the Idolarty of all Religions." No
translation of this treatise appears to have been made until quite recently,
when it was rendered into English by a learned and enthusiastic Maho-*
medan. The full title of his pamphlet is as follows : — Tuhfat-ul-Muivah-
hidin, or, A Gift to Deists, by the late Rajah Rammohun Roy, translated
into English by Moulavi Obaidullah El Obaide, Superintendent of the
Dacca Government Madrassa, and published under the auspices of the
Adi Brahmo Somaj, Calcutta, 1884.
FIRST PUBLICATION II
whole universe,— they all differ in the details of the super-
structure erected thereupon, — these superstructures being all
equally unjustified by any basis of fact, and arising solely
from the imagination of men working in vacua. The
treatise bears many traces of Rammohun's Patna training,
being written in an abstruse style, and abounding with Arabic
logical and philosophical terms. Its arrangement is, how-
ever, quite unsystematic, and the whole is merely a series of
descriptive sketches ; but these show much acuteness of
observation and reasoning, and are pervaded by a strong
tinge of that bitter earnestness which results from the
long suppression of intense feeling. The author writes as
though he had been obliged to stand by and witness a number
of priestly impositions which he could not hinder and was
prevented from exposing ; and no doubt this had really been
the case. The treatise is important as the earliest available
expression of his mind, and as showing his eagerness to bear
witness against established error but it is too immature to be
worth reproducing as a whole. A few passages only are
worth quoting as indications of what he was at this early
period.
It may be seen that the followers of certain religions believe that the
Creator has made mankind for the performance of the duties bearing
on our present and future life by observing the precepts of that particular
religion ; and that the followers of other religions who differ from them
are liable to punishment and torment in the future life. And
as the members of each particular sect defer the good results of their own
acts and the bad results of their rivals' acts to the life after death none
of them can refute the dogmas of others in this life. Consequently they
sow the seeds of prejudice and disunion in the hearts of each other
and condemn each other to the deprivation of eternal blessings — whereas
it is quite evident that all of them are living in the equal enjoyment of
the external blessings of heaven, such as the light of the stars, the
pleasure of the season of spring, the fall of rain, health of body, external
and internal good, and other pleasures of life ; and that all are equally
liable to suffer from inconveniences and pains, such as gloomy darkness,
12 RAMMOHUN ROY.
severe cold, mental disease, narrow circumstances and other outward
and inward evils, without any distinction, although following different
religions.
The Brahmins have a tradition that they have strict orders from
God to observe their ceremonies and hold their faith for ever. There
are many injunctions to this effect in the Sanskrit language, and I, the
humblest creature of God, having been born among them, have learnt
the language and got those injunctions by heart ; and this nation having
confidence therein cannot give them up, although they have been subjected
to many troubles and persecutions, and were threatened with death by the
followers of Islam. The followers of Islam on the other hand, according to
the purport of the holy verse of the Koran— 'Kill the idolators wherever
you find them, and capture the unbelievers in holy war, and after doing so
either set them free by way of obligation to them or by taking ransom,' —
quote authority from God that killing idolators and persecuting them in
every case are obligatory by divine command. Among those idolators the
Brahmins, according to the Moslem belief, are the worst. Therefore the
followers of Islam, excited by religious zeal, desirous to carry out the
orders of God, have done their utmost to kill and persecute thepolytheists
and unbelievers in the prophetic mission of the Seal of Prophets
[Mohammed], and the blessing to the present and future worlds (may the
divine benediction rest on him and and his disciples). Now are these con-
tradictory precepts or orders consistent with the wisdom and mercy of the
great, generous, and disinterested Creator, or are these the fabrications of
the followers of religion ? I think a sound mind will not hesitate to prefer
the latter alternative.
There is a saying which is often heard from teachers of different
religions as an authority for their several creeds. Each of them says that
his religion, which gives information about future reward or punishment
after death, is either true or false. In the second case, i. e., if it be false,
and there be no future reward or punishment, there is no harm in believing
it to be true ; while in the first case, t. e., its being true, there is a great
danger for unbelievers. The poor people who follow these expounders of
religion, holding this saying to be a conclusive argument, always boast of
it. The fact is that habit and training make men blind and deaf in spite
of their own eyes and ears. The above saying is fallacious in two respects.
Firstly, their saying that in the second case there is no harm in believing
it to be true, is not to be admitted. For to believe in the real existence
of anything after obtaining proofs of such existence is possible to every
EARLY RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 13
individual man ; but to put faith in the existence of such things as are
remote from experience and repugnant to reason is not in the power of a
sensible man. Secondly, the entertaining a belief in these things may
become the source of various mischiefs and immoral practices, owing to
gross ignorance, want of experience, bigotry, deceit, &c. And if this
argument were valid, the truth of all forms of religion might be proved
therefrom ; for the same arguments may equally be advanced by all. Hence
there would be great perplexity for a man. He must either believe all
religions to be true, or adopt one and reject the others. But as the first
alternative is impossible, consequently the second must be adopted and in
this case he has again to make inquiries into truth and falsehood of
various religions, and this is the chief object of my discourse.
The followers of different religions, seeing the paucity of the number
of Monotheists in the world, sometimes boast that they are on the side of
the majority. But it may be seen that the truth of a saying does not depend
upon the multitude of sayers, and the non-reliability of a narration cannot
result from the small numbers of its narrators. For it is admitted by the
seekers of truth, that truth is to be followed although it is against the
majority of the people. Moreover, to accept the proposition that the small
number of the sayers leads to the invalidity of a saying, seems to be a
dangerous blow to all forms of religion. For in the beginning of every
religion it had a very few supporters, viz, its founder and a few sincere
followers of his, . . . while the belief in only one Almighty God is the
fundamental principle of every religion.
In short, men may be divided into four classes in reference to this subject,
1st. Deceivers who in order to attract the people to themselves, con-
sciously invent doctrines of religious faith and cause disunion and trouble
among men.
2nd. Deceived persons who, without inquiring into the facts,follo\v others.
3rd. Persons who are at the same time deceivers and deceived ;
having themselves faith in the sayings of another, they induce others to
follow his doctrines.
4th. Those who by the help of Almighty God are neither deceivers
nor deceived.
These few short and useful sentences expressing the opinion of this
humble creature of God, have been written without any regard to men of
prejudice and bigotry, in the hope that persons of sound mind will look
thereon with eyes of justice. I have left the details to another work of
mine entitled Manazarutul Adyan^ — Discussions on Various Religions.
14 RAMMOHUN ROY.
P. S. In order to avoid any future change in this book by copyists,
I have had these few pages printed just after composition. Let it be
known that the benediction pronounced in this book after the mention of
prophets is merely done in imitation of the usual custom of the authors of
Arabia and Ajan.
The Discussions on Various Religions * above alluded to
are, unhappily, no longer procurable. I conclude then it must
have been in one of these that Rammohun made some rather
sarcastic remarks on Mahomet, to which reference is made by
several of his biographers as having excited an amount of
anger against him among the Mahomedans which was a chief
cause of his removing to Calcutta. In Mr. Leonard's History
of the Brahmo Samaj, these sarcastic remarks are said ( p. 27)
to occur in the Tuhfat, but certainly no such passage is to be
found there. On the other hand it is indubitable that Ram-
mohun always retained a large amount of sympathy with
Islam for fhe sake of its cardinal doctrine of the Unity of
God, and that he warmly appreciated the good which had
thence resulted in counteracting Hindu idolatry. Mr. Adam
says that Rammohun "seemed always pleased to have an
opportunity of defending the character and teaching of Maho-
met," of whom indeed he began to write a biography which
was unhappily never finished.
It must have been at this period that Rammohun Roy
entered the Civil Service under the East India Company.
The exact date of his doing so I have not been able to ascer-
tain ; but ( for several reasons ) it can scarcely have been
before his father's death, and it must have occurred not long
after that event. Our only contemporary information on the
subject comes from Mr. John Digby, an English gentleman
who was for several years Rammohun's superior officer in the
Bengal Civil Service, and who during a visit to England,
edited a reprint of Rammohun's traslations of the Ken
* [ Written in Persian. Edi. ]
MR. JOHN DIGBY. 1 5
Upanishad and Abridgment of the Vedanta ( London, 1817)
to which he prefixed an interesting account of the translator
In this he said : —
Rammohun Roy . . is by birth a Brahmin of very respectable
origin, in the province of Bengal, about forty -three* years of age. His
acquirements are considerable : to a thorough knowledge of the Sanskrit
(the language of the Brahminical Scriptures) he has added Persian
and Arabic ; and possessing an acute understanding, he early conceived
a contempt for the religious prejudices and absurd superstitions of his
caste. At the age of twenty-two [really twenty-four, /. <?., in 1796] he
commenced the study of the English language, which not pursuing with
application, he, five years afterwards [1801], when ] became
acquainted with him, could merely speak it' well enough to be
understood upon the most common topics of discourse, but could
not write it with any degree of correctness. He was afterwards
employed as Dewan,or principal native officer,in the collection of revenues,
in the district of which I was for five years Collector, in the East India
Company's Civil Service. By perusing all my public correspondence with
diligence and attention, as well as by corresponding and conversing with
European gentlemen, he acquired so correct a knowledge of the English
language as to be enabled to write and speak it with considerable accuracy.
He was also in the constant habit of reading the English newspapers, of
which the Continental politics chiefly interested him and from thence he
formed a high admiration of the talents and prowess of the late ruler of
France, and was so dazzled with the splendour of his achievements as to
become sceptical as to the commission, if not blind to the atrocity of his
crimes, and could not help deeply lamenting his downfall, notwithstanding
the profound respect he ever professed for the English nation ; but when
the first transports of his sorrow had subsided, he considered that part of
his political conduct which led to his abdication to have been so weak, and
so madly ambitious, that he declared his future detestation of Buonaparte
would be proportionate to his former admiration.
From a paper furnished to me by the courtesy of the India
Office, I learn that Mr. Digby was never so long as five years
* Had Rammohun Roy been forty-three in 1817 he would have been
born in 1774. As this is the date given on his tombstone,it must have been
later than the true date, all the intermediate dates of his age specified by
Mr. Digby must be raised by two years.
16 RAMMOHUN ROY.
at any station except that of Rungpur, where he served from
October 20, 1809, to December, 1814, when he returned to
England for a few years. Now it is at Rungpur that popular
tradition chiefly connects the name of Rammohun Roy with
Mr. Digby ; but as Mr. Digby was previously at Ramgurh (1805
to 1808) and Bhagalpur (1808 to 1809), and as Rammohun
mentions in his evidence on theBurdwan law-suit having resided
at " Ramgurh, Bhagalpur, and Rungpur," it is highly probable
that he was working under Mr. Digby in the two former local-
ities before he went to Rungpur •, although we have no details
as to the successive posts which he then occupied.
It is usually stated by Rammohun's biographers that " a
written agreement was signed by Mr. Digby to the effect that
Rammohun should never be kept standing (a custom enforced
by European Civil Servants towards natives of the highest rank)
in the presence of the Collector, and that no order should be
issued to him as a mere Hindu functionary." So far as I can
trace, this statement first appeared in a letter by Mr. R. Mont-
gomery Martin (in whose words I have quoted ifr) in the Court
Journal of October 5, 1833, Just a^ter Rammohun's death. So
many statements in that letter are undoubtedly erroneous that
I can feel no assurance as to the fact of this written agreement.
There can, however, be no doubt that Mr. Digby held Ram-
mohun in high regard, and that a sincere friendship existed
between them, honourable alike to both.
Mr. G. S. Leonard in his History of the Brahmo Somaj,
based on a MS. work by a highly respected member of the Adi
Brahmo Somaj, makes the following statement : —
The permanent settlement of Zemindaries under Lord Cornwallis in
1793, and its ratification by the Court of Directors some three years after,
required a general survey and assessment of all lands in Bengal under
European collectors, some of whom were empowered with the settlement
of several districts at once. Mr. Digby had the charge of settling the
districts of Rungpur, Dinajpur and Purnea,a work which kept him employ-
AT RUNGPUR I 7
ed for three years, and in the execution of which he gained a lasting renown
in the memory of the people for justice and probity, a result which is
mainly due to the exertions of his dewdn.
Pandit Siva Nath Sastri mentions in his excellent, but
unfortunately \inpub\ishQd,* History of the Brahmo Somaj\ that
the state of things in the above mentioned districts of North-
ern Bengal
. . . was especially complicated. Here there were many powerful land-
lords who had a large number of unsettled disputes, and almost every in-
dividual case of settlement involved the examination of a variety of records
and documents and the consideration of conflicting claims. In many
cases there were no documents whatever to substantiate the claims of actual
owners of land, and they required personal attendance and local inquiry
from the settlement officer. In settlement work in those days, the trusted
native Sheristadars were, as a rule, the chief agents employed by the
Collectors, who were guided to a large extent by their decisions and
counsels.
Mr. Leonard enumerates as Rammohun's special qualifica-
tions for this work, his "proficiency in zemindary accounts and
land surveying" ; "his acquaintance with all the cunning and
dishonest devices of the Amins and Amlahs in furnishing false
accounts and statements " ; and also " the practical reforms he
suggested regarding the ascertaining of rightful ownerships and
descriptions of land, &c." I have not been able to procure any
original documents of this period which could fix dates and
events ; but the above summaries come from reliable sources
and may be accepted as genuine.
From all accounts, it was during his residence in Rungpur
that Rammohun first began to assemble his friends together for
evening discussions on religious subjects, especially on the
untenableness and absurdities of idolatry. Rungpur was then
a place of considerable resort, and among its inhabitants were
a good many merchants from Marwar in Rajputana, Jainas by
faith. Some of these Marwaris used to attend Rammohun's
meetings, and Mr. Leonard says that "he had to learn on their
* [The work has now been published in two volumes. Edi.]
3
1 8 RAMMOHUN ROY.
account the Kalpa Sutra, and other books appertaining to the
Jaina religion," and adds : —
He met, however, with much opposition from a counter party headed
by Gauri Kanta Bhattacharjya, a learned Persian and Sanskrit scholar,
who challenged him in a Bengali book entitled the Cyan Chandrika. This
man was Dewan to the Judge's Court at Rungpur, and his influence
enabled him to gather a large body of men about him whom he hounded
on to Rammohun Roy, but without any success.
A far more serious hostility was that of his mother. As
already mentioned,the family estate passed at Ram Kant Roy's
death in 1803, into the hands of his eldest son, Jaganrnohun.
He died in 1811. To whom it then passed, I have sought in
vain to discover. Certainly it did not go to Rammohun Roy ;
yet a few years later we find him in possession of it, and his
mother bringing suits against him to deprive him of the pro-
perty on the ground of his dissent from the current religion.
I have not succeeded hitherto in obtaining any published
report of these suits, but the following passage from William
Adam leaves no doubt as to their reality.
When the death of Rammohun Roy's elder brother made him the head
of the family, she [his mother ] instituted suits against her son both in the
King's and Company's Courts, with a view to disinherit him as an apostate
and infidel, which according to strict Hindu law, excludes from the present
and disqualifies for the future, possession of any ancestral property, or
even according to many authorities, of any property that is self-acquired.
In this attempt she was defeated ; but for many years he
had much to suffer from her persecution. In his great grand-
son's Anecdotes there is a story of his going to see her on
returning from Rungpur, and being harshly repu'sed from her
embrace, when she is reported to have said,— "If you would
touch me, you must first go and bow down before my Radha
and Govinda" ; whereupon, it is added, "Rammohun, who so
loved his mother, submitted and went to the house of the
gods and said — "I bow down before my mother's god and
goddess." If this be true, it can scarcely have been done so
PERSECUTIONS AT RADHANAGAR. 19
as to impose seriously on his mother, for he never relaxed in
his public attitude towards idolatry. But the anecdote may
stand as a half-mythical illustration of the great reluctance
with which he opposed his parents' faith. Another of these
anecdotes tells of his mother's anger because, when in bad
health, he had by his doctor's advice, taken some broth made
from goat's flesh. On this occasion, it is said, she raised a
great disturbance, and adjured the family thus : — "Be
careful ! Rammohun has turned Christian, and has begun to
eat forbidden things. Let us all unite and drive him from
my ground ; wholesale ruin has begun j" This would seem
to imply that he still held some footing in Burdwan, and did
not reside entirely at Rungpur during the whole of Mr.
Digby's five years there ( 1809 to 1814). Probably his
family still remained in the ancestral neighbourhood. At any
rate, it is clear that owing to his mother's hostility, he had to
remove them. But the whole of Krishnagar belonged to her,
and she would not let him have any land there for his
own. He therefore took up his quarters on a large burning-
ground at the village of Raghunathpur not far off, and there
he built a house for himself.
It must have been during this period that one of his
hostile neighbours, named Ramjay Batabyal, an inhabitant of
the village of Ramnagar near Krishnagar, resorted to a curi-
ous mode of persecution. He collected a number of men
who used to go to Rammohun's house early in the morning
and imitate the crowing of cocks, and again at nightfall to
throw cow-bones into the house. These proceedings greatly
annoyed and disturbed Rammohun's womankind, but he
himself took it with perfect coolness, and made no retort
whatever ; which enraged his persecutors all the more. At
last, however, finding him hopelessly impervious, they
wearied of their attacks and desisted therefrom.*
* [His adversaries soon adopted more serious measures to trouble and
20 RAMMOHUN ROY.
With respect to the family estate, which probably passed
at the death of Jagamohun Roy to his son, Govinda Prasad
Roy, it has been suggested to me by one of Rammohun's
descendants that Govinda Prasad may have failed to continue
the payment of the land tax, in which case the estate would
have been thrown into the market ; and that Rammohun, who
had by that time saved money in Government Service, may
have bought it in. Certainly he came into possession of it
while' his mother still lived. It would appear, however, that
after he had established his right to the property, he did not
at once take possession of it, from reluctance to pain his rela-
tives, and that "for sometime everything remained as before in
the hands of his mother. She taking up the superintendence
of the land under her own care, managed the affairs most
successfully. . . It is said that Phulthakurani used to
place before her all her numerous gods and godesses while
superintending the management of her landed property.'1*
It is always stated by Rammohun's biographers that in
his ten years' Government Service he saved enough money to
enable him to become a zemindar or landowner, with an
annual income of Rs. 10,000 ( about £i, ooo ). Comment-
ing on this fact, Babu Kishory Chand Mitra, in a long and
elaborate sketch of Rammohun which appeared in the
Calcutta Review of December, 1845, insinuates that such
gains raise the suspicion that he "sold justice." "If, he
humiliate him. They tried to excommunicate him. At the time of
the marriage of his eldest son, they endeavoured to persuade people not
to give any girl in marriage to him on account of the father's religious
views. There was a great commotion in the community, but the designs
of his enemies were frustrated. A respectable gentleman of Irpara in
the district of Hugli gave his daughter in marriage to the son of
Rammohun Roy. Edi.]
* Some Anecdotes from the Life of Raja Rammohun Roy, by Nanda
Mohun Chatterji, Calcutta, 1217 Sal ( 1811, A. D. )
AN UNWORTHY INSINUATION REFUTED 21
says, "Rammohun Roy did keep his hands clean, and abstain-
ed, as in the absence of all positive evidence to the contrary
we are bound to suppose, from defeating the ends of justice
for a — consideration —he must have been a splendid excep-
tion." Mr. Leonard, in his History of the Brahmo Samaj,
refutes these unworthy suspicions by pointing out that "if
Kishory Chand had possessed any knowledge of the duties
of a dewan in those early days, and the legal perquisites
appertaining to the office recognised by Government," he
would not have been entitled to wonder at Rammohun Roy's
gains. "It is no great achievement to amass by frugality
and thrift a lakh of rupees after ten years' service, the value
of a dependent Taluk of Rs. 10,000, when others have been
known by a service of half or a quarter that time, to have
made a provision of ten times that amount." Mr. Leonard
also remarks that ahad Mr. Digby's dewan been so corrupt
as he is suspected to have been, Mr. Digby himself would
never have obtained renown for justice and probity." But
the insinuations of K. C. Mitra, though admittedly made "in
the absence of all positive evidence," have unhappily been
repeated from the early memoir by later writers, and were
reproduced so lately as 1888 in the Saturday Review. So
difficult is it to rectify a false impression once given.
Mr. Digby left Rungpur for England at the end of 1814 ;
and in the course of that year Rammohun took up his
residence in Calcutta.* But previous to doing so, he seems
to have been living for a short interval at his house on the
burning-ground at Raghunathpur. In front of this house
he erected a mancha or pulpit, for the purpose of worship
* [Rammohun Roy seems to have early made up his mind to settle
in Calcutta and the house at Maniktala where he began to live on his
removal to Calcutta had been purposely built under the superintendence
of his step-brother Ramlochan Roy. Edi.]
22 RAMMOHUN ROY.
and engraved upon each of its sides three mottos from the
Upanishads. (i) "Om" (aum) — the most venerable and
solemn designation of the Hindu Trinity ; (2) "Tat Sat"
That [/. *., He] is Truth ; and (3) "Ekamevadvitiyam? —
The One without a second. Here he offered his prayers
thrice a day ; and on going home, and on again returning
to Calcutta, he would first walk round this mancha, said to
be still standing. It was in reference to this mancha that
his youngest wife, Uma, is said to have asked him which
religion was the best and highest ? Rammohun is said to have
replied : "Cows are of different colours, but the colour of the
milk they give is the same. Different teachers have different
opinions, but the essence of every religion is to adopt the true
path," — i.e., to live a faithful life.
One other family event in this preparatory period of Ram-
mohun's life must be chronicled here. At the death of his
eldest brother Jaganmohun in 1811, the widow became a
Suttee. It is said that Rammohun had endeavoured to
persuade her beforehand against this terrible step, but in
vain. When, however, she felt the flames she tried to get up
and escape from the pile ; but her orthodox relations and
the priests forced her down with bamboo poles, and kept
her there to die, while drums and brazen instruments were
loudly sounded to drown her shrieks. Rammohun, » unable
to save her, and filled with unspeakable indignation and
pity, vowed within himself, then and there, that he would
never rest until the atrocious custom was rooted out.f And
he kept his vow. Before 19 years had fully elapsed, that
pledge was redeemed by the Government decree abolishing
Suttee, Dec. 4, 1829.
* [There is evidently some confusion here. Rammohun was at
Rungpur at the time of his brother's death. The incident narrated here
must have happened on some other occasion. Edi.]
t For this anecdote we are indebted to Babu Raj Narain Bose, who
learnt the fact from his father, an esteemed disciple of Rammohun Roy.
See Nagendra Nath Chatterji's life of R. M. Roy (p. 23), Calcutta 1880
CHAPTER III.
( 1814—1820. )
First Regular Campaign : Spiritual Theism
versus Idolatry and Suttee.
i
1814. — Rammohun settles in Calcutta.
1815— Founds the Atmiya Sabha or Friendly Association. Translates
the Vedanta into Bengali.
1816. — Writes Abridgment of the Vedanta, and publishes it in Bengali,
Hindusthani, and English. Translates the Kena and Isho
Upanishads into Bengali and English.
1817.— Letter to Mr. Digby. Writes "A Defence of Hindu Theism?
Parts I and II. Translates Mandukya Ufianishadmto Bengali.
Translates Munduk and Katha Upanishads into Bengali and
English.
1818, Nov. 30.— Publishes the English edition of his first tract on
Suttee.
1819, igth Pous. — Great meeting of Atmiya Sabha ; discussion with
Subrahmanya Sastri.
1820, Feb. 26.— Publishes English version of his second tract on
Suttee.
At last, in the year 1814, at the age of forty-two,
Rammohun Roy emerged from provincial obscurity, and >
took up his abode in the capital of British India. He was
now in the prime of manhood ; a majestic looking man,
nearly six feet in height, and remarkable for his dignity of
bearing and grace of manner, as well as for his handsome
countenance and speaking eyes. He seems to have owned
two houses in Calcutta, but that of which we chiefly hear
was his garden house at Maniktola, which he furnished in the
English style. Babu Rakhal Das Haldar says that
Rammohun's Calcutta house was built for him by his half-
24 RAMMOHUN ROY.
brother (whom Babu Rakhal calls Ramtanu Roy, though he
is usually known as Ramlochan). Here then Rammohun
settled himself, and took up his life's work in thorough
earnest.
How formidable that work was, can with difficulty be
realised at the present day. Thick clouds of ignorance and
superstition hung over all the land ; the native bengali public
had few books, and no newspapers. Idolatry was universal,
and was often of a most revolting character ; polygamy and
infanticide were widely prevalent, and the lot of Bengali
women was too often a tissue of ceaseless oppressions and
miseries, while as the crowning horror, the flames of the suttee
were lighted with almost incredible frequencey even in the
immediate vicinity of Calcutta. The official returns of the
years immediately following Rammohun's removal thither,
give the number of suttees in the suburbs of Calcutta alone
as twenty-five in 1815, forty in 1816, thirty-nine in 1817, and
forty-three in 1818, — the ages of these victims ranging from
80, 90, and 100, down to 18, 16, and even 15. All these
inhumanities deeply afflicted the heart of Rammohun Roy.
'An ardent lover of his country, he longed to deliver her from
her degradations, and to set her feet on safe paths, and to
that end he devoted his whole energies from this time forth.
He did not, however, confine his activity to one or two
subjects. His alert and eager mind ranged with keen interest
over the whole field of contemporary life, and in almost
I every branch thereof he left the impress of his individuality.
Alike in religion, in politics, in literature, and in philanthropy,
hrs labours will be found among the earliest and most effect-
ive in the history of native Indian reform.
In chronicling a life of such manifold and simultaneous
activities in various fields, the best way to avoid needless
repetition will be to keep as closely as possible to the chrono-
logical order of events. I shall, therefore, divide the sixteen
TRANSLATION OF THE VEDANT SUTRA 2$
years of Rammohun's Calcutta life into four periods, which
mark the successive stages in his treatment of the main pro-
blems of his day. These periods are (i) from 1814 to 1820 ;
(2) from 1820 to 1824 ; '3) from 1824 to 1828 ; (4) from
1828 to September, 1830. The three years which followed,
mostly spent in England. — where he died in September,
1833, — form a separate period altogether, and may be re-
garded as a general epilogue to the whole.*
Commencing with the first of these periods, we soon see
that to Rammohun's mind the root evil of the whole wretched
state of Hindu society was idolatry, and to destroy this was
his first object. His multifarious researches in the various
sacred books of India had shown him how comparatively
modern was the popular Hinduism then current, and with
what gross corruptions it had superseded the earlier forms of
Hindu faith and practice. Single-handed as he was, he
naturally sought the path of least resistance, and by appealing
to the venerated authorities of the more ancient and spiritual
scriptures, he endeavoured to purify and elevate the minds
of his countrymen. For this purpose he selected some of the
chief productions of the Vedantic system, "which (writes
Pandit Siva Nath Sastri) were of unquestionable authority in
matters of Hindu theology. With the general decline of
learning, these writings had fallen into disuse in the province
of Bengal, and there were very few men even amongst those
who were reputed to be learned at that time who were fami-
liar with their contents.*' In 1815 he published his transla-
tion of the Vedant Sutra itself from the original Sanskrit
into Bengali; and in 1 8 16 he published a brief summary of
this in Bengali, Hindusthani and English. It had been his
wish to "render a translation of the complete Vedant into
the current languages of this country," but this was never
* To the third period two chapters are devoted (v., vi.) ; to the rest
one chapter each. — Continuator.
4
c
26 RAMMOHUN ROY,
fully carried out. He recounts, however, how "during the
interval between my controversial engagements with idolators
as well as with advocates of idolatry, I translated several of
the ten Upanishads of which the Vedant or principal part
of the Veds consist." Of these the Kena and Ishopanishads
appeared in 1816, and the Katha, Munduk and Mandukya
Upanishads in 1817; and all of these except the last he
translated into English also. These works he published
with introductions and comments, and distributed them
widely among his countrymen, free of charge.
The following extracts, written in 1816, will show the
earnest feelings with which he started his propaganda.
My constant reflections on the inconvenient, or rather injurious rites,
introduced by the peculiar practice of Hindu idolatry, which more than
any other Pagan worship, destroys the texture of society, together with
compassion for my countrymen, have compelled me to use every possible
effort to awaken them from their dream of error : and by making them
acquainted with their Scriptures, enable them to contemplate with true
devotion the unity and omnipresence of Nature's God.
By taking the path which conscience and sincerity direct, I, born a
Brahmin, have exposed myself to the comphinings and reproaches, even
of some of my relations, whose prejudices are strong, and whose temporal
advantage depends upon the present system. But these, however accu-
mulated, I can tranquilly bear ; trusting that a day will arrive when my
humble endeavours will be viewed with justice, — perhaps acknowledged
with gratitude. At any rate, whatever men may say, I cannot be de-
prived of this consolation : my motives are acceptable to that Being
who beholds in secret and compensates openly ! *
Some Europeans, endued with high principles of liberality, but not
acquainted with the ritual part of Hindu idolatry are disposed to palliate
* Final paragraphs to the Preface of his first English work, whose
title was in itself a manifesto of the new crusade which he was ini-
tiating '.—^Translation of an Abridgment of th* Vedant, or Resolution
of all the Veds ; the most celebrated and revered work of Brahminical
Theology : establishing the Unity of the Supreme Being: and that He
Alone is the object of propitiation and worship. Calcutta, 1816." — English
Works of Raja Rammohun Roy> i. 5.
REFUTATION OF IDOLATRY 2?
it by an interpretation which, though plausible, is by no means well
founded. They are willing to imagine that the idols which the Hindus
worship are not viewed by them in the light of Gods or as real personi-
fications of the divine attributes ? but merely as instruments for raising
their minds to the contemplation of those attributes, which are respect-
ively represented by different figures. I have frequently had occasion
to remark, that many Hindus also who are conversant with the English
language, rinding this interpretation a more plausible apology for idolatry
than any with which they are furnished by their own guides, do not
fail to avail themselves of it, though in repugnance both to their faith
and to (their practice. The declarations of this description of Hindus
naturally tend to confirm the original idea of such Europeans, who from
the extreme absurdity of pure unqualified idolatry, deduce an argument
against its existence. It appears to them impossible for men, even in
the very last degree of intellectual darkness, to be so far misled as to
consider a mere image of wood or of stone as a human beingy much less
as divine existence. With a view, therefore, to do away with any
misconception of this nature which may have prevailed, I beg leave to
submit the following considerations.
Hindus of the present age, with a very few exceptions, have not the
least idea that it is to the attributes of the Supreme Being as figuratively
represented by shapes corresponding to the nature of those attributes,
they offer adoration and worship under the denomination of gods and
goddesses. On the contrary, the slightest investigation will clearly satisfy
every inquirer that it makes a material part of their system to hold as
articles of faith all those particular circumstances which are essential
to the belief in the independent existence of the object of their idolatry
as deities clothed with divine power.
Locality of habitation and a mode of existence analogous to their own
views of earthly things are uniformly ascribed to each particular god.
Thus the devotees of Siva, misconceiving the real spirit of the Scriptures,
not only place an implicit credence in the separate existence of Siva,
but even regard him as an omnipotent being, the greatest of all the
divinities, who, as they say, inhabit the northern mountain of Kailas ;
and that he is accompanied by two wives and several children, and
surrounded with numerous attendants. In like manner the followers
of Vishnu, mistaking the allegorical representations of the Sastras for
relations of real facts, believe him to be chief over all other gods, and
that he resides with his wife and attendants on the summit of htavcn.
3$ fcAMMOHUN ROY.
Similar opinions are also held by the worshippers of Kali, in respect
to that goddess. And in fact, the same observations are equally applicable
to every class of Hindu devotees in regard to their respective gods and
goddesses. And so tenacious are those devotees in respect to the honour
due to their chosen divinities that when they meet in such holy places
as Haridwar, Pryag, Siva-Canchi, or Vishnu-Canchi in the Dekhan, the
adjustment of the point of precedence not only occasions the warmest
verbal altercations, but sometimes even blows and violence. Neither do
they regard the images of these gods merely in the light of instruments
for elevating the mind to the conception of those supposed being ; they
are simply in themselves made objects of worship. For whenever a Hindu
purchases an idol in the market, or constructs one with his own hands, or
has one made under his own superintendence, it is his invariable practice
to perform certain ceremonies, called Pran Pratishtha, or the endowment
of animation, by which he believes that its nature is changed from that
of the mere materials of which it is formed, and that it acquires not only
life but supernatural powers. Shortly afterwards, if the idol be of the
masculine gender, he marries it to a feminine one, with no less pomp and
magnificence than he celebrates the nuptials of his own children. The
mysterious process is now complete, and the god and goddess are esteem-
ed the arbiters of his destiny, and continually receive his most ardent
adoration.
At the same time, the worshipper of images ascribes to them at once
the opposite natures of human and of super-human beings. In attention
to their supposed wants as living beings, he is seen feeding, or pretend-
ing to feed them every morning and evening ; and as in the h< t season
he is careful to fan them so in cold he is equally regardful of their com-
fort, covering them by day with warm clothing, and placing them at
night in a snug bed. But superstition does not find a limit here : the
acts and speeches of the idols, and their assumptions of various shapes
and colours, are gravely rel ited by the Brahmins, and with all the marks
of veneration are firmly believed by their deluded followers.*
My reflections upon these solemn truths have been most painful for
many years. I have never ceased to contemplate with the strongest
feelings of regret, the obstinate adherence of my countrymen to their
fatal system of idolatry, inducing, for the sake of propitiating their sup-
posed Deities, the violation of every humane and social feeling. And
* Preface to the Translation of the^IshopanisJiad. Calcutta, 1816,
Engl k Works, I. pp. 77-79-
EUROPEAN CELEBRITY 2$
this in various instances, but more especially in the dreadful acts of
self-destruction and the immolation of the nearest relations, under the
delusion of conforming to sacred religious rites. I have never ceased,
I repeat,to contemplate these practices with feelings of regret, and to view
in them the moral debasement of a race who, I cannot help thinking, are
capable of better things, whose susceptibility, patience, and mildness of
character, render them worthy of a better destiny. Under these impres-
sions, therefore, I have been impelled to lay before them genuine tran-
slations of parts of their Scripture, which inculcates not only the enlight-
ened worship of one God, but the purest principles of morality, accom-
panied with such notices as I deemed requisite to oppose the arguments
employed by the Brahmins in defence of their beloved system. Most
earnestly do I pray that the whole may, sooner or later, prove efficient
in producing on the minds of Hindus in general, conviction of the
rationality of believing in and adoring the Supreme Being only ; together
with a complete perception and practice of that grand and comprehens-
ive moral principle — Do unto others as ye 'would be done by. *
Such was the standing-ground from which Rammohun
Roy opened his first regular campaign. The fame of his
provincial discussions and writings had preceded his settle-
ment in Calcutta, and when these were followed up by such
increased and systematic opposition to the popular creed,
great excitement was produced in Hindu society, and the
orthodox feeling against Rammohun soon became very hostile, f
* Concluding paragaph of the Introduction to the Ishopanishad.
English Wotks, I. pp. 86-87.
t [At the same time these publications created a very favourable im-
pression among thoughtful Europeans, and spread the fame of Raja
Rammohun Roy as a great religious reformer in Europe and America.
The first English notice we find of Rammohun Roy occurs in the Pe-
riodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society Vol. VI. pp. 106-109 of
the date of 1816 : "Rama-mohuna Raya, a very rich Rarhee Brahmun
of Calcutta is a respectable Sungskrita scholar and so well-versed in
Persian, that he is called Mouluvee Rama-mohuna Raya : He also
writes English with correctness and reads with ease English mathe-
matical and metaphysical works. He has published in Bengalee one
or two philosophical works, from the Sungskrita, which he hopes may be
30 RAMMOHUN ROY.
Meanwhile he gathered around him a small circle of in-
telligent friends who sympathised more or less actively in his
desire to enlighten his countrymen ; and in 1815 he started
a little society which he entitled the Atmiya Sabha, or
useful in leading his countrymen to renounce idolatry." The narrative
gives an account of Rammohnn Roy's interview with the Serampore
Missionaries and some particulars about his mode of life at this
period. A fuller account is found in the Church of England "Missionary
Register" for Sept. 1816 p. 370 in the course of a review of the Translation
of the Vedant Sutra : "We have been favoured with a sight of a tract
printed at Calcutta in the present year (1816) with the following tittle : —
"Translation of an Abridgment of the Vedant &c." by Rammohun
Roy. Before we give an account of this curious tract, it may be advan-
tageous to our readers to know something of the author." Then follows
a brief account of the life and views of Rammohun Roy, with specula-
tions as to the possibility of his becoming a Christian. The review of
the Abridgment of the Vedant is very fair. The account closes
with the following thoughtful remarks on the propaganda of Rammohun
Roy : "The rise of this new sect, the zeal and subtlety displayed by its
founder, with its obvious tendency to undermine the fabric of Hindu
superstition, are objects of serious attention to the Christian mind. 'Who
knows,5 asks one of the friends from whom we have received these
communications, but this man may be one of the many instruments by
which God, in his mysterious providence, may accomplish the overthrow
of idolatry? "What may be the effect of this man's labours', says
another correspondent, 'time will show. Probably they may bring the
craft of Brahmanism and caste into danger."
A notice of the Abridgment of the Vedant is also found in the Monthly
Repositary of Theology and General Literature for 1816 p. 512, which
is interesting as affording from another quarter a view of the first English
work of the Raja :—
"Two literary phenomena of a singular nature have very recently
been exhibited in India. The first is a Hindu Deist. Rammohun Roy,
a Brahmin, has published a small work, in the present year, at Calcutta,
entittled 'An Abrigement of the Vedant &c' — It contains a collection of
very remarkable texts from the Vedas, in which the principles of natural
religion are delivered, not without dignity ; and which treat all worship
to inferior beings, together with the observance of rites and seasons, and
A FRENCH APPRECIATION. 31
Friendly Association, for the purpose of spiritual improve-
ment. It met once a week, f and its proceedings consist-
ed in the recitation of texts from the Hindu Scriptures, and
the chanting of Theistic hymns composed by Rammohun and
the distinctions of food, as the aids of an imperfect religion, which maybe
altogether disregarded by those who have attained to the knowledge and
love of God."
The records of the next year mark a striking progress of
Rammohun Roy's fame, as evidenced by the following passage,
extracted by the late Miss Mary Carpenter in her Last Days of Ram-
mohun Roy from a letter of Rev. T. Belsham, Minister of Essex Street
Chapel, London, as an introduction to a letter he had just received from
a native convert to Christianity, William Roberts of Madras : —
"It is very remarkable that while the great doctrine of the unity and
unrivalled supremacy of God is thus gradually working its way among
the poorer classes of natives in the vicinity of Madras, it is at the same
time making a triumphant progress among the higher castes of
Hindus in the great and populous city of Calcutta. Rammohun Roy, a
learned, eloquent and opulent Brahman, having by the proper exercise
of his own understanding, discovered the folly and absurdity of the Hindu
mythology and of idol worship, was led by conscientious sense of duty
to proclaim this important discovery to his countrymen, and has
publicly taught the doctrine of the divine unity and perfection to the
native Hindus and has entered his protest against their impious, barbar-
ous and idolatrous rites. Such a doctrine from a person of such exalted
rank, at first excited great astonishment and gave infinite offence. But
by degrees the courage, eloquence and perseverance of this extraordinary
man prevailed over all opposition ; and it is said that many hundreds
of the native Hindoos, and especially of the young people, have embraced
his doctrine."
The European reputation of Rammohan Roy, says Miss Mary
Carpenter, as a remarkable man, and a reformer, was not confined to
Great Britain. A French pamphlet respecting him was forwarded to
t [These meetings were at first held in the garden house of Rammohun
Roy at Maniktala. After two years they were transferred to R;im-
mohan's Simla house (now in the Amherst Street) and subsequently to
other places. Edi.]
32 RAMMOHUN ROY.
his friends. Rammohun's Pandit, Siva Prasad Misra, was the
first reciter, and a paid singer, Govinda Mala, was the first
chanter. "The meetings were not quite public and were
attended chiefly by Rammohun's personal friends. Among
the Editor of the " Monthly Repository," by the Abbe Gregoire, formerely
Bishop of Blois, and which was afterwards inserted in the "Chronique
Religieuse." The biographical part of this pamphlet was derived from
communications from the learned M. D'Acosta, then the Editor of
The Times at Calcutta. The following extract presents several interest-
ing features of the life of Rammohun Roy, as viewed by a foreigner : "There
is probably, throghout India no Brahmin, who is less a Hindoo than he ; and
thousands of dupes who have suffered the loss of their caste have been less
offenders against the peculiarities of their religion than he Every six
months he publishes a little tract in Bengalee and in English developing
his system of theism ; and he is always ready to answer the
pamphlets published at Calcutta or Madras in opposition to him. He
takes pleasure in this controversy ; but although far from deficeint in
philosophy, or in knowledge, he distinguishes himself more by his
logical mode of reasoning than by his general views. He appears to
feel the advantage which it gives him with the Methodists, some of
whom are endeavouring to convert him. He seems to have prepared
himself for his polemical career from the logic of the Arabians, which
he regards as superior to every other ; he asserts, likewise, that he has
found nothing in European books equal to the scholastic philosophy of
the Hindoos. * * Influenced, like those around him, with the spirit
of order, economy and knowledge of the value of money, acquired by
their mercantile education, Rammohan Roy does not view the augment-
ation of property as the most important object: his fortune consists of
the wealth he received from his ancestors: he does not give his mind
to any kind of commercial speculation. He would consider that mode
of life beneath his station and the dignities of a Brahmin. He derives
no pecuniary advantage from his works ; and in all probability desirous
as he may be of power and distinction, he would not accept of the
Government any place that should be merely lucrative ; to solicit one of
any description he would not condescend. * * Rammohun Roy, as
has already been shown, is not yet forty years old ; he is tall and
robust ; his regular features and habitually grave countenance assume
a must pleasing appearance when he is animated. He appears to have
EARLY ASSOCIATES. 33
these * may be mentioned Dwarkanath Tagore, Brajamohun
Mazumdar, Holodhur Bose, Nanda Kisore Bose f and
Rajnarain Sen." J There was a remarkable man who also
assisted Rammohun at this time, named Hariharananda
a slight disposition to melanchloy. The whole of his conversation and
manners show, at first sight, that he is above mediocrity. * * It is
known that every member of his family verifies the proverb, by opposing
with the greatest vehemence all his projects of reform. None of them
not even his wife, would accompany him to Calcutta, in consequence of
which he rarely visits them in Burdwan, where they reside.
They have disputed with him even the superintendence of the
education of his nephews, and his fanatical mother shows as much ardour
in her incessant opposition to him, as he displays in his attempts to
destroy the idolatry of the Hindoos."
One more extract giving an impression which Rammohun Roy made
on a European contemporary at this period, we shall record. It is
taken from a "Journal of a Route across India, through Egypt to
England, in the years 1817 and 1818 by Lieut-Col. Fitzclarence" (after-
wards Earl of Munster). He writes : "I became well acquainted with him,
and admire his talents and acquirements. His eloquence in our language
is very great, and I am told he is still more admirable in Arabic and
* [Among the associates of Rammohun Roy the following names also
should be mentioned : Gopeemohun Tagore and his son Prasanna
Kumar Tagore, Vaidyanath Mukerjee, father of late Justice Anukul
Mukherjee, he was one of the organisers of the Hindu College and its
first Secretary ; Jaikrishna Sinha, Kasinath Mullik, Brindaban Mitra,
grandfather of the late Dr. Rajendralal Mitra, Gopinath Munshee,
Badan Chandra Roy ; Chandra Sekhar Dev, Tarachand Chakravarti,
Bhairab Chandra Datta, who afterwards became the Asst. Secretary of
the Bethune School, Kalinath Roy, Zeminder of Taki, Boikuntha Nath
Roy, one of the first Trustees of the Brahmo Samaj, Annada Prasad
Bandopadhyaya, Zeminder of Telinipara, Raja Kali Sankar Ghoshal. Edi.]
t [Father of Raj Narain Bose, who afterwards became a well-known
figure in the Brahmo Samaj. Edi.]
J This sentence is taken from the Indian Mirror si July i, 1865, from
a brief sketch by Keshub Chandra Sen, entitled "Brahmo Samaj, or
' Theism in India
34 RAMMOHUN ROY,
Tirthaswarni. This man, "during his peregrinations as a
Hindu mendicant had come to Rungpur, and there met
Rammohun, who had received him with great honour in re-
cognition of his learning and liberality of spirit : and Tirtha-
Persian. It is remarkable, that he has studied and thoroughly under-
stands the politics of Europe, but more particularly those of England ;
and the last time I was in his company he argued forcibly against
standing army in a free country, and quoted all the arguments brought
forward by the Members of the Opposition. I think that he is in many
respects a most extraordinary person. In the first place, he is a religious
reformer, who has, amongst a people more bigoted than those of Europe
in the middle ages, dared to think for himself. His learning is most
extensive, as he is not only conversant with the best books in English,
Arabic, Sanskrit, Bengalee and Hindustani, but has even studied
rhetoric in Arabic and English and quotes Locke and Bacon
on all occasions. From the view he thus takes of the religion,
manners and customs of so many nations, and from his having
observed the number of different modes of addressing and worshipp-
ing the Supreme Being, he naturally turned to his own faith with
an unprejudiced mind, found it perverted from the religion of the
Vedas to a gross idolatry, and was not afraid, though aware of the
consequences, to publish to the world in Bengalee and English his
feelings and opinions on the subject ; of course he was fully prepared to
meet the host of interested enemies, who, from sordid motives, wished to
keep the lower classes in a state of the darkest ignorance. I have under-
stood that his family have quitted him— that he has been declared to
have lost caste— and is for the present, as all religious reformers must
be for a time, a mark to be scoffed at. To a man of his sentiments and
rank this loss of caste must be particularly painful, but at Calcutta he
associates with the English ; he is, however, cut off from all familial
and domestic intercourse ; indeed from all communication of any kind
with his relations and former friends. His name is Rammohun Roy.
He is particularly handsome, not of a very dark complexion, of a fine
person, and most Courtly manners. He professes to have no objection
to eat and live as we do, but refrains from it, in order not to expose
himself to the imputation of having changed his religion for the good
things of this world. He will sit at table with us while the meat is
on it, which no other Brahmin will do.' Edi.
ASSOCIATION WITH DAVID HARE. 35
swami, bound to Rammohun by love, followed him like a
shadow. He practised the rules of Tantric Bamachar,
and was a worshipper of One True God according to the
Mahanirvana Tantra. Ram Chandra Vidyabagish, the first
minister of the Brahmo Samaj was the younger brother of
this man."*
If Hariharananda Tirthaswami represented the extreme
Eastern side of Rammohun's society, the extreme Western
side was represented by David Hare, the active and bene-
volent rationalist who did so much for native Bengal education.
In his life by Pyarichand Mitra we read as follows : —
"Hare found an intimate friend in Rammohun Roy. He
had begun to spread Theism, denounce idolatry, was moving
heaven and earth for the abolition of the Suttee rite, and
advocating the dissemination of English education as the
means for enlightening his countrymen, . . . The first
move he (Hare) made, was in attending, uninvited, a meeting
called by Rammohun Roy and his friends for the purpose of
establishing a society calculated to subvert idolatry. Hare
submitted that the establishment of an English school would
materially help their cause. They all acquiesced in the
strength of Hare's position, but did not carry out his suggest,
ion/' Hare, therefore, consulted Chief Justice Sir E. Hyde
East, who inclined favourably to his ideas. The subject was
mooted among leading Hindus, meetings were held at Sir
E. H. East's house, and it was resolved that "an establish-
ment be formed for the education of native youth." Ram-
mohun Roy, fearing that his presence at the preliminary
meeting might embarass its deliberations, had generously ab-
stained from attending it, but his name had been mentioned
as one of the promoters. Soon afterwards some of the native
* From a letter signed "A devoted disciple of Rammohun Roy," in the
Tattwabodhini Patrika for Agrahayan, 1789 Sak (1865, A. D.).
36 RAMMOHUN ROY.
gentlemen concerned, told Sir Hyde East that they would
gladly accord their support to the proposed College if Ram-
mohun Roy were not connected with it, but they would have
nothing to do with that apostate. Hare communicated this
to Rammohun Roy, who willingly allowed himself to be laid
aside lest his active co-operation should mar the accomplish-
ment of the project. This was early in 1816. So soon had
Hindu orthodoxy taken alarm and so early had Rammohun
been called upon to exercise that self-effacingness with which,
many a time in his life, did he withhold his name from
benevolent schemes for which he nevertheless worked, in
order to smooth their reception by the general public, to
whom his name was an offence.
About the end of Rammohun's third year in Calcutta, he
wrote ( fortunately for us ) a brief summary of his proceed-
ings to his old friend Mr. Digby, to whom he also sent his
first two English publications, the Abridgment of the Vedant
and the Kena Upanishad. These translations Mr. Digby
reprinted in London in 1817, with a preface which beginning
with the description of Rammohun quoted in the last chapter,
goes on to give the following extract ( "made witho ut alter-
ation'1) from "a letter I have lately received from hinij inti-
mately connected with the subject before me."
Rammohun Roy to Mr. John Digby \ England.
"I take this opportunity of giving you a summary account of my pro-
ceedings since the period of your departure from India.
"The consequence of my long and uninterrupted researches int
religious truth has been that I have found the doctrines of Christ more
conducive to moral principles, and better adapted for the use of rational
beings, than any others which have come to my knowledge ; and have
also found Hindus in general more superstitious and miserable, both in
performance of their religious rites, and in their domestic concerns, than
the rest of the known nations on the earth : I therefore, with a view of
LETTER TO Mr, DIGBY. 37
making them happy and comfortable* both here and hereafter, not only
employed verbal arguments against the absurdities of the idolatry practised
by them, but also translated their more revered theological work, namely
Vedant, into Bengali and Hindustani, and also several chapters of the
Ved, in order to convince them that the unity of God, and absurdity of
idolatry, are evidently pointed out by their own Scriptures. I, however, in
the beginning of my pursuits, met with the greatest opposition from their
self-interested leaders, the Brahmins, and was deserted by my nearest
relations ; I consequently felt extremely melancholy ; in that critical
situation, the only comfort that I had was the consoling and rational
conversation of my European friends, especially those of Scotland and
England.
"I now with the greatest pleasure inform you that several of my country-
men have risen superior to their prejudices ; many are inclined to seek
for the truth : and a great number of those who dissented from me have
now coincided with me in opinion. This engagement has prevented me
from proceeding to Europe as soon as I could wish. But you may depend
upon my setting off for England within a short period of time ; and if you
do not return to India before October next, yow will most probably receive
a letter from me, informing you of the exact time of my departure for
England, and of the name of the vessel on which I shall embark."
Mr. Digby returned to India in November, 1819, and was
again employed in the Bengal Civil Service. During 1821 and
1822 he was stationed at Burdwan, where he would doubtless
have many opportunities of meeting his old friend. Ram-
mohun's much longed for visit to England did not take place
* To make men "comfortable" may at first sound rather a low aim
for a religious reformer ; but the preface to the Kena Upanishad explains
Rammohun's meaning, which was simply to break the superstitious fetters
that made utterly needless </zVcomfort an essential feature of orthodox
Hindu life. In this preface he expresses his desire "to correct these
exceptionable practices which not only deprive Hindus in general of the
common comforts of society, but also lead them frequently to self-destruc-
tion. ... A Hindu of caste can only eat once between sunrise and
sunset — cannot eat dressed victuals in a boat or ship — nor clothed — nor
in a tavern, — nor any food that has been touched by a person of a different
caste— nor if interrupted while eating, can he resume his meal.— English
Works of R< M. Roy. Vol. I., p. 30.
38 RAMMOHUN ROY.
until the end of 1830. It is interesting to know how early he
had formed that desire.
The year 1817 saw further progress of the movement.
Rammohun's publications now began to call forth learned and
animated replies from the defenders of Hinduism. The
Madras Courier^ in December, 1816, contained a long letter
from the head English master in the Madras Government
College, Sankara Sastri, controverting Rammohun's views as
shown in his writings, and pleading for the worship of Divine
attributes as virtual deities. Rammohun reprinted this letter
with a masterly reply entitled A Defence of Hindu Theism,
in which he not only defended his own position very clearly,
but carried the war into the enemy's camp by exposing the
degrading character of the legends attached to so many of
the Hindu incarnations, and pointing out how mischievous
must be the effect of regarding such narratives as sacred
records. Another defender of Hinduism appeared some
months later in the head Pandit of the Government College at
Calcutta, Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar, who published a tract
entitled Vedanta Chandrika. To this Rammohun replied in
A Second Defence of the Monotheistical System of the Veds.
In this tract, substantially the same arguments as before were
put forth, but with still greater fullness and force. These
writings were, however,largely supplemented and strengthened
by Rammohun's numerous oral discussions and conversa-
tions with his friends, disciples and opponents, — of which we
can only now get occasional glimpses. Pandit S. N. Sastri
states in his History of the Brahmo Samaj that
"At times the Atmiya Sabha got up intereststing discus-
sion meetings which would attract all classes of people. The
most remarkable of these meetings was the one held in
December, 1819 [ I7th of Pous ], where Rammohun Roy had
a face to face fight with his idolatrous adversaries. A learned
Madrasi Pandit, called Subrahmanya Sastri, renowned at that
THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES. 39
time for his erudition, publicly challenged him to a polemical
combat. Rammohun Roy accepted it with pleasure, and in
the presence of a large gathering of people, headed by Radha-
kanta Dev, the acknowledged leader of the orthodox Hindu
community, silenced his adversary by the great cogency of
his reasoning, as well as by the long array of scriptural autho-
rities that he quoted in favour of his views." *
[ Defeated in theological debate, his opponents renewed
their attack upon him in the law courts. "Shortly after" this
debate Rammohun's nephew ( his brother's son ) "brought
an action against him in the Supreme Court in order to disin-
herit him from any participation in the ancestral property, on
the score of his being an apostate from the Hindu religion."!
The endeavour was made to prove that he had broken caste
and so forfeited his civil rights. The proceedings lasted some
two years, and involved him in great expense, but ended in a
complete victory for Rammohun. But during these two years
he considered it advisable to discontinue holding the meetings
of the Atmiya Sabha, which earlier litigation had compelled
him to have convened in the houses of friends instead of his
own, as previously. J J
An interesting sign of the progress of Rammohun's views
* [This discussion was held at the house of Behari Lai Chaubay in
Barabazar where the Atmiya Sabha used to meet at this period. Edi.]
f So Nagendranath Chattopadhyaya in his Biography of the
Raja (p. 62) : and G. S. Leonard in his "History of the Brahma Samaf*
(Newman & Co., Calcutta, 1879) P- 35-
\ Ibid. Rev. K. S. Macdonald in his lecture on the Raja (Herald
Office, Calcutta, 18/6) thinks that this giving up of these meetings "does
not look well," . . "seemingly because he was afraid their very
existence would prejudice his worldly interests." Mr. Macdonald
apparently forgets that during the latter part of these two yearsRammohun
was in regular attendence on Mr. W. Adam's Unitarian services and
was openly identified with the Unitarian Committee. — For the sentences
enclosed in brackets and notes, the continuator is responsible.
40 RAMMOHUN ROY,
is recorded at the beginning of 1820. A native called as a
witness in a court of law refused to take the waters of Gunga.
He declared himself a follower of Rammohun Roy, and
consequently not a believer in the imagined sanctity ofthe
river. He was allowed to affirm as Quakers do. Our Reform-
er may thus be regarded as a pioneer in the abolition of
oaths in courts of law.
We must now take up the other main branch of Ram-
mohun's propaganda, agitation against Suttee. His first tract
on this subject appeared in November, 1818, in the form of
a dialogue between an opponent and an advocate of the
custom ; and in February, 1820, this was followed by a
second tract giving a later dialogue between the same inter-
locutors. But before speaking of these in detail, some brief
account must be given of the state at which the controversy
had arrived at that time.
A Sati, — long since Anglicised as Suttee — means literally a
faithful woman, from Sat — truth ; but the term has long been
practically narrowed to designate a widow who is burned on the
funeral pile of her husband. This "rite" ( as it is euphemi-
stically called) was never universal in India, but it has been
practised more or less extensively in various localities and
amongst various classes in that country. M. Barth, in his
admirable work on The Religions of India, says (p. 59 ) : —
"A custom which . . . could beyond a doubt reckon its
victims by myriads, the immolation, viz., more or less volun-
tary * of the widow on the funeral pile of of her husband, is
not sanctioned by the Vedic ritual, although certain hints in
* [It has been established on the testimony of European eye-witnesses
that at the beginning of the nineteenth century,at any rate,force was used
to prevent the victims from escaping from the burning pyre. Mr. J. Peggs
published a booklet under the name of "The Suttee's cry to Britain" in
which he wrote : —
"The use of force by means of bamboos is, we believe, universal
HISTORY OF THE SUTTEE CUSTOM, 41
the symbolism connected with funerals ( particularly in the
Atharva-Veda ) come very near it, and in a measure fore-
shadow it. In the Atharva-Veda we see the widow could
marry again under certain conditions, which in the course
of time orthodox usage strictly debarred her from doing.
The custom of the suicide of the Sati is nevertheless
very ancient since as early as the days of Alexander
the Greeks found it was observed among one of the tribes at
least of the Panjab. The first Brahmanical testimony we find
to it is that of the Brihaddevata^ which is perhaps of quite as
remote antiquity ; in the epic poetry there are numerous
instances of it. At first it seems to have been peculiar to the
military aristocracy, and it is under the influence of the sect-
arian religions that it has especially flourished. Justice re-
quires us to add that it was only at a period comparatively
modern that it ceased to meet with opposition."
Sir John Malcolm in one of his Reports on Central India,
says that "the Mahometan rulers endeavoured, as much as
they could without offending their Hindu subjects, to prevent
it." The zeal of the Emperor Akbar in the matter is well
known, and the Asiatic Journal of January, 1824, states that
the practice "was discouraged and even forbidden by the
Moghul Government, and the Peishwa was in the habit of
personally exerting himself to dissuade widows from be-
through Bengal. In the burning of widows as practised at present in
some parts of Hindustan, however voluntary the widow may have been
in her determination, force is employed in the act of immolation.
After she has circumambulated and ascended the pile, several natives
leap on it, and pressing her down on the wood, bind her with two or
three ropes to the corpse of her husband, and instantly throw over the
two bodies, thus bound to each other, several large bamboos, which
being firmly fixed to the ground on both sides of the pile, prevent the
possibility of her extricating herself when the flames reach her. Logs
of wood are also thrown on the pile, which is then inflamed in an
nstant." Edi.
6
42 RAMMOHUN ROY,
coming Suttees, making suitable provision for those who
yielded to his arguments.*
When the European powers came to obtain footing in
India, they also usually seemed to have endeavoured to stop
the Suttee rite. The French, the Dutch, and the Portuguese
Colonies all exerted themselves in this direction, and with
fair success. The English were no less humanely shocked
by the practice, and frequently made efforts to stop it, but
the official class were considerably hampered by the dread oi
offending native prejudices and thus imperilling the British
power in India. At last, however, serious efforts were made
by philanthropists in England, both in the House of Com-
mons and in the East India House, and in 1821 the first
Blue Book on the subject was issued.
From this valuable storehouse of evidence we find that the
first recorded British action in this matter took place in the
very year of Rammohun's birth, 1772 ; when a Captain
Tomyn, of Tripetty in Southern India, hearing that a widow
was about to be sacrificed, went straightway to the spot, and
led her away to a place of safety. This truly British course
drew down upon him a formidable riot from a large and
indignant crowd. But the first deliberate official step taken
on this subject was the refusal, in January 1789, of a British
magistrate to permit the performance of a Suttee at Shahabad.
His letter to the Governor-General in Council, Lord Cornwallis,
is so terse and sensible, that it is worth preserving : —
*My Lord. — Cases sometimes occur in which a Collector having no
specific orders for the guidance of his conduct, is necessitated to act
from his own sense of what is right. This assertion has this day been
verified in an application from the relatives and friends of a Hindu
woman, for my sanction to the horrid ceremony of burning with her
deceased husband. Being impressed with a belief that this savage
custom has been prohibited in and about Calcutta, and considering the
. FIRST EFFORTS FOR THE ABOLITION OF SUTTEE. 43
same reasons for its discontinuance would probably be held valid through-
out the whole extent of the Company's authority, I positively refused
n-»y consent. The rites and superstitions of the Hindu religion should
DC allowed with the most unqualified tolerance, but a practice at which
human nature shudders I cannot permit within the limits of my jurisdic-
ion, without particular instructions. I beg, therefore, my Lord, to be
informed whether my conduct in this instance meets your approbation. —
I am, &c., M. H, Brooke, Collector. Shahabad, 28th Jan., 1789.
Lord Cornwallis's reply informed Mr. Brooke that the
Government approved of his refusal to grant the application
for permission of the Suttee : but they did "not deem it
advisable to authorize him to pervent the observance of it
by coercive measures, or by any exertion of his official
powers ; as the public prohibition of a ceremony, authorized
by the tenets of the religion of the Hindus, and from the
observance of which they have never been restricted by the
ruling power, would in all probability tend rather to increase
than diminish their veneration for it, and consequently prove
the means of rendering it more prevalent than it is at
present."
Sixteen years later, in January 1805, Mr. J. R. Elphin-
stone, a magistrate of Zillah Behar, acted in a similar way,
forbidding the sacrifice of a young widow of only twelve
years old (who was ''extremely grateful for my interposition")
but as he was "not aware of the existence of any order or
regulation to prevent such a barbarous proceeding," and as
native prejudices might cause trouble, he wrote to head-
quarters, requesting definite instructions on the subject.
Hereupon Lord Wellesley sent a letter (Feb. 5th, 1805) to
the Nizamat Adawlat, the chief judicial authority in India
at that time, requesting that court to ascertain the precise
amount of sanction given by the Hindu Shastras to the
practice of Suttee. The Nizamat sent in its reply in four
months (June 5th, 1805), enclosing the opinion of a pandit
44 RAMMOHUN ROY.
and suggesting certain rules for the guidance of Government
officials which might slightly restrict the range of the prac-
tice. But no such rules were drawn up, and nothing what-
ever was done for seven years, — a discreditable hiatus, but
one which was probably owing, at least in part, to the frequent
changes in the personnel of the Government during that
period. In 1812, a magistrate of Bundelcund being perplexed
as to his duty concerning Suttees, wrote (Aug. 3rd) to the
Nizamat Adawlat for instructions : the Nizamat sent his
letter to the Governor-General (Lord Moira, afterwards
Marquis of Hastings) and after eight months more delay
the instructions were at last drawn up and issued, April i/th
1813. Their principle was "to allow the practice in those
cases in which it is countenanced by the Hindu religion and
law, and to prevent it in others in which it is by the same
authority prohibited" — i.e. where the woman is unwilling
or is under sixteen, or is pregnant, or drugged, or intoxicated.
These instructions were afterwards extended (in January
1815) by the important item of prohibiting Suttee when the
widow had very young children,- an extension which was
brought in by the humane refusal of some magistrates to
sanction such sacrifices, and in June 1817 a full and elaborate
summary of the whole series of instructions was drawn up
by the Government officials. It is quite clear from the various
letters and despatches given in the Blue Book that from this
time forth the British authorities did really care earnestly
about the matter. Regular statistics on the subject were
started in 1815, with which date commenced a series of lists
of the Suttees performed all over British India, with the
details of name, age, caste, &c,, of each victim—truly awful
records for any Christian Government.
The first four years of these records— 1815-1818 — forma
sort of initial era which is notable for several reasons. The
following tables give a sufficient summary of the main facts :—
STATISTICS OF SUTTEE
45
•«*• : : : M vo HH
i
^
.a
.s.ncrt ..
1 1 1 It!
S « Q Q Q § fS f2 £ Q S
;o
inn
fOw TJ-NVO N
~ o a. N
00 LO t>.
3 : :jj
C? <D
46 RAMMOHUN ROY.
GENERAL SUMMARY OF SUTTEES FOR 1815 TO 1818.
Division of Calcutta ...
„ Dacca
„ Murshidabad
„ Patna
„ Benares ...
„ Bareily
1815
1816
l8l7
1818
TOTAL.
253
3i
ii
20
48
15
289
24
21
29
65
13
442
52
42
49
103
19
544
58
30
57
137
14
1528
165
104
i55
353
60
378
441
707
839
2365
Three points in these lists will at once strike the reader's
eye : (i) the great variation in the number of Suttees in
different localities ; (2) the appalling number of those in the
Calcutta division, which are nearly double all the rest put
together ; and (3) the evident increase in the numbers from
year to year, not always in detail for each place, but unmis-
takably in the totals, — the year 1818 giving nearly double
the numbers for 1815 in the Dacca division, and more than
double in all the others except Bareilly. This alarming
increase in the number of Suttees, following so soon on the
Government attempts to regulate and check the practice, had
greatly discouraged the British authorities even in 1817, and
Lord Hastings had consequently stopped the intended pub-
lication of the very elaborate set of regulations above referred
to, drawn up by the Nizamat Adawlat in September, 1817, —
saying that more information was needed before going so far.
Soon afterwards the Acting Superintendent of police of the
Lower Provinces, Mr. Ewer, issued a circular of queries to
the magistrates in his jurisdiction, requesting information on
six special points. Their replies are very valuable, and throw
much light on the causes of the variations In the statistics.
One of these replies is so important as to deserve special
notice. Mr. H. Oakely, a magistrate of Zilla Hughli, writes
CAUSES OF THE INCREASE IN SUTTEE 47
( Dec. 19, 1818 ) saying how earnestly he has sought to
discover the reason of the great frequency of Suttees in his
district, — which yielded the largest number of victims in the
list, — 376 in the four years ending with 1818. One cause he
finds in the nearness to Calcutta. — "It is notorious ( he says )
that the natives of Calcutta and its vicinity exceed all others
in profligacy and immorality of conduct •/' and while the de-
praved worship of Kali, "the idol of the drunkard and the
thief," is "scarcely to be met with in the distant provinces ."
it abounds in the metropolis. Elsewhere, ''none but the most
abandoned will openly confess that he is a follower of Kali.
In Calcutta we find few that are not. ... By such men, a
Suttee is not regarded as a religious act, but as a choice enter-
tainment ; and we may fairly conclude that the vicious pro-
pensities of the Hindus in the vicinity of Calcutta are a cause
of the comparative prevalence of the custom." This view
seems to be confirmed by the large number of Suttees in the
other districts near Calcutta, — Burdwan ( Rammohun's own
district ) ranking only second to Hughli. But besides this
local cause, Mr. Oakely attributes much to another cause
of general application, viz. : to the attempts of Government
to "regulate" the practice. He says : —
Previous to 1813, no interference on the part of the police was autho-
rised, and widows were sacrificed, legally or illegally as it might happen ;
but the Hindus were then aware that the Government regarded the
custom with natural horror, and would do anything short of direct pro-
hibition to discourage and gradually to abolish it. The case is now al-
tered. The police officers are ordered to interfere, for the purpose of
ascertaining that the ceremony is performed in conformity with the rules
of Shastras ; and in that event, to allow its completion. This is granting
the authority of Government for burning widows ; and it can scarcely be
a matter of astonishment that the number of sacrifices should be doubled,
when the sanction of the ruling power is added to the recommendation of
the Shastras.
He ends by saying, "I do not hesitate in offering my opi-
RAMMOHUN ROY.
nion that a law for its abolition would only be objected to by
the heirs, who derive worldly profit from the custom, Brah-
mins, who partly exist by it, and by those whose depraved
nature leads them to look on so horrid a sacrifice as a highly
agreeable and entertaining show ; at any rate the sanction
of Government should be withdrawn without delay."
Mr. Ewer, summarizing the replies to his circular of
inquiry, expressed his agreement with the views of Mr. Oake-
ly and of other magistrates who wrote to the same effect ; and
finally, the Governor-General reluctantly acquiesced in the
inference that the Government action in the matter had real-
ly tended to increase instead of to discourage the sacrifices, —
and therefore suspended any additional regulations for the
time.
Meanwhile two native petitions were sent up to the
Governor-General which appeared to tell on the opposite side.
They are not mentioned in the Blue Book, and I have only seen
the second of them. It is given in full in the A static Journal
of July 1819, which states that it seems to have been sent
up in August, 1818, and that it "was signed by a great num-
ber of the most respectable inhabitants of Calcutta." Its
immediate occasion was to counteract a petition recently
sent up to Government by certain other inhabitants of Cal-
cutta, which had prayed for the repeal of the orders then in
force against illegal proceedings in cases of Suttee. The
counterpetition challenges the title of the previous supplicants
to represent "the principal inhabitants of Calcutta," and
warmly endorses the humanity and justice of the aforemen-
tioned Government order. In forcible language, some of the
chief horrors of the Suttee practice are enumerated. For
instance : —
"Your petitioners are fully aware from their own knowledge or from
the authority of credible eye-witnesses that cases have frequently occur-
PETITION AGAINST SUTTEE 49
red when women have been induced by the persuasions of their next
heirs, interested in their destruction, to burn themselves on the funeral
pile of their husband ; that others who have been induced by fear to
retract a resolution rashly expressed in the first moments of grief, of burn-
ing with their deceased husbands have been forced upon the pile and
there bound down with ropes, and pressed with green bamboos until
consumed with the flames ; that some, after flying from the flame, have
been carried back by their relations and burnt to death. All these instanc-
es, your petitioners humbly submit are murders according to every
Shastra, as well as to the common sense of all nations."
In conclusion, these petitioners declare that they "look
with the most lively hope to such further measures relative to
the custom of burning widows as may justly be expected
from the known wisdom, decision, and humanity which have
ever distinguished your Lordship's administration."
It is evident that the writer of the above took hold of the
regulation system from the side of prohibition, regarding the
police interference at "illegal" Suttees as a step towards the
final abolition of the practice altogether, and looking to Lord
Hastings in the hope of further protection. And no doubt a
small number of Suttees was really prevented by the regula-
tion system, as we find by occasional records of such instances
in the Blue Books. But the balance on the whole was so enor-
mously on the other side that it is not surprising to find, among
the letters of the magistrates and other high class officials con-
sulted, a very large proportion of opinions against the system
altogether ; and the conviction is often put forth that the
practice of Suttee might be abolished by law without any
danger to the British rule. Lord Hastings left India on Jan.
I, 1829 ; but his successor Lord Amherst, wrote with equal
humanity on the subject, and concurred in the same policy of
standing still until he knew in which direction to move. Per-
haps, as a new comer, he may have been additionally cauti-
ous in the matter. At any rate, the impasse remained for
some years more.
7
50 RAMMOHUN ROY.
And now we come to Rammohun Roy. It was in this
eventful year 1818, that his influence in this matter began to
be definitely felt* He used to go down to the Calcutta
burning-grounds and try to avert the Suttee sacrifices by earn-
est persuasion. f Two of such cases have been recorded, one
very briefly ; — the other is described in fat Asiatic Journal fo*
March 1818, which states that the priests were induced to light
the pile first, Rammohun having maintained that the Shastra
required this, and left it open to the widow to ascend the pile
and enter the flames afterwards if she chose, — his expectation
of course being that she would not so choose. But this case (if
it be accurately reported ) proved exceptional ; the two wi-
dows both fulfilled the Suttee's ideal, and "deliberately walked
into" the flames, the younger widow having previously "with
great animation, addressed herself to the bystanders in words
to this effect : — 'You have just seen my husband's first wife
perform the duty incumbent on her, and will now see me
follow her example. Henceforward, I pray, do not attempt
to prevent Hindu women from burning, otherwise our curse
will be upon you."
No record is given of the actual ordeal, which often
proved fatal to the fortitude of many Suttees who had dared
* [The efforts of Rammohun Roy to suppress this great social evil com-
menced at a much earlier date. One of the main causes which drew upon
him the anger and persecution of the orthodox Hindu community was
his condemnation of Suttee. The widow of his elder brother Jaganmohun
became a Suttee on the 8th April, 1810. Raja Rammohun was then at
Rungpur and could have heard of the event sometime after its occurence.
But when he heard of it he took his mother to task for it. His views on
the question had been formed and freely expressed long before this. In
his early youth he was present at the burning of a widow, and the cruel
scene made such a deep impression on him that he resolved never to rest
until this inhuman custom were abolished. Edi. ]
t [In these efforts he had often to incur the displeasure and insult
of the relatives of the Suttee. Edi.]
RAMMOHUN'S TRACTS AGAINST SUTTEE Si
it, as we have seen with Rammohun's own sister-in-law. But
assuming the unbroken courage of the two widows here des-
cribed, it needs not to be added that such heroism was quite
exceptional, as may be seen from the details given in the
Calcutta petition, quoted above, as well as from the habit
prevalent in Bengal of tying down the victims to prevent
their escape.
It was in August, 1818, that this petition was presented to
Lord Hastings. How far Rammohun was concerned in it
does not appear. It bears traces of his hand, and most likely
he wrote a good deal of it, - though there is one paragraph
reflecting very harshly on the Mahometans which is so unlike
him that it must have come from another source. On the
3Oth of November following Rammouhun issued an English
translation of his first work on the subject ; a Conference le-
tween an Advocate for, and an Opponent of, the Practice of
Burning Widows Alive. The brief preface states that the tract
is a literal translation of one in Bengali which "has been for
several weeks past in extensive circulation in those parts of
the country where the practice of widows burning themselves
on the pile of their husbands is most prevalent."
A Second Conference followed, fourteen months later (Feb.
20, 1820) and was dedicated to Lady Hastings in the follow-
ing words. "The following tract being a translation of a
Bengali essay, published some time ago,as an appeal to reason
in behalf of humanity, I take the liberty to dedicate to your
Ladyship ; for to whose protection can any attempt to pro-
mote a benevolent purpose be with so much propriety
committed ?*
As Rammohun was far too discreet to have published
such a dedication without leave from its object, we may con-
clude that it virtually implied the Governor-General's good-
will to his movement.
These tracts are very characteristic of their author. He
52 RAMMOHUN ROY.
threw his argument into a dramatic form, making the ' Oppo-
nent" ( of Suttee ) quite as good a Hindu as the "Advocate,"
and ready to admit that "all those passages you have
quoted are indeed sacred law, and it is clear from those
authorities that if women perform Concremation or
Postcremation, they will enjoy heaven for a consider-
able time " (previously estimated at thirty-five
millions of years). But he calmly points out that all
this brings Suttee under the category of acts " performed for
the sake of gratifications in this world or the next " ; which
are declared by the highest Hindu authorities to be only
of an inferior order of merit. The Katha Upanishad declares
that " Faith in God which leads to absorption is one thing ;
and rites which have future fruition for their object another.
Each of these, producing different consequences, holds out
to man inducements to follow it. The man who of these
two chooses faith, is blessed ; and he, who for the sake of
reward practices rites, is dashed away from the enjoyment
of eternal beatitude." And the author of the Mitakshara
decides that " The widow who is not desirous of final beati-
tude, but who wishes only for a limited term of a small
degree of future fruition, is authorized to accompany her
husband."
Thus far the abstract argument, of a purely Hindu
nature. The " Opponent " then shows that Manu, their
great law-giver, expressly enjoyed that the widow should
live on as an ascetic, and should <( continue till death for-
giving all injuries " (a significant hint!), "performing harsh
duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheerfully
practising the incomparable rules of virtue which have
been followed by such women as were devoted to one only
husband." Other high authorities are quoted in confirmation
of this view.
By this process of argument the " Opponent ° brings the
VINDICATION OF WOMAN 53
discussion up to the critical point. The " Advocate " flatly
denies that women are capable of true faith or permanent
virtue, and avows that they are burned in order to prevent
them from going astray after the husband's death. Arrived
at this issue, Rammohun drops the dramatic dress and
enters upon a thorough defence of women in general
and Indian women in particular, which shows how closely
he had observed, and how ardently he longed to see them
delivered from the miseries of their lot. This defence is
so characteristic of himself and of the situation that I give
it entire, — but must first call attention to one golden sentence
concerning the relative trustworthiness of the two sexes
which is, alas ! not applicable to India alone.
Women are in general inferior to men in bodily strength and energy ;
consequently the male part of the community, taking advantage of their
corporeal weakness, have denied to them those excellent merits that they
are entitled to by nature, and afterwards they are apt to say that women
are naturally incapable of acquiring those merits. But if we give the
subject consideration, we may easily ascertain whether or not your accu-
sation against them is consistent with justice. As to their inferiority in
point of understanding, when did you ever afford them a fair opportunity
of exhibiting, their natural capacity? How then can you accuse them of
want of understanding ? If, after instruction in knowledge and wisdom, a
person cannot comprehend or retain what has been taught him, we may
consider him as deficient ; but as you keep women generally void of edu-
cation and acquirements, you cannot, therefore, in justice pronounce on
their inferiority. On the contrary, Lilavati, Bhanumati, the wife of the
prince of Karnat, and that of Kalidas, are celebrated for their thorough
knowledge of all the Shastras : moreover in the Vrihadaranyak Upanishad
of the Yayur Veda it is clearly stated, that Yagnavalkya imparted divine
knowledge of the most difficult nature to his wife Maitreyi, who was able
to follow and completely attain it !
Secondly. You charge them with want of resolution, at which I feel
exceedingly surprised: for we constantly perceive, in a country where the
name of death makes the male shudder, that the female, from her firmness
of mind, offers to burn with the corpse of her deceased husband ; and yet
you accuse those women of deficiency of resolution.
54 RAMMOHUN ROY.
Th irdly. With regard to their trustworthiness, let us look minutely
into the conduct of both sexes, and we may be enabled to ascertain which
of them is the most frequently guilty of betraying friends. If we enumerate
such women in each village or town as have been deceived by men, and
such men as have been betrayed by women, I presume that the numbers
of the deceived women would be found ten times greater than that of the
betrayed men. Men are, in general, able to read and write, and manage
public affairs, by which means they easily promulgate such faults as
women occasionally commit, but never consider as criminal the miscon-
duct of men towards women. One fault they have, it must be acknowl-
edged, which is, by considering others equally void of duplicity as them-
selves, to give their confidence too readily, from which they suffer much
misery, even so far that some of them are misled to suffer themselves to
be burnt to death.
In the fourth place, with respect to their subjection to the passions,
this maybe judged of by the custom of marriage as to the respective
sexes ; for one man may marry two or three, sometimes even ten wives
and upwards; while a woman, who marries but one husband, desires at
his death to follow him, forsaking all worldly enjoyments, or to remain
leading the austere life of an ascetic.
Fifthly. The accusation of their want of virtuous knowledge is an
injustice. Observe what pain, what slighting, what contempt, and what
afflictions their virtue enables them to support ! How many Kulin Brah-
mins are there who marry ten or fifteen wives for the sake of money, that
never see the greater number of them after the day of marriage, and
visit others only three or four times in the course of their life. Still
amongst those women, most, even without seeing or receiving any support
from their husbands, living dependent on their fathers or brothers, and
suffering much distress, continue to preserve their virtue ; and when
Brahmins, or those of other tribes, bring their wives to live with them,
what misery do the women not suffer ? At marriage the wife is recog-
nised as half of her husband, but in after conduct they are treated worse
than inferior animals. For the woman is employed to do the work of a
slave in the house, such as, in her turn, to clean the place
very early in the morning, whether cold or wet, to scour the dishes, to
wash the floor, to cook night and day, to prepare and serve food for her
husband, father and mother-in-law, brothers-in-law, and friends and
connections ! (for amongst Hindus more than in other tribes relations long
reside together, and on this account quarrels are more common amongst
brothers respecting their worldly affairs). If in the preparation or
SUFFERINGS OF HINDU WOMEN 55
serving up of the victuals they commit the smallest fault, what insult
do they not receive from their husband, their mother-in-law, and the
younger brothers of their husband ! After all the male part of the family
have satisfied themselves, the women content themselves with
what may be left, whether sufficient in quantity or not. Where Brahmans
or Kayasthas are not wealthy, the women are obliged to attend to their
cows, and to prepare cow dung for firing. In the afternoon they fetch
water from the river or tank ; and at night perform the office of menial
servants in making the beds. In case of any fault or omission in the
performance of those labours, they receive injurious treatment. Should
the husband acquire wealth, he indulges in criminal amours to her per-
fect knowledge, and almost under her eyes, and does not see her,
perhaps once a month. As long as the husband is poor she suffers every
kind of trouble, and when he becomes rich she is altogether heart-broken.
All this pain and affliction their virtue alone enables them to support.
Where a husband takes two or three wives to live with him, they are
subjected to mental miseries and constant quarrels. Even this distressed
situation they virtuously endure. Sometimes it happens that the husband,
from a preference for one of his wives, behaves cruelly to another.
Amongst the lower classes, and those even of the better class who have
not associated with good company, the wife, on the slightest fault, or
even on bare suspicion of her misconduct, is chastised as a thief. Respect
to virtue and their reputation generally makes them forgive even this
treatment. If, unable to bear such cruel usage, a wife leaves her hus-
band's house to live separately from him, then the influence of the
husband with the magisterial authority is generally sufficient to place
her again in his hands ; when, in revenge for her quitting him, he seizes
every pretext to torment her in various ways, and sometimes even puts
her privately to death. These r.re facts occurring every day, and not
to be denied. What I lament is, that seeing the women thus dependent
and exposed to every misery, you feel for them no compassion that might
exempt them from being tied down and burnt to death.
This noble defence may fitly close our record of Ram-
mohun's first regular campaigan. At this point we must
leave his controversies on Suttee and Idolatry, to take up
other phases of his many-sided activity.
CHAPTER IV.
(1820—1824.)
Regular and Irregular Campaigns against
Trinitarian Orthodoxy.
1820.— Precepts of Jesus and Appeal toThe Christian Public in defence
thereof.
1821.— Second Appeal to the Christian Public. Mr. Adam's Conver-
sion. Letter of June 21. Brahmanical Magazine, I., II., III.
Sept.— -Calcutta Unitarian Committee formed. Dec. 4— Ram-
mohun starts the Sambad Kaumudi.
1882.— (Baisakha) Starts the Mirat-al-Akhbar. Publishes Brief Re-
marks on Ancient female Rights. About this time starts Anglo-
Hindu School. Publishes Answers to Fair Questions.
1823. — Monthly Meetings. Jan. 30 — Third and Final Appeal to the
Christian Public. April — Memorial against Government Press
Order of March 14. May — Letters in Hurkaru. Ram Dass papers.
Cessation of Mir at. June 16 — The Raja of Burdwan brings
his law suit against Rammohun. Nov. 15 — Brahmanical Maga-
zine, IV. Nov. — Letter to Lord Amherst. Humble Suggestions
to his Countrymen who believe in One God. Signs Appeal for
Scottish Presbyterian Missionaries. Publishes Medicine for
the Sick.
1824, Feb. 2.— Letter to Rev. H. Ware on the Prospects of Christia-
nity. March n—Afflealfor famine in S. India.
We now enter upon a wholly new scene of Rammohun's
career, — his relations to Christianity. It may be remembered
that in his letter of 1817 to Mr. Digby, he said :— 'The
consequence of my long and uninterrupted researches into
religious truth has been that I have found the doctrines of
Christ more conducive to moral principles, and more adapted
for the use of rational beings, than any other which have
come to my knowledge." With his habitual thoroughness,
THE PRECEPTS OF JESUS 57
he took the trouble to acquire the Greek and Hebrew langu-
ages ( the latter he learned, it is said, from a Jew, in six
months ) that he might gain a full understanding of both the
Old and the New Testaments ; and the remarkable mastery
of their contents which is shown in his later writings bears
witness to the success of his study. The result was the pub-
lication, in 1820, of his celebrated work entitled The Precepts
of Jesus , the Guide to Peace and Happiness ; extracted from
the Books of the New Testament, ascribed to the Four Evange-
lists. With translations into Sanskrit and Bengali." As the
preface to this book has, I think, been but imperfectly
understood, and as it throws important light on the then
state of his mind, I give it nearly entire : —
"A conviction in the mind of its total ignorance of the nature and of
the specific attributes of the Godhead, and a sense of doubt respecting
the real essence of the soul, give rise to feelings of great dissatisfaction
with our limited powers, as well as with all human acquirements which
fail to inform us on these interesting points. — On the other hand, a no-
tion of the existence of a supreme superintending power, the Author and
Preserver of this harmonious system, who has organized and who
regulates such an infinity of celestial and terrestrial objects ; and a due
estimation of that law which teaches that man should do unto others as
he would wish to be done by, reconcile us to human nature, and tend to
render our existence agreeable to ourselves and profitable to the rest of
mankind. The former of these sources of satisfaction, viz., a belief in
God, prevails generally ; being derived either from tradition and instruc-
tion, or from an attentive survey of the wonderful skill and contrivance
displayed in the works of nature. The latter, although it is partially
thought also in every system of religion with which I am acquainted, is
principally inculcated by Christianity. This essential characteristic of
the Christian religion I was for a long time unable to distinguish as such
amidst the various doctrines I found insisted upon in the writings of
Christian authors, and in the conversations of those teachers of Christ-
ianity with whom I have had the honour of holding communication.
Amongst those opinions, the most prevalent seems to be, that no one is
entitled to the appellation of Christian who does not believe in the divi-
nity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost, as well as in the divine nature of
8
58 RAMMOHUN ROY
God, the Father of all created beings. Many allow a much greater lati-
tude to the term Christian, and consider it as comprehending all who
acknowledge the Bible to contain the revealed will of God, however
they may differ from others in their interpretations of particular passages
of scripture ; whilst some require from him who claims the title of Christ-
ian only an adherence to the doctrines of Christ, as taught by himself,
without insisting on implicit confidence in those of the Apostles, as being,
except when speaking from inspiration, like other men, liable to mistake
and error. That they were so is obvious from the several instances of
differences of opinion amongst the Apostles recorded in the Acts and
Epistles."
On the relative claims of those different conceptions of
Christianity, which had been so extensively and confidently
debated, he declines entering into discussion, and continues
thus :—
"I confine my attention at present to the task of laying before my
fellow creatures the words of Christ, with a translation from the English
into Sanskrit and the language of Kengal. I feel persuaded that by
separating from the other matters contained in the New Testament the
moral precepts found in that book, these will be more likely to produce
the desirable effect of improving the hearts and minds of men of different
persuasions and degrees of understanding. For, historical and some
other passages are liable to the doubts and disputes of freethinkers and
anti-Christians, especially miraculous relations, which are much less
wonderful than the fabricated tales handed down to the natives of Asia,
and consequently could be apt at best to carry little weight with them.
On the contrary, moral doctrines, tending evidently to the maintenance
of peace and harmony of mankind at large, are beyond the reach of meta-
physical perversion, and intelligible alike to the learned and to the un-
learned. This simple code of religion and morality is so admirably
calculated to elevate men's ideas to high and liberal notions of one God,
who has equally subjected all living creatures, without distincti* n of
caste, rank, or wealth, to change, disappointment, pain and death, and
has equally admitted all to be partakers of the bountiful mercies which
he has lavished over nature, and is also so well fitted to regulate the
conduct of the human race in the discharge of their various duties to God,
to themselves, and to society, that I cannot but hope the best effects from
its promulgation in the present form."
From this we may see that the very last thing Rammohun
•CONTROVERSY WITH CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES 59
desired or anticipated for his book was theological contro-
versy. It was that from which he was trying to escape. To
him, the "essential chracteristic of the Christian religion" was
its ideal humanity, its tendency to promote "the peace and
harmony of mankind at large," and to raise them to "high
and liberal notions of one God who has equally admitted all
to be partakers of ( his ) bountiful mercies." It was this
which he thought would improve the hearts and minds of
"men of different persuasions," and in his sanguine soul he
could not but "hope the best effects form its promulgation in
the present form." What effect his work might have pro-
duced on his countrymen if he and they had been able to
discuss it together without interruption, can never now be
known. For before he had had time to make the transla-
tions into Sanskrit and Bengali which he had somewhat pre-
maturely announced on his title page, the book was attacked
by the chief missionaries of the day in their periodical The
Friend of India , and Rammohun was at once immersed in a
sea of controversy which lasted for years. A unique oppor-
tunity was thus worse than wasted, and made the occasion
of increased strife. No doubt all this was providentially over-
ruled for eventual good ; but it is impossible not to regret
that the Christians of that day and hour had not been wiser.
Here we must digress a little. At this time (1820) Christ-
ianity was very imperfectly represented in Bengal. Henry
Martyn was dead, and Reginald Heber had not yet arrived.
The bishopric of Calcutta, established in 1814, was occupied
by Dr. Middleton, a man of scholarly attainments and plodd-
ing industry but of somewhat rigid and unsympathetic tem-
perament. The Church of Scotland was represented by the
Rev. Dr. Bryce, a clever and rather liberal-minded man,
whose ministry Rammohun attended for some time, but who
was so eccentric and indiscreet that he .'gradually alienated
most of his friends, and Rammohun among them. The chief
60 RAMMOHUN ROY
missionary activity of that time was in the hands of the Eng-
lish Dissenters, especially the celebrated Baptist Mission of
Serampore, near Calcutta, under the presidency of Drs.
Carey and Marshman. Carey was originally a poor shoe-
maker, with very little general education, but with a great
taste for languages, and an ardent desire to convert the
heathen. Marshman was a successful and earnest school-
master and a most valuable colleague to the enthusiastic but
unpractical Carey. Their joint mission was started in 1799,
and they had been working zealously ever since. How soon
Rammohun made their acquaintance does not appear, but
their " Periodical Account" for the year 1816 contains the
following notices of him and his doings : —
''Rama-Mohuna-Raya, a very rich Rarhee Brahmun of Calcutta, is a
respectable Sanskrit scholar, and so well versed in Persian, that he is
called Mouluvee-Rama-Mohuna-Raya: he also writes English with cor-
rectness, and reads with ease English Mathematical and metaphysical
works. He has published, in Bengalee, one or two philosophical works
from the Sanskrit which he hopes may be useful in leading his country-
men to renounce idolatry. Europeans breakfast at his house, at a
separate table, in the English fashion ; he has paid us a visit at Seram-
pore, and at a late interview, after relating an anecdote of Krishna,
relative to a petty theft of this God, he added, 'The sweeper of my house
would not do such an act, and can I worship a god sunk lower than the
man who washes my floors ?' He is at present a simple theist, admires Jesus
Christ, but knows not his need of the atonement, He has not renounced
his caste, and this enables him to visit the richest families of Hindoos.
He is said to be very moral ; but is pronounced to be a most wicked man
by the strict Hindoos."
Of this man Mr. Yates writes thus, in a letter dated
August, 1816: —
'I was introduced to him about a year ago : before this, he was not
acquainted with any one who cared for his soul. Some time after I in-
troduced Eustace Carey to him, and we have had repeated conversations
with him. When I first knew him he would talk only on metaphysical
subjects such as the eternity of matter, the nature and qualities of evi-
dence &c. but he has lately become much more humble, and disposed to
APPEAL TO THE CHRISTIAN PUBLIC 6 1
converse about the Gospel. He has many relations, Brahmuns, and has
established religious worship among them. He maintains the unity of
God, and hates all heathen idolatries. He visited Eustace lately and
stayed to family prayer, with which he was quite delighted. Eustace
gave him Dr. Watt's Hymns ; he said he would treasure them up in his
heart.* He has been to Serampore once, and has engaged to come and
see me in the course of a few weeks. He has offered Eustace a piece
of ground for a school."
One might have thought that these worthy men, who
expressed such care for Rammohun's soul, would have given
some sort of fraternal welcome to his spontaneous recom-
mendation of the teachings of Christ to his countrymen.
But unfortunately they belonged to the narrowest school of
Calvinistic orthodoxy, and not only held the doctrine of the
Atonement in its harshest form, but were so engrossed by it
as to regard that alone as "the Gospel." A review of Ram-
mohun's book soon appeared in the Friend of India, by a
"Christian Missionary,"— -Rev. Deocar Schmidt, who feared
that the "Precepts" might "greatly injure the cause of truth."
Dr. Marshman added some editorial comments, in which he
spoke of Rammohun as "an intelligent Heathen, whose mind
is as yet completely opposed to the grand design of the
Saviour's becoming incarnate."
All this hurt Rammohun's feelings very much, and he
quickly replied with "An Appeal to the Christian Public in
defence of the 'Precepts of Jesus 1 ly a Friend to Truth, In
this he defended himself with much spirit from the charge of
being a "heathen" (which term he regarded as virtually
synonymous with an idotator), and claimed to be "a believer
in one true and living God," and not only that, but also "in
the truths revealed in the Christian system." He proceeds : —
* [That was what Rammohun Roy actually did. He carried the
volume with him throughout his life. Shortly after his death Dr. Car-
penter stated that "it was a common practice with the Raja, as he went
o public worship, to read some of Dr. Watt's Hymns for children." Edl.]
62 RAMMOHUN ROY
"I should hope neither the Reviewer nor the Editor can be justified
in inferring the heathenism of the Compiler, from the facts of his ex-
tracting and publishing the moral doctrines of the New Testament, under
the title of a "Guide to Peace and Happiness'' — his styling the "Pre-
cepts of Jesus" a code of Religion and morality, — his believing God to be
the Author and Preserver of the Universe, — or his considering those
sayings as adapted to regulate the conduct of the whole human race in
the discharge of all the duties required of them. . . Although he was
born a Brahman he not only renounced idolatry at a very early period
of his liff, but published at that time a treatise in Arabic and Persian
against that system ; and no sooner acquired a tolerable knowledge of
English than he made his desertion of idol worship known to the Christ-
ian world by his English publication — a renunciation that, I am sorry to
say, brought severe difficulties upon him, by exciting the displeasure of
his parents, and subjecting him to the dislike of his near as well as
distant relations, and to the hatred of nearly all his countrymen for
several years. I therefore presume that among his declared enemies,
who are aware of those facts, no one who has the least pretension to
truth, would venture to apply the designation of heathen to him"
He then vigourously defends the principle on which his
selection of Precepts was made, and illustrates it by copious
and cogent passages from the words of Christ Himself.
He recalls the emphasis laid by Christ on the two-fold law
of love as that on which hung all the Law and the Prophets ;
His charge to the rich young man to keep the command-
ments— "This do and thou shaltlive"; and the description of
the last Judgment in Matt, xxv., which declares eternal
destiny decided by the discharge or neglect of the duties of
human beneficence.
"These precepts (he proceeds) separated from the mysterious dogmas
and historical records, appear to the Compiler to contain not only the
essence of all that is necessary to instruct mankind in their civil duties,
but also the best and only means of obtaining the forgiveness of our sins,
the favour of God, and strength to overcome our passions and to keep
His commandments."
After this he goes on to point out how unsatisfactory have
CAUSE OF THE FAILURE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 63
been the results of the missionary methods of propagating
Christianity.
The Compiler, residing in the same spot where European missionary
gentlemen and others for a period of upwards of twenty years have been,
with a view to promote Christianity, distributing in vain amongst the
natives numberless copies of the complete Bible, written in different
languages, could not be altogether ignorant of the cause of their dis-
appointment. He, however, never doubted their zeal for the promul-
gation of Christianity, nor the accuracy of their statement with regard to
immense sums of money being annually expended in preparing vast
numbers of copies of the Scriptures ; but he had seen with regret that
they have completely counteracted their own benevolent efforts, by in-
troducing all the dogmas and mysteries taught in Christian Churches to
people by no means prepared to receive them ; and that they have been
so incautious and inconsiderate in their attempts to enlighten the natives
of India, as to address their instructions to them in the same way as if
they were reasoning with persons brought up in a Christian country,
with those dogmatical notions imbibed from their infancy. The conse-
.quence has been, that the natives in general, instead of benefiting
by the perusal of the Bible, copies of which they always receive
gratuitously, exchange them very often for blank paper ; and generally
use several of the dogmatical terms in their native language as a mark
of slight in an irreverent manner ; the mention of which is repugnant to
my feelings . . . It has been owing to their beginning with the
introduction of mysterious dogmas and of relations that at first sight
appear incredible, that, notwithstanding every exertion on the part
of our divines, I am not aware that we can find a single respectable
Moosulman or Hindoo, who was not in want of the common comforts
of life, once glorified with the truth of Christianity, constantly adhering
to it.
From what I have already stated, I hope no one will infer that I feel
ill-disposed towards the Missionary establishments in this country. This
is far from being the case. I pray for their augmentation, and that their
members may remain in the happy enjoyment of life in a climate so
generally inimical to European constitutions ; for in proportion to the
increase of their number, sobriety, moderations, temperance, and good
behaviour, have been diffused among their neighbours as the necessary
consequence of their company, conversation, and good example.
64 RAMMOHUN ROY
A letter written at this time to a friend, Colonel B •
gives Rammohun's own account of the controversy which
had been commenced.
Calcutta September 5, 1820.
As to the opinion intimated by Sir Samuel J , respecting the
medium course in Christian dogmas, I never have attempted to oppose
it. I regret only that the followers of Jesus, in general, should have
paid much greater attention to enquiries after his nature than to the
observance of his commandments, when we are well aware that no human
acquirements can ever discover the nature even of the most common and
visible things and moreover, that such inquiries are not enjoined by the
divine revelation. On this consideration I have compiled several passages
of the New Testament which I thought essential to Christianity, and pub-
lished them under the designation of Precepts of Jesus, at which the
Missionaries of Srirampoor [Serampore] have expressed great displeas-
ure, and called me, in their review of the tracts, an injurer of the cause
of truth. I was, therefore, under the necessity of defending myself in
an "Appeal to the Christian Public,'' a few copies of which tract I have
the pleasure to send you, under the care of Captain S and entreat
your acceptance of them.
I return with my sincere acknowledgments, the work which Sir
S. J. was so kind as to lend me. May I request the favour of you to
forward it to Sir S. J., as well as a copy of each of the pamphlet*, with
my best compliments, and to favour me with your and Sir S. J.'s opinion
respecting my idea of Christianity, as expressed in those tracts, when
an opportunity may occur ; as I am always open to conviction and
correction ?
This appeal elicited certain "Remarks1' from Dr. Marsh-
man in the Friend of India of May 1820. Dr. Marshman
disavows any uncharitable purpose in the use of the word
Heathen which, he thinks, "cannot be candidly construed
into a term of reproach," but refuses to call Christian anyone
who does not accept "the Divinity and Atonement of Jesus
Christ, and the Divine Authority of the whole of the Holy
Scriptures." Quite conformably to this narrow limitation of
the term Christian, he passes on to a singularly negative ver-
sion of Christianity.
PUBLICATION OF THE SECOND APPEAL 65
The leading doctrines of the New Testament . . . may be summed
up in the two following positions : That God views all sin as so abomin-
able that the death of Jesus Christ alone can expiate its guilt ; and that
the human heart is so corrupt that it must be renewed by the Divine
Spirit before a man can enter heaven.
In the first number of the quarterly series of the Friend of
India published in September 1820, the worthy Baptist sets
himself to prove this version of his faith from the sayings of
Jesus.
To this essay Rammohun replied in a " Second Appeal "
published in 1821, nearly six times the length of the first.
He repudiates any desire to challenge the credibility of the
miracles recorded in the New Testament, or to put them
on a level with the marvels of Hindu mythology. He had
only recognised the fact that the Hindu mind was as it
were sodden with stories of miracles, and he had hoped
to direct his countrymen to those precepts of the moral
sublimity of which had first moved him to admiration of
Christianity. He describes himself by implication as
" labouring in the promulgation of Christianity." * He then
opposes the main positions advanced by Dr. Marshman. He
disputes the consonance with justice of Dr. Marshman's
theory of the atonement, but he declares that he has * repeat-
edly acknowledged Christ as the Redeemer, Mediator, and
Intercessor with God on behalf of his followers." He confesses
himself moved by his reverence for Christianity and its author
to vindicate it from the charge of Polytheism, for he regards
Trinitarianism as essentially polytheism. He has little difficulty
in disposing of Dr. Marshman's endeavours to prove the doctrine
of Trinity from the Old Testament. On the new Testament
he resorts to exegetical methods familiar to Unitarians, in
* "By me and by numerous other followers of Christ." The author
further speaks of " himself or any other persen labouring in the promulga-
tion of Christianity."
9
66 RAMMOHUN ROY
order to establish the impersonality of the Holy Spirit. On
the baptismal formula he avers that " it is proper that those
who receive" the Christian religion, "should be baptized
in the name of the Father, who is the object , of worship ; of
the Son, who is the Mediator ; and of that influence by
which spiritual blessings are conveyed to mankind, designated
in the Scriptures as the Comforter, Spirit of Truth, or Holy
Spirit." He makes an excursion into pre-Nicene history and
recalls how "in the first and purest ages of Christianity, the
followers of Christ entertained** very "different opinions on the
subject of the distinction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit"
without being excommunicated. The precepts of Jesus, which
no other religion can equal much less surpass, do not, he insists,
depend on the metaphysical arguments and mysteries with
which they have been associated. ]»
By this time the controversy had, it will be seen, con-
centrated itself on two main points, which he thus defines in
an "Advertisement" to the "Second Appeal."
"First, that the 'Precepts of Jesus' which teach that love
to God is manifested in beneficence towards our fellow-
creatures, are a sufficient Guide to Peace and Happiness ; and
secondly, that omnipresent God, who is the only proper object
of religious veneration, is one and undivided in person."
Naturally the last-named point soon became the main
question at issue ; and as the Unity of God was the main
passion of Rammohun's life, he soon threw himself with his
whole heart into the contest which was thus so strangely
brought home to him from a quite unexpected quarter. At
this point, — the beginning of the year 1821,— we must stop to
record a singular event which accentuated the controversy
in no small degree.
* The passage enclosed in brackets was inserted by the Continuator
with Miss Collet's approval
CONVERSION OF REV. ADAM 6?
[Rammohun's studies in the Scriptures and interest in the
Christian religion had led him into frequent intercourse with
English missionaries. He appears in close co-operation with
two members of the Baptist Mission at Serampore, Rev.
William Yates and Rev. William Adam, both according to
Rammohun's testimony "well reputed for their Oriental and
classic acquirements." How this came about is related by
Mr. Adam in a letter to the committee of the Baptist Missio-
nary society dated June 1 1, 1821 : —
I have for some time past been engaged with Rammohun Roy and Mr.
Yates in translating the four Gospels into Bengali. The two translations
of Dr. Carey and Mr. Ellerton are declared by Rammohun Roy to abound
in the most flagrant violations of native idiom, and he accordingly applied
to Mr. Yates and myself for our assistance in translating them anew from
the original. This we readily have given. Our Lord's Sermon on the
Mount is printed separately at the expense of the B A
S
On September 30, 1822, Mr. Adam writes to Mr, Edward
Poole :—
I am at present just finishing a careful revisal of a new translation of
the Gospel of St. Matthew in Bengali, originally executed by Rammohun
Roy, the Rev. Mr. Yates, and myself. Mr. Yates has since declined his
assistance so that it now entirely rests with Rammohun Roy and myself.
The difficulty with Mr. Yates arose when the Revisers
began with the fourth Gospel. They got as far as the third
verse in safety, but there they struck on the Greek preposition
dia and the Revision was wrecked. At first Mr. Yates agreed
to translate "All things were made through him," but by the
next session of the Committee he had discovered in the
substitution of through for "by a suggestion of Arianism and on
the following day withdrew from the enterprise altogether on
account of the. Cadency towards heresy which had transpired.
During these discussions, Mr. Adam tells us, Rammohun
"sat, pen in hand, in dignified reticence, looking on listening,
observing all, but saying nothing." This project and the
68 RAMMOHUN ROY
manner of its termination naturally drew "heretic" and
"heathen" into an intimacy more frequent and confidential,
with the result that Mr. Adam finally renounced his belief
in the doctrine of Trinity and avowed himself a Unitarian.
The arguments advanced in Rammohun's Second Appeal
published about this time may be taken to indicate the kind
of consideration which decided Mr. Adam.
This singular event was made public in the latter half of
1821.] *
The story of Mr. Adam's conversion has been told so often
and with such frequent inaccuracies that I am glad to be able
to produce the following letter in which he communicates the
fact to an English friend.
Mr. William Adam to Mr. N. Wright.
Calcutta, May 7, 1821.
It is now several months since I began to entertain some doubts
respecting the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ, suggested by frequent
discussions with Ram Mohun Roy, whom I was endeavouring to bring
over to the belief of that Doctrine, and in which I was joined by Mr.
Yates, who also professed to experience difficulties on the subject. Since
then I have been diligently engaged in studying afresh the Scriptures with
a view to this subject, humbly seeking divine guidance and illumination,
and I do not hesitate to confess that I am unable to remove the weighty
objections which present themselves against this doctrine. I do not mean
to say that there are no difficulties in rejecting it, but the objections
against it compared with the arguments for it, appear to me like a moun-
tain compared with a molehill, t
We cannot wonder at the profound impression which this
occurrence produced. At anytime the fact of a Christian
* The passage between brackets was inserted by the Continuator with
Miss Collet's approval.
f At this point Miss Collet ceased writing. The rest of the work is
from the hand of the Continuator. The point at which her revision of his
manuscript ended is indicated later.
THE CONSEQUENT SENSATION 69
missionary being converted by "an intelligent heathen" would
be sure to excite widespread remark. But in the days when
Evangelical orthodoxy enjoyed an almost undisputed ascen-
dancy, and in quarters like those of the Baptist Mission where
the tradition of Calvinism stamped the dominant Evangelical-
ism with its own rigid ity,the shock must have been startling in
the extreme. The convert was half-humorously, half-savagely,
called "The second fallen Adam." The animosity usually
harboured by the orthodox against a renegade was rendered
doubly bitter by the fact that the converstion was apparently
due to the dispassionate examination of the Scriptures by
an open-minded Hindu, missionary ardour and Protestant
devotion to the Bible being both wounded in their tenderest
place. The Unitarians in England and America naturally
accepted the intelligence as of a veritable Daniel come to
judgment and were shaken, as we shall see by and by, into
new missionary enthusiasm.
But the news was not made public property until the
latter part of 1821, and before then Rammohun's literary and
polemical activity had assumed certain fresh phases. Some
explanation of the turn it took is suggested by an incident
which occurred about this time.*
Of this Mr. Adam is our informant. According to his
narrative, —
"One day in the hot season, about mid-day, I was engaged in my
usual studies, when 1 was informed that a native gentleman was at the
gate of my compound and desired to see me. This was an unusual hour
* Bp. Middleton died July 8, 1822. His overtures to Rammohun Roy
would most probably take place after The Precepts of Jesus came out,
which was in the beginning of 1820. The incident occurred, Mr. Adam
informs us, during "the hot season." Mr. Adam's statement that "he
never afterwards visited the Bishop" implies that a considerable interval
elapsed before the Bishop's death. Hence we are safe in concluding
that the time of the incident fell in hot season of 1820 or 1821.
70 RAMMOHUN ROY
for a call. I went to the gate and found that it was Rammohun Roy,
whom I instantly requested to alight from his carriage and enter the
house. The unusualness of the hour was fully justified by the explanation
he gave me. On invitation he had been to see Dr. Middleton, the Bishop
of Calcutta. Rammohun Roy's house was probably about two miles from
the Bishop's palace and my dwelling was intermediate between the two.
He called on me both for refreshment to his body and sympathy in his
mental trouble. His first request was that he should be permitted to
remove his turban, which was of course granted, and the second that he
should have some refreshment, but that before it was brought and he
partook of it, my servants should be sent away, since if they had seen
him eat under my roof they would have bruited abroad that he had
lost caste. This was promptly and quietly attended to, and when he
felt cool and refreshed, he proceeded to state what had disturbed his
mind.
With much indignation he informed Mr. Adam that the
Bishop had sent for him, had entered into a long argument to
persuade him to accept of Christianity, and, not content with
this singular stretch of the laws of hospitality, had wound
up by expatiating on "the grand career which would open to
him by a change of faith." "He would be honoured in life
and lamented, in death,— honoured in England as well as
in India ; — his name would descend to posterity as that of
the modern Apostle of India." The Bishop's meaning was
doubtless innocent enough, but the keen truth-loving Hindu
seemed to feel it as a modern version of the Tempter's
"All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me." "The sting of the offence was this," reports
Mr. Adam : "he was asked to profess the Christian religion,
not on the force of evidence, or for the love of truth, or for
the satisfaction of his conscience, or for the benefit of his
fellow-men, but for the sake of the honour and glory and
fame it might bring him. This was utterly abhorrent to
Rammohun's mind. It alienated, repelled, and disgusted
him." He never met the Bishop again.
As may readily be imagined, and as the foregoing incident
RAMMOHUN'S INDEPENDENCE OF CHARACTER ?I
shows, a very warm friendship was springing up between
Rammohun and Mr. Adam. The latter, fortunately for us,
left on record a great many of their mutual communications
in letter and manuscript, which have been placed at the
disposal of the writer of this work. His testimony to the
impression made upon him by Rammohun's character may
be here most properly cited : —
I was never more thoroughly, deeply, and constantly impressed than
when in the presence of Rammohun Roy and in friendly and confidential
converse with him, that I was in the presence of a man of natural and
inherent genius, of powerful understanding, and of determined will, a
will determined with singular energy and uncontrollable self-direction,
to lofty and generous purposes. He seemed to feel, to think, to speak,
to act, as if he could not but do all this, and that he must and do
it only in and from and through himself, and that the application of any
external influence, distnct from his own strong will, would be the annihila-
^ tion of his being and identity. He would be free or not be at all. . . .
Love of freedom was perhaps the strongest passion of his soul, — freedom
not of action merely, but of thought. . . . This tenacity of personal
independence, this sensitive jealousy of the slightest approach to an
encroachment on his mental freedom was accompanied with a very nice
perception of the equal rights of others, even of those who differed most
widely from him.*
The effect on such a nature of the attitude assumed to him
by organized Christianity in India can be readily conceived. A
Brahman by birth, he had commended to his own countrymen
the Precepts of Jesus as surpassing those of any other religion
as a guide to peace and happiness, and he had undertaken to
help in translating the whole of the four Gospels into Bengali.
As a result he had been assailed by the Baptist editor, he had
been forsaken by one of his Baptist co-translators whose
orthodoxy deterred him from making a correct version ; and
by the Anglican Bishop, he had been, as he understood, offered
* "A lecture on the Life and Labours of Rammohun Roy," by W.
Adam. Calcutta : Roy & Co., 1879. PP- 22-25.
72 RAMMOHUN ROY,
the bribe of world-wide fame, to induce him to accept
Christianity. Such an experience of English Christianity in its
Established and Nonconforming phases was not likely to
conciliate Rammohun Roy. We can scarcely wonder that
the latter half of 1821 witnessed a vigorous polemic on his
part against the tactics of Christian missionaries.
The Sumachar Dtirpun, a periodical issued from the
Mission Press at Serampore, came out on the I4th of July
with an onslaught on the pantheism of the Vedanta Shastra,
arguing that while inconsistent with polytheism it logically
destroyed the reality of the universe and the responsibility of
the human soul, as well as the perfectness of God. It also
invited replies. But on Rammohun taking the missionaries
at their word and sending a reply, they, with a lack of fairness
and indeed with a stupidity which was simply fatuous, refused
to insert it. Rammohun accordingly brought out under the
name of his pandit, Shivuprusad Surma, The Brahmunical
Magazine^ as "a vindication of the Hindu religion against the
attacks of Christian missionaries." The first two numbers
contain the provocative article reprinted from the Sumachar
Durpun and the suppressed reply. Rammohun is at great
pains to represent the Vedantic system as more of a mono-
theism than a pantheism. He firmly avers that God is the
creator of the world, but grants that matter is eternal. "We find
the phrases 'God is all and in all,' in the Christian books ; and
I do not suppose they mean by such words that pots, mats, &c.
are gods. I am inclined to believe that by these terms they mean
the omnipresence of God.v Similar language in the Vedant
could be similarly explained. Polytheism he represents as only
an accommodation to the ignorance of the unenlightened, and
he cites by way of retort the anthropomorphisms of the Old
Testament and the human experiences of the Eternal Son.
Does not the New Testament tell us, he asks in effect, of One
God begetting another, and of the former taking the shape of a
THE BRAHMUNICAL MAGAZINE 73
Dove, the latter appearing as Man ? Similar stories in their own
religion Hindu philosophers regard as fictions meant only
"to engage the minds of persons of weak understanding." But
the missionaries insist that the incarnations in Dove and Man
are real. A reply in the Friend of India, No. 38, led to a
vigorous rejoinder in the third number of the Brahmunical
Magazine. Rammohun here directs his attack on the
doctrine of Trinity. He discards Trinity in Unity
as an inconceivable idea, and charging Trinitarians with
Tritheism he pronounces them polytheists. In
answer to aspersions on Hindu morals, he suggests that the
domestic life of Europeans might not compare favourably
with that of Hindus. He concludes with a pious dignity
which admirably contrasts with the tone of his opponent. The
Editor had had the impious effrontery to declare that Hindu-
ism evidently owed its origin to the Father of Lies alone.
"Shivuprusad Surma" makes answer, "we must recollect that
we have engaged in solemn religious controversy and not in
retorting abuse against each other."
In these pseudonymous articles, Rammohun writes, it will
be observed, as a devout and aggrieved adherent of Hinduism,
His preface to the first number of the Magazine makes com-
plaint of Christian missions in India as constituting a departure
from the promise of the British authorities not to interfere with
the religion of their subjects, and as taking an undue advantage
of the fact that Christianity is the religion of the conqueror.
He suggests, in effect, that "the superiority of the Christian
religion'' should not be advocated "by means of abuse and
insult, or by affording the hope of worldly gain," but "by force
of argument alone." His protest against the religious insolence
which proclaimed the whole of the wonderful development
of Indian faith, from the Rig Veda down to Rammohun Roy
himself, as solely of Satanic origin, was timely and well-
deserved ; and his hostility to Christianity as then instituted
10
74 RAMMOHUN ROY.
in India was quite compatible with his previously expressed
reverence for its Founder and for his real religion.
It is refreshing to turn for a moment from these theologi-
cal wranglings to get a glimpse of Rammohun's cosmopolitan
sympathies in the political sphere. When the intelligence
reached India that the people of Naples after extorting a
Constitution from their despotic King were crushed back into
servitude by the Austrian troops, in obedience to the joint
mandate of the crowned heads of Russia, Prussia, Austria,
Sardinia, and Naples, Rammohun felt it keenly. In a letter
to Mr. Buckingham, of date August n, 1821, he declares
himself much "depressed by the late news from Europe."
"From the late unhappy news" he goes on,
I am obliged to conclude that I shall not live to see liberty universally
restored to the nations of Europe, and Asiatic nations, especially those that
are European Colonies, possessed of a greater degree of the same bless-
ing than what they now enjoy.
Under these circumstances I consider the cause of the Neapolitans as
my own, and their enemies as ours. Enemies to liberty and friends of
despotism have never been, and never will be ultimately successful
These noble words reveal how profoundly Rammohun felt
with the late Russell Lowell that "In the gain or loss of one
race all the rest have equal claim" ; and that
Wherever wrong is done
To the humblest and the weakest', neath the all-beholding Sun
That wrong is also done to us.
In September, 1821, the Calcutta Unitarian Committee
was originated. *
* "The Committee was formed in September, 1821," says Mr. William
Adam in a letter under date of June 26, 1827, to Mr. R. Button, "and its
present members are Theodore Dickens, a barrister of the Supreme Court,
George James Gordon, a merchantof the firm of Mackintosh £ Co., William
Tate, an attorney, B. W. Macleod, a surgeon in the Company's service,
Norman Kerr, an uncovenanted servant of the Company, Rammohun Roy,
Dwarkanath Thakoor, Prusunnu Coomar Thakoor, Radhaprusad Roy, and
myself. It will be observed that nearly all the European names are
Scottish
THE UNITARIAN COMMITTEE 75
It was composed of a few native gentlemen among whom
Rammohun was leader, and several Europeans, civilians and
others, including Mr. Adam, whose conversion had just been
announced. "Proselytism," Mr. Adam explains, "is not our
immediate object. We aim to remove ignorance and supersti-
tion, and to furnish information respecting the evidences, the
duties, and the doctrines of the religion of Christ." The
methods chosen were "education, rational discussion, and the
publication of books both in English and in the native
languages."* In January, 1822, Mr. Adam writes that he has
with the assistance of a few friends rented a house in which
Christian worship is regularly conducted. "Rammohun Roy
is one of the warmest of our supporters." As we shall see
presently, the Anglo-Hindu school, commenced under the
auspices of this Committee, was almost exclusively supported
by Rammohun. The "Unitarian press" was entirely his
property. Mr. Adam, in his new role of Unitarian minister,
seems to have depended for his financial support chiefly on
Rammohun's bounty. So that the whole organization was
principally in Rammohun's hands. We may regard the
formation of this Unitarian Committee as a distinct and an
important stage in his career as founder.
This avowed and organized connetion with Unitarian
Christianity led Rammohun into correspondence with several
of its votaries in England and America. On October 27,
1822, we find him writing to "a gentleman of Baltimore,"
I have now every reason to hope that the truths of Christianity will
not be much longer kept hidden under the veil of heathen doctrines and
practices, gradually iniroduced among the followers of Christ, since many
lovers of truth are zealously engaged in rendering the religion of Jesus
free from corruptions. . . .
It is ... a great satisfaction to my conscience to find that the
doctrines inculcated by Jesus and his Apostles are quite different from those
human inventions wich the missionaries are persuaded to profess, and
entirely consistent with reason and the revelation delivered by Moses and
the prophets. I am, therefore, anxious to support them, even at the risk
* The letter of Mr. Adam to Mr. R. Dutton.
?6 RAMMOHUN ROY.
of my own life. I rely much on the force of truth, which will, I am sure,
ultimately prevail. Our number is comparatively small, but I am glad to
inform you that none of them can be justly charged with the want of zeal
and prudence.
I wish to add, in order that you may set me right, if you find me
mistaken,— my view of Christianity is that in representing all mankind as
the children of one eternal Father, it enjoins them to love one another,
without making any distinction of country, caste, colour, or creed ; not
withstanding they may be justified in the sight of the Creator in mani-
festing their respect towards each other, according to the propriety of
their actions and the reasonableness of their religious opinions and
differences.
Writing to the same gentleman a few months later, — on
December 9, 1822, — he declares,
Although our adversaries are both numerous and zealous, as the
adversaries of truth always have been, yet our prospects are by no means
discouraging, if we only have the means of following up what has already
been done.
We confidently hope that, through these various means, the period
will be accelerated, when the belief in the Divine Unity and in the
mission of Christ will universally prevail.
These avowals, of readiness to support the doctrines of
Christ even at the resk of his life, and of hope in the ultimate
universality of faith in the mission of Christ, naturally led to
the impression that Rammohun wss to all intents and pur-
poses a Unitarian Christian.
Despite his hopefulness of its eventual success, the Unita-
rian movement seems to have very speedily received a decided
rebuff. For, six months later, — July 2, 1823, — Rammohun
writes to Mr. Samuel Smith, "From the disappointment which
we have met in our endeavour to promote the cause of Unitari-
anism, I scarcely entertain any hope of success." On the 4th
of August following, Mr. Buckingham writes of Rammohun's
exertions, "He has done all this to the great detriment of his
private interests, being rewarded by the coldness and jealousy
of all the great functionaries of Church and State in India,
and supporting the Unitarian Chapel, the Unitarian Press,
RENEWED CONTROVERSY WITH CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES 77
and the expense of his own publications . . . out of a
private fortune of which he devotes more than one-third to
acts of the purest philanthropy and benevolence."
His controversy with the missionaries was kindled afresh
in the quraterly Friend of india which appeared in December,
1821. The editor, Rev. Dr. Marshman, devoted 128 closely prin-
ted pages to an attempted refutation of Rammohun's Second
Appeal to the Christian Pullic. His arguments are directed to
the defence of the old Evangelical doctrines of Atonement and
of the Deity of Christ with the consequent doctrine of Trinity.
He lays the whole of the Scriptures, Old as well as New
Testament, under contribution for proof texts of those dogmas,
with a disregard of the laws of historical exegesis which even
to the orthodoxy of to-day is bewildering. Dogmas which
did not actually emerge until, at the earliest, in the beginning
of the Christian era, are proved by passages in the Pentateuch,
in the Psalms and in the Prophets. One example may suffice :
"In Psalm xlv.,r avers the learned Editor, "we have the Eternal
Deity of the Son fully revealed." Evangelical religion has
its answer to Rammohun's objections, but its exponents in
India were not then aware how much must be conceded to
the modern critical spirit before that answer can be effectively
made. But Dr. Marshman sinned against higher than merely
critical canons. Because the reverent Hindu impugns the
Baptist's conception of the Supreme Being who they both
adore, Dr. Marshman accuses him of "arraigning his Maker of
gross injustice" and of "charging Him with having founded all
the religion of the patriarchs and prophets, of the apostles and
primitive saints, of the blessed in Heaven throughout eternity,
on an act of palpable iniquity." And of this Hindu Theist
he dares to ejaculate, "May his eyes be opened ere it be for
ever too late !"
On the 3oth of January,i823, Rammohun issued his rejoin-
der, The Final Appeal to the Christian Pullic in Defence of the
78 RAMMOHUN ROY.
Precepts of Jesus is a voluminous document. His four pages of
mild and inoffensive preface to The Precepts of Jesus had
evoked such extensive criticism as to draw from him a first
"Appeal in Defence" of 20 pages, a "Second Appeal" of 150
pages, and now a "Third and Final Appeal" of 256 octavo
pages *
The last work bears evidence of the unfortunate change
of attitude into which the missionaries suffered themselves to
be betrayed by the progress of this polemic. It announces
that while all the previous works of the author on the subject
of Christianity had been printed at the Baptist Mission Press,
Calcutta, the acting proprietor had, after the Second Appeal
appeared, declined — "although in the politest manner possible"
— to print any other production of Rammohun on the
same subject. Rammohun was therefore obliged to purchase
his own type and to rely on native superintendence.
The title page declares the work "Printed at the
Unitarian Press, Dhurmtollah, Calcutta."! "I am well aware,"
says Rammohun in his preface, "that this difference of
sentiment has already occasioned much coolness towards me
in the demeanour of some whose friendship I hold very dear."
But his devotion to the truth of Monotheism which he held
to be not less imperilled by Christian Trinitarianism than by
Hindu polytheism, left him no option but to pursue the
controversy.
The "Final Appeal" controverts Dr. Marshman's arguments
and Scriptural "proofs" step by step ; first as dealing with the
Atonement, and next with the Trinity. Into the windings of
this devious disputation we need not wander. Suffice it to say
* As reprinted in Rammohun's English Works edited by Eshan
Chunder Bose, Oriental Press, Calcutta, 1885.
f "There is a Unitarian press, also the property of Rammohun Roy,
at which several pamphlets and tracts have been and continue to be
printed, almost all bearing on the Unitarian controversy or tending to
promote philanthropic objects." Letter of Mr. Wm. Adam, July 27 1816.
THE FINAL APPEAL 79
that, while the methods of exposition of the Hindu are more
modern than those of his Christian opponent, many of
his exegetical expedients are more apt to amuse than to
convince a theologian of the present day. Yet the acquaint-
ance which he shows with Hebrew and Greek and with
expository literature is, considering his antecedents, little
less than marvellous. It is interesting to observe that he
rebuts Dr. Marshman's appeal to the authority of inter-
pretative tradition by a reminder of the position of the
first Protestants in face of the unbroken Catholic tradition ;
and the charge of imputing iniquity to his Maker he
courteously and even with a sense of pain retorts upon his
critic. It is also interesting to place beside his anonymous
or pseudonymous defence of Hinduism, this question which
appears in the preface above his own proper signature : —
Could Hinduism continue after the present generation, or bear the
studious examination of a single year, if the belief of their idols being
endued with animation were not carefully impressed on the young before
they come to years of understanding ?
His objection to Dr. Marshman " condemning those whose
sentiments as to the person of Jesus Christ are precisely the
same " as Newton's and Locke's, is significant, for he goes
on to describe these '• sentiments " — which we may perhaps
infer that he himself holds — thus, — " that He is the anointed
Lord and King promised and sent from God" and "is worthy
of worship for his mediation and meritorious death, but by
no means . . perfect God and perfect Man."
Not content with this bulky " Final Appeal," Rammohun
proposed in the preface to start in the following April a
monthly magazine " to be devoted to Biblical criticism and
to subject Unitarian as well as Trinitarian doctrines to the
test of fair argument." " If any one of the missionary gentle-
men, for himself and in behalf of his fellow-labourers, would
send an essay in defence of their distinctive tents, Rammohun
80 RAMMOHUN ROY
would publish the same at his own expense. This proffer
led to a curious controversy. A certain fiery doctor of
medicine, R. Tytler by name, considered it " a general chal-
lenge to all Christians who profess a belief in the divinity
of Christ," and accordingly he offered to meet Rammohun
in either public or private disputation. Rammohun replied
pointing out that what he had asked for was literary discus-
sion, and declaring his willingness to examine any arguments
which Dr. Tytler might commit to writing on behalf of
the doctrine of Trinity, provided they were sent "by a
missionary gentlemen under his signature." The sagacious
Hindu was not going to be drawn from his quest after sober
and temperate theological controversy by the truculent
polemic of an irresponsible layman. The layman thereupon
writes to the Bengal Hurkaru^ April 40, 1823, in a towering
passion, charging this Unitarian Goliath with shrinking from
the conflict to which he had challenged the hosts of Israel,
so soon as the first layman appeared against him. He is
especially indignant at the idea of his being required to
secure the warrant of a missionary's signature to his lucubrat-
ions, as if he were going to turn Anabaptist ! Whence it
appears that the irate doctor did not love the Baptist persua-
sion. Rammohun Roy replied under date May 1st, quoting
the precise words of his challenge and indicating the doctor's
non-compliance with the specified terms. To a more
courteous proffer of literary battle from an anonymous corres-
pondent, Rammohun, on May 3rd, answered, reasonably
enough, that he did not engage to encounter all professors
of the Trinity " of whatever rank or situation, character or
peculiar state of mind," but with accredited theologians only.
But for dealing with amateur theologians of the minatory
order, he had methods of his own. He would answer a fool
according to his folly. In the Hurkaru of May 3rd Dr.
Tytler explodes with indignation at Rammohun's informing
SATIRICAL METHOD OF CONTROVERSY 8 1
him of his entire indifference whether a man professed belief
as a Christian in the divinity of Christ or of "any other
mortal man," or as a Hindu in the divinity of Thakur Trata"
Ram or Munu. The idea of putting Christian theology on
a level with Hindu mythology drove the doctor into a frenzy
of italics, capitals, large capitals and notes of exclamation.
Rammohun adopted in reply an artifice as innocent in its
transparency as it was pungent in its satire. He wrote under
the assumed name of Ram Doss and under the assured
profession of Hindu orthodoxy, to propose to Dr. Tytler
a joint crusade against " the abominable notion of a single
God " advocated by Rammohun Roy and others. He argues
that Christian and Hindu orthodoxy rested on the common
basis, the manifestation of God in the flesh, and drew a
parallel between the incarnations of Ram and of Christ.
Trinity in Unity on the one side and on the other the 330,
000,000 of persons in the Hindu Godhead , were equally
matters of faith, inscrutable to reason. This covert satire
stung the pugnacious doctor into styling Ram Doss " the
wretched tool " of " the damnable heresy of Unitarianism "
which was the same as Hindu idolatry and like it proceeded
from the Devil. He signed this effusion characteristically
"Your inveterate and determined »foe in the Lord." Dr.
Tytler's qualifications for controversy may be further seen
in his assertion that "there is no book at present in possession
of Hindus of higher antiquity than the entrance of the
Mussulmans into India," and that "the histories of Buddha,
Saluvahana and Chrishna comprise nothing more than per-
verted copies of Christianity." The correspondence which
went on for the most of the month of May was published in
pamphlet form under the title : A Vindication of the Incarna-
tion of Deity as the common lasts of Hinduism and
Christianity against the schismatic attacks of R. Tytler, Esq.,
M.D., by Ram Doss."
ii
82 RAMMOHUN ROY
Possibly to the same time belongs A Dialogue between a
Missionary and Three Chinese Converts, which is published in
the English Works of the Rajah. This little tract is written
with the desire of making out that the impression produced
on Chinese minds by the teaching of three Gods who are
one God and One of whom died, is bewildering and ridiculous.
On November 1 5 in the same year appeared the fourth
and last number of the Brahmunical Magazine. The cover
of the pseudonym Shivuprusad Surma is further kept up by
an opening explanation that in default of reply from Ram-
mohun Roy to the missionary attacks upon the Vedant
system this magazine had been published. This artifice of
self-multiplication and self-concealment by aid of pseudonyms
certainly savours more of the journalist than of the national
religious reformer ; but, however we may explain it, Ram-
mohun seems to have had quite a liking for such tactics.
The Magazine is occupied first with a defence of the
Vedantic system and then with an onslaught on the doctrines
of the Trinity and Atonement. The writer greatly enjoys
himself in putting together ten different versions of the
Trinity presented by English divines, from the Sabellian
view of Dr. Wallis to the explanation of the newly-arrived
Bishop Heber of Calcutta that the second and third persons
in the Trinity are simply the Angels Michael and Gabriel !
He suggests that so various and contradictory a creed is
scarcely likely to make many converts. He concludes by
laying down " for the information of the missionary gentle-
men," "our religious creed," which we may probably regard
as the faith of the real author : —
" In conformity with the precepts of our ancient religion, contained
in the Holy Vedant, though disregarded by the generality of the moderns,
we look up to ONE BEING as the animating and regulating principle
of the whole collective body of the universe, and as the origin of all
individual souls, which in a manner somewhat similar vivify and govern
SUGGESTIONS TO HIS COUNTRYMEN 83
their particular bodies ; and we reject idolatry in every form and under
whatsoever veil of shophistry it may be practised, either in adoration of
an artificial, a natural, or an imaginary object. The divine homage
which we offer consists solely in the practice of Daya, or benevolence
towards each other, and not in a fanciful faith, or in certain motions of
the feet, arms, head, tongue, or other bodily organs, in a pulpit or before
a temple."
In 1823, and possibly as a sort of practical conclusion to
the course of controversy, Rammohun issued a short tract
entitled Humble Suggestions to his countrymen who believe in
the One True God. It is stated to be " by Prusunnu Koomar
Thakoor.'' As his editor, Jogendra Chunder Ghose, remarks
at this point, "The Raja was fond of writing anonymously and
of giving the names of others to his own works." This
" advertisement" is prefixed.
My object in publishing this tract is to recommend those to whom it
is addressed to avoid using harsh or abusive language in their intercourse
with European missionaries, either respecting them or their objects of
worship,however much this may be countenanced by the example of some
of these gentlemen.
This is the tract : —
Those who firmly believe on the authority of the Veds that "God is
One only, without an equal," and that "He cannot be known either
through the medium of language, thought or vision : how can he be
known except as existing, the origin and support of the Universe?* —
and who endeavour to regulate their conduct by the following precept,
"He who is desirous of eternal happiness should regard another as he
regards himself, and the happiness and misery of another as his own,"
ought to manifest the warmest affection towards such of their own
countrymen as maintain the same faith and practice, even although they
have not all studied the Veds for themselves, but have professed a belief
in God only through an acquaintance with their general design. Many
-y.iiong the ten classes of Sunnyasees, and all the followers of Gooroo
Nanuk, of Dadoo, and of Kubeer, as well as of Suntu, &c., profess the
religious sentiments above mentioned. It is our unquestionable duty in-
variably to treat them as brethren. No doubt should be entertained of
their future salvation, merely because they receive instructions, and prac-
tise their sacred music in the Vernacular dialect. For Yajnavalkya,
84 RAMMOHUN ROY
with a reference to those who cannot sing the hymns of the Veds, has
said "The divine hymns, Rik, Gatha> Panika, and Dukshubihita should
be sung ; because by their constant use man attains supreme beatitude".
"He who is skilled in playing on the lute (veena), who is intimately ac
quainted with the various tones and harmonies and who is able to beat
time in music, will enter without difficulty upon the road of salvation."
Again the Shivu Dhurmu as quoted by Rughoonundun, says, "He is
reputed a Gooroo who according to the capacity of his disciple instructs
him in Sanskrit whether pure or corrupt, in the current language of the
country, or by any other means.''
Amongst foreigners, those Europeans who believe God to be in every
sense ONE, and worship Him alone in Spirit, and who extend their bene-
volence to man as the highest service to God, shoald be regarded by us
with affection, on the ground of the object of their worship being the
same as ours. We should feel no reluctance to co-operate with them in
religious matters, merely because they consider Jesus Christ as the
Messenger of God and their spiritual teacher ; for oneness in the object
of worship and sameness of religious practice should produce attach-
ment between the worshippers.
Amongst Europeans, those who believe Jesus Christ to be God him-
self, and conceive him to be possessed of a particular form, and main-
tain Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be one God, should not be treated
in an unfriendly manner. On the contrary, we should act towards them
in the same manner as we act towards those of our countrymen who
without forming any external image meditate upon Ram and other sup-
posed incarnations and believe in their unity.
Again, those amongst Europeans who believing Jesus Christ to be
the Supreme Being, moreover construct various images of him, should
not be hated. On the contrary, it becomes us to act towards those
Europeans in the same manner as we act towards such as believe Ram,
&c., to be incarnations of God and form external images of them. For,
the two last mentioned sects of foreigners are one and the same with
those of the two similar sects among Hindoos although they are clothed
in a different garb.
When any belonging to the second and third classes of Europeans
endeavour to make converts of us, the believers in the only living and
true God, even then we should feel no resentment towards them, but
rather compassion, on account of their blindness to the errors into
which they themselves have fallen. Since it is almost impossible, as
THE FOUR QUESTIONS 85
every day's experience teaches us, for men when possessed of wealth and
power, to perceive their own defects.
So terminated Rammohun's polemic against the Trini-
tarian missionaries. But, even while that was in full course,
he was involved in repelling attacks from an entirely oppo-
site quarter. A defender of the conventional Hindu faith,
who styled himself an "Establisher of Religion," brought out
a brochure in Bengali, entitled "Four Questions,5' which was
manifestly levelled at the reformer and his associates. From
Rammohun's reply in the same language, which appeared in
1822 (2Oth of Magh, 1229, Bengali era}, and which was
entitled "Answers to Four Questions," we gather the chief
points at issue between him and his orthodox fellow
countrymen. The style of both combatants is indirect,
allusive, sinuous ; with many covert personal references which
are now scarcely intelligible, but all wrapped round the main
point, which was — Had the reformers put themselves outside
the pale of Hinduism ? The first question ran thus —
Do these professors of knowledge and their childish followers, having
examined the mysteries of the Shastras, wish to give up their own
religion and adopt that of foreigners ? Is it proper, according to
the Shastras, for gentlemen to associate with such good-intentioned
people ?
In other words, ought not Rammohun and his accomplices
to be boycotted as renegades ? Rammohun retorts with a
tu quoque. The "practiser of religion," as he calls his
pragmatic rite-observing opponent, failed just as much as "the
inquirer into religion" to practise a millionth part of what the
minute rules of Hinduism required. "The practiser," with his
father and grandfather, had served men of an alien faith, had
used Mahometan tooth-powder and perfumes, had studied
Mahometan lore with Mahometans, had instructed men of an
alien faith in his own Shastras. These things were as much
violations of strict Hindu law as any ritual offence charged to
"the inquirer."
86 RAMMOHUN ROY
The second question inquires whether the religion of those
who oppose native manners and customs, who ignorantly
claim to know God, and who wear the Sacred Thread without
affection, is not as the religion of the tiger and the cat ?
Reply is made by enquiring whether "the establisher"
observes the native customs of the Vaisnavs, who eat no fish.
Does he follow all the usages of his own sect ? If not, does
he perfrom the requisite penance ? An effective contrast is
drawn between the man who outwardly appears to fulfil the
strictest prescriptions of his religion, but at home eats fish
and abuses everyone ; and the man who makes no pretences
but holds to the saying of Maha Nirban, "the eternal religion /
consists in the knowledge of God and the performance of those-'
practices most beneficial to man."
The third question asks what religion sanctions the taking
of life by a Brahman, and scornfully enquires as to the fate in
this and in the next world of "merciful searchers into
knowledge," who daily cause kids to be killed for their table.
The answer affirms that according to the Shastras "it is not
a sin to eat flesh that has been offered to Gods and to
ancestors." But if the eating of animal food incur the
punishment of hell, does not the Establisher himself eat fish ?
The fourth question asks what must be done with "certain
well-known persons" who "throw off fear of religion and of
public opinion, cut their hair, drink wine and consort with
infidels." It is answered that the Shastras forbid only "vain
cutting of the hair," and enjoin the drinking of consecrated
wine. Critics are significantly reminded that Brahmans who
consort with the Mahometan wives of their own servants and
with Chandal courtezans ought properly to forfeit their
Brahmanhood.
These pungent replies called forth a rejoinder of more
than two hundred pages from "the Establisher of religion."
This brought Rammohun again into the field. In 1823 (i2th
VEXATIOUS LAWSUITS 87
of Pous, 1230, Bengali era) he published his Pathya Pradana
("Medicine for the Sick"). Its preface describes the last work
of his opponent — whom he calls henceforth not the establisher
but "the destroyer of religion" — as merely one long tirade of
abuse. Rammohun declines to retaliate, remarking that in
giving medicine to boys that are sick the physician does not
lose his temper over their kicks and screams. The "Medicine"
he administers is compounded from the Shastras. In giving
it, he rebuts false interpretations put upon his former answers.
The controversy was thus, it appears, analogous to that
between the "tithing of mint and anise and cumin," and "the
weightier matters of the law." Against the Rabbinism of the
Hindu religion, Rammohun appealed to its Prophetism.
On the i6th of June in this year (1823), Rammohun, who
had emerged successfully from the proceedings instituted
against him by his nephew some three years previously, was
drawn once more into the law courts. The Rajah of Burdwan
sued him for Rs. 15,002, being principal and interest on a
bond for Rs. 7,501, which was given by Rammohun's father
for arrears of land revenue, and which fell due so far back as
1797. Rammohun's defence was (i) that having been
disinherited by his father he could not be held to have
inherited his father's debts ; (2) that no demand for payment
had been made during his father's life-time or since until now,
and (3) that a debt not claimed for twelve years ceased to
be legally binding. He argued that the action was brought
out of malice, with a desire to ruin him, because Rammohun's
son-in-law, Dewan to the plaintiff's son lately deceased,
had acted as vakeel for the widowed Ranees and extorted
from the Rajah what was legally, though not customarily,
their due. For this exacting vindication of widows' rights,
the Rajah naturally blamed Rammohun, and relying on
his immense wealth was bent on breaking him. The
proceedings now begun lasted over more than eight years.
88 RAMMOHUN ROY
Defeated in the Provincial Court of Calcutta, the Rajah
appealed to the higher tribunal — the Sudder Dewanee
Adaulut — and the judicial decision which finally worsted
him was not pronounced until Nov. 10, 1831,
It is a remarkable commentary on the many-sidedness
and elastic sympathy of Rammohun's character that just
at the time when he was anonymously satirizing or
loftily compassionating the propaganda of Trinitarian
Christians, we find him avowing attendance on a Presbyterian
Church and giving his name and countenance to a petition
for the despatch of Presbyterian missionaries to India.
To Rammohun we may trace some share in the origination
of Alexander Duff's great missionary work.* Dr. Bryce,
Church of Scotland Chaplain in Calcutta, declared himself
disabused by Rammohun Roy of Abbe Dubois' opinion that
no Hindu could be made a true Christian ; and, to quote
Dr. Bryce's own words,
"Encourged by the approbation of Rammohun I presented to the
General Assembly of 1824 the petition and memorial which first directed
the attention of the Church of Scotland to British India as a field for
missionary exertions, on the plan that is now so successfully following
out, and to which this eminently gifted scholar, himself a Brahmin of
high caste, had specially annexed his sanction."
On the 8th December 1823 — within less than a month
of the appearance of the Brahmunical Magazine, No.
iv — Rammohun added this written testimony to the minute
of St. Andrew's Kirk Session on the proposal mentioned
by Dr. Bryce : —
As I have the honour of being a member of the Congregation meeting
in St. Andrew's Church (although not fully concurring in every article
of the Westminster Confession of Faith), I feel happy to have an
opportunity of expressing my opinion that, if the prayer of the memorial
* For following incidents see Dr. George Smith's Life of Alexander
Duff, Vol. I, pp. 39, 40.
ASSISTANCE TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 89
is complied with there is a fair and reasonable prospect of this measure
proving conducive to the diffusion of religious and moral knowledge in '/
India."
The parenthesis disclaiming complete concurrence with
the Presbyterian creed, coming as it does from "Ram Doss,"
seems to carry with it a flavour of fine irony ; but its
mildness of statement was probably due only to the
Rajah's exceeding urbanity. Rammohun's active assistance
of Duff's earliest efforts will be noticed later. Scotsmen
will doubtless regard it as a compliment to their national
type of religion that while this cultured Theist was horrified
by the overtures of the Anglican bishop and was antagonized
by the Baptist editors, he was induced to beg for the
presence in his country of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries.
But his sympathies most naturally lay with the suggestion
which had been elicited, on his work becoming known in
England and America, of starting a Unitarian propaganda
in India. In 1823 Rev. Henry Ware, Unitarian minister of
Harvard College, Cambridge, United States, addressed a
number of questions to Rammohun on "The prospects of
Christianity and the means of promoting its reception in
India.'' Rammohun, in a letter dated February 2, 1824,
explains that his delay in replying was due to his engrossing
"controversies with polytheists both of the West and East."
Before proceeding to answer seriatim the questions presented,
he remarks : —
There is one question ... (to wit "Whether it be desirable that
the inhabitants of India should be converted to Christianity" , . . )
which 1 pause to answer, as I am led to believe, from reason, what is set
forth in Scripture, that "In every nation he that feareth God and worketh
righteousness is accepted with him," in whatever form of worship he
may have been taught to glorify God. Nevertheless I presume to think
that Christianity, if properly inculcated, has a greater tendency to*
improve the moral, social, and political state of mankind than any other,
known religious system.
12
90 RAMMOHUN ROY
He expresses his delight that so great a body of the
American people "have engaged in purifying the religion
of Christ from those absurd idolatrous doctrines and
practices, with which the Greek, Roman, and Barbarian
converts to Christianity have mingled it from time to time."
Able friends of truth, he adds, have made similar efforts in
England, but there they have against them the power and
revenues of the Established Church. In America they had
to fight "only prejudice unarmed with wealth or power."
He concludes with a reference to the political future of the
United States which reveals the wide outlook and sympathy
of the man. He was writing shortly after the Missouri
compromise (1821) had relaxed the first great tension between
the "free" North and the slave-holding South ; and these
are his words : —
I presume to say that no native of these States can be more
fervent than myself in praying for the uninterrupted happiness of
your country and for what I cannot but deem essential to its prosperity —
— the perpetual union of all the States under one general government.
He goes on to amplify his desire for the maintenance of
Federal unity. He then deals with the string of questions pro-
pounded. On the number and quality of converts he speaks
guardedly, but leaves the impression that there are no converts
save a very few of low caste or none, ignorant, and influenced
• by mercenary motives. He quotes Abbe Dubois as a greater
authority than himself, who said that it was impossible to
convert a Hindu to Christianity. The chief causes assigned
by him for the slow advance of Christinity in India are the
reliance of the natives on their sacred books, their early
prejudices, their dread of losing caste, and the fact that "the
doctrines which the missionaries maintain and preach are less
conformable with reason than those professed by Moosulmans
and in several points are equally absurd with the popular
Hindu creed." From this last drawback alone was the pro-
CORRESPONDENCE WITH UNITARIANS 91
mulgation of Unitarian Christianity exempt. The sincere
conversion of the few enlightened Hindus to Trinitarian
Christianity is ''morally impossible," but "they would not
scruple to embrace or at least to encourage, the Unitarian
system of Christianity, were it inculcated on them in an
intelligible manner." To the question whether and if so how
Unitarians could aid the cause of Christianity in India,
Rammohun returns the reply : —
Everyone who interests himself in behalf of his fellow creatures, would
confidently anticipate the approaching triumph of true religion should
philanthrophy induce you and your friends to send to Bengal as many
serious and able teachers of European learning and science and Christian
morality unmingled with religious doctrines, as your circumstances may
admit, to spread knowledge gratuitously among the native community, in
connection with the Rev. Mr. Adam. . . .
Unitarian missionary schools giving instruction in the
rudiments of a European education in the English language
and in Christian morality, mingling with it very fittle instruct-
ion relative to the doctrines of Christianity, would, he held,
be of great use, — "the only way," in fact, "of improving
their understanding and ultimately meliorating their
hearts." "I may be fully justified in saying that two-thirds
of the native population of Bengal would be exceedingly
glad to see their children educated in English .learning." "To
the best of my knowledge, no benefit has hitherto arisen
from the translation of the Scriptures into the languages
of the East, nor can any advantage be expected from the
translations in circulation." To the question whether any
important impression will ever be made "except by the con-
version and through the influence of persons of education,"
Rammohun answers characteristically, "Christianity, when
represented in its genuine sense in any language whatever,
must make a strong impression on every intelligent mind,
especially when introduced by persons of education and
Q2 RAMMOHUN ROY
respectability." As the place most likely for successful pro-
paganda he recommends Calcutta.
As a result of prospects thus advanced and of anticipated
support from English-speaking lands, Mr. Adam, aided by
Rammohun and the Unitarian Committee, proceeded to
organize a Unitarian Mission in Calcutta. To its growing
fund we find that Rahmmohun subscribed Rs. 5,000, Dwarka-
nath Thakoor Rs. 2,500, and Prusunnu Coomar Thakoor Rs.
2,500. Writing on June 4th, 1824, to Dr. T. Rees, of the
Unitarian Committee in London, Rammohun reports : —
As to the state of the Unitarian Society in Calcutta, our Committee
have not yet been able to purchase a suitable piece of ground for a
chapel and school. They will, I hope, soon succeed in their endeavours.
We have collected, partly by purchase and partly by gift, a great number
of works and established a pretty respectable library in Calcutta.
From this letter we learn that Mr. Adam is now styled "the
Unitarian Missionary in Bengal." Rammohun prefaces the
report with expressions of lively delight that the London
Unitarians had reprinted his Precepts of Jesus and the two
Appeals in its defence. He goes on naively to declare his
grief and disappointment that George IV., — whom he
generously describes as "the most accomplished person of
his time, of most enlightened acquirements and most liberal
sentiments"— should not have used his royal influence to re-
lieve the members of the Established Church from "the
fetter" of the Thirty-nine Articles and from the repetition of
the damnatory clauses of the "Athanasian Creed."
It is interesting to note that six days after Bishop Heber
arrived in Calcutta (he came October loth, 1823, and wrote
the letter on the i6th) he informs the Dean of St. Asaph,
"Our chief hindrances are some Deistical Brahmins who have
left their old religion and desire to found a sect of their own,!
and some of those who are professedly engaged in the same
work with ourselves, the Dissenters."
CHAPTER V.
(1821—1826.)
Journalistic and Educational Pioneer-work*
1821.— [Second Appeal to the Christian Public in defence of The Precepts of
Jesus']. [Brahmunical Magazine I., II., III.] Dec. 4 — Starts the
Sambad Kaumudi.
1822— Baisakh. Starts the Mirat-al-Akhbar. About this time opens Anglo-
Hindu School. Publishes Brief Remarks on Ancient Female Rights-.
[Jan. 30 — Final Appeal to the Christian Public.]
1823, March. — Memorial against the Government Press Regulations. Appeal
to the King in Council on the same. [May — The Tytler Controversy].
[Nov. 15 — Brahmunical Magazine IV.] Letter to Lord Amherst on
English Education (Humble Suggestions to his Countrymen who believe
in one God).
1824. — [Prospects of Christianity.} Appeal for famine-smitten natives in
South Deccan.
1825. — Different modes of Worship.
1826. — Published Bengali Grammar in English. His son acquitted of a
charge of embezzlement. About the earlier part of the year, built the
Vedant College.
It is characteristic of Rammohun's many-sided activity
that during the period of his energetic and voluminous
theological controversy, he was busily engaged in promoting
native journalism and native education. His role was essen-
tially that of the Enlightener ; his one aim in publishing
treatises on Unitarian divinity, in founding schools and
colleges, and in conducting two newspapers was to enlighten
the minds of his fellow-countrymen. He was certainly not
the man to overlook the enormous value of the newspaper as
an instrument for diffusing intellectual light. The relaxation
in 1819 of the previously very stringent rules of press censor-
ship enforced by the British Government was accepted by
him as an invitation to the development of native journalism.
94 RAiMMOHUN ROY
The regulation requiring every newspaper before it was
issued to be submitted to a Government official was dis-
pensed with. Lord Hastings, the then Governor-General
contented ^himself with prohibiting animadversions on the
actions of Government, discussions likely to create religious
alarm among the natives, or otherwise to stir up dissension,
relying for the rest on "the prudence and discretion of
the editors."
In a copy of Mr. Buckingham's Calcutta Journal 'in the
latter part of 1821 appeared the "prospectus of a Bengalee
weekly newspaper to be conducted by natives, printed and
circulated in Bengalee and English/' It was to be called
Sambad Kaumudi or "The Moon of Intelligence." It was
to deal with ''religious, moral and political matters ; domestic
occurrences ; foreign as well as local intelligence." The
intimation of the price at which the new weekly was to be
had is couched in terms of superabundant Oriental
courtesy : —
To enable us to defray the expenses which will necessarily be
attendant on an undertaking of this nature, we humbly solicit the support
and patronage of all who feel themselves interested in the intellectual
and moral improvement of our countrymen, and confidently hope that
they will with their usual liberality and munificence, condescend to gratify
our most anxious wishes, by contributing to our paper a monthly
subscription of two rupees, in acknowledgment of which act of their
benignity and encouragement, we pledge ourselves to make use of GUI
utmost efforts and exertions to render our paper as useful, instructive a\id
entertaining as it can possibly be.
The first number appeared December 4. 1821.* Its
"address to the Bengal public" announced "the public good"
* [There is a considerable doubt as to the date of the first publication
of the Sambad Kaumudi, most probably it appeared first in July 1819. In
the list of Bengali publications compiled by Rev. Long in 1852 the
Sambad Kaumudi is mentioned as a newspaper printed at the Sanskrit
Press from 1819. The Christian Observer of Calcutta in 1840 in the list
THF SAMBAD KAUMUDI 95
to be its "guiding star." It gratefully acknowledgs Lord
Hastings' action in removing the shackles from the Press.
It promises to reprint in Persian, Hindustani and English
such of its articles as seem to merit translation. It invokes
the assistance of the Literati, and not the least significant
promise of all — it offers to publish "respectful expression" of
native grievancess.
"A newspaper conducted exclusively by natives
in the native language," it describes itself as "a novelty t
at least if not a desideratum." We may regard it there-
fore as the parent, and Rammohun Roy as the founder, of
native journalism in India.f Its consequent significance for the
future of the Empire justifies the statement here of the
contents of a few of its earlier numbers.
No. I. — The Editor's address to the Bengali community.
An Appeal to the Government for the establishment of a School for
the gratuitous instruction of the children of poor but respectable
Hindus.
An account of a miser prince.
of newspapers extinct before that date mentions \^^ Sambad Kaumudi
as first published in 1819. The India Gazette of July 1819 had a note
about the pamphlet of Rammohun Roy on the Suttee, mentioning that
it was reprinted in a Bengali newspaper and expected much good from
it. The Bengali newspaper was evidently the Sambad Kaumudi. One
of the colleagues of Rammohun Roy in editing Sambad A mtmudi was
Bhawani Charan Banerjee, who contributed considerably to its columns.
But when Rammohun Roy began to write against Suttee in the Sambad
Kaumudi with great vehemence Bhawani Charan Banerjee withdrew his
assistance and started another paper under the name of Samachar
Chandrika which appeared in 1823. All these facts lead to the conclusion
that the Sambad Kaumudt first appeared in 1819. Edi.]
t Two other native papers were started about the same time, one in
Persian called the /ami Jehan Numa and run in opposition to the liberal
views of the Miiat^ the other in Bengali, and known as the Sumachar
Chandrica.
96 RAMMOHUN ROY
No. II.— An Address to the natives, enumerating the advantages of
reading newspapers.
Letter proposing to raise a fund to water the Chitpore Road.
Account of implicit faith in a Guru and an extraordinary gift.
Letter suggesting 22 instead of 15 as the legal age for succeeding to
hereditary property.
Satirical account of the lavish generosity at the funerals of certain rich
natives, who when alive were notorious for niggardliness.
Humble address to the Government soliciting the extension of trial
by jury to the Mofussil, Zila and Provincial Courts of Judicature.
No. III.— An Appeal to the Government to relieve the Hindu community
from the inconvenience consequent upon there being only one Ghaut
for the burning of dead bodies ; whereas an immense space of
ground has been granted for the burial of Christians.
Appeal to Government for the prevention of exportation of the
greatest part of the produce of rice from Bengal to foreign ports.
Appeal to Government to enable the middle class of native subjects to
avail themselves of the treatment of European physicians.
Appeal to the Calcutta magistrates to resort to rigorous measures for
relieving the Hindu inhabitants of Calcutta from the serious griev-
ance of Christian gentlemen driving their buggies amongst them and
cutting and lashing them with whips, without distinction of sex or
age, while they quietly assembled in immense numbers to see the
images of their deities pass in the Chitpore Road, when many of
them, through terror and consternation caused by the lashing in-
flicted on the spectators, fell down into drains, while others were
trampled under foot by the crowd.
This last heading gives a vivid glimpse of the way in
which "Christian gentlemen" from Britain failed to make
either their rule or their religion beloved by the natives. It
also shows us how readily Anglo-Indians . writing in the
Indian Free Press would call "public attention at home" to
the new venture "ere it is too late," and cry "Olsta principiis"
No. VI., it may be noted, contains "an appeal to the rich
Hindus of Calcutta to constitute a society for the relief of
destitute widows, upon the principles of the Civil and
Military Widows' Fund, established by order of Government."
No. VII. urges on Hindu parents to get their children
MIRAT-AL AKHBAR 97
instructed in the native grammar before imposing on them
the study of foreign languages. No. VIII. prints the plea
of a philanthropist, who observing the misery caused by
prejudices of caste, urges the Hindus not to debar themselves
thereby from mechanical pursuits, but to cultivate "such arts
as would tend to their comfort, happiness and independence."
The Sambad Kaumudi was for the common people. But
Rammohun desired to supply information and guidance to
the educated classes also, and in a form more peculiarly
suited to their needs. In the following year (1822) he
started a weekly newspaper in Persian, called the Mirat-al'
AkTibar or Mirror of Intelligence, This came out on Fridays,
as the Bengali organ on Tuesdays. The style of the new
weekly may be gathered from an article which appeared in
its issue of Oct. u, 1822, on "Ireland; the Causes of its
Distress and Discontents." The article opens with a short
statement of the geographical position and political history
of the island. "The Kings of England having shut their eyes
against justice, gifted away to their own parasites the estates
of the Irish noblemen." The account of the causes of Irish
discontent is given with grave naivete-. —
Although all the inhabitants of this island call themselves the follow-
ers of the religion of Jesus Christ (upon whom and the rest of the prophets
of God be peace and blessing ! ), yet a great number of them on account
of their differing in some particular point of faith from the religion adopt-
ed by the King of England, follow their own clergymen and Pope in the
performance of religious duties, and refuse adherence to the royal divines
of the Established Church of England ; and in consequence the stipends
of their own divines are not defrayed from the revenue of the land but
depend on the contributions of private individuals. Besides this, on
account of the stipends of the royal clergymen who are appointed to
officiate in Ireland, the Government of Ireland exact taxes every year
from those who positively refuse to be led by these clergymen in religious
matters. How admirable is the observation of Saadi (on whom be
mercy !)—
13
98 RAMMOHUN ROY
Do not say that these rapacious Ministers are the well-wishers of his
Majesty :
For in proportion as they augment the revenue of the/ State, they
diminish his popularity ;
O statesman, apply the revenue of the King towards the comfort of
the people ; then during their lives they will be loyal to him.
This Persian poetry Mr. Gladstone only succeeded in
translating into Parliamentary enactment in 1869. The
second cause adduced is still (1897) an unsolved problem : —
The nobles and other landed proprietors of Ireland pass their time in
England, either with a view to raise themselves at Court, or to have all
the luxuries of life at their command. And they spend in England an
immense sum of the revenue of their lands, which they collect by means
of stewards or farmers ; and consequently the tradespeople in England
benefit by the liberal manner in which they spend their money, instead
of the people of Ireland. And their rapacious stewards or farmers, for
their own advantage and in order to show their zeal for the interest of
their masters unmercifully increase the rent of the land and extort those
rents from the peasantry. So that many from their improper behaviour
are now deprived of the means of subsistence. . . .
The natives are noted for their good natural abilities and open dis-
position, as well as for their generosity and hospitality. Foreigners are
of opinion that from the climate of Ireland the people are of quick appre-
hension and easily provoked (God knows best ! )
The practical upshot of these explanations of the situation
is to announce the ravages of famine in Ireland and to give
the names of "a number of respectable European gentlemen
of liberal principles and a body of liberal natives of this
country/' who have, "for the love of God," subscribed for the
relief of the starving Irish. Irishmen who are proud of their
nationality will not readily forget this tribute of appreciation
and succour from one of the earliest pioneers of the National
movement in India.
The National aspirations of Greece were not, however,
favourably regarded by the Mirat. In an article published
in November, 1822, quoted by a Calcutta paper as "expressing
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE GOVERNMENT 99
the feeling of the thinking part of the natives generally," the
writer rejoices in the receipt of the news of Turkish victory
over the lebellious Greeks. He is manifestly jubilant that
the Tsar with his grand army and his resolve "to conquer
Turkey and destroy Islamism" was held back by Austria and
England. Of the Greeks it is said, "Having returned from
the deserts of rebellion, they have now taken up their abode
in the city of comfort and obedience." Editorial information
or prescience was this time at fault, since the Greek rebellion
which broke out in 1821 only ended in the achievement of
Independence in 1832. For this attitude to Greece, Maho-
metan sympathy with Turkey was of course responsible.
Such free criticism of English policy in Europe as well as
satiric reference to British insolence in treatment of natives
on the public roads, naturally aroused European suscepti-
bilities. John Bull, a Calcutta print, is 'ridiculed by the
Hurkani (of September 2, 1822) for translating the Persian
amiss and in its jealous apprehension rendering tursa "Christ-
ians" as "Infidels." The Mirat was not lacking in loyalty.
It was most eulogistic in its remarks on Lord Hastings, the
then Governor-General.
But the end of 1822 saw the close of Lord Hastings'
Governor-Generalship with its liberal and enlightened policy.
Between his departure and the arrival of Lord Amherst, his
successor, the Hon. John Adams officiated as Acting Governor-
General. This temporary elevation of an inferior official was
marked by characteristically official measures for the restrict-
ion of liberty. A single paragraph from the Mirat in
February attests the arbitrary measures being adopted : —
The eminently learned Dr. Bryce, the head minister of the new Scotch
Churjh, having accepted the situation of Clerk of the Stationery belonging
to the Honourable Company, Mr. Buckingham the editor of the \Calcuttd\
Journal observed directly as well as indirectly that it was unbecoming of
the character of the minister to accept a situation like this; upon which
ICO RAMMOHUN ROY
th? Governor-General, in consideration of his disrespectful expression,
"passed an order that Mr. Buckingham should leave India for England
within the period of two months from the date of the receipt of this order,
and that after the expiration of that period he is not allowed to remain
a single day in India.
The Journal was suppressed, and at the close of 1823 Mr.
Arnot, Mr. Buckingham's assistant editor, was arrested and
put on board a home-going ship.
The notice expelling Mr. Buckingham was followed up,
suddenly and without notice, on March I4th, by a rigorous
Press Ordinance from the acting Governor-General in Council.
The preamble stated that "matters tending to bring the
Government into hatred and contempt, and to disturb
the peace of society have of late been frequently
published and circulated in newspapers/' The Ordinance
prescribed that henceforth no one should publish a newspaper
or other periodical without having obtained a license from
the Governor-General in Council, signed by the Chief
Secretary.
Before this regulation could come into force, the law re-
quired it to be fixed up in the Supreme Court for twenty
days, and then if not disallowed, registered. It was
accordingly entered on March I5th. Or. the 1 7th, Council
moved the Court to allow parties feeling themselves
aggrieved by the new regulation to be heard. Sir Francis
Macnaghten, the sole Acting Judge, fixed the 3 ist for the
hearing of objections, but suggested that in the meanwhile
the objectors wo uld do well to state their plea in a memorial
to Government. Foremost among those objectors was
Rammohun Roy. He and his friends set about promoting
the suggested petition, but, as he afterwards stated, "in pre-
paring this memorial in both the English and the Bengalee
languages, and discussing the alterations suggested by the
different individuals who wished to give it their support and
MEMORIAL AGAINST THE PRESS ORDINANCE IOI
signature so much time was necessarily consumed, that it
was not ready to be sent into circulation for signature until
the 3oth of March/' Consequently only fifteen natives had
time to read and sign it ; and the Government had no time,
even if they wished, to act, Another memorial of the same
tenour was hastily drawn up next day, signed by Rammohun
and five other di stinguished native gentlemen, and by counsel
submitted to the Supreme Court. This memorial was attri-
buted by its opponents to an English author, but was really,
as was generally acknowledged later, the work of Rammohun.
—It may be regarded as the Areopagitica of Indian history/
Alike in diction and in argument, it forms a noble landmark
in the progress of English culture in the East.
The memorial first sets out the loyalty and attachment of
the natives to British rule. They had trusted the Govern-
ment with millions of their money. Relying on the Govern-
ment, landlords had improved, instead of impoverishing as
formerly, their estates. They had prayed for British victory
during the Napoleonic wars. They rejoiced in the literary
and political improvements due to British influence. They
were most lo)-al in Calcutta, where British sway was best
known. Possessing the same civil and religious liberty along
with a lighter taxation, they were not inferior in loyalty to
British-born subjects. Among the institutions which tended
to improve the minds and ameliorate the condition of the
natives was the native Press, and chiefly the newspaper Press,
with its four native newspapers — two in Persian, two in Bengali.
These journals had done nothing to disparage the Govern-
ment or to promote dissension. "Native authors and editors /
have always restrained themselves" from publishing matter
obnoxious to the Government. Yet the Ordinance had been
issued, requiring a license revocable at pleasure for all
newspapers.
The first positive objection advanced against this new
102 RAMMOHUN ROY
measure will probably strike all Westerns who are not
Quakers or Tolstoyans with some surprise. In order to
secure the license, the applicant was apparently required to
make an affidavit or statement on oath. But, the Memorial
proceeds : —
Those natives who are in more favourable circumstances and of
respectable character, have such an invincible prejudice against making
a voluntary affidavit, or undergoing the solemnities of an oath that they
will never think of establishing a publication which can only be supported
by a series of oaths and affidavits, abhorrent to their feelings and '
derogatory to their reputation amongst their countrymen.
Light is thrown on this intense antipathy by a letter in
the India Gazette, dated Dec. 9, 1824, from which the
following sentences may be quoted : —
I have frequently inquired of Hindus the reason of their objecting to
swear ; and the answers I have received have been, "If I put my hand
into the Gunga Jul [Ganges Water], I put my hand into the fire of hell" ;
or "Should I happen to say one word which is not true, I shall be
tormented during a hundred transmigrations" ; or "I shall sink my
ancestors into places of torment." . . . They can make no distinction
between voluntary and involuntary misstatements. *
The Memorial goes on to show that "a complete stop" in
the diffusion of knowledge of a certain kind will result from
the new Ordinance. The better informed natives will be
prevented instructing the people in the admirable system of
British Government. Natives will be precluded from acquaint-
ing the Government with the errors and injustice which its
executive officers may commit in various parts of the country.
After this deprivation of a right which they had not abused,
the natives could no longer feel justified in boasting of the
* The Grand Jury at the Calcutta Sessions in October, 1825, proposed
the substitution of a solemn declaration for an oath in the case of natives,
declaring "It is notorious that by forcing a Hindu of any of the superior
classes to swear, we inflict on him a disgrace in his own eyes and in the
eyes of his fellow-citizens."
PETITION TO THE KING 103
privilege of British protection. But surely the British Govern-
ment will not follow the precedent of Asiatic despotism in
hoping to preserve power by keeping the people in darkness.
Experience proves that a good Government grows stronger
as its subjects become more enlightened. Every good ruler,
aware of human imperfection and amenable to reverence for
the Eternal Governor, must be conscious of the liability to
error involved in managing a great Empire and of the need of
ready means of ascertaining consequent grievances. But
the only effectual means is "Unrestrained liberty of publica- Y
tion", subject to the regular law of the land.
On this memorial being read, its prayer was supported by
the speeches of Counsel, Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Turton, But
Sir Francis Macnaghten gave his decision in favour of the
Press Ordinance. In doing so, he absolutely ignored the
native memorial, "not alluding to it in the most distant
manner, nor to the arguments it contained." He further
scandalized the memorialists by announcing that, before the
Ordinance was entered or its merits argued in court, he had
pledged himself to Government to give it his sanction.
There was but one resource left to the defenders of a free
Press, and of that resource Rammohun did not hesitate to
avail himself. He and his coadjutors appealed to the King
in Council. The Appeal is one of the noblest pieces of English
to which Rammohun put his hand. Its stately periods and
not less stately thought recall the eloquence of the great
orators of a century ago. In a language and style for ever
associated with the glorious vindication of liberty, it invokes
against the arbitrary exercise of British power the principles
and traditions which are distinctive of British history.
An eloquent recognition of the benefits of British rule,
benefits which had led Hindus to regard the English rather as
deliverers than conquerors, sets in effective contrast a statement
of the grievance complained of. The native press had aided
104 RAMMOHUN ROY
in diffusing these blessings and in inculcating an appropriate
gratitude. The Friend of India, an organ of European
missionaries, had acknowledged the valuable service rendered
by the native newspapers and expressly declared that the
liberty they possessed had not been abused by them "in the
least degree." The sudden withdrawal of this unabused
liberty could only have as its motive the desire to afford
Government and all its functionaries complete immunity from
censure or exposure or public remark. The law of the land
being competent to deal with any offences committed by
newspapers against public order, the new and arbitrary restrict-
ions, if meant seriously, seemed to suggest that Government
intended to interrupt the regular course of justice and take the
law into its own hands. A free Press had never yet caused
a revolution ; but revolutions had been innumerable where no
free Press existed to ventilate grievances. If this avenue of
redress should be closed to the natives, they would consider
"the most peculiar excellence of the British Government of
India" done away, and themselves condemned to perpetual
oppression and degradation. It placed their civil and religious
rights "entirely at the mercy of such individuals as may be
sent from England to assume the executive authority, or" —
and here comes a politely covered thrust at Acting Governor
John Adams — "rise into power through the routine of office,
and who from long officiating in an inferrior station, may
have contracted prejudices against individuals or classes of
men, which ought not to find shelter in the breast of the
legislator." Subordinate officials being fallible, Government
ought to welcome the check imposed on them by the fact or
dread of publicity. Even on the lowest ground, regarding
India merely as a valuable property, the British nation would
act wisely in seeing that so important an asset should have
good care taken of it. Under Mahomedan rulers, Hindus
had enjoyed every political privilege in common with
DISCONTINUANCE OF THE MIRAT IO$
Moslems, but under British sway they were not allowed
similar equality with their conquerors ; and the slight com-
pensation offered them in the liberty of their Press was a right
they were the less prepared to forego. The Appeal concludes
with the alternative; either let His Majesty restore the freedom
of the Press or let him appoint an independent Commission
to investigate from time to time the condition of his Hindu
subjects, restraint of some kind being absolutely necessary to
preserve them from the abuses of uncontrolled power,
Argument and eloquence, however, proved of no avail
against the Anglo-Indian dread of native criticism. The
Privy Council in November, 1825, after six months' consider-
^ation, declined to comply with the petition, presented by Mr,
Buckingham, late of the Calcutta Journal, against the Press
Ordinance of 1823.
Not many months after that Ordinance came into force,
the Mirat ceased to appear. It lived in all only some sixteen
months. The editor declared his inability to go on publishing
under what he considered degrading conditions, and lamented
that he, "one of the most humble of men," should be no longer
able to contribute towards the intellectual improvement of -
his countrymen. The Asiatic Journal of January, 1824, in
recording the announcement, objects to it as having a "direct
tendency to reflect on the act of Government." So sensitive
were Anglo-Indian susceptibilities that even the negative
protest of a journalist ceasing to publish his paper was resent-
ed. Rammohun did not carry his protest so far as to stop
the Sambad also. It was continued, and in fact survived its
founder for several years. The question arises, why, if both
must not be sacrificed, was the Mirat selected for sacrifice ?
Two reasons probably weighed with Rammohun : the greater
cost and the greater risk of Government interference. The
Mirat was addressed to a cultured constituency. The outlay
involved in its production would therefore be larger, and its
106 RAMMOHUN ROY
circulation smaller ; while its more critical attitude would
naturally excite the keener suspicion in the breast of thin-
skinned officials.*
The educational purpose which inspired Rammohun's
journalism led him into several more distinctively academic
enterprises. His share in founding, along with Sir E. H.
East and Mr. David Hare, the old Hindu College, has already
been noticed. In 1822 he opened on his own account an Anglo-
Indian School for imparting a free education in English to
Hindu boys. With the exception of a few subscriptions from
other friends, the whole of the funds required were supplied /
by Rammohun. Mr. Wm. Adam, who was one of the
visitors, thus speaks of the School in 1827 : —
Two teachers are employed, one at a salary of 150 Rs. per month,
and the other at a salary of 70 Rs. per month ; and from 60 to 80 Hindu
boys are instructed in the English language. The doctrines of Christian-
ity are not inculcated, but the duties of morality are carefully enjoined,
and t\\z facts belonging to the history of Christianity are taught to those
pupils who are capable of understanding general history.
From reports of examinations, the school seems to have
proved a fair success. The founder's control over it was not
less real and continuous than his support of it. Mr. William
Adam strongly desired to make it a public institution, to
solicit for it public subscriptions, and to put it under the
control of the Unitarian Committee. But Rammohun firmly
refused his consent to the scheme. Mr. Adam was much
distressed and felt it his duty accordingly to restrict his
activity as a visitor. Even in that narrowed sphere he came
* At this point Miss Collet's revision of the continuator's manuscript
ceases altogether. Of his work up to this point she sent (dictated) expres-
sions of generous approval. The "few points" in this chapter which, she
said, required "touching up," she regretted she was not then strong
enough to specify. She reserved them for the next interview, — which,
alas ! never took place.
LETTER TO LORD AMHERST
into collision with Rammohun's strong will. He complained
that his fellow visitor, whom he considered quite unsuited
for the post, upset the plans and practices which Mr. Adam
had painfully introduced into the school. Hut Rammohun
would not part with the obnoxious visitor, whose popularity
with the natives was great ; and Mr. Adam resigned in high /
dudgeon. This occurred in 1828.
Shortly after the opening of this school, in 1823, — the
year most crowded with his theological polemic, — we find
Rammohun in the thick of a great educational controversy.
The British Government was known to be appropriating
funds for the promotion of Indian education ; and the kind
of promotion most desirable was the subject of eager dis-
cussion. Should the Government seek simply to develop
and deepen the education already in vogue in India ? Or
should it boldly endeavour to introduce the innovations of
European science and European culture ? The "Orientalists"
clamoured for the exclusive pursuit of Oriental studies. They
were hotly opposed by the "Anglicists," chief among whom
was Rammohun Roy. The Government seemed inclined
to yield to the Orientalist view and announced the intention
of establishing a Sanskrit College in Calcutta. The step
drove Rammohun, undaunted by the scant courtesy which
his former appeals to the British authorities had received, v'
to address a Letter on English Education to Lord Amherst,
the new Governor-General. In this letter he expresses
profound regret that the Government was proposing to found
a Sanskrit College — "to impart such knowledge as is already
current in India." Such a seminary would, he argues, resemble
those existing in Europe before Lord Bacon's day, and would
only "load the minds of youth with grammatical niceties
and metaphysical distinctions of little or no practical use."
The Sanskrit language by reason of its great difficulty had
been for ages a lamentable check to the diffusion of know-
108 RAMMOHUN RAY
ledge ; but if it must be studied for the sake of the informa-
tion it contains, its study might be promoted by grants to
existing institutions where it was already taught. Rammohun
sees no advantage in requiring young men to spend the
best years of their life in the study of philological nicetie.c.
A more remarkable feature of his contention is its criticism
of the Vedanta. He had, it will be remembered, translated
large portions of the Vedanta into modern tongues. He had
warmly defended its teachings against the attacks of the
missionaries. Nay, in the fourth number of the Brahmunical
Magazine which was published almost in the very month in
which this Letter was written, he was still engaged in defend-
ing Vedantic doctrine. Yet he now writes : —
Neither can much improvement arise from such speculations as the
following, which are the themes suggested by the Vedanta, — in what
manner is the soul absorbed in the Deity ? What relation does it bear
to the Divine Essence ? Nor will youths be fitted to be better members
of society by the Vedantic doctrines which teach them to believe that
all visible things have no real existence, that as father, brother, &.,
have no actual entity they consequently deserve no real affection, and
therefore the sooner we escape from them and leave the world the
better.
This last objection to the Vedantic doctrines is precisely
that advanced by the missionaries in the Suniachar Durpun
and assailed by Rammohun in the Brahmunical Magazine.
The apparent breach of consistency involved in its endorse-^
ment here, will be considered subsequently.
After further objections to the "imaginary learning" of
Hindu schools, he summarily assures Lord Amherst that
"the Sanskrit system of education would be the best calculat-
ed to keep this country in darkness." What he wants to
see established is "a more liberal and enlightened system of
instruction, embracing mathematics, natural philosophy,
chemistry, anatomy, with other useful sciences." This, he
urges "may be accomplished with the sums proposed, by
THE VEDANT COLLEGE IOQ
employing a few gentlemen of talent and learning educated
in Europe and providing a College furnished with neces-
sary books, instruments, and other apparatus."
Of this letter Bishop Heber wrote in March, 1824 * : —
Rammohun Roy, a learned native, who has sometimes been called,
though I fear without reason, a Christian, remonstrated with this
[ Orientalist ] system last year, in a paper which he sent me to be put
into Lord Amherst's hands and which for its good English, good ,
sense, and forcible arguments, is a real curiosity, as coming from an
Asiatic."
The patronizing tone of these remarks reveals only too
plainly the unfortunate attitude which Christian missionaries,
even the most devout, assumed towards natives of India,
who were, to say the very least, certainly not their inferiors.
"It was owing, perhaps, to this agitation," remarks
Jogendra Chunder Ghose on this letter to Lord Amherst,
"that the foundation stone of the building intended for the
Sanskrit College was laid in the name of the Hindu College
( February, 1824 ), and the Hindu College was located there
together with the Sanskrit College."f
Within about a year of the completion of this Sanskrit
and Hindu College, we find Rammohun taking a new and
important step in his career as educational reformer. We
learn from Mr. Wm. Adam, writing under date July 27,
1826, that:—
Rammohun Roy has lately built a small but very neat and handsome
college, which he calls the Vedant College, in which a few youths are at
present instructed by a very eminent Pandit, in Sanskrit literature, with a
view to the propagation and defence of Hindu Unitarianism. With this
institution he is also willing to connect instructions in European science
* Bishop Heber's Journal.
f The controversy between Orientalist and Anglicist, after raging for
some dozen years was brought to a conclusion by Macaulay's famous
Minute of Feb. 2nd, 1835, and Lord Wm. Bentinck's consequent resolu-
tion of March 7th, which by constituting English the official language of
India gave the ascendency to Western ideals of education.
1 10 RAMMOHUN ROY
and learning, and in Christian Unitarianism, provided the instructions are
conveyed in the Bengali or Sanskrit language.
The Western reader may perhaps be surprised to find
Rammohun —scarcely two years after his opposing the Govern-
ment scheme of a Sankrit College because of its promoting
instruction in the Vedantic philosophy, — himself founding ar
Sanskrit and Vedant College. It may at first appear as
much of a paradox as his advancing in the Letter to Lord
Amherst the same arguments against the Vedanta which he
had denounced in the Brahmunical Magazine. But to under-
stand these seeming inconsistencies we must bear in mind the ;
complex nature of the Vedantic system and the different *
practical issues bound up in the several controversies. The
teachings of the Vedanta lend themselves to a remarkable
diversity of theological interpretation. They are appealed
to equally by dualistic and non-dualistic schools of thought.
They contain passages which breathe a lofty and ethical
Theism ; in other places they seem to countenance a
Pantheism Hiat is simply Acosmism, — the denial of all finite
existence ; and they also include much that, judged by the
standards of Western culture, is puerile and fantastic where
it is not demonstrably false. According as the Vedanta is
taught with or without a proper selective adjustment of its
widely various contents, its value as a subject of instruction
may be set high or low. In the ordinary Hindu schools it
was taught in false perspective, with a discrimination exercised
if at all, in favour of what was trivial, incorrect, polytheistic.^
Rammohun therefore opposed with all his might the suggest-
ion that the British Government should perpetuate or
encourage this kind of Vedantic instruction. At the same
time he saw in the Vedant rightly handled and "rightly
divided" a means for leading his countrymen out of their *
prevailing superstition and idolatry into a pure and elevated \
Theism. Their devotion to the Vedantic scriptures was the
DIFFERENT MODES OF WORSHIP III
lever by which Rammohun hoped to lift them into a simpler •
and nobler faith. Therefore he founded the Vedant College ;i
and therefore also he controverted the missionaries' wholesale
disparagement of the Vedanta. If the missionaries had
succeeded in discrediting the Vedanta, they would in Rammo-
hun's eyes have broken down the bridge which enabled men
to pass from Hindu Polytheism to Hindu Theism. He thus
combated both the conservative Christian who advocated '
indiscriminate rejection and the conservative Hindu who
advocated the indiscriminate retention of Vedantic teaching ;
and he provided for a discriminating instruction in the ancient
system which should have the approval of liberal Hindus and
liberal Christians.
This method is illustrated by a tract on Different Modes of
Worship which appeared January 18, 1825. It was written in
Sanskrit by Rammohun Roy under the name of Shivuprusad
Shurma, and it was translated into English, with English
annotations, by Rammohun Roy under the name of "A Friend
of the Author." It propounded the difficulty : Some Shastras
enjoin worship by means of idols, others dissuade from it :
how reconcile the contrary advice ? It finds answer in certain
sayings of Vyas in the Bhagavat and of Shreedhur his
commentator, to the effect that idol worship, along with ritual
observances, is only of value so long as a man has not yet
become conscious that the Lord of the Universe dwells in all
beings. When he attains that consciousness, his worship
becomes the discharge of the four duties of ''Charity to the
needy," "Honour to others," "Friendship," and "An equal
regard to all creatures," under the observant conviction that
"the all-powerful Lord is in the heart watching over the soul."
The writer remarks in a note that "worship through matter"
was sanctioned in Judaism though forbidden in Christianity.
This reference suggests that Rammohun conceived of his
Hindu Unitarianism standing to historic Hinduism as the
112 RAMMOHUN ROY
New Covenant stood to the Old : a development of the spirit-
ual core at the expense of the ritual and material kernel.
His Vedant College and his translations from the Vedanta
served alike as witness to his continuity with the historic past
of India and as the implement enabling him to connect her
with a progressive future. But of his equal readiness to avail
himself of the powerful solvents of English influences we are
reminded by his publication in 1826 of a Bengali Grammar
in English. His Anglo-Hindu school and his "Anglicist"
remonstrances had shown how eager he was to introduce the
better-educated classes of India into the new world of Euro-
pean literature ; the Bengali Grammar reveals his anxiety to
facilitate the inroad of the aggressive European in the dialect
and understanding of the common people. In his Introduct-
tion to the Grammar (June 12) he refers to "the persevering
exertions of many European philanthropists in the noble
attempt to ameliorate the moral condition of [the]
inhabitants" ; who "with a view to facilitate intercourse
between themselves and the natives" and without expectation
of finding any literary treasures in the language, labour to
acquire the vernacular. This circumlocution in describing
the missionaries and the careful avoidance of any reference
to their distinctively religious work are significant ; and are
still more so when taken along with the express declaration
which follows that he intended the Grammar "as a humble
present for these worthy persons," to aid them "in their own
studies or in directing those of others." Of this contribution
to missionary philology Mr. W. Adam wrote at the time.
"The work throws much new light upon the idioms of the
language, but the arrangement is defective in consequence
of the desultory mode of composition he indulges in." A
Bengali version of it was brought out by the author in 1833.
Bengali owes much to Rammohun. It was his writings
chiefly which raised it into a literary language. As by
CONTINUANCE OF THE SOCIAL CAMPAIGN 11$
Wiclif in England and Luther in Germany, so also by
Rammohun in Bengal, the despised dialect of the common
people was made the vehicle of the highest ideas and became
thereby permanently elevated. Reformation in religion has
often proved ennoblement in language.
During the whole of this period of theological controversy
and journalistic and educational activity Rammohun never
left out of sight the more directly philanthropic projects to
which he had early given himself. The campaign against
Suttee was not allowed to flag. He used the Sambad
Kaumudi as a regular weapon in this agitation. It was an
agitation slowly but steadily affecting the attitude of the
British authorities to the whole question. Of this the pro-
ceedings of the Nizamut Adaulut on the 25th of May, 1821,
supply striking proof. The Chief Judge Leycester, while
of opinion that Suttee could not be put down generally,
advised its suppression "by proclamation" in divisions where
it was little in practice, viz., Dacca, Moorshedabad and
Bareilly and in Allahabad, Futtehpore, Bundelcund, and
Calpee. The second judge, Mr. Courtney Smith, to his last-
ing honour be it recorded, demanded the "entire and imme-
diate abolition" of Suttee. The two other judges, of those
who drew up "Minutes" on the subject, pronounced against
abolition as likely to imperil public order, but one of them,
Mr. Dorin, suggested that the barbarous rite should be sup-
pressed in a single district, say the Hooghly district, by way
of experiment and example. He emphasized the extremely
significant fact that, in answer to a circular sent out the pre-
vious year to the magistrates of the Lower Provinces, "about
one half of the magistrates" declared in favour of total aboli-
tion at once. The reply of Lord Hastings, made on the i^th
of the following July, stated that he could not approve any
of the three suggestions, not feeling that the time had arrived
for either experimental, gradual, or entire prohibition. He
15
114 RAMMOHUN ROY
expressed the hope that the more educated natives would
"gradually become disposed to abandon the practice." He
had doubtless in mind the propaganda of Rammohun Roy
and his followers.
As though to lend confirmation to this hope, the indefati-
gable reformer in the course of the same year (1822) published
a valuable tract on "Modern encroachments on the ancient
rights of females according to the Hindu Law of inheritance."
In this he applied to social reform the method he had found
fruitful in theological discussions. He appealed from the
present to the past and over against the prescription of custom
set the authority of antiquity. By numerous citations he
proves that "All the ancient law-givers unanimously award
to a mother an equal share with her son in the property left
by her deceased husband, in order that she may spend her
remaining days independently of her children." But unfortu-
nately later jurists made void, by their expositions, this
salutary law. As a consequence "both stepmothers and
mothers have, in reality, been left destitute in the division
of their husband's property and the right of a widow exists
in theory only among the learned but unknown to the popu-
lace." Hence, "a woman who is looked up to as the sole
mistress by the rest of a family one day, on the next becomes
dependent on her sons and subject to the slights of her
daughters-in-law." On the death of their husbands women
had only three courses before them : —
Firstly. To live a miserable life as entire slaves to others without
indulging any hope of support from another husband.
Secondly. To walk in the paths of unrighteousness for their mainte-
nance and independence.
Thirdly. To die on the funeral pile of their husbands, loaded with
the applause and honour of their neighbours.
Having shown that Hindu antiquity, far from demanding
Suttee, had made honourable provision for the maintenance
ABHORENCE OF POLYGAMY 11$
of the widow, Rammohun passes on to attack the institution
of polygamy, which had made difficult the fulfilment of the
ancient law of female inheritance. Where plurality of wives
was most frequent, as in Bengal, the number of female
suicides was proportionately great. "This horrible polygamy
among the Brahmuns is directly contrary to the law given
by ancient authors." A second marriage while the first
wife was alive was allowed only on the ground of specified
physical or moral defects.
It is interesting to learn from Mr. William Adam's letters
of 1826, Rammohun's personal antipathy to polygamy. He
was, as we have previously related, married by his father at
nine years of age to two child-wives. To both he felt himself
bound to remain faithful, but on the death of one (in 1824),
who was the mother of the children, he became in practice
as in theory a monogamist. It is sad to find that even so
his married life was not too happy. The Asiatic Journal Tor
November, 1833, states in its obituary notice that "Rammohun
Roy has left in India a wife from whom he has been separ-
ated^on what account we know not) for some years."Babu N.N.
Chatterjee states * that Rammohun "lived apart from his
wives simply because they were Hindus, and he was con-
sidered an outcast by them. His wives did not like to live
with him." All the more commendable, therefore, is his
uniform and chivalrous championship of womanhood. So
strongly was he opposed to polygamy that (Mr. Adam tells
us) he inserted clauses in his will disinheriting any son or
more remote descendant who had more than one wife at the
same time. But he was, we are informed, a monogamist
not on religious grounds but on grounds of expediency.
In his tract on the subject, Rammohun further recalls
ancient authorities to show that a daughter was entitled to
* In a letter to the author, of date January 2, 1883.
Il6 RAMMOHUN ROY
receive a fourth part of the portion which a son could inherit.
This had been so far set aside by modern practice that the
daughter was deprived of any portion if there were a son sur-
viving and was even — in express violation of ancient law — sold
in marriage. He concludes the tract with a guarded hope that
not merely Hindu Pandits but European judges might be
called in to pronounce on cases of disputed inheritance.
Lord Hastings' despatch of August 15, 1822, which was
written a few months before his departure from India, and
which may therefore be taken to sum up the views formed
during his Governor-Generalship, shows the very high
importance which the British Government attached to Ram-
mohun's campaign againtst Suttee. After deploring the
increase in the number of victims during the previous year,
which he attributed to the fanatic spirit roused by the divided
state of feeling among the Hindus, "his lordship in council
does not despair of the best effects resulting from the free
discussion of the matter by the people themselves, independ-
ently of European influence and interposition ; and . . .
it only remains for him to watch carefully the indications of
a change of sentiment amongst the people . . . and to
encourage to the utmost every favourable disposition." He
thus went out of office with the hope that the practice
would be extirpated not by the peremptory authority of the
Government but by persuasive arguments of Rammohun
and his following. He had reason highly to appraise the
effect of their humane propaganda. It is interestingly attested
in Bishop Heber's Journal. From a conversation with Dr.
Marshman, January 15, 1824, he learns in the first place that
Suttee had increased of recent years, an increase which the
Baptist imputed to "the increasing luxury of the higher and
middling classes, and to their expensive imitation of European
habits," which made them eager to avoid the expense of
maintaining widows. "But," Dr. Marshman is reported to
GROWING SENTIMENT AGAINST SUTTEE 117
have said, "the Brahmuns have no longer the power and
popularity which they had when he first remembers India,
and among the laity many powerful and wealthy persons
agree, and publicly express their agreement, with Rammohun
Roy in reprobating the custom, which is now well known to
be not commanded by any of the Hindu sacred books, though
some of them speak of it as a meritorious sacrifice." But
opinion among the Government officials was, Bishop Heber
remarks, still divided as to the practicabilty of prohibition.
The Nizamat Adaulut was indeed, slowly moving towards
the desired end. Mr. Haringay, one of the judges, proposed
in a minute of June 28, 1823, to issue further regulations
enabling the police to prevent Suttees taking place until full
inquiry had been made. At the same time he personally
approved suppression. His brother judges however held
that to impose fresh regulations and safeguards was to deepen
in the native mind the impression of the rite being legalized
and countenanced by Government. Rather than add new
ragulations, the majority of the Court were (July 23, 1824)
of opinion that it would be preferable to pass an enactment
for the future prohibition of Suttees throughout the country.
The pressure of public opinion in Great Britain and in their
own Court, led the Directors to express themselves very
vigorously on the subject to the new Governor-General, in
a despatch of Juue 17, 1823. On Dec. 3rd 1824, LordAmherst
in the course of his reply, declared : —
We entirely participate with your honourable Court in the feelings of
detestation with which you view the rite and in your earnest desire to
have it suppressed,- and we beg to assure you that nothing but the
apprehension of evils infinitely greater than those arising from the
existence of the practice could induce us to tolerate it for a single day.
The annual returns of the number of Suttees, with the
comments of the Judges and the Governor in Council, kept
the fires of public indignation well stoked. Each annual
n8
KAMMOHUN ROY
increase horrified, each decrease encouraged, the upright-
minded into projects of reform. We append a table of totals
up to the end of the period covered by this chapter.*
SUTTEES IN THE BENGAL PRESIDENCY.
Divisions.
1819
A.D.
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
!825
1826
Calcutta . ....
x.21
•370
3Q2
328
•3.AQ
77-2
?o8
321
Dacca
Ctf
CI
iy*
C2
45
4O
AO
101
J^^-
65
Moorshedabad
Patna
-)0
25
A.O
21
&.">
J^
12
6Q
22
7O
13
40
+'4
21
t/17
ffi;
Benares .
4J.W
O2
O3
IO2
121
t-6
icti
1 L>3
/iQ
Bareilly
y^
I 7
VJ
"'O
114
T P
16
12
1 70
T55
4o
1/
15
*7
650
597
654
5«3
575
572
639
518
The famine in the Southern provinces of the Deccan in
1824 called forth from fourteen native signatories a singularly
catholic appeal, which if not composed (as it was not signed)
by Rammohun Roy, shows how his inter-religional views
were spreading. The appeal was for funds to establish in
the famine-stricken districts Chatrams, or charitable inns, for
Hindus; Moslems, Christians, as the case might require, each
providing the food needed by the respective religionaries.
Christians were adjured to contribute in the name of Christ,
and the duty was enforced by reference to His teachings.
Moslems were similarly reminded of the precept and example
of their Holy Prophet and AH ; and Hindus were referred
to humane sayings of Krishna and Bhisma. The Appeal
proceeds :
We conjure those of the three faiths of Christians, Mussulmans, and
Hindus, in the name of our common Creator and God, to show the
* See page 28 for statistics of Suttees in the years 1815 — 1818.
t The increase in Patna and decrease in Benares after 1823 is largely
due to the fact that the district of Goruckpore was then detached from
the division of Benares and added to that o Patna.
VEXATIOUS PERSECUTION 1 19
affection that man, as a commoner of nature, should bear to his fellow-
man, by relieving so many individuals of those three religions who are
dying daily for want of their usual sustenance.
The same wide sympathy with men of different faiths
which breathes through this Appeal is illustrated by a project
which Rammohun cherished a year later. Writing in 1826,
Mr. Wm. Adam announces that Rammohun "is about com-
mencing a life of Mahomet, who has, he thinks, been much
misrepresented both by his friends and his enemies." The
line he took over the Precepts of Jesus, against non-Christians
and orthodox alike, suggests the line which this biography
of the prophet of Arabia would have followed. It is a matter
of profound regret that the idea was never carried out. A
study of the founder of Islam by the founder of the Brahmo-
Samaj would doubtless have formed a valuable contribution
to the religious development of modern India.
The close of this period was temporarily clouded for
Rammohun by grave domestic anxiety. His son was "the
confidential native servant of the Burdwan Collector of
Revenue" and was prosecuted on a charge of embezzlement
of the public money. He seems, writes Mr. Adam, "to be the
victim, partly of the negligence of his employer and the envy
of his fellow servants." It was only a part of the campaign
of persecution carried on in the law courts against the hated
Reformer. Suspense of the issue weighed heavily on Ram-
mohun's mind. We find him under the pressure of it neglecting
his correspondence with English and American friends, as
Mr. Adam feels bound to explain to them. The youth
was acquitted in the Circuit Court in February, 1826, but the
case was carried thence before the Sudder Nizamut Adaulut.
Happily, Mr. Adam was able to write in August of the same
year that "Rammohun Roy is very well, having lately brought
the prosecution against his son to a successful issue." But
the end of this vexatious forensic attack was not yet.
120 RAMMOHUN ROY
The intensity of fatherly affection which Rammohun here
displayed sets in a more remarkable light the method of
education he had adopted with his growing boys. Mr.
William Adam, in his lecture on Rammohun, declares : —
He employed no direct means, no argument or authority, no expostula-
tion or entreaty to turn his sons from the idolatrous practices and belief,
in which they had been educated by the female members of his family
and by the Brahman priests whom they cousulted and followed. He
gave them a good education ; by his personal demeanour secured a place
in their esteem and affection ; set them an expample in his life and
writings ; and then left them to the influence of idolatrous associations
on the one hand, and to the unfettered exercise of their reason on the other.
His eldest son, the hope of his heart, for some time after attaining mature
age, continued an idolater; but before his father's death, with his. younger
brother, abandoned the superstition of the country, and zealously co-
operated with his father.*
* From Rakhal-Das-Haldar, in his notes to the lecture, we learn con-
cerning these youths, that the elder died without leaving male issue, and
that the younger, Rama Prasad Ray, "lived to attain eminence at the bar
of the highest Judicial Tribunal of Bengal, and was the first native Justice
elect of the High Court at Fort William, though he was prevented by
death from sitting on the Bench."
CHAPTER VI.
(1826—1828.)
Founding the Brahmo-Samaj*
1826.— Vedant College built.
1827. — Divine Worship by means of the Gay uttree. Aug. 3-— English
Unitarian services recommenced. Why do you frequent a
Unitarian place of Worship ? Nov. — Adam's Evening Lectures
for the Natives. Dec. 30 — British Indian Unitarian Association
formed.
1 328. — Feb. — Adam proposes an Auxiliary of Hindu Unitarians.
Dev's suggestion to hold Hindu services. English Unitarian
services given up. Adam resigns. — March— Lord Amherst
leaves India. July— Lord William Bentinck arrives at Calcutta
as Governor-General. Aug. 1 8— Letter on Trial by Jury.
Aug. 20— First Meeting of the Brahmo-Samaj.
We now enter on the most distinctive period of Ram-
mohun's crowded career. What has already transpired has
made it abundantly evident that he was above all and beneath .
all a religious personality. The many and far-reaching
ramifications of his prolific energy were forth-puttmgs of one
purpose. The root of his life was religion. He would never
have been able to go so far or to move his countrymen so
mightily as he did but for the driving power of an intense
Theistic passion. The years in which he stands out as the
founder of a distinct religious community must therefore be
regarded as the most characteristic epoch in his history.
It is fortunate for us that just at the opening of this
period we have an authoritative statement of Rammohun's
attitude to the two great historic faiths between which he
stood. In a letter to Dr. Tuckerman, dated Feb. 18—20,
1826, Mr. William Adam thus explains the Reformer's relation
16
122 RAMMOHUN ROY
to Hinduism and Christianity, — an explanation which, it will
be seen, Rammohun himself endorsed : —
Mr. Tuppin in one of his letters asks— Does Rammohun Roy profess
to be a Christian ? I find it difficult to give a definite answer to this
question, but the nearest approach to the truth, although I hope and
believe that it is not the truth itself, would perhaps be to say that he is
both a Christian and a Hindu, — Christian with Christians and a Hindu
with Hindus. And before you say either that I am contradicting myself,
or that he is insincere in his religion, you must candidly weigh all the
circumstances in which he is placed. In the first place then, his relin-
quishment of idolatry is absolute, total, public, uncompromising ; and
when you reflect who he is and what he is, this is of itself an invincible
test of integrity of religious principle and conduct. But his relinquish-
ment of idolatry is not inconsistent with the retention of his Brahmanical
rights, and observance of the rules of caste, the latter of which is neces-
sary to the former and both are necessary to enable him to be useful to
his countrymen, — the thing which he has most at heart. On the other
hand, although he may safely relinquish idolatry, he cannot safely pro-
fess Christianity. The profession would involve loss of caste, loss of
property, loss of influence, loss of everything but a name ; and while he
employs caste, property, influence everything to promote, not the nomi-
nal profession merely, but the enlightened belief anr1 salutary influences
of Christianity, his claim to be a practical although not a nominal
Christian would seem to be undoubted. In this point of view, Hinduism
furnishes the antidote to its own inherent intolerance. There is another
reason for the course he has pursued. The profession of Christianity
would identify him in the opinion of Hindus not with the respectable and
liberal portion of the Christian population, but with the low, ignorant
and depraved converts recently made by the English, or long since made
by the Portuguese, missionaries, — and in the opinion of Mussulmans who
hold him in high esteem, with Trinitarians generally} for such Mussulmans
suppose all Christians to be. In other words, the profession of Christianity
would inevitably, in the present circumstances of this country, identify
him with persons from whom he differs as widely as from those with
whom he is now identified. He has, therefore, only a choice of evils, and
he has hitherto chosen that which, although he groans under its bondage,
leaves him greater liberty and usefulness than he could otherwise possess.
I have thus given you the view of his circumstances and conduct which I
RAMMOHUN'S RELIGIOUS BELIEF 123
have reason to suppose he would himself give you if he were now writing
to you ; and I have only further to add that ... I do not feel these reasons
to be quite so convincing as they appear to him. ... I have no doubt
that in his opinion they possess all the force necessary fully to justify him
in the sight of God and his own conscience in the course which he
has pursued.
Since writing the preceding paragraph, I have had an opportunity of
showing it to Rammohun Roy, who considers it a correct representation
of his feelings and sentiments.
In a later letter to Dr. Tuckerman, of date Oct. 14, 1826,
Mr. Adam remarks : —
You . . inquire whether Rammohun Roy is a Unitarian Christian,
or only a Theist, and on this point I beg to refer you to my No. VI.,
which contains all the information I can give you respecting it. . . In
addition to the particulars then given, he permits me now to say that
failing the male heirs of his own body, of whom there are two, he has
bequeathed the whole of his property to our Mission ; and while he
regrets the appearance of ostentation which this statement may bear, he
leaves it to yourself to judge whether he would have been likely to do
so if he did not sincerely embrace the Christian religion and ardently
desire to extend its blessings to his countrymen.
To Dr, Tuckerman's inquiry concerning the rites of caste
which Rammohun as a Brahman observed, Mr. Adam (June
24, 1827) answered: —
All the rules in the present state of Hindu society he finds it necessary
to observe relate to eating and drinking. He must not eat of the food
forbidden to Brahmins nor with persons of a different religion from the
Hindu or of a different caste or tribe from his own. This is the only
remnant of the rules of caste to which he still adheres, and even this
remnant I have reason to know he frequently but secretly disregards. . .
Both in the marriages and deaths that happen within his domestic circle
be rigidly abstains in his own person from every approach to the idola-
trous rites usually practised on such occasions, although he does not pro-
|hibit the other members of his family from engaging in them if they
:hink proper.
This compliance with the rules of caste must, one would
think, have been extremely distasteful to Rammohun, inas-
luch as he considered caste to be one of the gravest of the
124 RAMMOHUN ROY
many ills under which his country laboured. In a private
letter written about this time (January 18, 1828) he thus
expresses himself : —
I agree with you that in point of vices the Hindus are not worse than
the generality of Christians in Europe and America ; but I regret to say
that the present system of religion adhered to by the Hindus is not well
calculated to promote their political interest. The distinction of castes,
introducing innumerable divisions and sub-divisions among them has
entirely deprived them of patriotic feeling, and the multitude of religious
rites and ceremonies and the laws of purification have totally disqualified
them from undertaking any difficult enterprise .... It is, I think, neces-
sary that some change should take place in their religian, at least for
the sake oi their political advantage and social comfort. I fully agree
with you that there is nothing so sublime as the precepts taught by Christ,
and there is nothing equal to the simple doctrines he inculcated.
He goes on to deplore the way in which they were dis-
regarded and distorted by Christians, but hopes for a change
to be effected by the growing spirit of inquiry and humanity.
It is said* that Rammohun "translated into Bengali a work
called Bastra Suchi\ written by a Buddhist named Buddha
Ghosh, opposing caste. This is an interesting link of connec-
tion between the ancient and most famous movement for re-
forming Hinduism, and its modern successor. It illustrates
anew Rammohun's readiness to borrow books or arguments
from any religion, Mohammedan, Buddhist, or Christian, if
only thereby he might purify Hinduism.
In a letter of introduction to Jeremy Bentham, of Nov. 14,
1830, Mr. J. Young, whom some one called "his dearest
friend in India," says of Rammohun : —
He has externally maintained so much, and no more, of Hindoo custom
as his profound knowledge of their sacred books enabled him to justify
* By Babu Nagendra Nath Chatterjee at a meeting in memory ol
Rammohun Roy, January, 1879-
t [Evidently there is a mistake here. The book translated by
mohun Roy was Bajra Suchi by Mrityunjayacharya. Edi.]
RELATION WITH THE UNITARIANS 12$
relaxing, however, little by little, yet never enough to justify his being 'out
of the pale.' I need not say that in private it is otherwise, and that prejudices
of all sorts are duly contemned by our philosopher.
His impartial attitude towards other faiths was not yet
understood by his Unitarian allies.From many other passages in
their letters partly cited above, it is pretty evident that both
Mr. Adam and Dr. Tuckerman had convinced themselves that
Rammohun accepted what they called "the Divine authority
of our Lord." He certainly was very closely identified with the
Unitarian Mission. The Unitarian services had, for the time,
been given up ; as a consequence, we find Mr. Adam writing of
Rammohun, in February, 1826, "at present he does not attend
anywhere," but expressing the confidence that as soon as Uni-
tarian worship was resumed he would as before be among the
most regular worshippers. From the letter of October 14, 1826,
cited above, we learn that Rammohun had made provision in
his will for Mr. Adam's family, — a tribute to the cause as well
as to the friendship of the Unitarian missionary. Earlier in the
same year he had been "so much gratified by the perusal of the
'One Hundred Arguments for the Unitarian Faith,'" — sent him
by the American Unitarian Association — " that he ... caused
an edition to be printed at his own Press for distribution in
Calcutta."*
Along with Dwarkanath Thakur, Prusunnu Coomar and
Radha Prasad Roy, and six Englishmen he served on the Uni-
tarian Committee. In the renewal of that Committee's activity
in 1827 he had prominent share. On Mr. Adam (whose jour-
nalistic venture, the Calcutta Chronicle^ was ruthlessly suppress-
ed by the Government a few months later) resuming operations
as missionary, Rammohun's son, Radha Prasad, offered a site
* Letter of Wm. Adam to Rev, E, S. Gannett, Boston, U .S. A
August 3, 1826.
126 RAMMOHUN ROY
adjoining the Anglo-Hindu school for a native chapel and
school. The cost of the proposed building was put at three or
four thousand rupees which, Mr. Adam wrote (to Rev. W. J.
Fox, Aug. I. 1827), "Rammohun Roy thinks he will be able to
collect among his native friends." Unitarians in Britaian had
despatched, some months previously, about 15,000 rupees.*
Pending the anticipated erection, the Committee rented the
Hurkaru public rooms which were attached to the Harkatu
newspaper and library ; and there morning service was
commenced by Mr. Adam on Sunday, August 3, 1827. Thus
began Rammohun's second attempt to find his Church — his
fellowship of worship and propaganda — under the auspices
of Unitarian Christianity.
His literary activity revived about this time and in directions
characteristic of it. " For a period of more than two years, " he
wrote to Mr. J. B. Estlin, February 7,1827, "owing to the
most afflicting circumstances arising from the hostile feelings
of some individuals towards my family, I found myself totally
unable to pursue any undertaking or carry on correspondence,
even with those whom I sincerely loved and revered. " But, his
son's trial having ended satisfactorily in 1826, he managed to
publish in the following year "A translation into English of a
Sanskrit Tract inculcating the Divine worship ; esteemed by
those who believe in the revelation of the Veds as most appro-
priate to the nature of the Supreme Being. " This is really a
commentary, partly composed of sayings of the sages, on "the
Gdyutree, the most sacred text of the Veds." The version given
of that mystic formula reads, "We meditate on the cause of all,
pervading all, and internally ruling all material objects, from the
sun down to us and others." As though byway of offset to this
excursion into the Vedic Scriptures, we findf Rammohun en-
gaged with Mr. Adam in translating the Sermon on the Mount
* So Rammohun states in his letter of Feb. 2, 1827, to Dr. Estlin.
t From a letter of Wm. Adam to W. J. Fox, Sept. 10, 1827.
RENEWED LITERARY ACTIVITY 12?
into Sanskrit, the idea being eventually to turn the whole of the
Precepts of Jesus into that language. Towards the close of the
year, he published a little tract entitled Answer of an Hindu to
the Question — "Why do you frequent a Unitarian place of
worship instead of the numerously attended Established
Churches?" It bears the signature of Chandra-Shekar Deb, a
disciple of Rammohun ; but, as Mr. Adam informed Dr. Tucker-
man in a letter dated Jan. 18, 1828, it was entirely Ram-
mohun's own composition. Mr. Adam adds, " I regret that he
continues to publish these things in the name of another, but I
cannot succeed in dissuading him from it.0 This persistent
assumption of other people's names is indeed a puzzle. There
seems to have been a secretive strain in Rammohun's blood,
which made him favour this pseudonymous authorship. The
Answer simply amounted to saying that in a Unitarian place
of worship he heard nothing of Incarnation, Union of Two
Natures, or Trinity, — doctrines which he regarded as only
a variant of the anthropomorphic and polytheistic mythology
of popular Hinduism.
But the Unitarian exotic did not thrive. Its roots would not
strike. The English morning service begun in August was
" very indifferently attended. "* From the first it " received
little support from avowed Unitarians." "Even a Majority of
the Committee regularly absented themselves. " An evening
service was tried in November. It was attended at first by 60
to 80, but gradually ''dwindled almost to nothing."! Mr. Adam
was surprised to find the native members of his Committee
stoutly opposed to the erection of a native chapel for lectures in
the native language. Their plea was that l< anything said or
written in the vernacular tongue will be degraded and despised
in consequence of the medium through which it is conveyed. "
English, Persian, and Sanskrit were the only languages which
* Letter of Mr. Adam to Dr. Tuckerman, Nov. 30, 1827.
t The same to the same, Sept. i, 1828.
128 RAMMOHUN ROY
would secure respect* Mr. Adam endeavoured to console him-
self by a course of " familiar lectures on the First Principles of
Religion" which he began in October 4<for the exclusive benefit
of the natives ... in the native part of the city " — in Ram-
mohun's Anglo-Hindu school, in fact. His audiences at first
ranged from 12 to 25. But even Rammohun did not attend, and
in the end poor Mr. Adam was left " with scarcely a single in-
dividual to address, "f Before things had reached this pass, he
made gallant efforts to turn the tide. On thesoth of December,
1827, he got the Unitarian Committee to adopt a proposal
which he had drafted so long ago as May of the previous year,
—to constitute themselves into "a more complete organization"
to be known as "the British Indian Unitarian Association. "This
step was intended to deepen the local esprit de corps and bring
members into closer touch with Unitarians in Great Britain
and America. But the Sunday congregations went on declining.
Then Mr. Adam, thinking it wise to give up the services before
the attendance had become ridiculously small, proposed that he
should be sent on a missionary journey to Madras. But the
Committee refused consent, on Rammohun's representations
chiefly, that the funds could not stand the cost and that Mr.
Adam was indispensable toCalcutta.J There was no way out but
to face failure and confess it. Mr. Adam had been baffled in
all has plans. As we saw in our last chapter, he had tried to
run the Anglo-Hindu school as a Mission agency, but had been
so frequently baulked by Rammohun's autocratic will as in the
end to be compelled to resign all share in its management.
His congregations both British and native had run down almost
to zero. He accordingly requested the Committee to point out
some other form of missionary service which would justify him
in receiving the stipend which came to him from abroad for that
* W. Adam to W. J. Fox, Sept. 10, 1827.
t Letter to Dr. Tuckerman, Sept. i, 1828.
J W. Adam to Dr. Tuckerman, Jan. 4. 1828.
THE ORIGIN OF THE BRAHMO SAMAJ 129
purpose. The Committee saw no " fit mode in which Mr.
Adam can employ himself as a Unitarian missionary," and
could therefore no 1 mger disburse the stipend referred to.
Po :>r Mr. Adam retired heartbroken." This decisive act seems
to have taken place in the first half of 1828.
We are now brought to the verge of the foundation of the
Brahmo Somaj. We have described Mr. Adam's futile
endeavours somewhat fully, because it was upon the ruins of
the Unitarian Mission that the new Theistic Church was rear-
ed. Between the two movements there was the most direct
connection. Religious beginnings are often lost in obscurity,
but not so in this case. There are two accounts of the origin of
the Brahmo Somaj : distinct and independent, but quite
harmonious.
The popular and best known may be given first.* " In
those days a newspaper was published, named the Harkara.
In the office of the Harkara the Rev. Mr. Adam had establish-
ed an association under the name of the Unitarian Society. . .
One day at the close of worship, Ram Mohun Rai with his
disciples was returning from the Harkara office. On the road
Tara Chand Chakravarti and Chandra Shekar Deb said,
'What need is there for us to go to the prayer-house of
strangers to perform our worship ? We ought to erect a
house of our own in which to worship one God.' This proposal
was the first germ of the Brahmo Somaj. The proposer,
Chandra Shekar Deb, is nowf living. "
When this event happened we have no precise indica-
* The following is taken from "Little Stories about Rammohtm
Roy," 2nd part, from Tattwabodhini- No. 445, month Bhadra. 1828
(Bengal era). The recounter, Babu Rajnarain, whose father was a dis-
ciple and coadjutor of Rammohun Roy, states that he gave Kisori Chand
Mitra for his Life of Rammohun, which appeared 36 years previously in
the Calcutta Review, "these' anecdotes and others taken from the lips
of my father.
t 1879-
17
130 RAMMOHUN ROY
tion. It could scarcely have occurred before or during the
time when Rammohun was actively organizing the British
Indian Unitarian Association (Dec. 30, 1827). It probably
took place in the early part of 1828, when the Unitarian
congregations were fast dwindling away. Whenever it was
made, the suggestion at once impressed Rammohun. He
consulted his comrades, Dwarkanath Thakur and Roy Kali-
nath Munshi. On their approving the idea, he called a
meeting at his house, when these and other friends, includ-
ing Prasanna Kumar Thakur and Mothuranath Mullick
agreed to carry it out. A site at Simla in Calcutta was first
thought of, but subsequently abandoned ; and until a suit-
able place could be found and building erected, it was decid-
ed to hire a house belonging to Kamal Lochan Rose, at
Jorasanko, in the Chitpore Road, and there commence
public worship.*
The other account makes Mr. Adam the proximate
initiator of the Somaj. It is given in his letters, written
while the new movement was in its earliest stages. In a
letter to Mr. John Bowring, London, under date, Feb. 5,
1828, he writes:—
I must add before I conclude, that I am endeavouring to get the
Hindu Unitarians in Calcutta to unite informing an Association auxiliary
to the British India Association, and for the establishment of the public
worship of the One God among themselves, for the printing of tracts
and for the diffusion of religious knowledge generally among their
countrymen. To prevent prejudice from being excited, it will be
necessary to keep Christianity out of view at present in connection with
this auxiliary, but it will really be (what it perhaps may not be nominal-
ly) an auxiliary to our views, and a highly valuable one, too, if I can
succeed in creating the necessary degree of interest to begin and carry
it on.
On April 2, of the same year, he writes to Dr. Tucker-
* So Leonard in his History of the BrahmoSamaj, pp. 36, 37,
ANOTHER ACCOUNT 131
man, announcing the discontinuance of the native service,
and remarking, —
Since then I have been using every endeavour in my power to in-
duce Hindu Unitarians to unite among themselves for the promotion of
our common objects, and I am not without hopes of succeeding, al-
though I have a great deal of apathy to struggle against.
On January 22, 1829, writing to Dr. Tuckerman, he re-
calls the fact that "one of the resolutions" — presumably
passed in connection with the formation of the British Indian
Unitarian Association— had invited all Unitarians, whether
Christian or Hindu, to form themselves into Associations,
etc., and proceeds, —
There has accordingly been formed a Hindu Unitarian Association,
the object of which is, however, strictly Hindu and not Christian, i.e.,
to teach and practise the worship of One Only God on the basis of the
divine authority of the Ved, and not of the Christian Scriptures. This
is a basis of which I have distinctly informed Rammohun and my
other native friends that I cannot approve.
But he has, he says , encouraged them to go forward, as he
considers it "a step towards Christianity." and thinks that
"the friendly feeling which . . happily exists between
Christian and Hindu Unitarians should be preserved." He
has, therefore, recommended nis Committee to make a grant
of 500 rupees to the Hindu Association, and has himself
occasionally attended their services. This "Hindu Associa-
tion" is, of course, the Brahmo Somaj.
There is no discrepancy between the two narratives. The
idea may have arisen quite spontaneously without as well as
within the circle of Hindu reformers. From the "great deal
of apathy," indeed, which Mr. Adam complains of on April 2,
it would seem that Chandra Sekhar Dev had not then made
the suggestion on which Rammohun acted so eagerly. And
from this it would follow that Mr. Adam really originated the
idea, Rammohun having had it pressed on his notice
since the beginning of February. The -Hindu may have
132 RAMMOHUN ROY
hung back until the project was broached by his own
followers and their readiness to take action thereby
attested. But, even if Mr. Adam can claim the credit of first
suggesting the distinct organization for worship, we must
remember that he was only a secondary agency. He and
all his associations were spiritually begotten by Rammohun
Roy. And the Brahmo Somaj was but the last development
of a series of tentative social efforts which reached back to
the very beginning of Rammohun's reforming career. Even
when at Rungpur(i8o9 — 1814) he held meetings for religious
discussion. In 1815 he founded the Atmiya Sabha and
kept it going month by month until 1819. After that he
still continued lecturing to a private circle of friends and
followers. In 1821 he converted Adam from Trinitarianism
and organized with him the Unitarian Committee.
He had assissted in its resuscitation and re-organization in
1827. And now the group of comrades and disciples which
had hung around him these many y^ars were at last ready
to form an independent community, no longer for dialectical
or educational purposes only, but for worship, — for distinctly
religious fellowship. The share which Unitarianism had in
the birth of the Brahmo Somaj was distinctly maieutic not
maternal.
The great commencement took place on Wednesday, the
2Oth of August, 1828. Then the native Theistic Church of
modern India was born. It was at first called simply
Brahma Salha, — the Society of God. The inaugural preach- .
er was Ramchandra Surma. His discourse was upon the
spiritual worship of God. His text, which was taken from
various parts of the Hindu Scriptures, read, "God is One
only without an equal. In whom abide all worlds and their
inhabitants. Thus he who mentally perceives the Supreme
Spirit, in all creatures, acquires perfect equanimity, and shall
be absorbed into the highest essence, even into the Almighty."
FOUNDATION OF THE BRAHMO SAMAJ 133
All worship, whether of natural objects, images, persons
was indirectly worship of the Supreme ; but direct worship
was the most excellent. Its superior excellence was attest-
ed by revelation (" the Veds, the Institutes of Manu, and all
Scriptures of acknowledged authority"), by reason, which
discarded all outward ceremonies and found worship to con-
sist in self-discipline, self-realization, and service of others,
and by experience ; for while indirect worshippers quarrelled
with each other's partial views of God, the direct worshiper had
quarrel with none, for he adored the One God whom they
also under howsoever imperfect and differing forms actually
adored.
This sermon was translated into English by Tarachand
Chakravarti, and published. In sending copies to a friend
named Captain A. Froyer (Nov. 19), Rammohun spoke of it
as "exhibiting the simplicity, comprehensiveness and toler-
ance which distinguish the religious belief and worship
formerly adopted by one of the most ancient nations on earth
and still adhered to by the more enlightened portion of
their posterity."
Mr. Adam thus describes (to Dr. Tuckerman, January
22, 1829) the order of their weekly meeting, which was usual-
ly held on a Saturday evening, between 7 and 9 : —
The service begins with two or three of the Pandits singing, or
rather chanting in the cathedral style, some of the spiritual portions of
the Ved, which are next explained in the vernacnlar dialect to the
people by another Pandit. This is followed by a discourse in Bengali...
and the whole is concluded by hymns both in Sanskrit and Bengali, sung
with the voice and accompanied by instrumental music, which is also
occasionally interposed between other parts of the service. The audience
consists generally of from 50 to 60 individuals, several Pandits, a good
many Brahmins, and all decent and attentive in their demeanour.
The Calcutta/^;* Bull, of August 23, 1828, in reporting
the opening ceremony in somewhat similar terms observes
134 RAMMOHUN ROY
that in delivering the sermon the officiating minister lectured
"from a separate room, that the Veds may not be desecrated
by being in the same apartment with the profanum vulgus
of hearers.1' Two Telugu Brahmans were permanently se-
cured for the recital of the Vedas. Utsavananda Vidya-
vagisa read from the Upanisads, and Ram Chandra Vidya-
vagisa explained them in Bengali. Tarrichand Chakravarti
was appointed the first secretary.
The new departure caused no little disappointment among
European residents. The John Bull laments that the liberal
Hindus have "from Unitarianism very naturally slid into
pure Deism," and bewails the lost hope of Rammohun Roy
becoming the great agent in Christianizing India. Even Mr.
Adam's eyes were considerably opened. In the letter last
cited he declares —
Rammohun Roy, I am persuaded, supports this institution, not
because he believes in the divine authority of the Ved, but solely as an
instrument for overthrowing idolatry. To be candid, however, I must
add that the conviction has lately gained ground in my mind that
he employs Unitarian Christianity in the same way, as an instrument
for spreading pure and just notions of God, without believing in the
divine authority of the Gospel.
But, however unpopular with Europeans, the new depar-
ture made its way among the educated Hindus of Calcutta.
The numbers in which they attended, and the rapid increase
in the funds of the Society showed a marked contrast to the
fate of the earlier efforts put forth by the Unitarian Committee.
The Somaj had evidently come to stay. It was no exotic
imported from abroad. However suggested, it was an indi-
genous product of the Hindu mind ; and it took root and
grew.
As Rammohun and his band of disciples now stand out
together as a distinct religious community, their mutual
manner of life claims our attention. It was through these dis-
RAMMOHUN'S RELATION WITH DISCIPLES 135
ciples that the work of the great reformer was carried on and
made permanently fruitful ; they were the "living stones"
which he shaped into a lasting edifice. Of his relations to
them we have only a few glimpses, but they are sufficient
to set his work in a more genial and human light than that
of the mere teacher or leader. We are told that he "always
displayed much affection towards his disciples."
In addressing any one of them he habitually said
Beradar, — the Persian word for brother. They, however,
usually addressed him as Dewanji, the title of respect borne
by the collector. Nor did he limit this fraternal appellation
to his own following. He used it to all whom he met.
And the brotherhood he believed in was no mere matter
of names. It was Oriental in its warmth of demonstrativeness.
It was Western in its equal freedom. It is said that "if
any cause of joy arose he immediately embraced his followers.
And he was not above receiving kindly words of rebuke
from them, as we shall see later.
Rammohun made no secret of the strong Theistic passion
which ruled his life. A favourite disciple remarked that when-
ever he spoke of the Universal Theism, to the advocacy of
which he had devoted himself, he was moved even to tears.*
Hearing of a man who from Deist turned Atheist, Ram-
mohun rejoined, " And later he will become a beast. "
Yet intense as was his religious zeal and his aversion to dis-
believers in Deity, he could tolerate men of sceptical opi-
nions even among his intimate friends. "Babu Prusunnu
Coomar Thakur, had a great affection for Rammohun Roy,
and for the Brahmo Somaj, but he was a sceptic. For this
* Babu N. N. Chatterjee, in a letter of January 2, 1883, states that
Babu Ananda Chandra Bose, favourite disciple of Rammohun Roy, told
his son Babu R. N. Bose, that " his religion was Universal Theism.
Whenever he spoke of this Universal religion, he was so much moved
that tears came out from his eyes."
136 RAMMOHUN ROY
reason Rammohun Roy, called him a rustic philosopher. "*
Hume and the French school of deniers were known urli
et orbi ; Babu Prusunnu was a sort of country cousin aping
the cut of their philosophic habit. Thus the master would
banter and condemn, without alienating an unbelieving
disciple.
"When not engaged in benevolent works," says Babu
A. C. Bose, " he was constantly advising his disciples." One
disciple smitten with a fair Rachel had had palmed upon
him an ill-favoured Leah. Naturally wroth with his father-
in-law, he was about to avenge himself for the deception
by taking another wife. Rammohun dissuaded him. " The
tree which bears excellent fruit is beautiful," said he. <l If
your wife bears you a fine child, you must consider her to
be in all respects beautiful." The anecdotist adds that, as
it actually turned out, "the sons of that disciple were the
most forward in promoting widow-marriage and all the most
excellent features in Rammohun Roy's beloved work in the
Brahmo Somaj/1
Like many other religious reformers, Rammohun intro-
duced changes in dress. He adopted the costume of the
Mussulmans. lf He directed that a closely twisted turban
should be worn instead of a loose one, and a choga instead
of a skirt. He tried zealously to keep this style of dress in
fashion."f He made it a rule for himself and his disciples
always to wear it when attending the Somaj. He was very
particular about the observance of this rule. He asked a
friend to reprove a disciple who had come to worship in his
office clothes, — the ordinary dhuti and chadar. He held
that " handsome apparel should be worn in God's durbar"
He was very careful in other ways to show respect to the
*Babu R. N. Bose's Little Stories" in Tattivabodhini, Nos. 444 and 445
t Nagendra Babu, in a speech at the commemoration of R. Roy,
January, 1879.
DAILY HABITS OF RAMMOHUN 137
act of Divine service. Thus he would never go to the Samaj
save on foot ; he only returned in his carriage. He did not
usually reprimand a faulty follo\ver,but when it was no longer
a case of minor transgression but an offence of a serious
nature, he did not hesitate to exercise discipline. "For
excess in drinking he has refused to see the offender for six
months. Thus the disciple was*corrected."*
" Rammohun could not," as has been observed, " rebuke
his followers for ordinary faults. But if he committed a
fault himself, and a disciple reproved him he received the
rebuke with great gentleness. According to the custom of
the time, Rammohun Roy wore long hair. After his bath
he was somewhat long in dressing. Observing this his plain
spoken disciple, Tara Chand Chakravrati, quoted the first
line of a song running, ' How much longer will you please
yourself studying your face in the glass ?' and added. ' Is
this song only for other people, Mahashoi f Confounded,
Rammohun Roy replied, Ha ! brother, you are quite
right.' ' ' f
Of the daily habits of the master, the following interest-
ing account is furnished by Mr. G. N. Tagore,J on the
authority of his father, who was an intimate friend and
disciple : —
Rammohun Roy was an early riser, and regularly took his morning
walk. He used to oil his body every morning before bathing. Two big
fellows used to oil him and shampoo him. While engagged in this process
he would read by rotation and day by day in parts the Sanskrit grammar
Moogdhabodha. After bath he would have his breakfast in the Indian
fashion, squatting on the ground, surrounded by Indian utensils for food.
His breakfast consisted of fish and rice and perhaps milk 'too. He never
took any meals between his morning and evening meal. He generally
used to work till two and then go out and see his European friends in the
* Babu R. N. Bose at the same meeting,
t Babu R. N. Bose at the same meeting.
£ In a letter to the Author.
18
138 RAMMOHUN ROY
afternoon. His evening meal was between seven and eight, and that as
in the English fashion but the dishes were Mohammedan dishes,/Y//#w,
Copta, Korma, etc.
He never went out without his shawl turban, — not like the present
Bengalis with a French smokeing cap. When at home he was always
dressed in the Mohammedan fashion, Chupkan, Ungaga, Pyjamsa, and
a skull cap on his head. He never sat bareheaded, following in this
instance the Mohammedan custom, He never gave up his Brahmanical
thread. His spoken Bengali was highly classified in structure. His
English was good, but he spoka with great hesitancy lest he should
commit some verbal error or other.
Another and slightly different account of Rammohun's
day is gathered by a friend of the author, R. D. H., from
conversation with Ramhari Das, "the old and faithful servant
of Rammohun Roy," at Burdwan in 1863 : —
He used to rise very early, about 4 a. m., to take coffee, and then to
have his morning walk, accompanied by a few persons. He would
generally return home before sunrise, and when engaged in morning
duties Golokdas Napit would read to him newspapers of the day. Tea
would follow ; gymnastics ; after resting a little he would attend to
correspondence ; then have his daily bath ; breakfast at 10 a. m. ; hearing
newspapers read ; an hour's siesta on the bare top of a table ; getting
up he would pass his time either in conversation or in making visits.
Tiffin at 3 p.m. ; dessert 5 p.m. Evening walk ; supper at 10 p.m. He
would sit up to midnight conversing with friends. He wouli then retire
to bed again eating his favourite cake, which he called "Halila." When
engaged in writing he would be alone.
If no man is a hero to his valet, just as little should we
expect a man to be a saint to his cook. Yet Rammohun's
cook who accompanied his master to England and knew
him in his decadence as well as in his prime, bore witness
to his punctual piety : u The worship of God was Rammohun
Roy's first daily work.
A pretty little incident is preserved by babu R. N. Bose,*
who had it from his father, which sets the dignified Brahman
in a new and attractive light.
* In a letter to the Author.
RAMMOHUN'S HYMNS, 139
Rammohun Roy was one morning walking in Bow Bazaar. He
perceived a vegetable-seller looking in vain for some one to place his
load of vegetables on his head. Although dressed in nice clothing,
Rammohun Roy did not hesitate to place the basket on the man's head.
Many gentlemen walk in the early morning in handsome garments, but
how many among them would show their benevolence by an act of
this kind ?
It was in this circle of disciples that "The Hymns of
Rammohun Roy" were mostly born. He lacked not, it
seems, "the accomplishment of verse." He had cherished
ambitions as a poet, but as he playfully remarked, Bharat
Chandra's achievements in Bengali poetry were such as
forbade any competition. But he did not shrink from em-
ploying the still plastic Bengali as the metrical vehicle of his
religious life. All the hymns in the volume quoted above,
except those marked by author's initials, are from his pen.
By those who know the language they are said to belong to
a very high order of religious poetry, the sublimity of the
thought being admirably sustained by the dignity and music
of the words. A translation of one of Rammohun's hymns
by A. Tosh, may be cited here as illustrative of its purport :
Think of that final day on earth,
Appalling thought !
When friends and neighbours all will speak,
But throu wilt not.
When with thy wife and little babes, —
To thee so dear, —
To part shall sure thy bosom rack
With pain severe.
When piercing eyes their strength shall lose,
The pulse be still,
The vital warmth for ever fled,
The limbs be chill.
Thy friends shall mourn, thy friends shall weep
Most bitterly ;
And for thy hoards of cherished wealth
Anxious thou'lt be.
140 RAMMOHUN ROY
Then, yet be wise, thy pride abjure,
Thyself resign
To that Eternal Source of Truth—
His Will Divine !
Prose versions of two other hymns by Rammohun Roy
may also be given :
Meditate on the Only One
Who pervades land, water, and air,
Who has created this Universe of which there is no bound.
He knows all, but none can know Him.
He is Lord of Lords, the God of Gods, and the Master of Masters:
Let us know this Adorable One.
A Thing that surpasses speech,
How can it be described in words?
Of Him the Universe is a Shadow :
He is without likeness as the Scriptures declare :
Where can we find His likeness ?
If thou wouldst know, meditate with singleness of mind.
Then thou shalt attain true knowledge, and shalt be free from error.
I know no other way.
The spirit of sacred song extended from the master to
the disciples. They brought him their verses, and when the
hymn pleased him, he would reward the author with a joyous
embrace. Several of their compositions are included in his
collection where they are distinguished from his by appended
initials.
Of the founder at the close of this memorable epoch an
interesting picture is presented by Col. Young, who writes
from intimate personal knowledge, in a letter dated Calcutta,
Sept. 30, 1828, to Jeremy Bentham. It gives quite another
aspect of these eventful years. This is what the Colonel
says : —
His whole time almost has been occupied for the last two years in
defending himself and his son against a bitter and vindictive persecution
which has been got up against the latter nominally, but against himself
and his abhorred free opinions in reality — by a conspiracy of his own
• COL, YOUNG'S ACCOUNT OF RAMMOHUN, 141
bigoted countrymen, protected and encouraged, not to say instigated,
by some of ours — influential and official men who cannot endure that
a presumptuous ''black" should tread'so closely upon the heels of the
dominant white class, or rather should pass them in the march of mind.
Rammohun Roy, after an arduous and prolonged battle through grada-
tions of tribunals, has at length by dint of talent, perseverance, right,
got the better in the last resort ; but the strife and the magnitude of the
stake and the long despairs of justice have shattered his nerves and
bodily health and his energies of mind. It is now over,* and I hope
most fervently that he will recover himself again. Not only has he no
equal here among his countrymen, but he has none that at all approach to
equality, even among the littie "sacred squadron" of disciples whom he is
slowly and gradua;ly gathering around him in despite of obstacles. . .
But he perseveres, and does make a distinct and visible progress, slow as
it is — very slow. It must increase in geometrical ratio if he is only spared
long enough to organize the elements he is gathering together of resistance
to superstition and fanaticism . . .
It is strange that such a man should be looked upon coldly, not to
say disliked by the mass of Europeans, — for he is greatly attached* to us
and our regime. Not that he loves our churches, or priests, or lawyers,
or politicians, but because he considers the contact of our superior race
with his degraded and inferior countrymen as the only means and chance
they have of improving themselves in knowledge and energy. , . . .
One regrets to record this indictment of Anglo-Indian
sentiment, all the more that it is so well substantiated. The
native champion of English civilization deserved better
treatment from our countrymen.
The ominous reference to Rammohun's health will not
escape the reader's notice.
* i.e. The case against the son. The case against the father was only
settled Nov. 10, 1831.
CHAPTER VII.
( 1828—1830. )
The Abolition of Suttee
1828.— March— Lord Amherst leaves India. July 4— Lord W.
Bentinck proclaimed Governor-General. August 18 — Rammohun's
Letter on the July Act. August 20— The Brahmo-Somaj founded.
1829. — [Religious Instructions founded on Sacred Authorities]. Nov. 8
— Lord W. Bentinck's Minute on Suttee. Nov. 12 — Ram-
mohun's letter on the European (Indigo) planters. Dec. 4 — Re-
gulation passed for the ABOLITION of Suttee.
1830 — Jan. 8— Rammohun notifies to Lord W. Bentinck his elevation
to the rank of Rajah. January 16— Presents Anti-Suttee address
of thanks to Lord W. Bentinck. January 17— Formation of the
Dharma Sabha. January 23 — The Adi Somaj building opened.
Its Trust-deed. Abstract of the Arguments regarding Suttee.
Rights of Hindus over Ancestral property. July — Rammohun helps
the missionary, Duff, to found his first school. Nov. — Rammohun
sails for England.
The concluding stages of the Anti-Suttee movement form
a highly instructive chapter in the history of the British go-
vernment of India. It is interesting to watch the slow and
cautious steps with which the official mind approached the
decision which was at last precipitated by the resolute action
of one strong personality. The feeling of the authorities had
been, as we have seen, opposed to forcible repression of the
rite. They preferred to hope that the influence of European
education and the efforts of native reformers like Rammohun
Roy would lead to its gradual desuetude. Out of this otiose
optimism they were startled by the sudden increase of victims
in 1825. The annual tale of Suttees rose at a bound from
577 to 639, — an advance of more than ten per cent. And the
increase was not least rapid in and around Calcutta, — the very
OFFICIAL HESITANCY. 143
district where European culture was most strongly entrenched.
The Nizamat-Adalat considered the matter afresh ( in Nov.
1826). Judge Smith again insisted on immediate and entire
prohibition ; and he was supporthed in this demand by Judge
Ross who expressed the belief that it would not, as had been
feared, cause any disaffection among the native troops.
These minutes coming before the Council, Vice-President
Bay ley ( Jan. 13, 1827) could not commit himself to so
peremptory a policy, but recommended that Suttee should
be prohited in the territories where the earlier regulations
were not in force, and where the British sway had been
recently introduced, viz. in the districts of Delhi, Saugor,
Nerbudda, Kumaoon, and Rungpore. Mr. Harington ( Feb.
1 8, 1827) drafted a Minute for the suppression of Suttee, against
the time when that measure should be decided on. On March
1st, Vice-President Combermere strongly advocated the
immediate adoption of Mr. Bayley's proposals. Lord Amherst
(Mar. 1 8) declined the taking of this step, as he did not
believe the practice prevailed in the districts specified, or
that half measures would be productive of goed ; and he
was not prepared to enact its total suppression. He trusted
to the diffusion of knowledge among the natives for the
gradual eradication of the "detestable superstition." He
"would rather wait a few years" for this desirable consumma-
tion. At the end of 1827 the Judges reiterated their convic-
tions on the matter, and Mr. Bayley urged his plea once
more. On Jan. 4, 1828, Lord Amherst again declined to
legislate, looking to "general instruction and the unostenta-
tious exertions of our local officers" to bring about the
diminution, and, "at no very distant period the final extinc-
tion of the barbarous rite." This is practically his last word
on the subject. Two months later he left India.
He was succeeded in the Governor-Generalship by a man
of very different character. Lord William Bentinck was
144 RAMMOHUN ROY
ore of those resolute Englishmen, of slight culture but re-
markable practical insight, who. seeing that a certain thing
needs to be done, do it, and by the fact accomplished dissi-
pate a thousand fears and difficulties Faced with an ugly
deficit and charged with unpopular commissions from the
Directors, he cheerily undertook one fresh measure after
another of dreaded reform, and showed how much stronger
one man in earnest is than a whole crowd of conventional
obstacles. He found the Suttee problem confronting him.
He was not content, like Lord Amherst, to "wait a few years."
He proceeded to grapple with it at once. He was well aware
that the ultimate sanction of British sway was the sword ;
and his first quest was to know how far the army would
support him. Confidential inquiries from forty-nine experi-
enced officers elicited the gratifying information that the
Sepoy would be scarcely if at all affected by the prohibition
of the practice. Twenty-four out of the forty-nine officers
declared in favour of its immediate and entire abolition ; only
five were opposed to change of any kind. The army was
safe.
The judiciary was daily becoming more pronounced. The
humane zeal of local British magistrates outran their legal
powers. Cases occurred where they interfered to prevent
Suttees which the law allowed ; and the Supreme Court was
forced, on appeal, to sanction the perpetration of the horrid
deed. But the English gentlemen who formed the Nizamat-
Adalat winced under the charge of "unnecessarily authorisizing
suicide** ; and we are not surprised to find that in 1828 — be-
fore the reports of the military officers had been presented — ,
four judges out of five declared for putting a stop at once1
and for ever to the hateful custom. A year later all five
judges were agreed. The Superintendents of Police for both
Upper and Lower Provinces emphatically vouched for the
complete safety of the step. Nine-tenths of the public func-
RAM'MOHUN'S INTERVIEW WITH LORD BENTINCK, 145
tionaries in the interior were reported to be in its favour.
Anglo-Indian opinion was practically unanimous.
Native opinion it was more difficult to sound directly. But
the Governor-General had too keen an eye for the material
facts of the situation to overlook the value of the man who had
been a life-long mediator between Hindu and European
civilizations ; and he was still less likely to omit consulting
the great native champion of the Anti-Suttee movement.
Lord William took counsel of Rammohun Roy. There is an
interesting story of the way their first interview was arranged,
which we transcribe from the Rev. Principal Macdonald's
lecture on the Hindu Reformer * :« —
Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General, on hearing that he
would likely receive considerable help from the Rajah in suppressing the
pernicious custom of widow-burning, sent one of his aides-de-camp to
him expressing his desire to see him. To this the Rajah replied, "I have
now given up all worldly avocations, and am engaged in religious culture
and in the investigation of truth. Kindly express my humble respects to
the Governor-General and inform him that I have no inclination to
appear before his august presence, and therefore I hope that he will kind-
ly pardon me." These words the aide-de-camp conveyed to the viceroy,
who enquired, "What did you say to Rammohun Roy ?" The aide-de-
camp replied, "I told him that Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-
General, would be pleased to see him." The Governor-General answered
"Go back and tell him again that Mr. William Bentinck will be highly-
obliged to him if he will kindly see him once." This the aide-de-camp did
and Rammohun Roy could no longer refuse the urgent and polite request
of his lordship.
The incident sheds light on the character of both the illus-
trious reformers. Rammohun's refusal may at first cause
some surprise. He might have been expected to welcome
* Published at the Herald Press, Calcutta, 1879. The lecturer gives
the incident on the authority of "a Bengali friend." Essentially the same
account was communicated in writing to the Commemoration of Ram-
mohun Roy in January, 1879, by Rammohun's "oldest pupil," Ananda
Chandra Basu. His version of his Master's declinature runs : "I am
withdrawn from worldly affairs and am devoted to the reading of the
Shastras and the study of religion" etc., etc.
19
146 RAMMOHUN ROY
conference with a ruler so able and willing to accelerate re-
form. But it must be observed that the invitation gave no
hint of the particular purpose for which it was issued. Ram- /
mohun did no more than decline an invitation to Court ; he
pleaded a distaste for its worldly pageantry and frivolous!
ambitions ; and perhaps he was unwilling to give colour to!
the charge of his being a tool of the conquerors. When he
found it was the man and not the Court functionary who
appealed to him, he straightway waived all scruple and
agreed to come.
A more official and less picturesque account of the matter
is given by the India Gazette, of July 27, 1829 : —
An eminent native philanthropist who has lon.sf taken the lead of his
countrymen on this great question has been encouraged to submit his
views of it in a written form, and has been subsequently honoured with an
audience by the Governor-General, who, we learn, has expressed his
anxious desire to put an end to a custom constituting so foul a blot. . . .
The Gazette goes on to mention three courses as open to
the Government, — either rigidly to enforce existing regula-
tions ; or to suppress Suttee in the provinces of Bengal and
Behar where it was most prevalent, but where British rule
was longest known and best appreciated ; or to abolish it
throughout the Presidency.
The purport of Rammohun's advice to the Governor-
General has been preserved in Lord Wm. Bentinck's Minute
of Nov. 8. And here another surprise awaits us. We
naturally suppose that the leader of the revolt against the
burning of widows would eagerly grasp at the prospect of its
prompt and forcible suppression by Government. But Ram-
mohun positively endeavoured to dissuade Lord Bentinck
from this drastic project. The Governor-General, after detail-
ing Mr. Horace Wilson's arguments against abolition, wrote
on : —
I must acknowledge that a similar opinion as to the probable excita-
tion of a deep distrust of our future intentions was mentioned to me in
RAMMOHUN'S CAUTIOUS ADVICE.
147
conversation by that enlightened native, Rammohun Roy, a warm advocate
for the abolition of sati and of all other superstitions and corruptions
engrafted on the Hindu religion, which he considers originally to have
been a pure Deism. It was his opinion that the practice might be sup-
pressed quietly and unobservedly by increasing the difficulties and by the
indirect agency of the police. He apprehended that any public enact-
ment would give rise to general apprehension ; that the reasoning would
be : 'While the English were contending for power they deemed it politic to
allow universal toleration and to respect our religion, but having obtained
the supremacy their first act is a violation of their profession, and the
next will probably be, like the Muhammadan conquerors, to force upon us
their own religion.'
We may explain Rammohun's attitude by recalling his
constitutional aversion to coercion ; and any one who had
undergone the bitter persecution which had fallen to his lot
might be pardoned for over-estimating the strength of popular *
antagonism to reform. The man of force argued differently
from the man of suasion. He observed that out of 463
Suttees 420 took place in the Lower Provinces and 287 in
the Calcutta Division. The figures for Suttees in the Bengal
Presidency during the last four years in which the practice
was tolerated are given thus : —
DIVISIONS
1825
1826
1827
1828
CALCUTTA
398
324
337
309
DACCA
101
65
49
47
MURSHIDABAD
21
8
2
10
PATNA
47
65
55
55
BENARES ...
55
48
49
33
BARELLY ...
17
8
18
10
TOTAL
639
518
510
464
148 RAMMOHUN ROY
The people in these districts had through the centuries
been so habituated to submission that "insurrection or hostile
opposition to the ruling power may be affirmed to be an
impossible danger." Had Suttee been prevalent among "the
bold and manly people" of the Upper provinces, the problem
would have been fraught with much graver peril. But, as the
faculty of resistance had all but died out of the chief practisers
of Suttee, their apprehensions and suspicions might be safely
disregarded.
So Lord Wm. Bentinck cut the Gordian knot ; and on the
4th of December, 1829, the Regulation was passed which
declared the practice illegal and punishable as a criminal
offence. All persons convicted of aiding and abetting in the
sacrifice of a Hindu widow, whether she were a willing victim-
or not, whether she requested them or not, were pronounced
guilty of culpable homicide; and where violence or other
means of overpowering the victim's will were employed, the
death sentence might, at the discretion of the Court, be in-
flicted. Suttee was abolished. The reputation of the British^
Government and the fair fame of religion itself were redeem-!
ed from one of the foulest stains.
It would not be just to describe this result as a triumph
of principle over policy. The toleration of Suttee hitherto
had been due to a conflict of principles. On the one side
was the plain principle of humanity, which demanded the
instant suppression of the rite. On the other side was the
sacred principle of religious liberty, which forbade the con-
queror to interfere with the religious practices of a subject race.
One cannot but admire the sensitive magnanimity which
mingled with the calculating prudence of the British rulers
and made them shrink from doing violence even to the most
barbarous and outrageous dictates of the native conscience.
It is Rammohun's distinctive glory that he relieved the
British Government from this deadlock. He proved from
ABOLITION OF SUTTEE. 149
the authoritative standards of Hinduism that Suttee was not
a religious duty. He did more than this. He showed that
not religious devotion, but the avaricious desire of relatives to
avoid the cost of supporting the widow, had a great deal to
do with the perpetuation of Suttee. Its suppression would
therefore do no wrong to the faith which British honour had
pledged itself to tolerate and respect. The principles of
humanity and of religious liberty no longer clashed. The
atrocity could consistently be put down. This solution of the
difficulty was set in the forefront of the prohibitory
Regulation : —
The practice of Suttee, or of burning or burying alive the widows of
Hindoos, is revolting to the feelings of human nature ; it is nowhere
enjoined by the religion of the Hindoos as an imperative duty ; on the
contrary, a life of purity and retirement on the part of the widow is more
especially and preferably inculcated, and by a vast majority of that people
throughout India the practice is not kept up nor observed ; in some ex-
tensive districts it does not exist ; in those in which it has been most
frequent it is notorious that in many instances acts of atrocity have been
perpetrated which have been shocking to the Hindoos themselves, and
in their eyes unlawful and wicked. The measures hitherto adopted to
discourage and prevent such acts have failed of success, and the Governor-
General in Council is deeply impressed with the conviction that the
abuses in question cannot be effectually put an end to without abolishing
the practice altogether.
But for the researches and the agitation carried on by
Rammohun Roy, it is a question whether this preamble could
have been written. Certain it is that the sentences which
we have italicised would have fallen almost powerless but for
the way Rammohun had driven home the truths they contained
— by speech and newspaper and pamphlet — to the native
mind.
But the old custom was not to be surrendered without a
strong protest. The Siimachar Chundrika, the organ of
150 RAMMOHUN ROY
Conservative Hinduism, sounded the alarm ; and the India
Gazette of Nov. 3Oth announced that a petition against the
abolition of widow-burning was already in progress. The
Gazette expressed the hope that the Samlad Kaumudi and
the Bungu Doot, as representing the more liberal portion of
the native public, would correct current misconceptions and
set the action of the Government in the right light.
This deserves notice, as tribute to the value of Rammohun's ^
journalistic work. The petition against the new Regulation
found little support, the Gazette said, among the respectable
and influential classes. Signatures were procured with diffi-
culty, having to be extorted by threats and taunts. So stated
the Asiatic Journal o>{ June 1830, which even went so far as
to declare that "the Government had satisfied itself that the
majority of the native community was decidedly opposed to
the practice."
At last on January I4th (1830), "a numerous and respect-
able body of petitioners," as the Governor-General des-
cribed them, consisting of 800 inhabitants of Calcutta, laid
before him their prayer for the abandonment of the prohi-
bition. The main purpose of their representations was to
overthrow the position which Rammohun, and after him the
Government, had taken up,— that the practice of Suttee was
not required by the laws of Hindu religion. This they
denounced as "a doctrine derived from a number of Hindoos,
who have apostatized from the religion of their forefathers,
who have defiled themselves by eating and drinking forbidden
things in the society of Europeans and are endeavouring to
deceive your Lordship in Council." They humbly submitted
that "in a question so delicate as the interpretation of our
sacred books and the authority of our religious usages none
but pundits and Brahmins, and teachers of holy lives and
known learning and authority ought to be consulted," — not
"men who have neither any faith nor care for the memory of
MEMORIALS FOR AND AGANIST ABOLITION. 15!
their ancestors." They suggested with a touch of rather
pungent irony that if his Lordship in Council would assume
to himself "the difficult and delicate task of regulating the
conscience of a whole people . . on the authority of its own
sacred writers," he should trust to recognized and accredited
and orthodox experts. To assist him in this direction, they
appended a paper of citations from legal authorities, signed
by 1 20 pundits, and intended to show that Suttee was a
religious duty. They were obliged to quote the decisive sayings
of Vishnu and Manu, which allowed a widow either to
practise austerities or to ascend her husband's pyre. By
tortuous exegesis and by liberal appeal to immemorial usage,
the effort was made to transmute the option between alter-
natives into a demand for self-immolation. Lord Bentinck,
in reply, was unkind enough to say that the authorities they
cited "only confirmed the supposition that widows are not by
the religious writings of the Hindoos commanded to destroy
themselves. "No attack on Hindu religion was committed or
intended. I f they disputed his interpretation of Hindu and
British laws, they might appeal to the King in Council.
Another petition, of similar purport and signed by 346 "res-
pectable persons" from the interior, was presented at the same
time, with legal opinions signed by 28 pundits.
Counter demonstrations were speedily forthcoming. Two
days afterwards two addresses were presented to the
Governor-General in support of his anti-Suttee policy. One
was from the Christian inhabitants of Calcutta, and bore
some 800 signatures. The other was signed by 300 native
inhabitants of the same city and presented by Rammohun
Roy and several of his well-known comrades. This address
( Jan. i6th ), of which Rammohun is the reputed and probable
author, refers the introduction of Suttee to jealousy and
selfishness, acting under the cloak of religion, but in defiance
of the most sacred authorities. It rehearses the yet more-/
.152 RAMMOHUN ROY
barbarous abuses of this barbarous rite, and rejoices at the
prospect of "the most ancient and purest system of Hindu
religion" being "no longer set at nought by the Hindus '
themselves." It expresses "the deepest gratitude" and "the
utmost reverence" to his Lordship in Council "for the ever-
lasting obligation" he had "graciously conferred on the Hindu
community at large." The signatories finally confess them-
selves "at a loss to find language sufficiently indicative even
of a small portion of the sentiments" they desire to express.
Rammohun's joy at so unexpected an erasure of this historic
blot from the Hindu escutcheon might well be too great to V
be altogether articulate.
Next day the opponents of the measure met and resolved
to appeal to the authorities in England. Feeling the need
of some permanent organization, they formed themselves
into a Dharma Sabha, or Religious Society, — in evident
contrast to the Brahmo Sabha of Rammohun and his friends.
They subscribed 11,260 rupees on the spot, and decided to
erect a meeting place.* The purpose of the association was
manifestly militant. It was to enable "the excellent and
the noblev — so ran the explanation of their own organ — to
"unite and continually devise means for protecting our re-
ligion and our excellent customs and usages." At its first
meeting the treasurer significantly remarked with "the con-
currence of all present" that "those Hindus who do not follow
the rites of Hindu religion should be excluded from the
Hindu Society." "No names, however, were mentioned,"
reticence which the Chundrika hoped would ere long be
* [Many of the rich and influential inhabitants of Calcutta joined the
Sabha. The row of carriages in front of the hall on the day of the meet-
ing extended to about a mile, and the organisers confidently declared
that they would crush the Brahma Sabha as the fisherwoman crushes a
small fish under her thumb— Edi.]
PETITION AGAINST JURY ACT. 153
laid aside. Rammohun was made to feel how much mischief
lurked behind these threats.
The Abstract of the Arguments regarding the Burning of
Widows considered as a Religious Rite> which was issued in
1830, may betaken as his rejoinder to the manifesto of the
128 pundits. He wished to gather into a clear and concise
epitome for popular use the points which had been scattered
through many essays and tracts. These he grouped under
three heads. According to the sacred books of Hindus,
Concremation was (i) not obligatory but at most optional ;
(2) not the most commendable but the least virtuous act a
widow could perform ; and (3) must be a voluntary ascending
of the pile and entering into the flames — a mode never prac-
tised in the conventional Suttee. The tract concludes with
devout "thanks to Heaven, whose protecting arm has rescued
our weaker sex from cruel murder," and "our character as
a people" from international opprobrium.
While his campaign against Suttee was drawing to this
triumphant conclusion, Rammohun Roy was busily engaged
in other directions as champion of Indian rights and interests.
We find him writing on August i8th, 1828, to Mr. J. Crawford,
and entrusting to him petitions for presentation to both
Houses of Parliament, signed by Hindus and Mohammedans,
against the new Jury Act which came into operation in the
beginning of 1827. He thus concisely states the grounds
of grievance : —
In his famous Jury Bill, Mr. Wynn, the late President of the Board
of Control, has by introducing religious distinctions into the judicial
system of this country, not only afforded just grounds for dissatisfaction
among the Natives in general, but has excited much alarm in the breast
of everyone conversant with political principles. Any Natives, either
Hindu or Mohamedan, are rendered by this Bill subject to judicial trial
by Christians, either European or Native, while Christians, including
Native Converts, are exempted from the degradation of being tried either
by a Hindu or Mussulman juror, however high he may stand in the
20
154 RAMMOHUN ROY
estimation of society. This Bill also denies both to Hindus and Mussul-
mans the honor of a seat in the 'Grand Jury even in the trial of fellow-
Hindus or Mussulmans. This is the sum total of Mr. Wynn's late Jury
Bill, of which we bitterly complain.
In this letter Rammohun shows once more how deeply the
analogy between Ireland and India and the prospects of
nationalism in both countries had impressed him. Had not
Mr. Wynn seen misery enough result in Ireland from making
civil discriminations between different religious beliefs ? Why
should he want to reproduce the same calamities in India ?
Rammohun goes on to suggest a possibility which is by no
means so remote now as when he wrote: — .
Supposing that some 100 years hence the Native character becomes
elevated from constant intercourse with Europeans and the acquirements
of general and political knowledge as well as of modern arts and sciences,
is it possible that they will not have the spirit as well as the inclination '
to resist effectually unjust and oppressive measures serving to degrade
them in the scale of society P^It should not be lost sight of that the position
of India is very different from that of Ireland, to any quarter of which
an English fleet may suddenly convey a body of troops that may force
its way in the requisite direction and succeed in suppressing every effort
of a refractory spirit. Were India to share one fourth of the knowledge
and energy of that country, she would prove from her remote situation,
her riches and her vast population, either useful and profitable as a
willing province, an ally of the British Empire, or troublesome and *
annoying as a determined enemy.
In common with those who seem partial to the British rule from the
expectation of future benefits arising out of the connection, I necessarily
feel extremely grieved in often witnessing Acts and Regulations passed
by Government without consulting or seeming to understand the feelings
of its Indian subjects and without considering that this people have had
for more than half a century the advantage of being ruled by and
associated with an enlightened nation, advocates of liberty and
promoters of knowledge.
In default of other means of making their voice heard, the
natives of India resolved to petition, and invoked the help
of friends like Mr. Crawford.
THE TRIBUNE OF NEW INDIA.
We have quoted this letter at some length because of the
far-sighted glance into the future it reveals. There is here in
germ the national aspiration which is now breaking forth into
cries for "representation of India in the Imperial Parliament."
"Home Rule for India," and even "India for the Indians."
The prospect of an educated India, of an India approxi-
mating to European standards of culture, seems to have
never been long absent from Rammohun's mind; and he did,
however vaguely, claim in advance for his countrymen the
political rights which progress in civilization inevitably
involves. Here again Rammohun stands forth as the tribune,
and prophet of the New India.*
But his nationalism was of no narrow type. It was not
bound up with the interests of a few well-to-do classes. It was
ready to welcome in the interests of the labouring masses, an
extensive importation of European settlers and European
capital. An outcry of the baser order of nationalism having
been raised against the indigo planters of Bengal, Rammohun
came boldly to the defence of those aspersed Europeans.
His Santbad Kaumudi pointed out that indigo plantations
had led to waste lands being cultivated, and to the freedom
and tomfort of the lower classes being increased. The
peasants receiving a higher salary from the planters were no
longer "victims to the whims of zemindars and great
banians." The mo-re numerous and permanent the settlement
of European gentlemen, the better for the soil, the better also
for the poor and middle classes. Writing (Nov. 12, 1829) in
* It is interesting to note that the petition in question was presented
to the House of Commons, June 5,1829, by Mr. Wynn, and the promise
of the Government to direct its attention thereto was made by Lord
Ashley, then a Commissioner of the Board of -Control, and afterwards
Lord Shaftesbury. The young philanthropist "acknowledged the advan-
tages which had been derived from admitting the natives of India to
take a part in the administration of justice."
156 RAMMOHUN ROY
answer to certain inquiries on the subject from Mr. Nathaniel
Alexander, and speaking from investigations he had insti-
tuted for the purpose, Rammohun said: —
The advances made to ryots by the indigo planters have increased in
most factories in consequence of the price of indigo having risen, and in
many, better prices than formerly are allowed for the plant lam
positively of opinion that upon the whole the indigo planters have done
more essential good to the natives of Bengal than any other class of
persons. This is a fact which I will not hesitate to affirm whenever I
may be questioned on the subject either in India or Europe. I at the
same time must confess that there are individuals of that class of society
who either from hasty disposition or want of due discretion have proved
obnoxious to those who expected milder treatment from them. But, my
dear sir, you are well aware that no general good can be effected without
some partial evil, and in this instance I am happy to say that the former '
greatly preponderates over the latter. If any class of the natives "would
gladly see them all turned out of the country," it would be the zem ndars
in general, since in many instances the planters have successfully pro-
tected the ryots against the tyranny and oppression of thir landlord.
Rammohun also attended a public meeting in the Calcutta
Town Hall on the 15th of December, 1829, which was called
to petition Parliament "to throw open the China and India
trade, and to remove the restrictions against the settlement
of Europeans in India." He reiterated the strong statements
of his letter, and prefaced them with the weighty remark:—
From personal experience, I am impressed with the conviction that
the greater our intercourse with European gentlemen, the greater will be
our improvement in literary, social, and political affairs ; a fact which can
be easily proved by comparing the condition of those of my countrymen
who have enjoyed this advantage with that of those who unfortunately
have not had that oportunity ; and a fact which I could to the best of
my belief declare on solemn oath before any assembly.
In suggestive contrast with this defence of the European
settler against the propertied classes of Bengal, we may set
Rammohun's vindication of the Bengali law of the trans-
mission of property against the findings of the British Court.
British judges had wavered in their interpretation of the
RIGHTS OF HINDUS OVER ANCESTRAL PROPERTY. 157
Hindus' power of alienation over ancestral property. About
this time (1829— 1830) Sir C. E. Grey, then Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court, declared in favour of limiting the power
in question. Rammohun accordingly brought out a book in
1830 on The Rights of Hindiis over Ancestral Property accord-
ing to the law of Bengal. This essay showed that of the two
great treatises on the law of Hindu inheritance, the
Mitakshara was accepted throught the greater part of India,
while the Dayabhaga had been long established as paramount
authority in Bengal. Numerous instances were quoted to
indicate the difference and even contrariety of the two codes;
and on the crucial point it was shown that the Mitakshara
limited the disposl of ancestral real property by requiring the
consent of son and grandson, whereas the Dayabhaga left a
man free to alienate it as he pleased. Recent decisions in
British Bengali Courts had ignored the distinctive and esta-
blished Bengali law and had followed the teachings of the
Mitakshara. This breach of loyalty to Bengali institutions
could not be excused by appeals to sayings in the Hindu
scriptures, which imposed moral limits on power of alienation.
These were ethical precepts, not legal enactments; and a vast
amount of learning is expended in maintaining the legal
validity of the Bengali digest along with the ethical authority
of the sacred writings. In disputing the principle that "we
ought to make that invalid which was considered immoral,"
Rammohun suggested a number of testing cases, one of
which reads curiously in the light of later agitation: —
To permit the sale of intoxicating drugs and spirits, so injurious to
health, and even sometimes destructive of life, on the payment of duties
publicly levied, is an act highly irreligious and immoral. Is the taxation
to be, therefore, rendered invalid and payments stopped ?
This eassy involved its writer in a lengthy correspondence
in the Hurkaru, with a critic who signed himself "A Hindu" ;
158 RAMMOHUN ROY
which led to a plentiful display of legal lore and casuistry,
but did not modify Rammohun's main contention. That
was indeed confirmed by the Sudder Dewany Adawlut
in 1831, and still later by the Privy Council. Jogendra
Chunder Ghose thinks this result to have been in large
measure due to Rammohun's treatise.
Amid the multiplicity of these pursuits, philanthropic
political, economic and legal, Rammohun never lost sight
of his central vocation, — to purify and elevate the faith of
his countrymen. In 1829 he published a tract entitled,
The Universal Religion; Religious Instructions founded on
Sacred Authorities. This is a short catechism, with proof
texts from the sacred writings of Hinduism. It describes
worship as "a contemplation of the attributes of the ^
Supreme Being." It styles the object of worship "the author
and Governor of the Universe," "imperceptible and in-
definable," but by His creation and government of the
universe known to exist. Worship is to be performed "by
bearing in mind that the Author and Governor of this
visible Universe is the Supreme Being and comparing this
idea with the sacred writings and with reason.' ' Furthermore
"it is proper to regulate our food and conduct agreeably to
the sacred writings." For this worship "a suitable place is
certainly preferable, but not necessary" ; "in whatever place,
towards whatever quarter or at whatever time the mind is
best at rest, that place, that quarter, and that time is the
most proper.1' This kind of worship cannot be hostile to
any other kinds, nor can they reasonably be hostile to it; \
"for all believe the object whom they adore to be the
Author and Governor of the Universe."
This is a bold statement to make in face of the facts of
fetichism and kindred cults. The infinitely diverse religions
of the world will scarcely yield as their common denominator
a Theism so pure and lofty as Rammohun's "Universal
TRUST DEED OF THE BRAHMO SAMAJ. 1 59
Religion." But Rammohun believed in it intensely and the
progress of the Brahmo Sabha was witness to his faith.
The time had in fact arrived for providing the new
Community with a permanent home of its own. The growth
in the funds at its disposal soon rendered possible the
purchase of a site in Chitproe Road and the erection of a
building (a "brick-built messuage.") The Trust Deed, which
is dated January 8th, 1830, sets forth the transfer of the
property as fr0m Dwarkanauth Tagore, Kaleenauth Roy,
Prussunnocoomar Tagore, Ramchunder Bidyabagish, and
Rammohun Roy, to the three Trustees, Boykontonauth
Roy, Radapersuad Roy, and Ramanauth Tagore. The sum
paid to the vendors for the site and building is stated to be
ten Sicca Rupees (about one guinea) and for the
appurtenances five Sicca Rupees more. Whether this
nominal sale followed on a prior and more costly purchase,
or was tantamount to a real gift does not appear. Possibly
the five vendors did make a present of the house and
ground*; and the funds which had been gathered were
fnvested as an endowment on the place. Certainly "the sum -
of Rupees, 6,080, was kept in the custody of the late well-
known firm of Messrs. Mackintosh & Company as a perma-
nent fund, from the interest of which the ordinary expenses
of the church were to be met"f
The Trust Deed of this place of worship is a notable
theological document. It is the one legal statement of the
* In a Sketch of the Brahmo Somaj dated 1873, the authoress says of
Rammohun, " He bought a house in Chitpore Road, endowed it with a
small fund for the maintenance of public worship . . . and placed
the whole in the hands of trustees. " Dr. George Smith in his Life of Dr.
Z)w^"states that Rammohun " had himself erected the new building. "
The names of vendors and trustees are spelled as above in the Trust
Deed.
t K. C. Sen in the Indian Minor^ July i, 1865.
160 RAMMOHUN ROY
original creed of the Brahmo Samaj ; and being inspired by
Rammohun Roy, It falls to be quoted here as the formal j
deliverance of the purpose of his life-work. The terms of the
Trust are that the trustees
Shall at all times permit the said building, land, tenements, heredita-
ments and premises, with their appurtenances, to be used, occupied,
enjoyed, applied and appropriated, as and for a place of Public Meeting,
of all sorts and descriptions of people, without distinction, as shall behave
and conduct themselves in an orderly, sober, religious, and devout
manner;
For the worship and adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable, and
Immutable Being, who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe, but
not under, or by any other name, designation, or title, peculiarly used
for, and applied to, any particu.ar Being, or Beings, by any man, or set
of men, whatsoever ;
And that no graven image, stafue or sculpture, carving, painting,
picture, portrait or the likeness of any thing, shall be admitted within the
messuage, building, land, tenements, hereditaments, and premises ; and
that no sacrifice, offering, or oblation of any kind or thing, shall ever be
permitted therein ; and that no animal or living creature shall, within or
on the said messuage, building, land, tenements, hereditaments and
premises, be deprived of life, either for religious purposes or for food ;
And that no eating or drinking (except such as shall be necessary, by
any accident, for the preservation of life), feasting or rioting be permitted
therein or thereon ;
And that, in conducting the said worship or adoration, no object,
animate or inanimate, that has been, or is, or shall hereafter become, or
be recognized, as an object of worship, by any man, or set of men, shall be
reviled, or slightingly or contemptuously spoken of, or alluded to, either
in preaching, praying, or in the hymns, or other mode of worship that
may bs delivered or used in the said messuage or building ;
And that no sermon, preaching, discourse, prayer or hymn be deliver-
ed, made or used in such worship, but such as have a tendency to the
promotion of the contemplation of the Author and Preserver of the
Universe, to the promotion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence,
virtue, and the strengthening the bonds of union between men of all re-
ligious persuasions and creeds ;
And also, that a person of good repute, and well-known for his know-
ledge, piety, and morality, be employed by the said trustees ... as
CONSECRATION OF THE PRAYER HALL l6l
a resident superintendent, and for the purpose of superintending the
worship so to be performed, as is hereinbefore stated and expressed ; and
that such worship be performed daily, or at least as often as once in seven
days.
On January 23rd, 1830, the building was solemnly set
apart to the purposes of public worship. Mr. Montgomery
Martin, in his History of the British Colonies gives this
account of the ceremony: "The institution was opened by
the late Rajah Rammohun Roy, accompanied by the writer
(the only European present) in 1830. There were about five
hundred Hindus present and among them many Brahmins
who, after the prayers and singing of hymns had been
concluded, received gifts in money to a considerable extent."
Rammohun must have taken part in this inauguration
with a devoutly thankful heart. It was a sign that the
movement of religious reform to which he had given his life
had attained something like permanency. The society he had
founded was showing itself to be no evanescent group of
atoms, but a veritable Church. It had passed from the stage
of dream and hope, through a series of tentative and pre-
liminary experiments, into a solid materialized fact ; an in-
stitution legally in possession of property ; and the endow-
ment settled upon it suggested a prospect of perpetuity. The
decisive significance attached to the acquisition of this " local
habitation v is shown in its annual celebration by all branches
of the Somaj. The Society itself was founded, as we have
seen, on the 2Oth of August, 1828. The building was opened
on the 23rd of January, 1830. Yet, though at first the earlier
event was yearly commemorated as the Church's birthday,
the 23rd of January, soon came to be observed as the proper
anniversary, and Brahmos have generally reckoned from 1830
as the era of the Somaj.
The same year shows us the founder assisting, with charac-
teristic breadth of sympathy, at the beginning of another and
widely different religious movement, The great educational
21
26l RAMMOHUN ROY
departure in Indian missions which is for ever associated with
the name of Alexander Duff may boast of Rammohun Roy as
its co-initiator. It will be remembered that six years pre-
viously the Hindu had, as an attendant on St. Andrew's
Kirk, supported a petition to the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland, begging it to send out missionaries to
British India. In response to this plea, the young Scotsman,
hereafter so famous, arrived in Calcutta and was soon directed
by his friends to the "pleasant garden house in a leafy suburb
of Calcutta" where dwelt the "Erasmus of India."* Duff
having unfolded his plans, Rammohun expressed general;
approval. "All true education, H he said, "ought to be
religious, since the object was not merely to give information
but to develop and regulate all the powers of the mind,
the emotions of the heart, and the workings of the conscience.
Though not himself a Christian by profession, he had read
and studied the Bible and declared that, as a book of religious
and moral instruction, it was unequalled. As a believer in
God, he also felt that everything should be begun by implor-
ing His blessing. He recommended the opening of the
proposed school with the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, for
in all his reading he f( nowhere found any prayer so brief and
all-comprehensive" as it. A very significant remark must be
quoted entire : —
"As a youth, " he said to Mr. Duff, " I acquired some knowledge of
the English language. Having read about the rise and progress of
Christianity in apostolic times, and its corruption in succeeding ages,
and then of the Christian Reformation which shook off these corruptions
and restored it to its primitive purity, I began to think that something
similar might have taken place in India, and similar results might follow
here from a reformation of the popular idolatry. "
On the young missionary saying that he was at a loss
where or how to get a school-house in the native city, Ram-
* For this suggestive title and for the following incidents see Dr,
George Smith's Life of Dr, Dtitf.
CO-OPERATION WITH ALEXANDER DUFF 163
mohun offered the small hall in Chitpore Road, which the
Brahmo Sabha was on the point of leaving for the new build-
ing ; and driving off at once to the spot secured it for Duff at
a rental of £4 a month, one pojind less than he himself had
been paying. He removed other difficulties from Duff's path.
By personal influence among his enlightened Hindu friends,
he secured their children for Duff's first pupils. On the day
of opening, — the 1 3th of July, 1830— Rammohun Roy was
present from the first to explain away prejudices. DufFs
repetition of the Lord's Prayer in Bengali passed without
remark, but a murmur arose among the pupils, when he put
copies of the Gospels into their hands and bade them read.
Rammohun straightway intervened : —
"Christians like Dr. Horace Hayman Wilson have studied the
Hindu Shasters and you know that he has not become a Hindu. I my-
self have read all the Koran again and again ; and has that made me a
Mussulman ? Nay, I have studied the whole Bible, and you know I am
not a Christian. Why then do you fear to read it ? Read it and judge
for yourselves."
This quieted the remonstrants; but Rammohun was
careful to attend every day at ten when the Biole lesson was
taken, for the whole of the next month and frequently
afterwards, — a very signal evidence of his determination to
promote the success of Duff's work. His powerful example
soon told. For instance, one of his principal followers,
Kaleenath Ray Chowdery, offered buildings and appliances
at Taki, forty miles from Calcutta, for a school to be
supervised by Duff and taught on his lines by his teachers,
who would be paid by the Chowdery family, for Bengali
and Persian instruction. This was the beginning of a thriving
mission school. Duff might well say in a letter intended to
introduce Rammohun Roy to Dr. Chalmers, "He has
rendered me the most valuable and efficient assistance in
prosecuting some of the objects of the General Assembly's
Mission."
164 RAMMOHUN ROY
While these events were proceeding, Rammohun was
making arrangements for his long expected journey to
Europe. It was a somewhat unlooked-for occurrence which
precipitated his intentions of travel. The Emperor of Delhi,
nominal successor to the traditions of the Great Mogul, had
a grievance against the real possessors of empire, — the
Directors of the British Company. The allowance they
granted His Majesty was, he considered, neither equal to the
amount guaranteed to him by treaty, nor sufficient for his
needs; and strangely exaggerated stories were circulated
about the straits to which the Imperial household was
reduced. Having possibly heard of his intended visit to
England, the aggrieved potentate decided to appoint
Rammohun as his envoy to the British King, to plead for
measures of substantial redress. At the same time — apparent-
ly about the beginning of August, 1829 — he conferred on
him the tittle of ajah. Rammohun, after accepting these
honours, took as his assistant in the Imperial service Mr.
Montgomery Martin. This gentleman was editor of the
Bengal Herald^ an English newspaper, of which Dwarkanath
Tagore, N. R. Holdar and Rammohun Roy became, in 1829,
the proprietors. This journalistic venture, it seems, did not
prosper. Rammohun, as proprietor, was obliged to plead
guilty in the Supreme Court of Calcutta to a libel on an
attorney, and the paper soon afterwards ceased to appear,
Mr. Martin relinquishing his editorship for new duties
under the Imperial envoy. According to a facetious and
decidedly malicious but evidently well informed writer in
the John Bull of Feb. 27, 1830,* the envoy and ex-editor
had first arranged to leave for Europe about the beginning of
September, 1829. A month later they decided to go overland
via Allahabad, but for three months Mr. Martin waited in
daily readiness to depart. Meantime the Regulation abolish-
* Quoted in the Astatic Journal for August in the same year.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VISIT TO ENGLAND 165
ing Suttee had been passed, and Rammohun was busily
engaged, as we have seen, in supporting the action of the
Governor General.
The threatened appeal to England of the infuriated
supporters of the doomed rite furnished another reason for
Rammohun's contemplated journey. His presentation of
counter memorials and personal influence in the capita lof the
Empire would help to circumvent their machinations. A
further ground, doubtless present to his mind from the first,
was the approaching expiry of the East India Company's
Charter. His presence on the spot might help the House of
Commons to shape the new Charter more favourably to
Indian needs. Rammohun thought the time propitious for
approaching the Governor-General on the subject of his
errand. On January 8, 1830, while petitions were being
actively promoted on both sides of the Suttee question, he
wrote Lord Bentinck as follows: —
I beg leave to submit to your Lordship that some months ago I was
informed by His Majesty, Uboonnussur Moeenoodeen Mohoonmud Uk-
bur Badshah, that His Majesty had apprised your Lordship of my
appointment as his Elchee (Envoy) to the Court of Great Britain, and of
his having been pleased to invest me as His Majesty's servant with the
title of Rajah, in consideration of the respectability attached to that situa-
tion, <fec, Not being anxious for titular distinction, I have hitherto re-
frained from availing myself of the honour conferred on me by HisV
Majesty.
His Majesty, however, being of opinion that it is essentially necessary
for the dignity of His Royal House that I, as the representative thereof
to the most powerful Monarch in Europe, and Agent for the settlement
of His Majesty's affairs with the Honourable East India Company, should
be invested with the title above mentioned, has graciously forwarded to
me a seal engraved for the purpose at Delhi. I therefore take the liberty
of laying the subject before your Lordship, hoping that you will be pleased
to sanction my adoption of such title accordingly. This measure will, 1
believe, be found consistent with former usage as established by a Reso-
ution of Government on the subject in 1827, when, at the recommenda-
tion of the then Resident* Sir Charles Metcalfe, in his report ofz6th
1 66 RAMMOHUN ROY
June of that year, His Majesty's power of conferring honorary tides on
his own servants was fully recognized. — I have the honour, Sac.
Answer to this request was sent by Secretary Stirling
on the 1 5th of January, to the effect that the Governor in
Council could not sanction his acceptance of the title of
Rajah nor recognise him as envoy from the Court of Delhi.
We can hardly wonder at this reply, when we remember
that Rammohun's mission was at once a deviation from the
usual official channels of communication with the Home
Government and a reflection upon the conduct of officials.
Both as to form and substance it stood condemned in the
official eye. It is pleasant to find that this rebuff did not
hinder Rammohun appearing next day at the Governor-
General's with the Anti-Suttee address of congratulation.
With the beginning of the last year which Rammohun
was to spend on Indian soil, the resentment which his
reforming career had been steadily accumulating in the
breasts of orthodox Hindus broke out into threats and
plots of mortal violence. It was the abolition of Suttee
which let loose the floods of reactionary fury. Avarice
and bigotry, two of the strongest passions of human nature,
had been hard hit ; and they demanded a victim. Ram-
mohun was marked out as the guilty party. He was the
traitor within the gates, who had sold the keys to the
infidel oppressor. Therefore he must die.
So doubtless argued his enemies. Their intentions were,
however, conveyed to Rammohun. About the new year he
informed Mr. Martin that "his life was seriously threatened
by a gang of assassins." Mr. Martin accordingly took up
his abode at his patron's house and armed the household.
"Firearms, gunpowder, and daggers were immediately
procured and burkendauzes employed to guard the
premises." These last were daily exercised in firing. When-
ever Rammohun went into town, he took with him dagger
ATTEMPTS AGAINST HIS LIFE 1 67
and swordstick, and was accompanied by Mr. Martin, who *
carried swordstick and pistols, and by other armed attend-
ants.* We learn from other sources that twice attempts
were made on his life, and he was dogged about by spies,
who even dared to tear holes in his walls to watch him in
his privacy, in the hope of detecting some act which would
re nder him an out-caste.
The militant forces of reaction were organized by the
Dhanna Sdlha, started, as we have seen, only six days
before the opening of the Brahmo Salha building; and the
antagonism between the two societies, each with an influential
following, each with its popular newspaper, made a great
stir, of which Siva Nath Sastri in his history cf the Brahmo
Somaj gives us this lively picture:
The common people became participators in this great conflict;
for the tracts of the reformers, mostly written in the simplest Bengali,
appeals to them as much as to the enlightened classes. In the bathing-
ghats of the river side, in market-places and public squares, in the
drawing-rooms of influential citizens, everywhere the rivalry between
the two associations became the subject of talk. Lines of comical
poetry caricaturing the principles of the great reformer were composed
by the wags of the time, and passed from mouth to mouth until the
streets rang with laughter and ridicule. The agitation spread from
Calcutta to the interior, and everywhere the question was discussed
between the two parties. A large number of Brahmins who accepted
presents from the members of the Brahmo Sabha, were excommunicated
by the other party on that account, and the duty of supporting them
devolved upon the rich of Rammohun's friends, who cheerfully under-
took it. It was in the midst of these furious party contests that Ram-
mohun opened his church in 1830.
One of the favourite subjects cf satire and ridicule was
Rammohun's intended visit to Europe.
It is no small tribute to the character of our hero that
amid all this storm of obloquy and in peril of his life he
* So the scoffing writer in the John Bull quoted above whose narra-
tive is too circumstantial to be readily open to doubt,
168 RAMMOHUN ROY
calmly pursued his reforming course. Charges of cowardice
and of time-serving have been plentifully hurled against
him: but they find slight room for lodgement in the con-
duct of a man who, surrounded by virulent calumny and
mortal menace, went on presenting addresses and publish-
ing books and preparing memorials against Suttee, housed
and endowed his Sabha, and even dared to launch DufPs
great scheme of Christian education.
Nevertheless the "hatred, scoffing and abuse" to which
he was subjected must have made him less sorry to leave
India. How his plans for departure had matured appears
from the following letter, in which the Hindu Reformer bids
a stately farewell to the British ruler, whose name the aboli-
tion of Suttee has linked with his own in everlasting
conjunction: —
From the kindness I have so often experienced from your Lordship,
I trust to be pardoned for my present intrusion in a matter solely con-
cerning myself, but in which your Lordship's condescension has induced
me to persuade myself that you are pleased to take some interest.
Having at length surmounted all the obstacles of a domestic nature
that have hitherto opposed my long cherished intention of visiting
England, I am now resolved to proceed to that land of liberty by one
of the vessels that will sail in November, and from a due regard to the
purport of the late Mr. Secretary Stirling's letter of i$th January last, and
other considerations, I have determined not to appear there as the Envoy
of His Majesty Akbar the Second, but as a private individual.
I am satisfied that in thus divesting myself of all public character, my
zealous services in behalf of His Majesty need not be abated. I even
trust that their chance of success may be improved by being thus exempt-
ed from all jealousy of a political nature to which they might by mis-
apprehension be subjected.
As public report has fixed an early day in October for your Lordship's
departure to examine personally into the condition of the inhabitants of
the Upper Provinces, I take the present occasion as the last that may
offer in this country for the expression of my sincere wishes for your
Lordship's success in all your philanthropic designs for the improvement
and benefit of my countrymen. I need not add that any commands for
COMPANIONS OF THE VOYAGE 169
England with which your Lordship may honour me shill receive from me
the most respectful attention, and I beg to subscribe myself your Lord-
ship's most humble and grateful servant.
The "obstacles of a domestic nature" may, perhaps, be
the suit of the Rajah ofBurdwan, which was not finally
dismissed by the last Court of Appeal— the Sudder Dewanee
Adaulut — until November of next year, but the issue of
which may have now been confidently foreseen. It is
interesting to know that, on leaving, Rammohun charged
his sons to forget the conduct of their cousins who had
shared in this forensic persecution.
Having completed all arrangements for his departure,
Rammohun sailed from Calcutta by the Albion on the iQth
of November. Careful even in this daring innovation on
Brahman custom, to observe the laws of caste, he took
with him Hindu servants to prepare his food and two
cows to supply him with milk. Rammohun also took with
him an adopted son, a boy of about twelve years, who was
known as Ram Roy or Rajaram. Malicious gossip did not
spare this lad's origin. Chunder Sekhar Deb — the disciple
who, it will be remembered, suggested the formation of the
Brahmo Somaj — stated in conversation with a friend, R. D.H ,
at Burdwan, so late as January, 1863, that "rumour had it
that at one time he [Rammohun] had a mistress ; and people
believed that Rajaram was his natural son, though he himself
said Rajaram was the orphan of a Durwan of some Saheb,
and Rammohun Roy brought him up."
This scandalous insinuation emerges here in our sources
for the first and only time, and then some thirty years after
Rammohun's death. We have not come across the remotest
semblence of evidence to sustain the charge.* True, Mr. Deb
* The true history of Rajaram was supplied to Dr. Carpenter in the
following letter from India in 1833 ' — "y°u ask me to give you any
corrections (of Dr. C.'s Sermon and Review) that may appear necessary.
22
170 RAMMOHUN ROY
was an intimate disciple ; but the rest of his reported conver-
sation shows him to be no loyal admirer of the deceased
master. And even he advanced no scintilla of proof. He
merely repeated the gossip as "rumour" and what "people
believed." There is no need to question his veracity. Ortho-
dox Hindus of the Dharma Sabha type were thirsting to
show up the great apostate, as they regarded him, in the
blackest of colours. The fact that his wives had deserted
him, and the presence of this adopted son, offered a combina-
tion of circumstances which eager malice could scarcely fail
to construe in its own way. Men who made attempts on
Rammohun's life were not likely to scruple about attacking
his reputation. And against this rumour, so easily explained,
we have to set the unanimous testimony of British missionaries
to Rammohun's pure moral habits. An intimate friend like
Mr. William Adam, who was closely questioned by Unitarian
One has been suggested to me by his native friends, as desirable to be
made for the sake of Rammohun's Roy's character. The boy Rajah
whom he took with him to England is not his son, not even an adopted
son according to the Hindoo form of adoption ; but a destitute orphan
whom he was led by circumstances to protect and educate. 1 have a
distinct recollection of the particular circumstances under which he
stated to me Raja came into his hands. And my recollection is
confirmed by that of others. Mr. Dick, a civil servant of the company
found the child helpless and forsaken at one of the fairs at Hurdvvar,
where from two to three hundred thousand people annually congregated.
It is not known whether the parents lost or forsook him, but Mr. Dick
had him clothed and fed, and when he was under the necessity of
leaving the country for the recovery of health, he consulted with
Rammohun Roy how the child should be disposed of. I well recollect
our late friend's benevolent exclamation : 'When I saw an Englishman,
a Christian, thus caring for the welfare of a poor orphan, could I, a
native, hesitate to take him under my care and provide for him ? ' Mr.
Dick never returned to India, having, died, I belive, on the passage to
England and the child remained with Rammohun Roy." Edi.]
. INTRODUCTION To JEREMY BENTHAM i?i
correspondents about Rammohun's domestic relations, could
scarcely have been mistaken in his uniformly high estimate
of the Reformer's character. And his aggrieved Trinitarian
opponents, even in the heat of controversy, never breathe a
whisper against his fair fame. The reputation that has passed
scatheless and stainless the ordeal of criticism by missionaries,
Baptist and Unitarian, Presbyterian and Anglican, hostile as
well as sympathetic, may afford to ignore stale Hindu gossip "
served up a generation afterwards.
Rammohun was also accompanied by two Hindu servants,
by name Rarnhurry Doss and Ramrotun Mukerjee. The
latter as cook was entrusted with the duty of providing his
master with food prepared in accordance with caste regulations.
Some extracts from Mr. J. Young's letter of introduction
to Jeremy Bentham (of date Nov. 14, 1830) may fitly close
this chapter : —
If I were beside you, and could explain matters fully, you would com-
prehend the greatness of the undertaking— his going on board ship to a
foreign and distant land, a thing hitherto not to be named among Hindoos,
and least of all among Brahmins. His grand object, besides the natural
one of satisfying his own laudable spirit of inquiry, has been to set a laud-
able example to his benighted countrymen; and every one of the slow and
gradual moves that he has made preparatory to his actually quitting
India, has been marked by the same discretion of judgment. He waited
patiently until he had by perseverence and exertion acquired a little but
respectable party of disciples. He talked of going to England from year
to year since 1823* to familiarize the minds of the orthodox by degrees
to this step, and that his friends might in the meantime increase in
numbers and in confidence. . . He now judges that the time is come, and
that the public mind is pretty well ripe for his exploit. . .
The good which this excellent and extraordinary man has already
effected by his writings and example cannot be told. Butfor-his exertions '
* [The idea was present in his mind from the year 1817 at the latest,
for in that year in a letter to Mr. Digby he makes mention of it. Edi.]
172 RAMMOHUN ROY
Suttee would be in full vigour at the present day, and the influence of the
priesthood in all its ancient force ; — he has given the latter a shake from
which, aided by education and the spirit of bold inquiry gone forth among
the Hindoos, it can never recover. . . . He is withal one of the most
modest men I have ever met with. . .
It is no small compliment to such a man that even a Governor-
General like the present, who, though a man of the most honest inten-
tions, suspects everyone and trusts nobody, and who knows that R. M. R.
greatly disapproves of many of the acts of the Government, should have
shewn him so much respect as to furnish him with introductions to * t
friends of rank and political influence in England.
CHAPTER VIII.
( 1830-1833. )
Embassy to Europe.
1830.— Nov. 19 — Rammohun stils from Calcutta.
1831— January — Calls at Cape Town. April 8 — Arrives in Liverpool,
visits Manchester, and reaches London. May and July — Resides
in Regent Street.May— Addresses Unitarian Association. July 6 —
Dines with East India Company. Removes residence to Bedford
Square. Aug. 19 — Revenue System of India. Sept. 19—; -Judicial
System of India. Sept. 28— Condition of India. Sept.— Is
presented to the King.
1832.— June— Reform Bill finally passed, July 14— -Settlement of India
by Europeans. October— Rammohun Roy in Paris.
1833. — January — In London again. First Reformed Parliament
meets. July n— Appeal against the abolition of Suttee rejected
by Parliament. July 24— East India Bill read a third time in
the Commons. Aug. 20 — Received Royal Assent. Slavery
Emancipation Act. Factory Act. September — R. Roy leaves
London for Stapleton Hill, near Bristol. Sept. 9— Mr. Estlin
called in. Sept. 27— Death of R. Roy. Oct. 18— His Burial.
The significance of Rammohun Roy's visit to Europe can
scarcely be exaggerated. At first sight indeed it is in some
danger of being overlooked. We are tempted to consider the
last three years of the Reformer's life a mere appendix or
postscript to a career already complete. We are apt to suppose
the full tale of his great services for India made up when
he left her soil. He had initiated the Hindu Theistic
movement. He had given it permanent literary ex-
pression. He had selected or indicated the order of
Scriptures more peculiarly its own. He had seen it finally
housed and endowed. He had moreover successfully
inaugurated native journalism, He had launched Dr. Duff's
&AMMOHUN ROV
great educational enterprise. The cause of English education
which he had championed was now on the eve of official
victory. And he had witnessed the abolition of Suttee.
What follows these achievements may wear to the unreflective
observer a semblance of anti-climax, or at best of mere stage
pageant after the real work was done. But a deeper
discernment will soon dissipate this impression. Rammohun's!
three years in the West form the crown and consummation!
of his life-work. They were spent away from the scene of his
regular labours and under widely different conditions ; they
were shadowed by failing health and saddened by misplaced
confidence ; but they follow in strict logical and genetic
succession. They complete the continuity. They supply the
dramatic culmination of Rammohun's half century of service
to his country and his kind.
The epoch they mark m Hindu development only confirms
and extends his religious record. He was the first Brahman
to cross the ocean. He was the first Hindu of eminence who
dared to break the spell which for ages the sea had laid on^
India. He set a conspicuous precedent to the host of
educated Hindus who have since studied and travelled in
Europe. The consequences for his countrymen are such as
to make this act alone sufficient to secure for its author a
lasting distinction. Its Imperial importance is not less
striking. Rarnmohun Roy's presence in this country made
the English people aware, as they had never been before, of
the dignity, the culture, and the piety of the race they had
conquered in the East. India became incarnate in him, and
dwelt among us, and we beheld her glory. In the court of
the King, in the halls of the legislature, in the select coteries
of fashion, in the society of philosophers and men of letters,
in Anglican church and Nonconformist meeting-house, in the
privacy of many a home, and before the wondering crowds of
Lancashire operatives, Rammohun Roy stood forth the
CONTEMPORARY EVENTS 175
visible and personal embodiment of our Eastern empire.
Wherever he went, there went a stately refutation of the
Anglo-Indian insolence which saw in an Indian fellow-subject
only a 4'black man" or a "nigger." As he had interpreted r
England to India, so now he interpreted India to England.
He was the first great representative of the Hindu race at the
Seat of Empire, and the contrast between official London
and official Calcutta in their treatment of him showed the
effect of his personal presence at headquarters.*
He came, too, at a time of crucial transition in the
political history of the United Kingdom. He was an eager and
sympathetic spectator of the stupendous revolution achieved
by the first Reform Bill. The process then began which
* [Miss Carpenter gives the following general summary of the im-
pression of Raja's visit to England : —
"The arrival of the illustrious Hindu Reformer in our country was
anxiously anticipated by all who had become acquainted with him
through the various channels which have been laid before the reader.
The nature of his labours, and the distance of the scene of them, naturally
prevented his being an object of popular enthusiasm ; nor if that had
been excited in his fovour, would he have desired the public demonostra-
tions of admiration and respect which were recently accorded to the
great Italian patriot. But the reception given to him though of a widely
different kind, must have been no less gratifying to him, at the time, and
to his countrymen since his departure. The highest honours were
publicly accorded to him, and a place was awarded to him among the
foreign ambassadors at the coronation of the sovereign ; persons the most
remarkable for their social standing and literary eminence sought his
society, and highly esteemed the privilege of intercourse with him ; — he
was received into our English homes not only as a distinguished guest,
but as a friend and when he was prostrated on the bed of sickness and
of death in a foreign land, he was surrounded with the most loving
attentions, tended with the most anxious solicitude, and finally laid in
the grave surrounded with true mourners, who felt him akin to them in
spirit, if not connected with him by the ties of earthly relationship." Last
Days of Rammohun Roy p. 57. — Edi].
i;6 RAMMOHUN ROY
has by successive extentions of the franchise transformed the
government of this nation in fifty years from a close oligarchy
to a democracy. While he was here, he saw the East India
Company changed by statute from a trading concern into a
political organization : and that was practically the last renewal
of its charter, prior to its replacement, in 1858, by the
Imperial Government.* He saw the Act pass which
abolished slavery throughout the British dominions. The
period of his visit also covers the passing of the Factory
Act and the beginnings of the Tractarian movement. The
Manchester and Liverpool railway had been opened only a
month or two before he left India. He was here, in a word,
when the New England was being born out of the heart of
Old Englandj-^the New England of democracy, of social and
industrial reform, of Anglican revival, and of Imperial policy
tempered by Nonconformist Conscience. And at that
decisive era, he was present as the noble and precocious type
of the New India which has been growing up under British
rule. In him the New England first became acquainted
with the New India. That is a connection which has already
borne much fruit, and which seems destined to play a greater
part in the near future. ,And if we glance beyond the limits
of India and of Empire, we can hardly fail to see in
Rammohun's visit a landmark in the general history of
modern civilization. The West had long gone to the East.
With him the East began to come to the West. India has
followed in his wake, and Japan and even China have
followed in the wake of India. Leading scions of the hoariest
civilizations are now eager pupils in the schools of the
youngest civilizations. As a consequence the East is being
rapidly Occidentalized ; and there are signs not a few of a
gradual Orientalizing of the West. This movement towards
* The charter was tentatively renewed, subject to the pleasure of
Parliament, in 1863.
ON BOARD THE ALBION 177
the healing of the schism which has for ages divided
mankind, and the effort to intermingle more thoroughly the
various ingredients of humanity, are rich in promise for the
humanizing and unifying of man. The role which Rammohun
Roy had played in this world-drama among his own
countrymen was fitly crowned by his appearance in the chief
city of the globe.
We are anticipating, it is true, but in following the
kaleidoscopic variety of the reformer's European experiences
we need to keep clearly in mind the world-historic import of
the entire event. Otherwise the unity and continuity of a
great lifework might seem to be dissipated in a crowd of
details.
The cosmopolitan character of the man received fresh
and striking illustration from the direction of his mind during
the time of his departure. He was not weighed down with
the thought of separation from home and friends, or with
vague forebodings as to the outcome of his momentous
enterprise. He was simply full of the latest French Revolu-
tion. News had just reached Calcutta of the famous Three
Days ( July 27 — 29, 1830 ): and, "so great was his enthusiasm
that," we are told, "he could think and talk of nothing else P
He viewed it as a triumph of liberty and rejoiced accordingly.
This is the testimony of James Sutherland, a friend of
Rammohun, who sailed with him to England. His narrative
of the voyage* sheds so interesting a light on the conduct of
the great Hindu that we cannot do better than reproduce
portions of it here.
On board ship Rammohun Roy took his meals in his own cabin, and
at first suffered considerable inconvenience from the want of a separate
fireplace, having nothing but a common choola on board. His servants,
too, fell desperately sea-sick, (though, as if his ardour supported him
* Published in the India Gazette, Feb. 18, 1834.
23
178 RAMMOHUN ROY
against it, he himself never felt this malady at all) and took possession
of his cabin, never moving from it, and making it as may easily be con-
ceived, no enviable domicile ; in fact they compelled him to retreat to the
lockers ; but still the kindness of his nature would not allow him to re-
move them. The greater part of the day he read, chiefly I believe, Sans-
krit and Hebrew. In the forenoon and the evening he took an airing on
deck, and always got involved in an animated discussion. After dinner
when the cloth was removed and the dessert was on the table, he would
come out of his cabin also and join in the conversation and take a glass
of wine. He was always cheerful and so won upon the esteem of all on
board that there was quite a competition who should pay him the most
attention, and even the sailors seemed to render him any little service in
their power. . . His equanimity was quite surprising. In more than
one case everything in his cabin was quite afloat owing to the sea wash-
ing in ... but it never disturbed his serenity. If anything threw
him off his equilibrium of temperament, it was the prevalence of contrary
winds, because of his anxiety to get on, and his alarm lest the great
question of the Company's charter should come on before he arrived in
England.
He put ashore at the Cape for only an hour or two. Re-
turning on board, he met with a nasty accident. The gangway
ladder had not been properly secured and he got a serious
fall/'from which he was lame for eighteen months afterwards"
and indeed never finally recovered.
But no bodily suffering could repress his mental ardour. Two French
frigates, under the revolutionary flag, the glorious tri-colour, were lying
in Table Bay ; and lame as he was, he would insist on visiting them. The
sight of these colours seemed to kindle the flame of his enthusiasm, and
to render him insensible to pain. . . . His reception was, of course,
worthy of the French character and of him. He was conducted over the
vessels and endeavoured to convey by the aid of interpreters how much
he was delighted to be under the banner that waved over their decks, —
an evidence of the glorious triumph of right over might ; and as he left
the vessels he repeated emphatically " Glory, glory, glory to France ! "
Some of the most distinguished people at the Cape left their cards for
him at the Hotel, and some called on board, but not the Governor . . .
As we approached England, his anxiety to know what was passing
there became most urgent, and he implored the captain to lose no oppor-
ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND 179
t unity of speaking any vessel outward. At length near the equator, . .
we fell in with a vessel which supplied us with papers announcing the
change of Ministry* and his exultation at the intelligence may be easily
conceived. We talked of nothing else for days. . . It was in its
probable beneficial effect on the fate of India that he regarded the event
as a subject of triumph. When we got within a few d;iys' sail of the
Channel we fell in with a vessel only four days out, that brought us
intelligence of the extraordinary circumstance of the second reading of
the Refrom Bill being carried in the House in which the Tories had so
long commanded majorities, by a single vote ! . . Rammohun Roy
was again elated with the prospect. . . A few days afterwards, at that
eventful crisis in our history . . Rammohun Roy first landed in Great
Britain.
The effect of this contagious enthusiasm of a whole people in favour of
a grand political change upon such a mind as his was of course
electrifying, and he caught up the tone of the new society in which he
found himself with so much ardour that at one time I had fears that this
fever of excitement . . would prove too much for him. . .
Mr. Sutherland gives a vivid description of the first days
of Rammohun Roy in England. He tells us,
His arrival f was no sooner known in Liverpool than every man of
any distinction in the place hastened to call upon him, and he got into
inextricable confusion with all his engagements, making half a dozen
sometimes for the same evening. . . He was out morning, noon, and
night. . . On all occasions, whether at breakfast or dinner, a number
of persons was assembled to meet him ; and he was constantly involved
in animated discussions on politics or theolgy. . .
* Lord Grey succeeded the Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister
in November, 1830.
f [It was on April 8th, 1831, that Rajah Rammohun Roy landed
at Liverpool. He was at once invited by William Rathbone, Esqr.,
to take up his residence at the hospitable abode of Greenbank, which has
been honoured by the presence of so many illustrious strangers who have
there found a home ; he preferred however to be independent, and at
Radley's Hotel he wasi visited by many who desired at once to give him
a respectful greeting. — Last Days of Rammohun Roy, p. 60. Edi].
180 RAMMOHUN ROY
The first public place Rammohun Roy attended was fitly
enough a Unitarian Chapel, where a Mr. Grundy delivered
a sermon "rather too metaphysical" for Mr. Sutherland, but
greatly appreciated by the illustrious Hindu. It was a
homily on the duty of unlimited charity in regard to other
men's creeds.
"When the sermon was over the scene that ensued was
curious. Instead of dispersing as usual, the congregation
thronged up every avenue in crowding to get a near view of
him as he passed out.1' On his way out, Rammohun was
moved to sudden grief by the sight of a mural tablet in ,
memory of a Mr. Tait whom he had known in India. On
recovering from the shock,
He attempted to express his feelings, and as he did so with propriety,
though with hesitation, the surprise and excitement of the crowd at
hearing a native of India address them in their native tongue was
extreme, and it was near an hour after the service terminated ere we
could make our way out of church. . . He had to shake hands with
many who had waited for that purpose. To some his adopted son was
scarcely less an object of curiosity, and to him it was fine fun ; he
seemed to enjoy being stared at amazingly.
At night Rammohun Roy went to an Anglican church,
and heard the Rev. Mr. Scoresby, formerly a sailor, and now
a man of great scientific reputation, and a good Evangelical.
Of this discourse, too, the distinguished hearer expressed
his admiration.
Among the earliest invitations received by Rammohun after
his arrival was one to the house of William Roscoe. The
venerable historian,who had been a prisoner through paralysis
for many years, and was now within a few weeks of his end,
had previously corresponded with Rammohun, read his
writings, and earnestly longed to see him. The interview
which resulted is described as exceedingly affecting.*
* [An account of this interesting interview is happily preserved in
the Memoir of Roscoe by his son, Henry Roscoe, and is worth reproducing.
RECEPTION IN LIVERPOOL l8l
The first impression produced by the Hindu in the
drawing-rooms of Liverpool magnates, as well as in more
public places, seems to have been one of profound surprise.
To hear a Brahman zealously advocating Reform, and, with an
earnestness and emphasis that bespoke his sincerity, expatiating on the
blessings of civil and religious liberty, of course amazed our countrymen ;
and perhaps they were not less surprised, if the discussion took a
religious turn, to find him quoting text upon text with the utmost facility,
"It will be recollected," says the biographer, "that at a very early period
of his life Mr. Roscoe had collected the moral precepts of the New
Testament into a small volume, to which he gave the title of 'Christian
Morality, as contained in the Precepts of New Testament, in the
language of Jesus Chiist.' In the decline of life this youthful attempt
was recalled to his mind by a work of a similar character proceeding
from a very unlocked for quarter. This was the 'Precepts of Jesus'
collected, arranged and published at Calcutta by a learned Brahmin
Rammohun Roy.. ..The character and history of this extraordinary man
excited in the highest degree the interest and the admiration of Mr.
Roscoe. It is not surprising that with a man of this high and enlightened
character Mr. Roscoe should be desirous of communicating ; and accord-
ingly he took advantage of the opportunity of one of his friends proceed-
ing to India, to transmit to Rammohun Roy a small collection of his
works, which he accompanied with the following letter Before this
letter could reach its destination Mr. Roscoe had the unexpected grati-
fication of hearing that the extraordinary person to whom it was
addressed was already on his voyage to Europe. This intelligence was
quickly followed by his arrival at Liverpool, where his character and
striking appearance excited much curiosity and interest. The interview
between him and Mr. Roscoe will never be forgotten by those who wit-
nessed it. After the usual gesture of eastern salutation, and with a mixture
of oriental expression, Rammohun Roy said/Happy and proud am I — proud
and happy to behold a man whose fame has extended not only over
Europe, but over every part of the world.' ' I bless God,3 replied Mr.
Roscoe, ' that I have been permitted to live to see this day.' Their
conversation chiefly turned upon the objects which had led Rammohun
Roy to this country, and in the course of it he displayed an intimate
acquaintance with the political and commercial state of England." Edi].
182 RAMMOHUN ROY
and proving himself more familiar with their sacred books than
themselves.
Two wealthy Quaker families, Cropper and Benson by
name, paid him special attention, and brought him into social
fellowship with persons of all faiths. At one of these Quaker
parties "there were present High Churchmen, Baptists, Uni-
tarians, and Deists, all meeting in perfect harmony and
Christian charity." At the house of Mr. William Rathbone
he met the phrenologist Spurzheim, with whom personally
he was on excellent terms, but for whose "science" he had
only good-humoured ridicule. Theology and politics were,
as has been said, the favourite themes of colloquy ; but an
attempt — at Mr. Rathbone's — to draw Rammohun into
confession of his own precise religious conviction ended i
failure.
The Rajah stayed only a few days in Liverpool. He was
eager to be present in the House of Commons on the second
reading of the Reform Bill. So he hurried on to London
about the end of April. But his stay in Liverpool was a
fitting prelude to the general tenour of his visit, and has
therefore claimed slightly fuller notice.
The eclat of his first reception followed him on his way
to the metropolis. Says Mr. Sutherland :-—
The scene at Manchester, when he visited the great manufactories,
was very amusing. All the workmen, I believe, struck work, and men,
women, and children rushed in crowds to see "the King of Ingee V
Many of the great unwashed insisted upon shaking hands with him ;
some of the ladies who had not stayed to make their toilets very
carefully wished to embrace him, and he with difficulty escaped. . .
The aid of the police was required to make way f>r him to the
manufactories, and when he had entered, it was necessary to close and
bolt the gate to keep out the mob. . . After shaking hands with
hundreds of them he turned round and addressed them, hoping they
would all support the King and his Ministers in obtaining Reform ; so
happily had he caught the spirit of the people. He was answered with
IN LONDON 183
loud shouts, "The King and Reform for ever !" On the road to London,
wherever he stopped the inn was surrounded.
On the night of his arrival in the capital a rare honour
awaited him. He got into London late in the evening, and
being dissatisfied with the rooms assigned him in "a filthy
inn in Newgate Street," went on to the Adelphi Hotel which
he reached about ten o'clock. He had not told his friends
when he was coming, but they had learned from other
sources, and had prepared rooms for him at an hotel in
Bond Street.
Yet, strange to say, long after he had retired to rest, the venerable
Bentham, who had not for many years called on anyone or left his house,
I believe, except to take his habitual walk in the garden, found his way
to the hotel, and left a characteristic note for him.
This signal compliment from the leading British philo-
sopher of the time must have greatly gratified the stranger.
Rammohun took up his residence at 125, Regent Street,
and for some months held court there as real, if informal,
Ambassador from the people of India.
As soon ( says Sutherland ) as it was known in London that the great
Brahman philosopher had arrived, the most distinguished men in the
country crowded to pay their respects to him ; and he had scarcely got
into his lodgings in Regent Street, when his door was besieged with
carriages from eleven in the morning till four in the afternoon ; until
this constant state of excitement ( for he caught the tone of the day and
vehemently discussed politics with everyone ) actually made him ill, . .
when his physicians gave positive orders to his footman not to admit
visitors.
He became, in short, the lion of the season, and the
Dowager Duchess of Cork, a noted lion-hunter, early marked
him out for her prey. Mr. Sutherland comments with sur-
prise upon Rammohun's being "for a considerable time much
more in Tory than in Whig circles," even being introduced
into the House of Lords by the Duke of Cumberland. It
was his urgent solicitations which prevented the Tory peers
1 84 RAMMOHUN ROY
voting against the Indian Jury Bill. Considering the round
terms in which he rated the Tories to their face for opposing
the Reform Bill, their hospitable behaviour towards him
does them no small credit. "With Lord Brougham," Suther-
land tells us, "he was on terms of the closest and most con-
fidential intimacy * and, in short, he was honoured and
esteemed by men of the most opposite opinions.' '
That he should have been in great demand among the
Unitaria'ns, with whose leaders he had corresponded for years,
and whose cause at home and abroad he had done so much to
promote, was of course inevitable. He had not been long in
* [Mr. William Roscoe introduced Rammohun Roy on his arrival
in England to Lord Brougham with the following letter : — " I have the
great honour and very singular pleasure of introducing to your Lordship's
kind notice and attention the bearer of this, the clebrated and learned
Rammohun Roy, who is just arrived here from Calcutta, and of whom
you must already have frequently heard as the illustrious convert from
Hinduism to Christianity, and the author of the selections from the New
Testament of" The Precepts of Jesus ; " by the publication and diffusion
of which amongst the natives of the East reasonable hopes are now
entertained, that in a short time the shocking system and cruel practices
of Paganism will be abolished, and the people of those populous regions
be restored to the pure and simple precepts of morality and brotherly
love. Amongst the many and important motives which have induced
him to leave his country and connections, and visit this island, I under-
stand he is induced to hope he may be of some assistance in promoting
the cause of the natives of India in the great debate which must ere long
take pL.ce here, respecting the Charter of the East India Company;
but I have yet seen so little of him, from his numerous engagements
here, that I must leave your Lordship to learn his intentions from
himself, which you will find him very capable of explaining in his own
strong and appropriate English idiom. One great reason, as I under-
stand, for his haste to leave this for London, is to be present to witness
the great measure that will be taken by your Lordship and your illustri-
ous colleagues for promoting the long-wished-for reform of his native
country. On the present occasion I will not trouble you farther than
RECEPTION BY THE UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION 185
London before a special meeting of the Unitarian Association
was held in his honour.* He was welcomed by Dr. Carpenter
and others as 'brother* and 'fellow-labourer/t Rammohun
had not yet recovered from the illness which his excessive
popularity had brought on him, and responded with manifest
exhaustion, A few sentences may be quoted from his brief
speech : —
'With respect to your faith I may observe that I too believe in one
God, and that I believe in almost all the doctrines that you do ; but I do
this for my own salvation and for my own peace.' 'I have honour for
the appellation of Christian.' 'Scripture seconds your system of religion,
common sense is always on your side.' 'I am convinced that your
success sooner or later is certain.'
to request, that, if it should not be inconsistent with your Lordship's
station and convenience, you would obtain for our distinguished visitor
the benefit of a seat under the gallery in the House of Commons on the
debate on the third reading of the Reform Bill, which favour I am anxious
he should owe rather to your Lordship (if you have no objection to it)
than to other individuals, to whom, I understand, he has letters of
introduction. Edi.]
* Probably in May. The proceedings are fully reported in the
Monthly Repository for June, 1831.
f [The full reprt of this meeting, as recorded in the Monthly
Repository is as follows : —
"Just at this period (after the proceedings had commenced) the
Rajah Rammohun Roy made his appearance on the platform, and was
greeted with the cordial applause of the meeting.
The Rev. Chairman (Robert Aspland)— Our illustrious friend (for
such I trust he will allow me to call him) will permit me to state that
his presence creates among us a sensation which he perhaps will hardly
understand. It does so, because in his person and example we see an
instance of the power of the human mind in recovering itself from the
errors of ages ; and because we conceive that we see in him, with his
intelligence and character, one of the best and most disinteresed judges
of the claims of Unitarianism to be the original Christian doctrine.
* * ' * *
Dr. Bowring (afterwards Sir John Bowring)— I feel it as a very signal
24
1 86 RAMMOHUN ROY
Rammohun cotinued to the last in close communication
or personal fellowship with the chief Unitarian families of the
time, the Estlins, the Carpenters, the Foxes, and the like.
We have a letter of his to Rev. VV. J. Fox,* dated May 31,
1831, acknowledging with truly Oriental courtesy certain
books which the author had sent him, and hoping for an
interchange of visits "as soon as I am fully recovered" ; and
on June loth, a note assuring Mr. Fox " it will give me more
real gratification to visit you in your cottage, as you call it,
than to visit a palace. But as 1 happen to be engaged for
dinner every day till the iQth, I would prefer seeing you at
breakfast. . . " This shows us something of the throng of
honour to have entrusted to my care a resolution, the object of which is
to welcome our illustrious oriental friend, and to communicate all we
feel and hope towards him. I ought not to .say all we feel and hope,
for I am sure that it is impossible to give expression to those sentiments
of interest and anticipation with which his advent here is associated
in all our minds. I recollect some writers have indulged themselves with
inquiring what they should feel if any of (those time-honoured men whose
names have lived through the vicissitudes of ages, should appear among
them. They have endeavoured to imagine what would be their sensation
if a Plato or a Socrates, a Milton or a Newton were unexpectedly to
honour them with their presence. I recollect that a poet, who has well
been called divine, has drawn a beautiful picture of the feelings of those
who first visited the southern hemisphere, and there saw, for the first
time, that beautiful constelltation, the Golden Cross. It was with feelings
such as they underwent, that I was overwhelmed when 1 stretched out
in your name the hand of welcome to the Rajah Rammohun Roy. In
my mind the effect of distance is very like the effect of time ; and he who
comes among us from a country thousands of miles off, must be looked
upon with the same interest as the illustrious men who lived thousands
of years ago. But in the case of our friend, his coming may be deemed
* Editor of the Monthly Repository^ friend and patron of Robert
Browning, whose youthful Muse he was at this very time sedulously en-
couraging ; he might almost be called the first man of any literary stand-
ing who discovered the poet.
THRONG OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS 187
social engagements which claimed Rammohun. The visit
to breakfast was finally arranged, as we learrr from a note of
June 1 3th, in which the Rajah says, "I shall endeavour to
bring my little youngster with me, agreeably to your kind
request.'' He also thanks Mr. Fox for the sermon sent him,
adding,"After the discourse which I had the supreme grati-
fication of hearing delivered by you,I must read anything that
comes from your pen both with interest and instruction. "
an act of heroism of which the European cannot form a just estimate.
When Peter the Great went forth to instruct himself in the civilization
of the South,— when he left the barbarous honours of his own court to
perfect himself in shipbuilding at Saardam, he presented himself to the
public eye in a more illustrious manner than after any of his most glorious
victories. But Peter had to overcome no prejudices— he had to break
down no embarrassments, for he knew that he had left those who were
behind him with an enthusiasm equal to his own, and he knew that he
would be received by them, when he should return, with the same
display of enthusiasm. Our illustsious friend, however, has made a
more severe experiment : he has ventured to accomplish that which
perhaps none other, connected as he is, with the highest honours of
the Brahmanical race, ever attempted : he has ventured to do that which
would have been regarded with incredulity ten years ago, and which
hereafter will crown his name with the highest honour. He will go back
to his friends in'the East and tell them how interested we are in them,
and how delighted we are to communicate to them through him all our
desires to do everything in our power to advance their improvement and
felicity. Time would fail me if I were to attempt to go over the history
of our illustrious guest, if I were to tell how eminently and constantly he
has exerted himself for the removal of misery, and the promotion of
happiness. If at this moment Hindoo piles are not burning for the
reception of widows it is owing to his interference, to his exhortations,
to his arguments. Can we look on such benefits as those without con-
sidering him our brother ? Can he come here without hearing
our enthusiastic voices telling him how we have marked his progress, and
without our professing to him, if not our note of triumph, at least our
accents of gratitude ? It was to us a delightful dream that we might on
some occasion, welcome him here ; but though it was a hope, it was
1 88 RAMMOHUN ROY
A note to his booksellers, of May I, 1832, shows that he
was a regular subscriber to the Monthly Repository, the Uni-
tarian organ. He frequently attended Unitarian places of
worship. But Unitarians found, to their considerable surprise
that he was by no means prepared to identify himself wholly
with their cause. His first Sunday in England was typical.
He divided his attendance between Unitarian and Anglican
churches. In fact the balance seemed latterly to turn in
but a trembling one of which we scarcely dared to anticipate the
fruition. But its accomplishment has produced recollections so interest-
ing, that this day will be an epoch in our history, and no one will forget
the occasion when the Brahmin stood among us to receive our welcome,
and the assurance of the interest we take in all he does and in all he
shall do ; to which I may add that our delight will be too great if we
can in any way advance those great plans, the progress of which is the
grand object of his exertions. Sir, I move with great pleasure, "that
the members of this Association feel a deep interest in the amelioration
of the condition of the natives of British India ; that we trust their wel-
fare and improvement will never be lost sight of by the Legislature and
Government of our country ; that we have especial pleasure in the hope
that juster notions and purer forms of religion are gradually advancing
amongst them ; and that our illustrious visitor from that distant re-
gion, the Rajah Rammohun Roy, be hereby certified of our sympathy
in his arduous and philanthropic labours, of our admiration for his
character, of our delight in his presence amongst us, and of our con-
viction that the magnanimous and beneficent course which he has marked
out for himself and hitherto consistently pursued, will entitle him to the
blessings of his country-men and of mankind, as it will assuredly
receive those of future generations.
Dr. Kirkland (iate President of Harvard University, United States)—
In the absence of the Hon. Henry Wheaton, who was to have seconded
this motion but is prevented by indisposition, I have great pleasure in
seconding the motion. It is well known that the Rajah is'an object of lively
interest in America ; and he is expected there with the greatest anxiety.
The Rev. Chairman, — In proposing this resolution I beg to suggest
that the assembly should rise in unanimous approbation of its object.
RAMMOHUN'S COSMOPOLITAN SYMPATHY 189
favour of the Anglican. It was no Unitarian divine, but the
Rev. Dr. Kenney, the " Established" incumbent of St. Olaves
Southwark, whom Rammohun Roy came to style " his parish
priest. " The ground assigned for this choice is the Hindu's
admiration for Dr. Kenney's "benignity, charity, liberality to
the creeds of others, and honesty in the great political
The meeting accordingly rose and carried the resolution by acclama-
tion.
Rammohun Roy. — I am too unwell and too much exhausted to take any
active part in this meeting ; but I am much indebted to Dr. Kirkland
and to Dr. Bowring for the honour they have done me by; calling me their
fellow-labourer, and to you for admitting me to this society as a brother,
and one of your fellow-labourers. I am not sensible that I have done
anything to deserve being called a promoter of this cause ; but with
respect to your faith I may observe, that I too believe in the one God,
and that I believe in almost all the doctrines that you do : but I do this
for my own salvation and for my own peace. For the objects of your
Society I must confess that I have done very little to entitle me to your
gratitude or such admiration of my conduct. What have I done ? I do
not know what I have done ! If I have ever rendered you any services,
they must be very trifling— very trifling I am sure. I laboured under many
disadvantages. In the first instance, the Hindoos and the Brahmins,
to whom I am related, are all hostile tothe cause ;and even many Christ-
ians there are more hostile to our common cause than the Hindoos and
Brahmins. I have honour for the appelation of Christian ; but they
always tried to throw difficulties and obstacles in the way of the
principles of Unitarian Christianity. I have found some of these here ;
but more there. They abhor the notion of simple precepts. They
always lay a stress on mystery and mystical points, which serve to
delude their followers ; and the consequence is, that we met with such
opposition in India that our progress is very slight; and I feel ashamed
on my side that I have not made any progress that might have placed
me on a footing with my fellow-labourers in this part of the globe. How-
ever if this is the true system of Christianity, it will prevail notwith-
standing all the opposition that may be made to it. Scripture seconds
your system of religion, common sense is always on your side ; while
power and prejudice are on the side of your opponents. There is a
&AMMOHUN ROY
struggle for Reform." There is a dash of humour about the
fact of the author of 'Reasons for frequenting a Unitarian
place of worship instead of the numerously attended establish-
ed Churches' coming round in the end to style an Established
clergyman his "parish priest." But of this more anon.
Rammohun's political sagacity in supposing that his
influence would tell more decisively for India through his
personal if unofficial presence in London than through the
usual official channels connecting the subject race with the
supreme government was abundantly confirmed by the event.
Whatever flaw official etiquette might find in the validity of
his credentials was more than covered by the acceptance
which the ultimate authority accorded to his mission. It is
said* that Ministers of the Crown " recognised his embassy
and his title" as the ennobled representative of the Emperor
of Delhi. But the much more important fact was that the
people of England, in their own spontaneous way, acknow-
ledged him as Ambassador from the people of India. And
this fact, however trying to official nerves, could not be ignor-
ed. The East India Company did indeed adhere stiffly to
its refusal to recognise him either as Envoy from Delhi or as
Rajah. But it could no longer afford to treat him as cava-
lierly as it had treated him in Calcutta. Mr. Sutherland
battle going on between reason, scripture, common sense, and wealth,
power and prejudice. The three have been struggling with three ; but
I am convinced that your success, sooner or later, is certain. I feel
overexhausted, and therefore conclude with an expression of my heart-
felt thanks for the honour that from time to time you have conferred on
me, and which I shall never forget to the last moment of my existence.
The Chairman.— The Rajah will now allow me, as the representative
of this assembly, to take him once more by the hand, and to repeat in
your name our deep and heartfelt thanks for his presence ou this
occasion." — Edi.]
* By the Asiatic Journal^ November, 1833.
.RECEPTION BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY IQI
remarks somewhat sardonically on the striking alteration in
their demeanour to Rammohun Roy which his reception in
England effected among the Anglo-Indian officials. The
very same men who had treated him with scorn in India now
eagerly courted his acquaintance. The change of attitude
was conspicuously signalized on the 6th of July, 1831, when
a dinner was given to the distinguished stranger by the
East India Company. " It was what was called a family
dinner in contradistinction to the grand feast given upon the
eve of the departure of a Governor for India."* It was never-
theless quite a State affair. The Chairman and Deputy
Chairman of the Company presided, and some four-score
guests were present. In proposing the toast of the evening
the Chairman chiefly indulged in personal eulogy, but added
the hope that Rammohun's reception would encourage other
'able and influential' Hindus to visit England. Rammohun
in reply was equally discreet. ' That day was one,' he said,
'to which he had looked forward with the greatest degree of
expectation. It rejoiced him to be seated amongst a body
of gentlemen who had with such humanity and kindness
carried on the government of India.' He contrasted the
sanguinary anarchy which had prevailed in India prior to
the advent of the British with its present peace and progress.
'He felt most grateful to the various illustrious persons who
had filled from time to time the office of Governor-General, —
to Lords Cornwallis, Wellesley, and Hastings' (he is careful
not to mention Lord Amherst),— - ay, and to Lord William
Bentinck, who ' had done all in his power to gain the good
opinion of the natives of India and so raise them in the scale
of nations. He felt proud and grateful at what India was ex-
periencing,' and hoped she would ever enjoy a government
equally popular, kind, conciliatory, and humane.
* Asiatic Journal, August, 1831, from whose report of the dinner at
the City of London Tavern the particulars next mentioned are taken,
192 RAMMOHUN ROY
The chronicler observes thai " it was rather curious to see
the Brahman surrounded by hearty feeders upon turtle and
venison and champagne, and touching nothing himself but
rice and cold water."
This public honour would certainly not lessen the influence
which^ Rammohun possessed as an authority on all Indian
questions. It was only natural that the Select Committee of
the House of Commons which was appointed in February
and re-appointed in i June to consider the renewal of the
Company's Charter should invite him to appear before it.
This request Rammohun declined, but tendered his evidence
in the form of successive " Communications* to the Board of
Control," which besides duly appearing in the Blue Books
were published by him in a separate volume.t The first of
these was dated August 19, 1831, and dealt with the
Revenue. It consists of two parts, one setting forth the facts
and remedies proposed in question and answer, the other a
summary paper of proposals. Rammohun here appears as
the champion of the rack-rented ryot, or cultivator. While
the Zemindars or landholders had been greatly benefited by
the Perpetual Settlement of 1793, while their wealth and the
wealth of the community generally had increased, the poor
cultivator was no better off. " Such is the melancholy
* [With reference to these Dr. Carpenter wrote : "His communic-
tions to our Legislature show with what closeness of observation, sound-
ness of judgment, and comprehensiveness of views, he had considered
the various circumstances which interfered with its improvement, or
which, on the other hand, tended to promote it. They show him to be
at once the philosopher and the patriot. They are full of practical
wisdom ; and there is reason to believe that they were highly valued by
the Government,and that they aided in the formation of the new system,
by which the well-being of our vast dependencies in India must be so
greatly affected for good or for ill." Edi.]
t Exposition of the practical operation of the Judicial and Revenue
Systems of India, etc.— Smith, Elder & Co. 1832.
COMMUNICATIONS TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
condition of the agricultural labourers," he wrote, " that it
always gives me the greatest pain to allude to it." The
remedy he asked for was in the first place the prohibition
of any further rise in rent, and secondly — rents being now
so exorbitantly high as to leave the ryot in a state of extreme
misery,— a reduction in the revenue demanded from the
zemindar so as to ensure a reduction in the ryot's rent. The
decrease in revenue he would meet by increasing taxes upon
luxuries, or by employing as collectors low-salaried natives
instead of high-salaried Europeans. He also approved of
the settlement in India of a few model landlords from
England, but was careful to stipulate that they should not t
be drawn from the lower classes. He concluded with an
earnest appeal " to any and every authority to devise some
mode of alleviating the present miseries of the agricultural
peasantry of India."-
In an appendix he urged the Imperial utility of this policy.
To recognise the indefeasible rights of the ryot in the soil
would make him loyal to the power that secured them. "The
saving that might be effected by this liberal and generous
policy, through the substituting of a militia force for a great
part of the present standing army, would be much greater
than any gain that could be realized by any system of in-
creasing land revenue." This argument was backed up by a
quotation from Saadi, which puts Rammohun's ideal for
British rule in India in a nutshell : —
Be on friendly terms with thy subjects,
And rest easy about the warfare of thine enemies ;
For to an upright prince his people is an army.
Throughout this communication the spokesman of the
New India showed himself once more to be no mere advo-
cate of the moneyed and educated classes, but the real tribune
of the toiling and oppressed poor.
In his Questions and Answers on the Judicial System of
25
IQ4 RAMMOHUN ROY
India, which was dated September 19, 1831, he proposed
many and extensive reforms. Among the principal measures
he advocated were the substitution of English for Persian as
the official language of the courts of law ; the appointment of
native assessors in the civil courts ; trial by jury, of which
the Punchayet system was the native parallel •, separation of
the offices of judge and revenue commissioner ; separation of
the offices of judge and magistrate ; codification of the crimi-
nal law and also of the civil law of India; and consultation
with the local magnates before enacting laws.
His Additional Queries respecting the condition of India,
dated September 28, 1831, contained much valuable informa-
tion. He recommended at the outset that "if the people of
India were to be induced to abandon their religious preju-
dices and thereby become accustomed to the frequent and
common use of a moderate proportion of animal food, the
physical qualities of the people might be very much improv-
ed." The moral condition of the people he found to be good
at a distance from large towns and head-stations and courts
of law ; bad among townsfolk ; and still worse among clerks
of courts, zemindars' agents, and the like. The people gener-
ally possessed "the same capability of improvement as any
other civilized people." Those about the courts of princes
rather carried their politeness to an inconvenient extent.'*
He declared the ancient families to be "decidedly disaffected"
to British rule, and urged that the only policy which could
ensure the attachment of the intelligent natives was to make
them eligible for gradual promotion, by merit and ability, to
situations of trust and respectability in the State.
In this same month of September, Rammohun Roy was
presented to the King* and added to his other distinctions
* [He was presented to His Majesty by the President of the Board
of Control, and had a place assigned to him at the Coronation among. the
ambassadors, Edi.]
PRESENTATION TO THE KING 195
that of being the first Brahman received at the British court.
The incident is one that lends itself to the art of a great his-
torical painter. The ceremony was the picturesque token
of a significant moment in the evolution of empire.
Rammohun was now a fully fledged member of the high-
est circles of society. Perhaps it was at this time that he was
induced to depart from the "perfectly unostentatious" style
of living which was to him habitual. "For a short time,
about three months," according to Sutherland, "he had
yieled to advice that was anything but disinterested, and
taken up his residence in a most magnificent abode in Cum-
berland Terrace, Regent's Park, where he lived extravagant-
ly.* Under the advice that was not disinterested Mr. Suther-
land is evidently referring to a man of whom we have heard
before and who comes into unpleasant prominence in
connection with the closing scenes of Rammohun's career.
Mr. Sandford Arnot was acting as assistant editor to Mr,
Buckingham on the staff of the Calcutta Journal in 1823,
when that newspaper roused the wrath of Acting Governor-
General Adams, and when consequently he had to follow his
chief into banishment from India. On Rammohun's arrival
in England, Mr. Sandford Arnot, doubtless on the strength
of old acquaintance, was engaged as his secretary, and seems
to have generally accompanied himf .
* The Indian Gazette, February 1 8, 1834. We have letters of Ram-
mohun, Roy, dated 125, Regent Street, up to June 13, 1831, and letters
of his dated from 48, Bedford Square, from January 27, 1832 ; so that
this interval of extravagant residence must have fallen between those
dates. Arnot says that most of Rammohun Roy's papers on the Judicial
and Revenue System were written in Regent Street ; which points to
the removal to Cumberland Terrace taking place in or about September.
f "As I may be accompanied by a European friend and two servants,
I will lodge at some hotel in your immediate neighbourhood." R. Roy
to J. B. Estlin, in a letter dated May 10, 1831.
RAMMOHUN ROY
Unless this quondam journalist has been shamefully
traduced, he was a low, cunning parasite. Having fastened
on a rich and generous patron, whose position in a strange
land made him peculiarly dependent on the guidance of
British friends, he turned the opportunity without scruple
to his own sordid account. In this as in other instances
Rammohun showed himself— probably through excess of
good nature — lacking in a wise choice of friends.
Not that he was by any means a slave to the caprice of
those he had chosen ; as was shown in this very matter of
residence. Sutherland tells us that " his good sense soon
prevailed over this folly' of an extravagant establisment.
He abandoned this splendid mansion and went to live with Mr. Hare,
the brother of Mr. David Hare* of Calcutta, in Bedford Square, where he
continued while he was in London. He kept a plain chariot, with a
coachman and footman in neat liveries ; in fact adopted and adhered to
the style of a private gentleman of moderate fortune, though still courted
by the first men in the kingdom.
Of the stately figure which so much impressed London
society, it may be well to reproduce here two portraits drawn
by different hands. The first is by his friend Mr. Suther-
land, writing in the Indian Gazette, Feb. 18, 1834. He
says : —
Rammohun Roy surpassed the generality of his countrymen in his
personal appearance almost as much as in his mental powers. In his
prime of manhood his figure was beyond the common height, and was
stout and muscular in proportion. His countenance wore an expression
of blended dignity and benevolence that charmed at first sight and put
his visitors at their ease, while it checked an irreverent familiarity. In
the latter part of his life, which closed in his sixtieth year, his manly
figure began to droop, perhaps not so much from age as the weight of
thought and the toil of study. But his fine dark eye, though it lost some-
thing of its fire, retained its intelligence and amenity to the last.
* The old comrade of Rammohun in Calcutta, in the struggle for the
higher education of the natives.
'PERSONAL SKETCHES WHILE IN LONDON
The other sketch is by "R, M. M,," and appeared in the
Court Journal Tor Oct. 5, 1833 : —
The Rajah, in the outer man, was cast in nature's finest mould : his
figure was manly and robust : his carriage dignified : the forehead tower-
ing, expansive and commanding : the eye dark, restless, full of bright-
ness and animation, yet liquid and benevolent, and frequently glistening
with a tear when affected by the deeper sensibility of the heart ; the nose
of Roman form and proportions : lips full and indicative of independence;
the whole features deeply expressive, with a smile of soft and pecular fas-
cination which won irresistibly the suffrages to whom it was addressed.
His manners were characterized by suavity blended with dignity, verging
towards either point according to the company in which he might be
placed. To ladies his politeness was marked by the most delicate manner,
and his felicitous mode of paying them a compliment gained him very
many admirers among the high-born beauties of Britain. In conversa-
tion with individuals of every rank and of various nations and professions,
he passed with the utmost ease from one language to another, suiting his
remarks to each and all in excellent taste, and commanding the astonish-
ment and respect of his hearers.
It was in argument, however, that this exalted Brahmin was most
conspicuous : he seemed to grapple with truth intuitively, and called in
invective, raillery, sarcasm, and sometimes a most brilliant wit, to aid him
in confuting his opponent ; if precedent were necessary, a remarkably
retentive memory and extensive reading in many languages supplied him
with a copious fund ; and at times with a rough, unsparing, ruthless
hand he burst asunder the meshes of sophistry, error and bigotry, in
which it might be attempted to entangle him.
Of Rammohun's social life in London, as of his entire
European visit, very much is told in Miss Mary Carpenter's
Last Days in England of the Rajah,* which need not be
repeated here.f We catch glimpses of him at sundry sorts of
society functions, always the centre of admiring attention,
always, too, the thorough Oriental gentleman, versatile,
* Trubner & Co., 1869. \ While we have gladly availed ourselves of
this work, our principal sources for the present chapter are found else-
where, as the attentive reader will discern.
t [ In the present edition a good deal of the matter from Miss Carpen-
ter's book has been embodied — Edi. ]
19^ RAMMOHUN ROY
emotional, yet dignified.* His gracious manners and his
especial deference to womenf greatly ingratiated him with the
fair sex, several of whom have left on record warmly appre-
ciative reminiscences. Mrs. Le Breton J who was a near
neighbour. of the Hares, tells of her aunt frankly confessing
that "his feelings for women, still more his admiration of the
mental accomplishments of English ladies, won our hearts."
Mrs. Le Breton goes on —
I often met him in London . .at large parties and even balls,
where he would converse on subjects that seemed rather unsuitable to
the place,— the Trinity and other sacred things which were occupying^/
his own thoughts.
The same lady has preserved an instructive incident
which explains better than volumes of analysis the fatuous
failure of the baser sort of Anglo-Indian : —
At a party at a friend of ours — Captain Mauleverer, who had known
the Rajah in India and was very much attached to him, — we . . over-
heard one of the guests, an Indian officer of rank, say angrily "What is
that black fellow doing here ?" A shocking speech to those who loved
and honoured him so much !
* [Miss Carpenter writes (Last Days of Rammohun Roy, p. 93) :
"How much the Hindu Reformer attracted the attention of society, and
won the respect of the intellectual portion of it, is shown by the following
extracts from Miss Lucy Aikin's letters to Dr. Charming C Memoirs, Mis-
cellanies and Letters of the late Lucy Aikin, London, Longman). The
first from a letter to Dr. Channing dated Hampstead, June 28, 1831 : —
'In the intervals of politics we talk of the Christian Brahmin, Ram-
mohun Roy. All accounts agree in representing him as a person of
extraordinary merit. With very great intelligence and ability, he unites
a modesty and simplicity which win all hearts." — Edi].
f [In this connection the testimony of Mrs. Davison, to one of
whose children the Raja was God-father, deserves reproduction. Mr.
Davison wrote : "For surely never was there a man of so much modesty
and humility ! I used to feel quite ashamed of the reverential manner
in which he behaved to me. Had I been our Queen, I could not have
been approached and taken leave of with more respect." Edi.]
% In her Memories of Seventy Years.
ACQUAINTANCE WITH FANNY KEMBLE 199
Such is the folly which pride works in the less worthy
members of a conquering race. Rammohun might be— and
was — scholar and statesman, philanthropist and religious
reformer, the friend and superior of many a Governor and
Minister ; yet to this military bully he was only 'that black
fellow' ; and therefore to be chevied out of genteel society.
We nevertheless find Rammohun thoroughly at home
among the young Tory bloods, not hesitating to rate them
soundly as 'Vagabonds" and worse for impeding the progress
of Reform.
Fanny Kemble was one of the celebrities who have left on
record appreciative reminiscences of their meeting
with the Rajah. She was introduced to him at the house of
Mr. Basil Montagu, a mutual friend. He was delighted to
find her already acquainted with the Hindu drama, but was
surprised to learn that she did not know Sakuntala, which he
regarded as the most remarkable play which India had pro-
duced, and which Goethe called "the most wonderful produc- V
*•••
tion of human genius." The Rajah subsequently sent her a
copy of Sir William Jones' translation, but she failed to
find in it the beauty and sublimity he attributed to it.
Rammohun was evidently profoundly susceptible to dramatic
impressions, as may be seen from an entry in Mrs. Kemble's
diary for December 22, 1831 : —
In the evening the play was "Isabella" ; the house very bad. I played
very well. The Rajah Rammohun Roy was in the Duke of Devonshire's
box, and went into fits of crying, poor man !
This is a fact in a many-sided character which we are *v
glad to have preserved. It is pleasant to know that the great
reformer was not above tears, even over a well-acted play.
We owe another instructive glimpse of the man to the same
keen and kindly eye. The young actress records her presence
at 'a pleasant party' at the Montagus' on March 6, 1832,
where for an hour she 'recovered her love of dancing,' and
where she met the Rajah.
200 RAMMOHUN ROY
We presently began a delightful nonsense conversation, -which lasted
a considerable time, and amused me extremely. His appearance is very
striking. His picturesque dress and colour make him, of course, a
remarkable object in a London ballroom. His countenance, besides being
very intellectual, has an expression of great sweetness and benignity.
After a threatened break "we resumed our conversation
together and kept up a brief interchange of persiflage which
made us both laugh very much." Three days later she notes
receiving "a charming letter and some Indian books from
that most amiable of all the wise men of the East."* One
smiles to imagine what the good Baptists at Serampore
Mission would think now of their quondam associate and
literary combatant. These visits to the playhouse in the
society of one of the first peers of the realm, and these gay
frivolities with an actress would doubtless only confirm their
theological misgivings as to the future fate of the "intelligent
heathen." Rammohun had certainly no scruples about
theatre going. On June 12, 1833, we find him writing to
Miss Kiddell offering to accompany that lady and her friends
to Astley's in the evening,
Among other celebrities which Rammohun met about this
time was Robert Owen, the father of British Socialism! The
religious and the economic reformers were guests of Dr. Arnot,
and Owen did his best to convert Rammohun to Socialism.
As the Scot finally lost his temper, the Hindu was considered
to have had the best of the argument. It is interesting to
remember that Mr. John Hare could call himself in a letter
to Mr. Estlin (of March 25, 1834) "a poor Owenite."
The broad humanness of the Rajah's character is further
shown in a little incident recorded by Miss Carpenter. The
infant son of the Rev. D. Dawson was named after him
'Rammohun Roy'. The Rajah was actually present at the
baptismal ceremony, and subsequently evinced a lively interest
* Fanny Kemble's Record of a Girlhood, vol. i., p. 290, and iii. 144.
RAMOMHUN'S BROAD HUMANNESS 2OI
in the little fellow, calling frequently to see him. In fact,
Mrs. Dawson wrote, "His visits to me were generally paid to
me in my nursery, as he insisted on coming up so as to visit
his namesake at the same time and not to interrupt me."
Whatever the measure of perpetuity vouchsafed to the
religious movement begun by Rammohun, this glimpse of the
stately and courtly Brahman in the nursery, eager to see the
baby and thoughtful of the mother's convenience, will, one
may hope, be treasured by his followers to the very last of
them as one of the sweetest and most beautiful memories of
their Founder. Probably no index of character is so decisive
as the attitude assumed to mother and child ; and especially
of religious leaders does this rule hold. Rammohun Roy in
the nursery will be remembered by Brahmo mothers and
Brahmo children much more vividly and endearingly than in
any of his appearances in Court, or Senate-house, or Church,
or even in the group of loving disciples.
Amid these varied social experiences, Rammohun never
seems to have forgotten the scrutiny to which his conduct
would be subjected by public opinion in India. We find him
on January 27, 1832, writing to a friend who had invited him
to attend a Unitarian Anniversary dinner, on Feb. 8th, in
terms which reveal his constant watchfulness and sensitive
regard to Indian criticism. He says :
It is truly mortifying for me to hesitate even for a moment to comply with
a request of one whom I so highly esteem and respect. But I have before
explained to you how much attending public dinners might be injurious
to my interest in India and disagreeable to the feeling of my friends there.
When you recollect, my dear Sir, that I attended the anniversary of the
Unitarian Association in defiance of the positive advice of my medical
attendants, who declared that my joining so large an assembly while I
was troubled with inflammation would endanger my life, I feel satisfied
that you will not attribute my absence to indifference about your success.
I was induced to attend Dr. Williams' anniversary dinner under an
assurance from the Rev. Mr. Aspland that the party would consist of
26
202 RAMMOHUN ROY
friends who felt a warm interest on my behalf. But even then I felt all
the time disquiet and low spirited. However should there be any divine
service before dinner at the meeting or at your Chapel, I shall be very
happy to attend at the service and return home. I sincerely feel the
absence of our esteemed friend Dr. Bowring.
He finally consented to join the party "after dinner at
9 o'clock at the London Tavern," so we learn from a note
of his of Feb. 7. This dislike of his to public dinners was
evidently due to their publicity. We have already observed
the readiness with which he accepted invitations to private
dinner parties — at one time dining out nine successive days ;
but these not being reported in the newspapers would not be
so likely to reach the ears of -his Hindu opponents, who were
eagerly seeking occasions to prove against him breach of caste.
But about this time Rammohun's chief pre-occupation was
political rather than social or ceremonial. The agitation for
Reform was sweeping on to the final crisis. The First Bill
introduced by Lord John Russell as Rammohun was nearing
England (March i, 1831), and defeated in Committee in April,
had been followed by an immediate Dissolution. The Second
Bill was carried through the new House of Commons by Sept.
22, but on Oct. 8 was rejected by the Lords, and the country
was brought to the verge of civil war. The Third Reform
Bill was carried through all its stages in the Lower House
before the end of the following March (1832); and the nation
awaited the action of the Lords in a wild fever of excitement.
Rammohun shared in the general agony of suspense. He felt
that it was no mere British business, but that it vitally affected
the fortunes of mankind, and in no place more than in India.
In a letter to MissKiddell, of date "48, Bedford Square, March
31," he says: —
I had lately the pleasure of seeing the Rev. Dr. Carpenter, and
hearing from that truly venerable minister that Miss Castle and yourself
were perfectly well and deeply interested in the cause of Reform, on the
success of which the welfare of England, nay of the world, depends. I
PASSING OE THE REFORM BILL 2OJ
should have long ere this visited Bristol and done myself the honour of
paying you my long promised visit, but I have been impatiently waiting
in London to know the result of the Bill. I feel very much obliged by
your kind offers of attention to my comforts while I am in that part of
the country, of which I hope to be able to avail myself as soon as my
mind is relieved on this subject.
It will be remembered that on the momentous measure
being introduced in the Upper Chamber, the peers showed
signs of yielding to the storm of popular agitation. The
Second Reading was carried on April I4th by 9 votes. On
the 2/th Rammohun was sending to a lady friend in the
country, — Mrs. Wood ford by name, — copies of his Remarks
on India and a pamphlet on the abolition of Suttee ; and in
the accompanying letter he referred to Lord W. Bentinck's
Anti-Suttee administration and then to the victory over the
peers, as follows :—
You will, 1 am sure, be highly gratified to learn that the present
Governor-General of India has sufficient courage to afford them [Hindu
widows ] protection against the selfish relations, who cruelly used to take
advantage of their tender feelings in the name and under the cloak
of religion.
It must have afforded Mr. Woodford and yourself much gratification
to learn by the first conveyance the division on the second reading of the
Reform Bill. The struggles are not merely between the reformers arid
anti-reformers, but between liberty and oppression throughout the
world ; between justice and injustice, and between right and wrong.
But from a reflection on the past events of history, we clearly perceive
that liberal principles in politics and religion have been long gradually
but steadily gaining ground, notwithstanding the opposition and obstina-
cy of despots and bigots. 1 am still unable to determine the period
of my departure from London and my visit to you in the country. I
may perhaps do myself that pleasure.
After the peers bad shown fight for the last time, and had
at last (in June) been cowed into finally passing the Bill,
which was followed by similar measures for Ireland and
304 RAMMOHUN ROY
Scotland, the Rajah wrote to Mr. Wm. Rathbone under date
of July 3 1st:—
I am now happy to find myself fully justified in congratulating you
and my other friends at Liverpool on the complete success of the Reform
Bills, notwithstanding the voilent opposition and want of political
principle on the part of the aristocrats. The nation can no longer be a
prey of the few who used to fill their purses at the expense, nay, to the ruin
of the people, for a period of upwards of fifty years. The ministers have
honestly and firmly discharged their duty and provided the people with
means of securing their rights. I hope and pray that the mighty people
of England may now in like manner do theirs, cherishing public spirit
and liberal principles, at the same time banishing bribery, corruption,
and selfish interests from public proceedings.
As I publicly avowed that in the event of the Reform Bill being
defeated I would renounce my connection with this country, I refrained
from writing to you or any other friend in Liverpool until I knew the
result. Thank Heaven, I can now feel proud of being one of your fellow
subjects, and heartily rejoice that I have the infinite happiness of wit- y
nessing the salvation of the nation, nay, of the whole world.
Pray remember me kindly to Mr. Cropper and Mr. Benson, and
present my best respects to Mrs. Rathbone and my love to the children....
P.S.— If the German philosopher is still at Liverpool, be good enough
to remember me kindly to him, and inform him that we have succeeded
in the Reform question wirhout having recourse to the principles of
phrenology.
One is glad to see that the Rajah did not forget the
children when he wrote, and that he could not resist the
chance of poking fun at the good-humoured Spurzheim. His
public threat of renouncing British allegiance in case the
peers triumphed might perhaps seem amusing to the lower,
type of Anglo-Indian mind,— the type that thought of him* ,
as only "that black fellow." The spectacle of a solitary '
Hindu renouncing the British Empire and all its works
because of its refusing a wider franchise, not to his Eastern
countrymen, but to the people of England, might be so
construed as to look positively funny. But Rammohun was
conscious of being virtually Ambassador for India; and if the
PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLAND 2O$
sympathies of the progressive Hindus whom he typified were
estranged from an unreformed England, and given, say, to a
more democratic France, the Oriental memories and aspirations
of the French might find less difficulty in making trouble for
us in India. In any case, it was the most pronounced protest
the Hindu reformer could make ; and at a time of world-
crisis, as he conceived it, he must strike his heaviest stroke.
It was stated, indeed, that should the Bill be defeated, he was
resolved on leaving England and transferring himself and his
allegiance to the United States. But we remember the
intense enthusiasm he displayed for the tricolour when he
first saw it at the Cape ; and a further proof of his French
sympathies was supplied by his visit to Paris in the autumn
of the year.
While the people of England were thus successfully re-
modelling their own system of Government, the Select
Committee of the House of Commons was busily employed,
amid all the storm of semi-revolutionary agitation, in consi-
dering how the government of the people of India might be
in its turn — though on a widely different plane, — advantage-
ously remodelled. Rammohun, alive to the finger-tips with
the significance of both phases of imperial reconstruction, was
naturally most concerned with what directly affected his own
countrymen. We have from his hand under date July I4th,
1832, a highly suggestive document which appeared in the
General Appendix to the Report of this Select Committee,
and was so submitted to Parliament.
It consists of Remarks onSettlement in India ly Europeans*
[ In the the midst of his absorbing political labours and social
engagements the Raja, while in England, made time to publish several
books, some of them new editions of old writings. The Christian Register
for February 1832, announced the following publications from the pen
of Rajah Rammohun Roy. "An essay on the Rights of Hindus over
ancestral property according to the Law of Bengal, with an append
206 RAMMOHUN ROY
It is a paper of rare personal and national importance. It
supports the plea, which he had previously put forward both
in speech and writing, for the removal of the restrictions
imposed by the old Charter on the lease or purchase of lands
by Europeans. He now enumerates nine advantages which
he expects from the freedom asked for. European settlers
would improve the agriculture and industry of the country,
would help to dispel native superstitions and prejudices,
would more readily secure improvements from Government,
would be a check on oppression, native or British, would
diffuse education through the land, would acquaint the public
at home with what was going on in India as it appeared to
other than official eyes, and would be an additional strength
to the Government in case of invasion. The two remaining
"advantages" must be quoted in full because of their daring
forecast of remote possibilities : —
The same cause would operate to continue the connection between
Great Britain and India on a solid and permanent footing ; provided only
that the latter country be governed in a liberal manner, by means of
Parliamentary superintendence and such other legislative checks in this
country as may be devised and established. India may thus for an
unlimited period enjoy union with England, and the advantage of her
enlightened Government; and in return contribute to support the great-
ness of this country.
containing Letters on the Hindoo Law of Inheritance" and "Remarks on
East India Affairs ; comprising the evidence to the Committee of the
House of Commons on the Judicial and Revenue systems of India, with
a dissertation on its Ancient Boundaries ; also suggestions for the future
Government of the Country illustrated by a Map and farther enriched
with Notes." A volume of his theological writings was published in
1832 by Allen and Co under the title "Translation of several principal
books, passages and texts of the Veds, and of some controversial works
on Brahminical Theology." The Raja intended to publish the journal of
his visit to Europe, which would certainly have been very interesting, but
evidently the work did not make much progress. — Edi ]
NOTE ON THE SETTLEMET OF EUROPEANS IN INDIA 20?
If, however, events should occur to effect a seperation between the
two countries, then still the existence of a large body of respectable
settlers (consisting of Europeans and their descendants, professing
Christianity, and speaking the English language in common with the
bulk of the people, as well as possessed of superior knowledge, scientific,
mechanical and political ) would bring that vast Empire in the East to
a level with other large Christian countries in Europe, and by means of
its immense riches and extensive population, and by the help which may
be reasonably expected from Europe, they (the settlers and their
descendants ) may succeed sooner or later in enlightening the surrounding
nations of Asia.
Certain disadvantages are then specified, with their
remedies. The insolence, over-reaching, and discredit to the
vBritish name, which were feared, might be obviated by
allowing to settle, for the first twenty years at least, only
"educated persons of character and capital," by equal laws,
and by the appointment of European pleaders in country
courts. Then follows a strange look ahead : —
Some apprehend as the fourth possible danger, that if the population of
India were raised to wealth, intelligence, and public spirit by the acces-
sion and by the example of numerous respectable European settlers, the
mixed community so formed would revolt (as the United States of
America formerly did ) against the power of Great Britain, and would
ultimately establish independence. In reference to this, however, it
must be observed that the Americans were driven to rebellion by
misgovernment, otherwise they would not have revolted and separated
themselves from England. Canada is a standing proof that an anxiety
to effect a separation from the Mother Country is not the natural wish
of a people, even tolerably well ruled. The mixed community of India
in like manner, so long as they are treated liberally and governed in an
enlightened manner, will feel no disposition to cut off its connection
with England, which may be preserved with so much mutual benefit to
both countries. Yet as before observed, if events should occur
to effect a separation (which may arise from many accidental causes, about
which it is vain to speculate or make predictions), still a friendly and
highly advantageous commercial intercourse may be kept up between •
two free and Christian countries, united as they will then be by resem-
blance of language, religion, and manners,
208 RAMMOHUN ROY
The fifth obstacle mentioned is the prejudicial effect of
the climate on the health of Europeans. This, it is suggested,
might be obviated to some extent by selecting the more
salubrious spots for settlement. The paper concludes with a
a plea for at least a trial of the experiment.
The prospects unfolded here in close and rapid succession
are almost enough to take one's breath away. The means
by which the anticipated results should be attained is a
matter of minor importance. The hope of an extensive and
permanent settlement of Europeans on Indian soil may have
proved in the present stage of civilization utterly fallacious.
The remarkable thing is the vision of the eventual condition
of his country, however arrived at, as it disclosed itself to the
mind of Rammohun Roy. He shows here with ample
clearness the kind of India he desired, and to some extent at
least expected to arise. It is an English-speaking India. He
anticipates that the settlers and their descendants will
" speak the English language in common with the bulk of
the people." It is, moreover, — and this is a matter of yet
greater surprise — a Christian India. He looks to it being
raised to a level with " other large Christian empires," and
speaks of England and India as prospectively "two free and
Christian countries..united..by resemblance of religion." It is,
in a word, generally Anglicised India, possessing the opulence,
intelligence and public spirit, and also the language, religion
and manners of the English race. Nor is the Rajah in the
slightest degree indisposed to contemplate the prospect of
India as a nation politically independent. In any case he
evidently desires to accept as her destiny the sublime role of
the Enlightener of Asia.
These five points constitute a singularly daring programme.
Never has the spokesman of the New India been so out-
spoken before. Never has he drawn so liberally on the
future. Yet most of the points are in the right line of his
THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF INDIA 209
previous development. He had been throughout a consistent
advocate for Europeanizing the Hindu intellect and the
Hindu civilization. His sympathy with the struggle for
national independence all over the world takes from his
anticipation of a free and independent India any element of
surprise. His hope that India would become a light to
lighten the nations of the East was a natural product of his
patriotism and love of rational culture. The one puzzling
thing in this forecast is the prospect of a Christianized India.
The cynic may be ready with the jibe that this part of the
programme was srtictly for British comsumption. The
Evangelical and Nonconformist public were shortly to show
their strength by carrying through Parliament the abolition
of West Indian Slavery ; and the lure of a converted East
Indies might be supposed to secure their powerful support
for Rammohun's less distant projects. This explanation,
quite apart from its slur on the Rajah's character, scarcely
fits the case. The reform Rammohun is asking for is by
no means of the dimensions to justify so tremendous a con-
cession ; and even if such a concession were intended, it
would hardly be veiled in those indirect and allusive sen-
tences. No one can suppose that the rest of the forecast
is disingenuous. Indian independence was not exactly
a prospect most agreeable to British susceptibilities ; yet it
is calmly advanced as a future possibility. The other points
are quite of a piece with all we have known of Rammohun
Roy. The imputation of insincerity in this one point of
religion is surely gratuitous. The whole forecast bears
the appearance of being genuine and in good faith. But
we must in fairness point out that to anticipate as possible
the conversion of India to Christianity is not necessarily to
regard that as the most desirable result, or to accept Chris-
tianity as one's own religion. In the struggle which must
ensue between Hinduism and the Christian faith Rammohun
27 •
210 RAMMOHUN ROY
may have foreseen that the latter would conquer as being
the more fit, without himself believing it to be the most fit.
It was certainly nearer his pure Theism than the agglome-
rate of beliefs which went under the Hindu name ; and its
triumph would certainly be more acceptable to him than
its defeat. But he still may have looked beyond the victory
of Christiantty and hoped for the subsequent ascendency
of his own Theistic faith. Nevertheless, however we may
explain his forecast, the fact remains that the Founder of
the Brahmo Somaj did anticipate the eventual Christiani-
zation of India. This is a fact the significance of which
ought to be at no time overlooked either by Brahmos or
by Christians.
Its importance is vastly increased when we remember
that this is the last publication of Rammohun Roy. His
career as author closes here ; and closes with this truly
colossal outlook. The document may not unfitly be held
to embody the Last Will and Testament of Rammohun
Roy to the People of India. His final literary delive-
rance holds up to them the fivefold prospect of
India speaking English,
India Christian,
India socially Anglicized,
India possibly independent,
India the Enlightener of Asia.
Among all the permutations and combinations of the Eastern
and the English-speaking worlds, may these large hopes of the
first Brahman who visited the English capital be reverently
remembered !
Within a few months of penning this high tribute to the
worth of English civilization, we find Rammohun Roy
resident in the metropolis of our traditional rival in the
East, Of his stay in Paris we have very scanty informa-
VISIT TO PARIS 211
tion. * Between the letter cited above and dated Bedford
Square, July 3ist, and a letter of Miss Aikin written in
October (1832), in which she speaks of Rammohun Roy
being then in Paris, we have no account of his movements.
We do not know when he went or when he returned. In
an Appendice to M. Garcin de Tassy's Rudiments de la
Langue Hindustani, published in 1883, there are twenty-one
original Hindustani letters from various authors, one of
whom is Rammohun Roy. Whether this was a fruit of his
Parisian visit we have no knowledge. The next that we
do know of him is given in a letter of his written after his
return to England, and dated January 3ist, 1833. It is
addressed to Mr. Woodford and reads in full : —
My dear Sir,— I had on the 27th the pleasure of receiving your
obliging communication, and beg to offer you and Mrs. W. my best
thanks for this mark of attention towards me. I rejoice to observe
that the translation of the Veds, &c., which I presented to Mrs. W.
before my departure for the Continent of Europe, has proved interesting
to her and yourself. 1 am now confirmed in the opinion that her good
sense and her rational devotion to religion will not induce her to reject
any reasonable sentiments on the ground that they are not found in this
book, or in that volume.
I was detained in France too late to proceed to Italy last year ; be-
sides, without a knowledge of French, I found myself totally unable to
carry on communication with foreigners, with any degree of facility.
Hence I thought I would not avail myself of my travels through Italy
and Austria to my own satisfaction. I have been studying French with
a French gentleman, who accompanied me to London, and is now living
with me.
I shall be most happy to receive your nephew, Mr. Kinglake, as 1
doubt not his company and conversation, as your relative and a firm
friend of Liberal principles, will be a source of delight to me. I thank
i you for the mention you made of Sir Henry Strachey. His talents,
* [Miss Carpenter says that in his trip to Paris Rammohun Roy was
accompanied by one of the brothers of David Hare and was more than
once at the table of Louis Philippe. ..Edi]
212 RAMMOHUN ROY
acquirements and manners, have rendered his name valuable to those
who know him and can appreciate his merits. To the best of my belief
and recollection, I declare that I do not know a native of Persia or India
who could repeat Persian with greater accuracy than this British-born
gentleman.
RAMMOHUN KOY.
It appears that he broke his return journey at Dover, for in
a letter from 48, Bedford Square, of February 7, 1833, he
writes to Miss Kiddell, of Bristol : —
I intended to pay you both [you and Miss Castle ] a visit while
residing in Dover, but was informed that it was necessary to pass
London on my way to Bristol. My health is, thank God, thoroughly
re-established.
He adds that he hopes to visit Bristol within a month's time,
and begs them to "present my best respect to Dr. Carpenter,
who truly stands very high in my estimation."
The public ends which brought Rammohun to England
were being one by one attained. For two years after his
arrival he had been prosecuting his mission from the King of
Delhi, and bringing the claims of his royal master before in-
fluential personages. Mr. Arnot, in the Asiatic Journal for
1833, p. 208, thus states the result : —
A short time before his death he had brought his negotiations with
the British Government on behalf of the King of Delhi to a successful
close, by a compromise with the Ministers of the Crown, which will add
£30,000 a year to the stipend of the Mogul, and of course make a
proportionate reduction in the Indian revenue. The deceased ambassa-
dor had a contingent interest in this large addition to the ample allowance
of the Mogul pageant, and his heirs, it is said, will gain from it a perpe-
tual income of £3,000 or £4,000 a year.
A denial of this version of the facts appeared, evidently from
an official source, in the Journal for January, 1834. The
writer, "A.B.,V did, however, allow that "Rammohun Roy
delivered into the Court" of Directors "and partially circulat-
ed a statement regarding the claims of the King"; and that he
SUCCESS OF RAMMOHUN'S MISSION 213
"also framed a letter in English and Persian from the King
of Delhi to his late Majesty George the Fourth, correspond-
ing in substance with the former"; but "no answer was return-
ed to either of these representations, and no negotiation on
the subject of them carried on with Rammohun Roy." The
Court of Directors had indeed granted an augmentation of
the King of Delhi's income, but solely on the representation
of the Governor-General in Council, and would have made
the addition although Rammohun Roy had never set foot in
England. The writer concludes by regretting that any por-
tion of the Directors' bounty to their royal beneficiary should
have been . diverted to Rammohun or his heirs. From these
admissions the non-official reader will probably conclude that
Rammohun's mission, however ignored officially, had really
succeeded. An impecunious monarch, is not likely to bestow
a pension of three to four thousand pounds a year except in
return for solid service rendered.*
During this his last summer Rammohun had the satisfaction
of witnessing the final blow administered to the cause of
Suttee. The Appeal against the abolition of that inhuman
rite was brought before the imperial authorities at home and
was by them decisively rejected. Rammohun was present
when the decision was announced on July n, 1833.
Meantime the deliberations connected with the renewal of
the East India Company's Charter were proceeding towards
legislation. The Report of the Special Committee had been
completed and presented to Parliament in August, 1832. It
was before the Court of Directors in the months of March and
April, 1833, and its recommendations agreed to. It was then
drafted as a Bill and presented in the House of Commons in
* In spite of these official admissions, Mr. Ananda Mohun Bose
questions the truth of Arnot's statement that the Rajah and his heirs
obtained the "perpetual income" named.
214 RAMMOHUN ROY
June. During these momentous negotiations Rammohun
was doubtless very busy. In a letter to Miss Kiddell, of date
Mayi4th, 1833, he again speaks of his intention to visit
Bristol.
But (he adds) important matters passing here daily have detained
me and may perhaps detain me longer than I expect. I however lose
no time in informing you that the influenza has already lost its influence
in London, a circumstance which justifies my entertaining a hope of
seeing you and your friends in the metropolis within a short time, *
perhaps by the 2$th instant.
P.S.— -I sincerely hope that you all have escaped the complaint.
So the influenza and the puns its name suggests were a
malady common in the year of the first Reformed Parliament.
On June 22 he writes to Miss Castle, who with Miss
Kiddell had charge of the education of his adopted son,
I hope you will excuse my boldness when I take upon myself to
remind you of your promise to read the publication of a certain learned
Brahmin which 1 have brought to your notice.
As we have seen, Rammohun was always eager to in-
troduce Hindu books to the knowledge of English people, and
this desire was naturally greater in regard to his son's teach-
ers. About the same time, he wrote Miss Kiddell, begging her
acceptance of a volume containing a series of sermons preach-
ed by Dr. Channing, which, he added, "I prize very highly."
The following letter to Miss Kiddell gives another glimpse of
the Rajah's varied character :
48, Bedford Square,
July 9th, 1833-
Dear Madam,— I had yesterday the pleasure of receiving your letter
of the 6th, and rejoice to learn that you find my son peaceable and well-
behaved. I however entreat you will not stand on ceremony with him.
* A hope certainly fulfilled by June I2th, when, as we have seen, the
Rajah wrote arranging to accompany Miss Kiddell to Astley's theatre.
DETAINED IN LONDON 21$
Be pleased to correct him whenever he deserves correction. My obser-
vation on, and confidence in, your excellent mode of educating young
persons, have fully encouraged me to leave my youngster under your sole
guidance. I at the same time cannot help feeling uneasy now and then
at the chance of his proving disrespectful or troublesome to you or
to Miss Castle.
Miss Daniel is not going to Bristol to-day. She will probably leave
us on Friday next, when I intend to send a parcel of books, &c., in her
charge. I hope I shall be able to have the peasure of visiting you at
your country residence next week, and not before, a circumstance which
I fear will prevent us from joining the meeting in your neighbourhood.
Dr. Carpenter (I think) left London on Saturday last. I doubt not you
will take my youngster every Sunday to hear that pious and true
minister of the Gospel.
I will write again by Friday next. In the meantime I remain, dear
Madam,
Yours very sincerely,
RAMMOHUN ROY.
Private convenience was, however, still further interfered
with by the slow progress of public business, as is shown by
this letter to Miss Ann Kiddell :—
48, Bedford Square,
July I9th, 1833-
Dear Madam, — I know not how to express the eager desire I feel to
proceed to Bristol to experience your further marks of attention and
kindness, and Mis Castle's civil reception and polite conversation. But
the sense of my duty to the natives of India has hitherto prevented me
from fixing a day for my journey to that town, and has thus overpowered
my feeling and inclination. It is generally believed that the main points
respecting India will be settled by Wednesday next, and I therefore
entertain a strong hope of visiting you by Friday next. I shall not fail to
write to you on Wednesday or perhaps on Tuesday next. I feel gratified
at the idea that you find my youngster worthy of your company. Never-
theless I entreat you will exercise your authority over him, that he may
benefit himself by your instructions. If you find him refractory, pray
send him back to London. If not, you may allow him to stay there
216 RAMMOHUN ROY
till I supply his place. With my best wishes for your uninterrupted
health and happiness,
I remain, dear Madam,
Yours very sincerely,
RAMMOHUN ROY.
P.S. — All the active members of the East India Company having been
incessantly occupied by the Charter question, I have not yet brought the
subject relative to your young nephew to the notice of any of them.
R. R.
The following letter to Miss Castle is on the same
sheet :—
Friday, dispatched on Saturday.
Ma chere Demoiselle, — Many thanks for your obliging and polite
communication, which by mistake, bears no date. I am glad to observe
that you are pleased with your late journey, and with your visit to
Windsor. The account which Miss Kiddell and yourself have given of
my son, gratifies me very much. Miss Hare received a letter from him
this morning which she read to me, expressing his utmost joy
and satisfaction with his present situation. I beg you will accept my
best thanks for your kind treatment of him. Instead of thanking me
for the little tract I had the pleasure to send you last week, I wish you
had said only that you would pay attention to it.
You will perceive from my letter to Miss Kiddell that I am to be
detained here a week longer at the sacrifice of my feelings. I however
cannot help reflecting that to entertain a hope of enjoying the society
of friends though for a short time, say one month, is more pleasant than
bringing it to a termination by the completion of it. Adieu for the present.
I remain,
Yours very sincerely and obliged,
RAMMOHUN ROY.
Impatience of protracted parliamentary delay appears
again in the following to Miss Ann Kiddell ; —
48, Beford Square,
July 24th, 1833.
Dear Madam,— From my anxiety to proceed to Bristol, heavy duties
appeared to me light, and difficult tasks had seemed easily manageable.
PASSING OF THE EAST INDIA BILL
The consequence was that I met with disappointments from time to
time, which I felt severely. To-day is the third reading of the Indian
Bill in the House of Commons, after long vexatious debates in the
Committee, impeding its progress under different pretensions. After
the Bill has passed the Lower House, will lose no time in ascertaining
how it will stand in the Upper Branch,and will immediately leave London
without waiting for the final result. I will proceed direct to Bristol next
week, and on my way to [from ?] London I will endeavour to visit my
acquaintances afc Bath and its vicinity. I deeply regret that I should
have been prevented from fulfilling my intention this week, by circum-
stances over which I had no control.
I feel very much obliged by your kind suggestions contained in my
son's letter. You may depend on my adhering to them. I intend to
leave this place a little before ten a.m., that I may arrive there on the
morning of the following day. Before I leave London I hope to be able
to procure the situation for your young relative. Pray present my kindest
regards to Miss Castle, and believe me, dear Madam,
Yours very sincerely,
RAMMOHUN ROY.
Three days after this letter (July 27th) we find Ram-
mohun writing to Miss Mary Carpenter, "happy to observe
from the communications of his son and his friends at Bristol
that Dr. Carpenter is perfectly well, and has been discharging
his duty as a faithful minister of Christ with his usual
zeal and piety."
The delay attending his Bristol visit is further explained
in another note to Miss Kiddell, dated 48, Bedford Square,
August i6th, 1833 : —
Dear Madam,— I have now the pleasure of informing you that I feel
relieved, and will proceed to Stapleton Grove on Thursday next. I beg
you will excuse this short letter as I am incessantly engaged in making
preparations, particularly in writing letters to India and in different
parts of this country. Pray give my love to my son and my kind regards
to Miss Castle and believe me, dear Madam, yours very sincerely,
RAMMOHUN ROY.
P. S.— Miss Hare presentsher compliments to yourself and Miss Castle.—
R. R.
28
2l8 RAMMOHUN ROY
At last the great measure which legalized the twenty odd
years, transition of Indian government from a trading com-
pany to an Empire was finally enacted. The East India
Bill received the Royal Assent on August 20. The Charter,
then and thus renewed, made the Company less than ever a
commercial agency and more more than ever a political.
It was virtually the last Charter. A precarious renewal in
1853 ended in the government of India being taken over
by the Queen in 1858. But Rammohun was not pleased
with the legislative activity of the Reformed Parliament, as
may be seen from this letter to Mr. Woodford.
48, Bedford Square,
August 22nd, 1833.
My dear Sir,— I was glad to hear from Mr. Carey some time ago
that you and Mrs. W. were in good health when he saw you last ; and
Sir Henry Strachey, whom I had the pleasure of seeing about three
weeks ago, has confirmed the same information. He is indeed an
extraordinary man ; and I feel delighted whenever I have an opportunity
of conversing with that philosopher. I have been rather poorly for
some days past ; I am now getting better, and entertain a hope of
proceeding to the country in a few days, when I will endeavour to pay
you a visit in Taunton. The reformed Parliament has disappointed the
people of England ; the ministers may perhaps redeem their pledge
during next session. The failure of several mercantile houses in Calcutta
has produced much distrust both in India and England. The news from
Portugal is highly gratifying, though another struggle is expected. I
hope you will oblige me by presenting to Mrs. W., wiih my best respects,
the accompanying copy of a translation, giving an account of the system
of religion which prevailed in Central India at the time of the invasion
of that country by Alexander the Great.
RAMMOHUN ROY.
A singular pathos attaches to this letter, which is the last
we have preserved to us from Rammohun's pen. Its wide
outlook, personal, political, historical, is characteristic of the
DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE REFORMED PARLIAMENT 2IQ
man, but his disappointment with the new Parliament is
more difficult to explain. The Session had given birth to
Lord Ashley's first Factory Act, and decreed the abolition
of West Indian slavery, — no small achievements even for a
reformed legislative machine. Possibly the terms of the new
Charter were not to Rammohun's mind. Yet perhaps in this
connection it would be well to recall what Mr. Arnot said in
his obituary sketch in the Asiatic Journal before referred to :
Though a decided reformer, he was generally a moderate one. For
his own country he did not propose even an Indian legislative council
like Mr. Rickards', and he deemed the English more capable of governing
his countrymen well than the natives themselves. A reference of measure
of internal policy to a few of the most distinguished individuals in the
European and native community, for their suggestions, previous to such
measures being carried into law, was the utmost he asked in the present
state of the Indian public mind. He not only always contended, at
least among Europeans, for the necessity of continuing British rule for at
least forty or fifty years to come, for the good of the people themselves ;
but he stood up firmly against the proposals of his more radical friends,
for exchanging the East India Company's rule for a Colonial form of
Government.
The reasons he adduced for this position are not wanting
in shrewdness. <r A Colonial form of Government," be it
remembered, did not then mean colonial self-government.
Mr. Arnot continued :
His argument was, that in all matters connected with the colonies,
he had found from long observation that the Minister was absolute, and
the majority of the House of Commons subservient, there being no body
of persons there who had any adequate motive to thwart the Government
in regard to distant dependencies of the British Crown. The change
proposed was, therefore, in his estimation, a change from a limited
Government, presenting a variety of efficient checks on any abuse oi its
powers, for an absolute despotism.
His suggestions for the reform of Indian Government were
thus of no extreme type. Yet mild as they were, they were
not embodied in the East India Bill. His elaborate recom-
220 RAMMOHUN ROY
mendations submitted to the Parliamentary Committee and
to the British public had not obtained legislative endorsement.
But whatever may have led to his estrangement from the
Grey Ministry, which he had at first applauded with enthusi-
asm, it need not now specially concern us. For Rammohun's
political career was over. The series of brilliant services which
mark him out as the pioneer of Indian freedom may be said
to have ended when King William gave his assent to the
East India Bill. The less than forty days which remained
to Rammohun Roy after that event were spent outside of the
arena of public questions.
About the closing weeks of his life there gathered many
shadows. His was a sunset not of flaming sky and gorgeous
cloud-wreath, but of struggling beams and weeping mist.
Sandford Arnot insisted that "during the last period of his
life his manners v/ere much changed and the powers of his
mind seemed to be decaying." This charge was stoutly
denied by his staunch Unitarian friends, and may have been
due only to Arnot's disappointed rapacity. The bluntest
statement of the Rajah's difficulties is given in a private letter
from the Sanskrit scholar, Horace Hayman Wilson, to Babu
Ram Comul Sen, written 2ist December, 1833 — three months
after Rammohun's death — but published in the Indian Mirror ;
July 15,1872.
Ram Mohun had grown very stout, and looked full and flushed when
I saw him. It appears also that mental anxiety contributed to aggravate
his complaint. He had become embarrassed for money, and was obliged
to borrow of his friends here ; in doing which he must have been
exposed to much annoyance, as people in England would as soon part
with their lives as their money. Then Mr. Sandford Arnot, whom
he had employed as his secretary, importuned him for the payment
of large sums which he called arrears of salary, and threatened
Ram Mohun, if not paid, to do what he has done since his
death— claim as his own writing all that Ram Mohun published in
England. In short, Ram Mohun had got amongst a low, needy,
ARRIVAL AT STAPLETON GROVE 221
unprincipled set of people, and found out his mistake, I suspect, when too
ate, which preyed upon his spirits and injured his health.
As this letter was written after conversation with Mr.
Hare's brother, it may be taken for trustworthy testimony.
Pecuniary embarrassment was a misfortune from which Ram-
mohun had never suffered before. His sons in India, accord-
ing to the letter of Babu Nagendra Nath Chatterjee of Jan. 2,
i883,reporting the testimony of BabuNanda Kishore Bose/neg-
'lected to send him money latterly,'' — a neglect which seems the
less excusable in the light of the large pension he had secured
for the family from the King of Delhi. His wealth, actual or
prospective, being in India, he could not realize it in England.
Babu N. Bose declares (in letter cited above) that owing to
the lack of remittances from India, Rammohun, who had
previously "refrained from dining with Englishmen," "was
compelled from sheer necessity to dine with the Carpenters."
The revolt of his parasites, however, only throws into clearer
contrast the firm loyalty of his Unitarian friends. He had
been living for some time now at the house of Mr. Hare, and
the daughter [sister] of Mr. David Hare — his educational
ally in Calcutta — was his devoted attendant to the end.
The long-looked-for journey to Bristol was taken at last.
Early in September the Rajah arrived at Stapleton Grove*
* [ Stapleton Grove is an agreeable and commodious mansion,
which might well be selected as an example of an English gentleman's
country residence. It had belonged to Mr. Michael Castle, a highly
esteemed Bristol merchant, and one of Dr. Carpenter's congregation.
On the death of that gentleman, and shortly after that of his wife, Dr.
Carpenter undertook the charge ( they had requested him to fulfil )
of being one of the guardians of their only child, a young lady of great
promises. As neither Dr. Carpenter's professional engagements, nor
the nature of his own establishment, authorised his seeking the privilage
he would so greatly have valued of receiving his distinguished friend in
his own house, it had been arranged soon after the Raja's arrival in
England, that whenever he was able to visit Bristol he should take up his
222 RAMMOHUN ROY
on the outskirts of that city, the hospitable home of Miss
Kiddell and Miss Castle, where his adopted son was being
educated. With Rammohun came his two Hindu servants
Ramhurry Doss and Ramrotun Mukerjee, neither of whom
proved models of domestic loyalty, — and the ever faithful
Miss Hare. Dr. Carpenter was in Bristol at the time, and
Mr. Estlin was Rammohun's medical adviser and friend.
Doubtless the Rajah, however worried by the claims
of the extortionate Arnot, and however anxious about his
future, would feel Stapleton Grove to be something like a
haven of rest. He was among cultured religious people whose
fidelity was beyond question. He was entertained and accom-
panied by admiring and sympathetic women. And his
adopted boy was with him. It is pleasant to reflect on this
little lull, of less than a fortnight, between a career full of
conflict and what Browning calls "the last fight and the best."
One menace to the tranquility of his stay at the Grove
was perhaps offered by the religious eagerness of the hospi-
table circle in which he moved. On the two Sundays he
was able to do so, he worshipped with his friends at Lewin's
Mead Chapel ; and they showed no slight desire to secure
from him a confession of Christian faith. Mr. Estlin recorded
in his diary for Sept. 9 that Rammohun had in his hearing
declared "he denied the Divinity of Christ," but "distinctly
asserted his belief in the Divine mission of Christ." Rev.
John Foster* bore witness to the fact that on the iithof
September the Rajah "avowed unequivocally his belief in the
resurrection of Christ and in the Christian miracles generally.
abode at Stapleton Grove, where Miss Kiddel and Miss Castle esteemed
it a high honour to receive him, and would do all in their power to ren-
der agreeable his stay in the neighbourhood. Last Days in England. — Edi.]
* Quoted in "The Last Days in England of the Rajah Rammohun
Roy," by Mary Carpenter, Trubner, 1866.
ATTEMPTS TO DRAW OUT CHRISTIAN CONFESSION 223
At the same time he said that the internal evidence of Christ-
ianity had been the most decisive of his conviction." Mr.
Estlin's diary for the nth attests that the Rajah gave an
account of the process which he went through in arriving at
his present religious conclusions : "his belief in the resurrec-
tion of Christ, as the foundation of his faith in the general
resurrection, he firmly declared."
The Rev. William Jay, of Bath, confesses to receiving a
similar impression. He preached on June I7th, 1832, in Row-
land Hill's chapel, a sermon on "The Riches of His Goodness,"
and among his hearers were the Lord Mayor of London and
the Rajah. Mr. Jay says in his advertisement dated 1843* :
"When the service was over the Rajah came into the chapel house and
pressed for leave, at his own expense, to print the sermon for distribution
among his friends." . . . "The author, with regard to this very extra-
ordinary man, cannot help remarkingthat not only from the circumstance
of his espousing this sermon (which, though not highly doctrinal, has allu-
sions and intimations which would not accord with some theology), but
from subsequent intercourse, as also from the testimony of others, he is
persuaded that though at his first embracing Christianity he was Unitarian
in his views, he was after he came to this country a sincere and earn-
est enquirer after evangelical truth, and would have professed his adop-
tion of it had he not been prematurely removed by death. 'f
In this connection we may mention another witness. The
Rev. Richard Warner, Rector of Great Chalfield, Wilts., pub-
lished in 1832 a sermon on "Charity ,the Greatest of the Christ-
ian Graces," with a Dedication to Rammohun Royt, in which
* Works of William Jay, vol. vii., page 100 (London, 1843).
f A glimpse of the heart of the man is given in an incident men-
tioned by Mr. Jay. The worthy divine had told the old story : "When
Dr. Doddridge asked his little daughter, who died so early, why every-
body seemed to love her, she answered, 'I cannot tell, unless it be be-
cause I love everybody.' '' He adds in a footnote : "Around this anec-
dote the Rajah, in the copy he sent the preacher, had drawn a pencil
line."
J Quoted in pp. 22 and 23 of "A learned Indian in search of a
Religion," by William Hamilton Drummond, D.D., London, 1833.
224 RAMMOHUN ROY
the Rajah is extolled "for the labours in which he exercises
himself for the diffusion of the Light of Christianity and the
promotion of Evangelical Love among an hundred millions
of his countrymen." The worthy Rector proceeds :
Rajah, never shall I forget the long and profundly interesting con-
versation which passed between us a few days ago. . . . Nor will the
noble declaration fade from my recollection, that you were not only ready
to sacrifice station, property and even life itself to the advancement of a
religion which (in its genuine purity and simplicity proved its descent
from the God of Love, . . . but that you should consider the abstain-
ing from such a course as the non-performance of one of the Highest
Duties imposed upon rational, social, and accountable man ! . . . May
God prosper your benevolent endeavours to spread the knowledge of
Christ and the practice of Christian Charity !
This enthusiastic clergyman signs himself ''Your friend
and brother in Christ"
The diary of Mr. Estlin, published in Miss Marry Carpen-
ter's work cited above, furnishes the fullest account of the
last days of Rammohun Roy. On Thursday, the iQth, he
found the Rajah ill in fever. From Mr. H. W. Wilson we
learn that "it was thought he had the liver complaint, and
his medical treatment was for that, not for determination to
the head." But it was, after all, the overworked brain that was
giving out. Mr. Estlin (on the iQth) noted the headache
which accompanied the fever, and that he slept with his eyes
much open. He needed a nurse. The medical man suggested
that Miss Hare be allowed to attend to him. The sick
Hindu objected on the score of propriety. Mr. Estlin reas-
sured him as to British notions on that head, and David
Hare's daughter was forthwith installed as nurse to her
father's friend and her own. Mr. Estlin on the 22nd remarked
on Miss Hare's weariless watchfulness and great influence
with the Rajah : "He is evidently much attached to her, and
her regard for him is quite filial," — a pleasing fact to remember
LAST ILLNESS 22$
of the lone Hindu's last days.* Next day (the 23rd) "the
head appearing the organ most affected, leeches were applied."
But the illness moved on towards its fatal issue.
The Rajah seemed to pass much of his waking time in
prayer. What special burdens weighed on his mind and
pressed out his entreaties, we have no means of knowing.
His utterance of the sacred "AUM" — one of the last words (
he was heard to utter— suggested that at the solitary gate of
death as well as in the crowded thoroughfare of life the con-
templation of Deity was the chief pre-occupation of his soul.
Soon he began to lose all power of consciousness and speech,
and yet he occasionally recovered sufficiently to express his
deep thankfulness to the kind friends about him.
On Friday, the 2/th September, the final crisis came. Mr.
Estlin thus describes it—-
The Rajah became worse every few minutes, his breathing more
rattling and impeded, his pulse imperceptible. He moved about his
right arm constantly and his left arm a little a few hours before his death
It was a beautiful moonlight night ; on one side of the window, as Mr.
Hare, Miss Kiddell and I looked out of it, was the calm rural midnight
scene ; on the other, this extraordinary man dying. I shall never for-
get the moment. Miss Hare, now hopeless and overcome, could not
summon courage to hang over the dying Rajah as she did while sooth-
ing or feeding him ere hope had left her, and remained sobbing in the
chair near ; the young Rajah was generally holding his hand. ... At
half-past two Mr. Hare came into my room and told me it was all over.
His last breath was drawn at 2.25.
So passed the soul of the great Hindu. His was a life
of transition, from the time when he broke with his boyish
faith and his father's house, all through the stormy years of
his manhood •, and now the greatest transition of all had come.
The restless and valiant seeker after truth had at last arrived
* [Mr. Estlin says :— "The Rajah repeatedly acknowledged, during
his illness, his sense of the kindness of all around him, and in strong
language expressed the confidence he felt in his medical advisers." Edi].
29
226 RAMMOHUN ROY
and attained. The pathos and poetry of that death-scene
will linger long in the wistful imagination of India. The
strange and distant western region, the rich rural landscape
sleeping under the glamour of an autumn moon, the solitary
country house standing out distinct in the silvery mystery of
the moonlight, eveything wrapped in tranquillity and hushed
to perfect stillness, Nature and Night combining to suggest
the presence of the Eternal Calm ; and within, the spirit of
the great emancipator struggling to burst the fetters of mor-
tality, and at last achieving the freedom and peace of the
mystery which he had given his life to apprehend : — here is a
weirdly-mingled memory for the spiritual descendants of
Rammohun, the myriad millions yet to be of an enlightened
and enfranchised East.
On the day after death the body was subjected to a medical
examination by Mr. Estlin, assisted by several friends. The
cause of death was found to be "fever producing great pros-
tration of the vital powers, and accompanied by inflammation
of the brain." The fact that the brain was inflamed, of
which the usual symptoms had not appeared, was ascertained
only by this post mortem inspection. Brain fever, brought
on by financial and other worry, following on a life of intense
mental activity, was thus the natural termination of the
Rajah's career.
Mr. Estlin's diary records of the deceased that "his Brah-
minical thread was over the left shoulder and under the right,
like a skein of common brown thread." The same evening
the body was placed in the shell and leaden coffin under the
superintendence of Mr. Estlin, who took care that the
"Brahminical thread was never removed." One of Ram-
mohun's servants, Ramrotun, was compelled — "much against
his will" — to attend as witness of these facts.
The interment of the great Brahman was characteristic of
THE FUNERAL 22/
his career. In a postscript which is attached to Dr. Lant
Carpenter's funeral Review, (London and Bristol, 1833) we
have at once the narrative and explanation of Rammohun's
singular obsequies :
The knowledge that the Rajah had in various ways manifested soli-
citude to preserve his caste with a view both to his usefulness and to the
security of his property, and the belief that it might be endangered if
he were buried among other dead or with Christian rites, operated to
prevent the interment of his remains in any of the usual cemeteries.
Besides this the Rajah had repeatedly expressed the wish that in case
of his dying in England, a small piece of freehold ground might be
purchased for his burying place, and a cottage be built on it for the
gratuitous residence of some respectable poor person, to take charge of
it. Every difficuly, however, was removed by the offer of Miss Castle,
in which she had the warm accordance of all her intimate friends, to
appropriate to the object a beautifully adapted spot in a shrubbery near
her lawn, and under some fine elms. There this revered and beloved
person was interred, on the i8th of October,* about 2 p.m. The coffin
was borne on men's shoulders, without a pall, and deposited in the grave,
without any ritul and in silence. Everything- conspired to give an im-
pressive and affecting solemnity to his obsequies, Those who followed
him to the grave and sorrowed theie were his son and his two native
servants, the members of the families of Stapleton Grove and Bedford
Square, the Gurdians of Miss Castle and two of her nearest relatives,
Mr. Estlin, Mr. Foster, and Dr. Jerrard, together with several ladies
connected with the attendants already enumerated ; and as there could
be no regular entry of the interment in any official registers, those who
witnessed it have signed several copies of a record drawn up for the
purpose, in case such a document should be needed for any legal purposes.
So he was buried. Alone in his death as in his life, in
alien soil, but carefully protected to the last from violation
of his native customs. The silence that fell at the grave
which closed so active and vocal a life is strangely suggestive.
Rammohun's last word remains unspoken.
* In Rev. J. Scott Porter's funeral sermon, the Bistol Glazette is
credited with the statement : — "He was interred on Tuesday, I5th
October." Dr. Carpenter's date above is less likely to be in error.
228 RAMMOHUN ROY
The grave in which he was laid was not, however, to be
the final resting place. Ten years later a new home was
found for his earthly remains in the cemetery of Arno's
Vale near Bristol. There the Rajah's great friend and
comrade, Dwarka Nath Tagore, who had come over from
India on pious pilgrimage to the place where the Master
died, erected a tomb of stone. It was in 1872 — nearly forty
years after Rammohun had passed out of the region of
sensuous existence — that this inscription was added :—
BENEATH THIS STOXE REST THE REMAINS OF
RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY BAHADOOR.
A CONSCIENTIOUS AND STEADFAST BELIEVER IN THE UNITY
OF THE GODHEAD ;
HE CONSECRATED HIS LIFE WITH ENTIRE DEVOTION TO THE
WORSHIP OF THE DlVINE SPIRIT ALONE.
TO GREAT NATURAL TALENTS HE UNITD A THOROUGH
MASTERY OF MANY LANGUAGES,
AND EARLY DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF AS ONE OF THE
GREATEST SCHOLARS OF HIS DAY.
HIS UNWEARIED LABOURS TO PROMOTE THE SOCIAL, MORAL AND
PHYSICAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, HIS EARNEST ENDEAV-
OURS TO SUPPRESS IDOLATRY AND THE RITE OF SUTTEE, AND HIS
CONSTANT ZEALOUS ADVOCACY OF WHATEVER TENDED TO ADVANCE THE
GLORY OF GOD AND THE WELFARE OF MAN, LIVE IN THE GRATEFUL
REMEMBRANCE OF HIS COUNTRYMEN.
THIS TABLET
RECORDS THE SORROW AND PRIDE WITH WHICH HIS MEMORY
IS CHERISHED BY HIS DESCENDANTS.
HE WAS BORN IN RADHANAGORE, IN BENGAL, IN 1774,
ANE DIED AT BRISTOL, SEPTEMBER 27TH, 1833.
Another monument, on less durable material, belongs to
Bristol. In the vestibule of the Museum hangs a full length
portrait of Rammohun, which was painted by Mr. H. P.
Briggs, R.A.
As was to be expected, the demise of the Hindu Theist
led to the delivery of many eloquent and impressive funeral
MEMORIAL SERMONS 22Q
discourses.* Among these many be mentioned Dr. Lant
Carpenter's at Bristol, and Rev. W. J. Fox's at Finsbury
Chapel, London, both of which contain much valuable
biographic material. They display an easily explicable
desire to identify the late Brahman with Christianity, but
bear also striking witness to the power the Rajah had shown
of inspiring warm personal affection. It is the ardent and
admiring friend, not the spiritual undertaker, which appears
in the preacher. That Rammohun should have rivetted to
himself Hindu souls, of the same clime and blood as he was,
and groping as he had groped after the light behind the
cloud of ancient Indian religion, was not to be wondered at
so much as the devoted friendships which he created among
foreigners, of alien ways of thinking and believing, whom he
had known only for a comparatively short period. It is no
small testimony to his character that even a slight acquaint-
ance with him was enough to stir stolid and phlegmatic
Englishmen to something very nearly a passin of love for
him. There must have been much love in the man to evoke
such devotion.
A jarring note in the general chorus of eulogy was struck
by the biographic writings of M. Sandford Arnot, who had
been Secretary to the Rajah from his arrival in England
until a few months prior to his death. This man contributed
a sketch of his deceased master to the November number of
*[There were notices of the mournful event in many pulpits. The Rev.
Dr. Kenney, of St. Olav's, Southwark whose ministrty Rammohun Roy
had frequently attended, preached a funeral sermon at the request of his
parishoners. Five sermons were printed, viz, those by Dr. Carpenter
preached in Lewin's Mead Chapel, Bristol, by Rev. R. Aspland in the
New Gravel Pit Meeting, Hackney, by Dr. W. H. Drummond in the
Presbyterian Church of Strand Street, Dublin, by the Rev. J. Scott Porter
in the Meeting House of the first Presbyterian Congregation, Belfast,
and the one by Rev. W. J. Fox in Finsbary Chapel, London, Edi. ]
230 RAMMOHUN ROY
the Asiatic Journal (1833), in which besides speaking some-
what harshly of the change that came over the mind and
manners of the Rajah in the last months of his life, he
suggested that the Rajah's literary work in English owed
more than was generally supposed to his secretary's
assistance. Dr. Lant Carpenter replied with some severity
to this charge, in his published memorials of the great Hindu,
as did also Mr. John Hare in the Times and other public
prints. Arnot made rejoinder in the January number of the
Asiatic Journal, specifying his services to the Rajah, and
remarking, "I did no more than I suppose every other
secretary does, that is, ascertains from his principal what he
wishes to say or prove on any given subject, receives a rough
outline, and works it out in his own way, making as many
points and giving as much force of diction as he can." We
may readily admit that Rammohun made free use of
secretarial help, without impairing to any extent worth
considering the genuineness of his authorship, or the reality
of his singular command of the English language.* Sub-
* [ Dr. Carpenter has left on record the following authentic informa-
tion on the subject on the authority of the Hare family : "Possessed of the
Raja's unbounded confidence, acquainted with all his movements, and
enabled to judge with complete accuracy of his habits and dispositions,
the unhesitating and unequivocal testimony of this (Hare) family, one and
all, to the unvarying purity of his conduct and the refined delicacy of his
sentiments, is as decisive as it is valuable. I had myself, repeated
opportunities of observing with what earnest respect he appreciated the
true delicacy in the female character : and I learnt that, while he always
maintained his habitual politeness to the sex, and may therefore have
misled the superficial observer, he manifested a very prompt and clear
discrimination as to individuals; and that he commonly expressed strong
dislike, and even disgust, where they seemed to him to depart from that
true modesty which is essential to its excellence.
Mr. Joseph Hare — his brother fully agreeing with him — assures me
that the Rajah was constantly in the habit of dictating, to those who were
for the time acting as amanunses, in phraseology requiring no
CONTROVERSIES AFTER DEATH 231
editors and secretaries may lender most valuable aid, but
their minor labours may never be mistaken for the work of
the Chief. If he be a foreigner, it is their duty to preserve
his English from lapses into foreign idiom and to suggest
idiomatic utterances in their native tongue in place of his more
colourless expressions. But editing is not composing. This
Arnot as a journalist very well knew, and his effort to magnify
his secretarial functions at the expense of his patron's literary
reputation ought never to have been made. The pecuniary
claims with which it was preceded and accompanied betray
the extortionate purpose of the whole miserable business.
A controversy of a nobler kind arose concerning the
religious position which the Rajah finally adopted. There
was a very natural desire on the part of his Christian friends
to claim him as in the end a decided Christian. Reverends
W. Jay and Richard Warner did, we have seen, declare him
a signal convert to Evangelical religion. In a conversation
on the Lord's Prayer with the father of Mr. G. N. Aitchison
(as reported in a letter from the latter to Prof. Max Muller,
of date Sept. 27, 1883) Rammohun is stated to have declared
his conviction that "that prayer was never made by man :
improvement, whether for the press or for the formation of official
document — such verbal amendments only excepted, as his own
careful revision supplied before the final completion of the manus-
cript : that he often hai recourse ,to 'friends to write from his
dictation ; among others to himself and the members of his family :
that it is his full conviction, that from the day of the Raja's arrival
in this country, he stood in no need of any assistance except that of a
mere mechanical hand to write : and that he has often been struck — and
recollects that he was particularly so at the time the Raja was writing
his 'Answers to the queries on the Judicial and Revenue departments' —
with his quick and correct diction, and his immediate perception of
occasional errors when he came to revise the matter. These facts I and
others have repeatedly heard from the Hares ; and I rest with convic-
tion upon them." Last days of Rammohun Roy.— Edi.].
232 RAMMOHUN ROY
its author could have been nothing less than Divine.1" Rev.
John Foster held him to have made virtual confession, a few
days before he died, of the Divine authority of Christ. Mr.
Estlin, as already recorded, reported more precisely
Rammohun's disbelief in the Divinity, but acceptance of
the Divine mission of Jesus. Both these friends of his assert
the Rajah's unequivocal conviction of the Resurrection of
Jesus. We cannot wonder at Unitarian Christians regarding
him as an illustrious champion of their views. But we may
not accept offhand the testimony of these eager witnesses.
Their differing estimates of his faith had been anticipated by
him. Babu N. Bose used to tell how "Rammohun Roy
before leaving for England, told him that the followers of
every prevailing religion would reckon him, after his death,
as one of their co-religionists. The Mohammedans would
call him a Mohammedan, the Hindus would call him a
Vedantic Hindu, the Christians a Unitarian Christian." But
Babu N. Bose added, "he really belonged to no sect. His
religion was Universal Theism.", As he believed this principle
to be the quintessence of every religion, he was able to
approach the advocates of the most different creeds with a
sympathy and an emphasis on points of agreement which
they could only interpret as complete adhesion.; The impres-
sion thus made was deepened by his extreme Oriental
courtesy which seemed to not unfriendly Westerns to pass into
over-great complaisance. Mr. James Sutherland, who was
warmly attached to the Rajah, could write (in the Indian
Gazette, Feb. 18, 1834):—
On questions of religious faith Rammohun Roy was in general too
pliant, perhaps from his excessive fear of giving offence, or wounding the '
feelings of anybody, which accounts for the controversy which has arisen
about his religious opinions. In fact, no matter what the creed of the
parties with whom he conversed on such a subject, he was sure to
impress them with an idea, either that he was of their peculiar faith, or
RELIGIOUS VIEWS 233
that they had converted him to it. A lady once observed to me that she
was rejoiced to find that he was a sincere Trinitarian, and that he had
merely gone to Unitarian places of worship from curiosity, as he had
attended Quakers^ meetings, the Jewish Synagogue, etc.,
Full weight must be given to these considerations. But
they are not sufficient to account for the impressien that the
mind of the Rajah was in his later days moving towards
more positive religious convictions. Sandford Arnot, whose
testimony is not without value after allowance has been made
for his one distorting motive roundly asserts that "in regard to
religious belief he saw "no reason to think that the slightest
change took place in the Rajah's mind for the last forty or
fifty years, that is, since the period when about sixteen years
of age he began to doubt Hinduism." But this statement is
no sooner made than Arnot — apparently quite unconsciously
— goes on to show how the Rajah's mind was actually
changing. Arnot's scornful disbelief in Rammohun's reputed
movement towards Christianity makes the following remarks
of his all the more striking evidence : —
As he advanced in age, he became more strongly impressed with the
importance of religion to the welfare of society, and the pernicious effects
of scepticism. In his younger years, his mind had been deeply struck
with the evils of believing too much, and against that he directed all his
energies ; but in his latter days he began to feel that there was as much,
if not greater, danger in the tendency to believe too little.
Friends and believers in the New India growing up under
British rule will warmly sympathise with the observations
which next follow : —
He often deplored the existence of a party which had sprung up in
Calcutta, composed principally of imprudent young men, some of them
possessing talent, who had avowed themselves sceptics in the widest
sense of the term. He described it as partly composed of East Indians,
partly of the Hindu youth, who, from education had learnt to reject their
own faith without substituting any other. These he thought more
debased than the most bigoted Hindu, and their principles the bane of
all morality.
30
234 RAMMOHUN ROY
His sense of this, the gravest danger of the Indian people,
was only deepened by his experiences in the West : —
His strong aversion to infidelity was by no means diminished during
his visit to England and France ; on the contrary, the more he mingled
with society in Europe, the more strongly he became persuaded that
religious belief is the only sure groundwotk of virtue. "If I were to settle
with my family in Europe," he used to say, " I would never introduce
them to any but religious persons, and from amongst them only would I
select my friends : amongst them I find such kindness and friendship
that I feel as if surrounded by my own kindred."
Next comes still more impressive evidence — from such a
witness — as to the Rajah's changed mental attitude : —
He evidently now began to suspect that the Unitarian form of
Christianity was too much rationalized (or sophisticated, perhaps, I may
say) to be suitable to human nature. He remarked in the Unitarians a
want of that fervour of zeal and devotion found among other Sects, and
felt doubts whether a system appealing to reason only was calculated to
produce a permanent influence on mankind.
Revulsion from the rationalism of Unitarians is a very
decided portent of religious evolution. A kindred reaction
affected him in regard to the philosophy then prevalent in
England. Arnot continues : —
He perceived the same defect in the Utilitarian philosophy, and
ridiculed the notion that man, a being governed by three powers,— reason
imagination and the passions,— could be directed by those who addressed
themselves only or chiefly to the first of these powers, overlooking the
importance of the two other elements of human nature, which must
continue to exert an everlasting influence. . .
There is much to confirm, there is nothing to impugn,
these statements of Arnot. They bear every mark of being
thoroughly veracious and are made still less open to question
by Arnot's own contemptuous disbelief in Rammohun's
supposed Christianity. They present additional indications
of a kind which have been numerous throughout Rammohun's
whole career, and which have grown more numerous towards
its close. We have seen him lean increasingly towards
PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUALITY 235
fellowship with Anglicans, claiming an Anglican clergyman
as his "parish priest." We have observed his remarkable
anticipation that India would eventually become Christian.
We may discount, but cannot wholly disallow, the witness of
John Foster and J. B. Estlin concerning Rammohun's faith
in the Resurrection.
To what do these things points ? , To Rammohun having
gradually glided into Unitarian or even Evangelical Chris-
tianity ? By no means. Rammohun was no Evangelical
Christian, like Mr. Kenney or Mr. Jay. He was no Christian
even of the type of Dr. Carpenter.* The conscious and com-
plete surrender of the will to the authority of Jesus which is
involved in conversion to either of these forms of Christian
life is an experience through which, according to the evidence
before us, Rammohun never passed. With the awful demand,
"If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow Me.'' we have no adequate
ground for supposing that Rammohun complied. But a
dispassionate view of the marvellous history of the man dis-
credits the fancy that his convictions showed no change
throughout his career of reform, even more utterly than it
discredits the idea that he was a Christian, It points con-
clusivly to the fact that Rammohun's awakened life was one
of continuous transition. From the time when he left his
father's house in revolt against conventional Hind uism to the
last days in Stapleton Grove, his mind was moving on. It
was driven forward by the imperious personal problem :
Given an intensely religious nature, with profound emotions,
* Such was the deliberate conviction of the authoress of this Life.
She stated her decision to the continuator that "Rammohun was not a
Christian. He did not believe in Christ as we believe in Him."
236 RAMMOHUN ROY
large imagination and fine ethical sense, how to find
expression for the same consonantly with the claims of a keen
and comprehensive intellect.
The solution involved in the first instance a resolute break
with the traditional polytheism. The process was to begin
with chiefly negative. The youthful Reformer was for
showing up the mistakes of all the religions. To gain the
freedom demanded by his religious impulses, he was glad to
welcome the destructive aid of rationalism. But rationalism
was to him ever a means, never an end. His end was persis-
tently religious, and therefore eventually positive. So he
soon passed from an attitude towards all religions that was
critical if not hostile, to an attitude that was sympathetic. He
would extract the rational elements out of Hinduism and
appropriate the ethical contents of Christianity. He tried
to find a common denominator for Hindu and Christian
Unitarianism. The device might please his intellect' but
European Unitarianism left little room for the development
of his warmblooded Oriental passion for religion. The found-
ing of the Brahmo Samaj showed an effort not merely to satisfy
the large ambitions of a devout and comprehensive intellect,
but to meet the more specifically religious needs of a genuine
fellowship and of a social "morality touched with
emotion." tntellectualism was still in the
ascendent, but the driving power was religion.
With his arrival in England the process of evolution was
naturally vastly accelerated. His knowledge of religious and
philosophic systems was fertilized by close contact with the
life out of which they grew or with which they were supposed
to correspond. In especial, he came to know Christianity ,\
not through its books or through isolated persons or groupsn
as in India, but in its collective life and in its domestic]
civilization. He came to adopt a more positive and concrete,
and perhaps a less merely speculative view of religion.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHRISTIAN SECTS 237
For the negative and disintegrating influence of the
analytic intellect he developed an increasing horror. He
denounced its effects in the scepticism of Calcutta and
still more of Paris. He felt the barrenness and im-
potence of the Utilitarian philosophy. Man was much more
than an intellectual machine. He had an imagination and a*
heart, and unless these were stirred creed or calculus or code
were of slight avail. The need of religion, as distinguished
from plausible speculations, became ever more paramount
in Rammohun's eyes. Religion kindled imagination, roused
passion, set the conscience in motion, as well as appeased the
reason. But judged by these standards, Unitarian Christ-
ianity with which he had once hoped to effect much, was
seriously lacking. It was too exclusively intellectual. In
the other Christian sects there might be less of reason and
reasoning, but there was manifestly more of religion.
Rammohun was coming to recognise more and more that
religion was a whole-human thing : it was a force : it was a
vital soul-kindling soul- begetting power: it was infinitely
more than any causal theory of the Universe : it was never
to be confounded with an arid rationalism or a bloodless
ethicism. The primal religious impulse of Rammohun's
nature was at last disentangling itself from the intellectualism
under which it had long been working, at first joyously, but
latterly with painful sense of oppression.
It will not do, therefore, to dub Rammohun Roy "Uni-
versal Theist" with Babu N. Bose, and pass on as though
that formula could express his ever-changing career. At the
outset his Theism was intellectually not far from the Deism
of last century, in the end it was religiously not far from the
spirit of Christianity. In the earlier stages of his emancipa-
tion, his faith seemed to differ little from the fictitious "natural
religion" of the eighteenth century philosophers, save for a
strong infusion of Oriental passion. Towards the close, we
RAMMOHUN ROY
see him turning with weary disgust from the fanciful
abstractions of the speculative intellect to the dynamic facts
of human nature and of human history. How much further
he would have moved in the direction of positive religion if
his life had been prolonged for any considerable period, it is
idle to conjecture. The theological transition which lasted
all his life was at his death left incomplete. We may not
guess at its completion. It is enough for us to observe
its direction.
These conclusions ; u > the inner movement of Rammohun's
mind suggest his plac. h history. The life is the life work.
His own career of constant but incomplete transition cons-
tituted him the leader and the instrument of a kindred
transition among his fellow-countrymen. The path he trod
they seem destined to follow ; more or less rapidly as oppor-
tunity and inducement vary, but perhaps none the less surely
because the goal towards which he was moving was never by
f-
him visibly attained. : Rammohun stands in history as thej
living bridge over which India marches from her unmeasured
past to her incalculable future. He was the arch which
spanned the gulf that yawned between ancient caste and
modern humanity, between superstition and Science, between
despotism and democrocy, between immobile custom and
a conservative progress, between a bewildering polytheism
and a pure, if vague, Theism. He was the mediator of his
people, harmonizing in his own person often by means of
his own solitary sufferings, the conflicting tendencies of
immemorial tradition and of inevitable enlightenment.
The impact of Christian civilization, with its wide freedom
and strong tolerance, upon the unreconciled juxtaposition of
Islam and Hinduism, introduced into the life of the people of
India a painful crisis. There were new and fierce revulsions,
there were attractions, powerful though hidden : there was
an intense mental effervescence : there was the sudden
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RAMMOHUN'b LIFE 239
generation of strange and composite ideas : there was,
in short, a sort of silent explosion within the spiritual
frame, which sent thrills of agony through every
shattered and lacerated fragment. But the misery
caused by the destructive consequences, although more
obvious at first, cannot conceal the sympathetic and cons-
tructive forces at work. Of the result of this impact we may
regard Rammohun as the personal type. He embodies the
new spirit which arises from the compulsory mixture of races
and faiths and civilizations, — he embodies its freedom of
inquiry, its thirst for science, its large humane sympathy, its
pure and sifted ethics; along with its reverent but not uncri-
tical regard for the past, and prudent even timid disinclina-
tion towards revolt. But in the life of Rammohun we see
what we hope yet to have shown us in the progress of India,
that the secrect of the whole movement is religious. Amid
all his wanderings Rammohun was saved by his faith. From
the perfervid piety of his Pagan boyhood to the strong
leanings which, in his latest years, he evinced towards
Christianity he was led by his faith,— the purpose and passion
of belief which he inherited from all the ages of India's \;-
history. He was a genuine outgrowth of the old Hindu
stock ; in a soil watered by new influences, and in an
atmosphere charged with unwonted forcing power, but still a
true scion of the old stock. The Rajah was no merely occi-
dentalized Oriental, no Hindu polished into the doubtful
semblance of a European. Just as little was he, if we may -•
use the term without offence, a spiritual Eurasian. If we
follow the right line of his development we shall find that he
leads the way from the Orientalism of the past, not to, but
through Western culture, towards a civilization which is
neither Western nor Eastern, but something vastly larger
and nobler than both. He preserves continuity throughout,
by virtue of his religion, which again supplied the motive
240 RAMMOHUN ROY
force of his progressive movement, The power that connected
and restrained, as well as widened and impelled, was religion.
Rammohun thus presents a most instructive and inspiring
study for the New India of which he is the type and pioneer,
He offers to the new democray of the West a scarcely less
valuable index of what our greatest Eastern dependency may
yet become under the Imperial sway of the British common-
alty. There can be little doubt that, whatever future thff
destinies may have in store for India, that future will be
largely shaped by the life and work of Rammohun Roy.
And not the future of India alone. We stand on the eve of
an unprecedented intermingling of East and West. The
European and the Asiatic streams of human development,
which have often tinged each other before, are now approach-
ing a confluence which bids fair to form the one ocean-river
of the collective progress of mankind. In the presence of
that greater Eastern Question, — with its infinite ramifications,
industrial, political, moral and religious, — the international
problems of the passing hour, even the gravest of them, seem
dwarfed into parochial pettiness. The nearing dawn of these
unmeasured possibilities only throws into clearer prominence
the figure of the man whose life-story we have told. He was,
if not the prophetic type, at least the precursive hint, of the
change that is to come.
APPENDIX
243
IN MEMORIAM.
A Hymn by Harriet Martineau sung at Finsbury
Chapel, Moorfields after a memorial sermon
by Rev. W. J. Fox.
No faithless tears, O God ! we shed
For him who, to thine altars led,
A swallow from distant clime,
Found rest beneath the cherubim ;
In thee he rests from toil and pain,
O Father, hear our true Amen,
No faithless tears ! Led forth by Thee,
Meek pilgrim to the sepulchre,
For him thy truth from day to day,
Sprang up and blossomed by the way ;
Shalt thou not call thine own again ?
O bend to hear our deep Amen !
No faithless tears ! Though many dream
To see his face by Gange's stream ;
Though thousands wait on many a shore,
The voice that shall be heard no more ;
O, breathe Thy peace amid their pain,
And hear Thy children's loud Amen !
244 RAMMOHUN ROY.
SONNETS.
(By Mary Carpenter).
I.
Thy Nation sat in darkness ; for the night
Of pagan gloom was o'er it ; Thou wast born
Midst superstition's ignorance forlorn :
Yet in thy breast there glowed a heavenly light
Of purest truth and love ; and to thy sight
Appeared the day-star of approaching morn.
What ardent zeal then thy life adorn,
From deep degrading guilt to lead aright
Thy fallen people ; to direct their view
To that bless'd sun of Righteousness, whence beams
Guidance to all that seek it — faithful — true ;
To call them to the Saviour's living streams
The cities of the east have heard thy voice —
"Nations behold your God ! rejoice - rejoice."
II
Exiled from home ev'n in thy earliest youth,
The healing balm of woman's love was pour'd
Into thy troubled breast : and thence were stor'd
Deep strings of gratitude and pitying ruth. —
To lead thy race to that primeval truth
Which bright and pure, on all alike bestow'd,
Points heavenward ; and to guide them on the road
Of Christian faith,— was thine ; but yet to soothe
Neglected woman ; to assert her right
To drink of wells of everlasting life ;
To snatch her, trembling midst the dismal night
Of pagan horrors, from the fiery strife
Of dark soul'd zealots — this must wake our love
This fervent raise our thanks for thee above.
SONNETS. 245
III
Far from thy native clime, a sea-girt land
Sits thron'd among the nations ; in the breasts
Of all her sons immortal Freedom rests ;
And of her patriots many a holy band
Have sought to rouse the world from the command
Of that debasing tyrant who detests
The reign of truth and love. At their behests
The slave is free j And Superstition's hand
Sinks powerless Hitherward thy steps were bent
To seek free commune with each kindred soul,
Whose highest powers are ever willing lent
To free their race from folly's dark control.
To our blest isle thou didst with transport come :
Here hast thou found thy last, thy silent home-
IV.
Thy work thou didst fulfil while yet 'twas day ;
And still right onward towards thy beacon tend
With faith and zeal. And now thy footsteps bend
Where Christian friendship offers thee the stay
Of sympathy and love. But who shall say
What joy was ours, the eager ear to lend
To all thy accents, and thy steps attend ? —
The Angel of the Lord hath called away
His faithful servant, at the evening hour,
While glowing tints still gild the western sky.
Yet though around our hearts dark sorrows lower,
And tears of sad regret must dim the eye,
We mourn not without hope. Thy race is run,
Enter thy rest ! Servant of God— Well done!"
V.
Bright hopes of immortality were given
To guide thy dubious steps, and to cheer
246 RAMMOHUN ROY,
Thine earthly pilgrimage. How firm and clear
Arose thy faith that as*the Lord hath risen,
So all his followers shall meet in heaven ! —
Thou art gone from us ; but thy memory, dear
To all that knew thee, fades not : still we hear
And see thee yet as with us : nev'r are riven
The bands of Christian love ! Thy mortal frame
With us is laid in holy silent rest :
Thy spirit is immortal ; and thy name
Shall by thy countrymen be ever blest.
Even from the tomb thy words with power shall rise,
Shall touch their hearts, and bear them to the skies.
Bristol, Oct. 1833,
VI.
When from afar we saw thy burning light
Rise gloriously o'er India's darkened shore,
In spirit we rejoiced ; and then still more
Rose high our admiration and delight,
When, steadfast to pursue thy course aright,
We saw thee brave fierce persecution's power. —
As yet we knew thee not, — but that blest hour
Which first disclosed thee to our longing sight
Awakened in us deepest Christian love,
And told us thou hadst sat at Jesus' feet.
But now a glowing halo from above
Circles our thoughts of thee, when to the seat
Of mercy, rapt in ardent prayer, we come,
"Our Father ! lead Thy wandering children home,"
Bristol
Sunday Oct. 27th., 1833, M. C.
STAPLETON GROVE. 247
THE INTERMENT OF RAJA
RAMMOHUN ROY,
At Stapleton Grove.
(By Miss Dale).
No voice, no whisper broke the deep repose,
When to the earth that sacred dust was given :
All silently the sacrifice arose
From kindling hearts, in one pure flame, to Heaven.
Pure from the sun of righteousness it came
Upon those hearts. Language, to common thoughts
Interpreter, had dimmed that holy flame ;
Or with the prism's power, to sight had brought
The varying hues which human frailty throws
O'er things divine. Oh never more misplaced,
Than at that grave where narrow bounds enclose
Him, whose diffuse love had all mankind embraced.
STAPLETON GRAVE.
The Raja's tomb.
(By Miss Acland.)
This is the spot ! There needs no sculptured line ;
No column marks the Rajah's lovely tomb ;
But shadowing elms there drooping boughs incline,
And shroud his cold remains in sacred gloom,
Yes ; far from Ganges' consecrated wave,
Beneath our pallid groves, and northern skies,
A stranger's hand hath laid thee in thy grave,
And strangers' tears have wept thine obsequies.
A stranger ? No ; thy "caste" was human kind ;
Thy home— wherever freedom's beacon shone ;
248 RAMMOHUN ROY
And England's noblest hearts exulting shrined
The turband offspring of a burning zone.
Pure generous mind ! all that was just and true, —
All that was lovely, holiest, brightest, best, —
Kindled thy soul of eloquence anew,
And woke responsive chords in every breast,
Sons of the western main around the hung,
While Indian lips unfolded Freedom's laws,
And grateful woman heard the Brahman's tongue
Proclaim her worth, and plead her widowed cause,
Ah ! why did Fortune dash with bitter doom,
That cup of high communion from thine hand,
And scatter, darkly withering o'er the tomb,
The blessings gathered for thy native land ?
Be hushed our murmurs ! He whose voice had won
Thee, heav'n-bound traveller, forth from pagan night,
In mercy called the trusting spirit on,
And bade it dwell with uncreated light.
Perchance when o'er thy loved paternal bower,
The sun of Righteousness shall healing rise, —
When India's children feel his noon-day power,
And mingle all in Christian sympathies, —
Hither their pilgrim footsteps duly bound,
With fervent zeal, these hallowed haunts shall trace,
And sweetly solemn tears bedew the ground
Where sleeps the friend and prophet of their race !
AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH*
MY DEAR FRIEND,
In conformity with the wish, you have frequently expressed,
that I should give you an outline of my life, I have now the
pleasure to give you the following very brief sketch.
My ancestors were Brahmins of a high order, and from
time immemorial were devoted to the religious duties of their
race, down to my fifth progenitor, who about one hundred and
forty years ago, gave up spiritual exercises for worldly pur-
suits and aggrandisement. His descendents ever since follow-
ed his example, and according to the usual fate of courtiers
with various success, sometimes rising to honour and some-
times falling ; sometimes rich and sometimes poor ; some-
times excelling in success, sometimes miserable through dis-
appointment. But my maternal ancestors, being of the sacer-
dotal order by profession as well as by birth, and of a family
than which none holds a higher rank in that profession, have
up to the present day uniformly adhered to a life of religious
* Miss Carpenter published this autobiographical sketch, in her
Last Days of Raja Ram Mohun Roy with the following explanatory
notice : —
" The following letter from Ram Mohun Roy himself first appeared in
the Athenaeum, and in the Literary Gazette ; from one or other of which
it was copied into various newspapers. It was written just before he
went to France. It was probably designed for some distinguished person
who had desired him to give an outline of his history ; and he adopted
this form for the purpose. The letter may be considered as addressed
to his friend Mr. Gordon of Calcutta."
Miss Collet considered this letter spurious, but did not assign any
reasons for her opinion. In any case it is worth preserving as the earliest
biographical sketch of the Raja.
32
250 RAMMOHUN ROY.
observances and devotion, preferring peace and tranquility of
mind to the excitements of ambition and all the allurements
of worldly grandeur.
In conformity with the usage of my parental race, and
the wish of my father, I studied the Persian and Arabic
languages,— these being indispensable to those who attached
themselves to the courts of the Mahommedan princes ; and
agreeably to the usage of my maternal relations, I devoted
myself to the study of the Sanskrit and the theological works
written in it, which contain the body of Hindu literature,
law and religion. When about the age of sixteen, I composed
a manuscript calling in question the validity of the idolatrous
system of the Hindoos. This, together with my known senti-
ments on the subject, having produced a coolness
between me and my immediate kindred, 1 proceeded on
my travels and passed through different countries,
chiefly within, but some beyond the bounds of Hindoostan,
with a feeling of great aversion to the establishment of the
British power in India. When I had reached the age of
twenty, my father recalled me and restored me to his favour;
after which I first saw and began to associate with Europeans,
and soon after made myself tolerably acquainted with their
laws and form of government. Finding them generally more
intelligent, more steady and moderate in their conduct, I
gave up my prejudice against them, and became inclined
in their favour, feeling persuaded that their rule, though
a foreign yoke, would lead more speedily and surely to the
amelioration of the native inhabitants ; and I enjoyed the
confidence of several of them even in their public capacity.
My continued controversies with the Brahmins on the
subject of their idolatry and superstition, and my interference
with their custom of burning widows, and other pernicious
practices, revived and increased their animosity against me;
and through their influence with my family, my father was
AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 251
again obliged to withdraw his countenance openly, though
his limited pecuniary support was still continued to me.
After my father's death I opposed the advocates of ido-
latry with still greater boldness. Availing myself of the art
of printing, now establishd in India, I published various
works and pamphlets against their errors, in the native and
foreign languages. This raised such a feeling against me,
that I was at last deserted by every person except two or
three Scotch friends, to whom, and the nation to which they
belong, I always feel grateful.
The ground which I took in all my controversies was,
not that of opposition to Brahminism, but to a perversion
of it ; and I endeavoured to show that the idolatry of the
Brahmins was contrary to the practice of their ancestors,
and the principles of the ancient books and authorities which
they profess to revere and obey. Notwithstanding the
violence of the opposition and resistance to my opinions
several highly respectable persons, both among my own
relations and others, began to adopt the same sentiments.
I now felt a strong wish to visit Europe, and obtain, by
personal observation, a more thorough insight into its manners,
customs, religion, and political institutions. I refrained, how-
ever, from carrying this intention into effect until the friends
who coincided in my sentiments should be increased in
number and strength. My expectations having been at
length realized, in November 1830, I embarked for England,
as the discussion of the East India company's Charter was
expected to come on by which the treatment of the Natives
of India, and its future government, would be determined
for many years to come, and an Appeal to the King in
Council, Against the Abolition of the Practice of Burning
Widows, was to be heard before the Privy Council ; and His
Majesty, the Emperor of Delhi, had likewise commissioned
me to bring before the authorities in England certain
252 RAMMOHUN ROY
encroachments on his rights by the East India Company.
I accordingly arrived in England in April, 1831.
I hope, you will excuse the brevity of this sketch, as I
have no leisure at present to enter into particulars, and,
I remain, &c.
RAMMOHUN ROY.
RAMMOHUN ROY— THE FATHER OF POLITICAL
REGENERATION OF INDIA.
(By Mr. Surendra Nath Banerjee, in the course of a speech on the
occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of the death
of Raja Rammohun Roy. 27th Sept.. 1904.)
This day, 71 years ago, Raja Rammohun Roy died in
the suburbs of Bristol in the beautiful mansion of Miss
Castle, amid the tears and regrets of his English friends. In
the estimation, however, of his own countrymen, he died an
out-cast — our fathers would not eat and drink or associate
with him — his very touch was polution to them. To-day he
is the adored hero of our race — indisputably the mightiest
product of English Education — the pioneer of all those public
movements, which have in them the promises — the rich
promises — of an abundant harvest of good — to whom we
offer the spontaneous tribute of our hearts, leavened with
the sad reflection that one so good, so true, so noble,
should have been so dealt with. But that has always
been the way of humanity. We bite the hand that
feeds us and spurn the good that contains in it the messages
of our salvation. We torture and crucify the blessed redeemer
of mankind. The chariot-wheel of human progress is smeared
with the blood of our martyrs and bedewed with the tears of
their sufferings. Error revenges itself upon truth by perse-
cution and posterity makes amends by tears and pains. We
are here to-night assembled round the yet unextinguished
ashes of Rammohun Roy not merely to atone for the
errors of the past and perform a great act of national penance
but derive from him the inspiration and guidance for our
work in the future.
* # * * #
Amid the gathering difficulties of our situation, let us sit
254 RAMMOHUN ROY
at the feet of Rammohun Roy and hold communion with
his Master-spirit. The light breaks in upon our spirit. The
light breaks in upon us across the vista of years from him,
who in this, as in other matters, has been to us the source of
our illumination and of inspiration. For let it be remembered
that Rammohun Roy was not only the founder of the
Brahmo Samaj and the pioneer of all social reform in Bengal,
but he was also the father of constitutional agitation in India.
He started a newspaper, agitated — strenuonsly agitated — for
the emancipation of the press and the abolition of Sati; he
pressed for the separation of judicial and executive functions
in the administration of criminal justice, and protested against
men who are too young being appointed as members of the
covenanted Civil Service. It is remarkable how he anticipated
us in some of the great political problems which are the
problems of to-day, of which one at least remains unsolved.
*****
But the Raja was not only the Father of political agitation,
his fame was even greater as a social and religious reformer.
His activities were co-extensive with the entire range of our
being. Everything that could conduce to our welfare, no
matter to what department of human activity it belonged,
was the theme of his incessant efforts. For he recognised
the truth that to improve man in one direction is to stimulate
his improvement in all directions. In the matter of social
reform, sympathy for woman was the key-note of his creed.
That too was the guiding principle of Vidyasagar's efforts.
It was sympathy for women that led Vidyasagar to agitate
for the remarriage of Hindu widows. It was sympathy for
women that led Rammohun Roy to agitate for the abolition
of Sati.
*****
Rammohun Roy's great effort was to make the Hindu
system conform to its enviroments. His work has not been
FATHER OF POLITICAL REGENERATION OF INDIA 255
completed, though his spirit endures ; and I trust that spirit,
in its own good time and operating under happier and more
auspicious circumstances, will lead to a transformation of
Hindu society, suited to the requirements of the age. I can
conceive of no more solemn obligation resting upon our
countrymen than that they should recognise the changed
circumstances under which they live and adapt themselves to
those circumstances.
* * « * *
Sitting at the feet of Rammohun Roy, let us be imbued
with his lofty spirit — his love of country, his devotion to
truth, his enthusiasm for progress, — let us be regenerated by
the touch of his great example, and we shall then have
acquired the impulse which will carry us on to and will help
us to secure for ourselves a place among the progressive
nations of the earth and to accomplish those high destinies
which, I fully believe, are reserved for us in the decrees of
Providence.
RAMMOHUN ROY— AS A JURIST AND A
POLITICIAN.
(Bv N. N. GHOSH, ESQ., BAR-AT-LAW).
It is a remarkable proof of the Raja's versatility that such
of his writings, as it has been possible to trace, on subjects
connected with law and politics, exhibit deep research, acccu-
rate knowledge, clearness of conception, and a firm grasp of
principles. His paper, entitled Brief Remarks regarding
Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights of Females accord-
ing to the Hindu Law of Inheritance, may be cited as an illus-
tration. Here the writer comes to the conclusion, as the
result of his researches, that under the old Hindoo Law,
women enjoyed rights which have been presented in a very
much narrower form by modern commentators. "These
restraints on female inheritance," the writer is shrewd enough
to observe, "encourage, in a great degree, polygamy, a frequent
source of the greatest misery in native families ; a grand
object of Hindoos being to secure a provision for their male
offspring, the Law which relieves them from the necessity of
giving an equal portion to their wives, removes a principal
restraint on the indulgence of their inclinations in respect to
the number they marry."
Within the present limits it is not possible to refer in detail
to the evidence cited by the writer or to dwell on the keenness
of the insight he exhibits into the causes of a social evil. His
Essay on the Rights of Hindoos over Ancestral Property
according to the Law of Bengal, would do credit to any trained
and professional lawyer deeply versed in the history of the
Hindoo Law. One of his conclusions in this paper is that in
following those expositions which best reconcile law with
AS A JURIST AND A POLITICIAN 25?
reason, the author of the Bengal system is warranted by the
highest sacred authority as well as by the example of the
most revered of his predecessors, the author of the Mitakshara.
The Rule and Ordinance that was passed on the I4th
March 1823, by Mr. Adam, Officiating Governor-General,
curtailing the freedom of the press elicited a Memorial to the
Supreme Court which had to register the Regulation. The
Memorial, which was signed by several leading gentlemen of
the town, was presumably drawn up by the Raja, who was
one of its signatories. This proved unsuccessful, and a
Petition of Appeal was addressed to His Majesty the King
(George IV) in Council. This Petition also appears to have
been the Raja's handiwork. The two documents are remarkable
productions. For cogency of argument, accuracy of fact, and
appreciation of principle, they could not be surpassed. No
writer at the present day could put the case for liberty more
effectively than the Raja has done. Space will not permit the
making of any extracts, specially where a selection is difficult
from among paragraphs almost every one of which is a gem
rich and rare. The writings on Suttee, which one might a
priori imagine to be so warm and vehement as to be devoid
of balance, are themselves an illustration of the Raja's un-
failing sobriety and clearness of vision.
Nowhere does he plead that every practice which is morally
wrong has to be repressed by penal legislation. The issue
he sets forth is clear and definite. He abstains, as far as
possible, from the enunciation of abstract doctrines of sweep-
ing generality, confines himself to the consideration of practi-
cal evils, material wrongs, and argues in effect that a practice
which is not merely immoral, but criminal, must be treated
as a crime. Whatever is productive of injury to the indivi-
dual, and, through the individual, to the society, is criminal,
and should be dealt with as such, all usage to the contrary
notwithstanding.
33
258 RAMMOHUN ROY
That appears to be the substance of the Raja's contention,
and it will hardly be resisted by the most fastidious philoso-
pher of the laisser faire type. The breadth of the
Raja's knowledge of the administration of the country,
the accuracy of his insight, and the soundness of
his opinions on many questions of Government, are well
illustrated by his answers to the numerous questions put to
him by the Select Committee of the House of Commons. It
was certainly no ordinary person that could show as com-
plete and masterly a knowledge of the practical operation
of the Judicial and Revenue Systems of India, and of the
general character and condition of its native inhabitants,
as he undoubtedly possessed of the Upanishads and of the
Precepts of Jesus :
RAJA RAM MOHUN ROY AS A MAN
OF LETTRES.
(Bv MR. MOHINI MOHUN CHATTERJEE).
Forms of expression, though important, do not afford by
themselves, an adequate criterion for judging a literary or
generally an artistic character. Technique is great, but the
idea underlying the subject is greater. Rammohun Roy's
culture was so many-sided, his scholarship so wide and
profound, his natural gifts so rare, that anxious thought and
close study are needed for a proper appreciation of his position
as a man of letters.
Considering the varied character of his writings, one is
struck by his sturdy faith in his art as an engine of human
progress. Primers of Grammar and Geography and abstruse
Treatise on Law, Politics and Theology are alike members
of his literary family. From popular songs to unpopular
science, his literary hospitality is extended. His love of
knowledge in its multiform aspects, beams out of his writings
with equal radiance. As witness, his letter on English
Education addressed to Lord Amherst. His motto may well
have been the words of Goethe "Licht meir Licht," — light
more light.
His controversial writings are instinct with a singular
love of truth and a reverence for freedom of thought. In
form they are the productions of a scholar and a gentleman.
Not a word, not a syllable has he written for mere effect or to
hurt an antagonist's feelings. His method was justified by
the result— conversion by controversy. Ram Chandra Vidya-
vagish and Dr. Adam were the fruits of his labours in his
260 RAMMOHUN ROY
fields. Read his Appeals to the Christian Public and judge.
The filial piety of Mr. Marshman finds an apology for his
father ; but Rammohun Roy has never needed one. ''With
the exception of this deviation from liberality (on the part of
Dr. Marshman)," remarks Dr. Rees in his preface to the
American Edition of the precepts of Jesus, "the controversy
on both sides has been throughout conducted with a spirit
of Christian candour and fairness." The following words
of Rammohun himself indicate the spirit of his controversial
writings better than anyting one might say — "I hope it will
not be presumed that I intend to establish the preference of
my faith over that of other men. The result of controversy
on such a subject however multiplied must be ever unsatis-
factory for the reasoning faculty, which leads them to certainty
in things within its reach, produces no effect on questions
beyond its comprehension."
Sincerity, according to Carlyle, is the test of heroism. A
prominent quality of Rammohun Roy's writings is his
transparent sincerity, which indeed is but the outward mani-
festation of his love of truth. He has not said a word that
he did not feel to be true. In religion he discarded esoteri-
cism in every form and did not believe in deceiving the
multitude for their own good. "By taking the path which
conscience and sincerity direct," he says, "I, born a Brahmin,
have exposed myself to the complainings and reproaches
even of some of my relations whose prejudices are strong and
whose temporal advantage depends on the present system.
But however accumulated I can bear them tranquilly, trusting
that a day will arrive when my humble endeavours will be
viewed with justice,perhaps acknowledged with gratitude."How-
ever severe may be the tests applied, his literary honesty will
come out the purer and brighter from the fire. He never
misrepresents or misunderstands his antagonists. The whole
of his writings will be scanned in vain for a single instance
AS A MAN OF LETTERS 26 1
of imputing to his adversary an opinion for the sole glory of
demolishing it. He takes his opponents at their best.
Scriptural texts, cited or relied on by him, are never muti-
lated, wrenched from context or divorced from their authorised
meaning. Who will say, with the experience of our own days,
that such honesty, which ought to be ordinary, is not deserv-
ing of extraordinary praise? Rammohun Roy has never
allowed rhetoric to master logic or passion sobriety. The
Tuhfatul Muwahhiddin, in so far as one can judge to whom
the original is inaccessible, is a model of close logical reason-
ing. His highest praise is this, that there is not a line of
fine writing in all his works.
In the political writings of Rammohun Roy, one is
impressed by the dutiful care with which he avoids making a
statement not resting on his own experience or legitimate
inference arising from it, In concluding his answers to
questions on the Judicial System of India, he says, "In pre-
paring my replies to these queries I have not been biassed
by the opinions of any individual nor have I consulted with
any person or men or referred to any work on the subject of
India. I have, for the facts, consulted only my own recollec-
tions and in regard to the opinions expressed, I have been
guided only by my conscience."
An attentive student of the writings of Rammohun Roy
finds on every page the stamps of thoroughness, sobriety,
straight-forwardness and modesty. His conscientiousness
and sympathy cannot fail to impress the open mind.
The conditions under which this imperfect sketch has
been prepared prevents any attempt at adequate treatment of
Rammohun Roy's form and expression.
But the from is worthy of the substance. The stately and
dignified prose of his English works calls to mind the masters
who adorned English literature in the latter period of the last
century and the early years of the present. Since his time
262 RAMMOHUN ROY
many of his countrymen have achieved eminence as writers of
English prose but few have attained such a style of classical
purity as Rammohun. His expressions may at times offend
against the rules of Grammar, but never against the rules of
style or taste. Bentham's appreciation of Rammohun Roy's
English style is too well-known to need reproduction.
THE NATIONAL AND UNIVERSAL IN
RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY.
(Bv DR. BRAJENDRA NATH SEAL).
For a right understanding and estimate of the Raja's
thought and utterance, it is necessary to bear in mind the
two essentially distinct but equally indispensable parts which
the Raja played on the historic stage. There was Raja Ram-
mohun Roy, the cosmopolite, the rationalist thinker, the
representative man with a universal outlook on human
civilisation and its historic march ; a Brahmin of the Brahmins,
and cheirophan moralising from the commanding height of
some Eiffel Tower on the far-seen vistas and outstretched
prospects of the world's civilisation, Jeremy Bentham's ad-
mired and dearly loved collaborator in the service of mankind ;
the peer of the Humes, the Gibbons, theVoltaires, the Volneys,
the Diderots or any Free-thinker or Rationalist of them all.
For him all idols were broken, and the pare nt of all illusions,
Authority, had been hacked to pieces. He, the cosmopolite,
was daunted by no speculative doubts, discouraged by no
craven fears. For him the veil of I sis was torn ; the Temple
had been rent in twain and the Holy of Holies lay bare to
his gaze ! For he had had his disillusionment, was indeed a
thorough roue of the monde (or demimonde) intellectual. Calmly
fearlessly, truthfully, he probed, fathomed, dissected. And
by deep meditation and brooding, he had won a glimpse of
the Truth.
But there was another and equally characteristic part
played by the Raja — the part of the Nationalist Reformer,
the constructive practical social legislator,— the Renovator of
National Scriptures and Revelations. For the Raja was
264 RAMMOHUN ROY
cast in Nature's regal mould. His was the work of half a
dozen giants. His name was Legion. Hindu Pandit, Zabur-
dasht Moulvie, Christian Padree, the Rishi of a new Manwan-
tara or Yuga, the Imam or Mahdi of a new Tradition, the
Prophet or Nabi of a New Dispensation — by what name shall
I call this man?
Yes, the Raja carried on single-handed the work of Nation-
alist Reform and Scripture Renovation and Interpretation
for three such different cultures and civilisations as the Hindu,
the Christian and the Mahommedan. Unfortunately the
Manezaratul Adiyan and other Arabic and Persian works in
which the Raja developed his scheme of Moslem religious or
socio-religious restoration are lost. But his later writings
dealing with the Hindu and Christian scriptures remain and
are an endless mine of the most precious material to the
student of comparative religion, sociology and ethnology.
*****
The Raja was no doctrinaire. He had a wholesome
historical instinct, a love of concrete embodiments and
institutions, such as characterise the born religious and social
reformer. A rationalist and universalist in every pulse of
his being, he was no believer in the cult of the worship of
Reason, of naked logical Abstractions. The universal guiding
principle of the Love of God and man he sought and found
in the scriptures of the nations, and rose from the barren
religion of Nature or Theo-philanthropy of his eighteenth
century predecessors to a liberal interpretation and acceptance
of the Historic Revelation and scriptures, not indeed in any
supernatural sense, but as embodiments of the collective
sense, of races of mankind, and as concentrating and focussing
that principle of Authority which, in this mundane state, is
an indispensable cement and foundation, an elementary factor
of communal life, whether in the social, the political or the
religious sphere.
CANON OF THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION 265
«
"I have often lamented", says the Raja, "that in our
general researches into theological truth, we are subject to
the conflict of so many obstacles. When we look to the
traditions of ancient nations, we often find them at variance
with each other ; and when discouraged by this circumstance
we appeal to reason as a surer guide, we soon find how
incompetent it is alone to conduct us to the object of our
pursuit. We often find that instead of facilitating our endea-
vours or clearing up our perplexities, it only serves to generate
an universal doubt incompatible with principles on which
our comfort and happiness mainly depend. The best method
perhaps is neither to give ourselves up exclusively to the
guidance of the one or the other, but by a proper use of the
lights furnished by both endeavour to improve our intellectual
and moral faculties."
This has the ring of the "large utterance of the early
gods," and its sanity, its balance, its nice mental equipoise,
is beyond the reach of the Voltaires and Volneys of the world.
This rationalistic Raja has verily been the founder and father
of the nineteenth century conception of the scriptures which
discards supernaturalism and miracle-mongering, and yet
retains and reassures for the race those precious treasures
those storehouses of moral and spiritual force, and of living
authority. The Raja's method of interpretation was at once
a marvellous 'Novum Organum' applied to the scriptures of
the world, and a sure instinct anticipating the historic and
evolutionary method of modern sociology. The essential
and vital principles held in solution in the Hindu and
Christian cultures and civilisations precipitated themselves,
The spirit of reason and universalism was breathed into
those ancient bodies for giving them an immortality of youth
and fresh national vigour.
34
THE SPIRIT OF RAMMOHUN ROY
(Bv MR. R. VENKAT RATNAM, M.A.,L.T)
Extracts from the Prssidential Address to the Calcutta
Theistic Conference of 1906.
* * # * #
To my mind, Rammohun Roy is distinctly different from
the other great men of India before his day. He is the father
of a new race of Indian heroes. He heralds a new epoch in
Indian History. His illustrious predecessors- mighty souls
that have so richly dowered India with truth and goodness by
their holy careers — were mostly sages, a few philanthropists,
some patriots. But he was the first and ( let me add ) the
greatest nation-builder that India has produced. His spirit
ramified into diverse branches covering the whole area of
national life. In his career is illustrated the harmonious play
of that cycle of forces which, by their conjoint operation evolve
and shape out a modern nation. In range of vision, in reach
of sympathy, in versatility of powers, in variety of activities, in
co-ordination of interests and in coalescence of ideals — in
fine, as realising an all-round, all-receptive life in its manifold
fulness, Rammohun Roy is a unique figure in the history of
India, if not, in the annals of the race. I may attempt to
illustrate this by a reference to this, our National Week.
Here is the national life, as it were attracted to and centred
in the metropolis. Here is a round of gatherings — Congress
and Conferences— calculated by their deliberations and sub-
sequent working to foster the growth of a sound, steady, com-
plete nation. In the whole hierarchy of Indian Worthies, is
there another name that evinces equal fitness with that of
Raja Rammohun Roy to be the ruling spirit of this great
week, the presiding genius of all these gatherings ? Is not
their very mutual appreciation an emblem of his spirit ?
Verily, he is the Father of modern India ; he is the Rtshi of
the modern age. * * *
Comprehensive past all comparison as was the Rajah's
ESSENTIALLY A RELIGIOUS GENINS 267
view of a full life, he was essentially a religious genius. He
knew that human growth was endogenous — from the soul
outwards. He was sure that out of the heart were all the
issues of life. His faith in the saving, regenerating power of
the Spirit was unbounded. To him a being not illumined
by belief and trust in God, a progress not impelled by a
religious force, was worse than inconceivable — it was dege-
nerating, degrading. To the myriad ills of India the sovereign
remedy was a living faith in a wise and living God — neither
a cloistered faith that scorns and shuns the world, nor a busy
careworn faith that assigns the leisure hour to a hurried wor-
ship,nor the prudent faith that imports a god to watch a truant
world, nor yet a speculative faith that prefixes a creator to a
law-governed universe. It was a direct vision of an indwelling
Glory, a personal communion with an immanent Spirit,
an implicit trust in an all regulating Providence, a whole-
hearted devotion to an all-controlling Purpose, a cheerful
obedience to an all-governing Will, a conscious participation
in an all-saving Grace, a rapturous delight in an all-entrancing
Beauty. It was a faith to which the universe was a conse-
crated temple, the soul a holy shrine, conscience a
sacred oracle, duty a divine ordinance, truth the
imperishable gospel, love the perfect rule, life a pro-
gressive pilgrimage, humanity an abounding grace.
It was a faith that interpreted law as the method, force as the
will,and matter as the localised potency, of God : it was a faith
that esteemed the world as a reflection, the soul as a vision,
and history as a panoramic presentation of the nature
and the purpose of the Deity. With Rammohun Roy
the man this faith — this sublime invigorative theism — was a
passion, a power and a joy, that made of him a hero and a
prophet. To Rammohun Roy the nation-builder this vital,
fertile faith— a faith lofty as the love of God and ample as
the wants of man — furnished alike the enduring basis and
268 RAMMOHUN ROY
the cementing strength, the ample range and the towering
greatness, of a united and vigorous nation.
* * * *
This spirit of a deep and broad faith he proceeded to
apply to, and realise in, the national life. The work of Ram-
mohun Roy, as of every great nation-builder, was four-fold :
to reassess the national heritage, to replenish the national
resources, to infuse a new quickening and harmonising spirit,
and to use the awakened energies for the new national wants
and demands.
The hope and ^assurance of a reviving nation springs largely
from its "storied past." Therein lies the evidence of national
possibilities, the guarantee of national solvency and in a large
measure the impetus to national endeavour. The inspira-
tion of the ancestral example is the cheering outlook of the
dutiful successor, the acquisition of the sturdy sire, the
starting capital of the ambitious son ; the glory of past
national achievement, the load-star — the light on the
path— of the advancing generations. India's wealth,
her richest acquisition, and her highest achievement,
is the sublime consciousness, the vision, of the all-
permeating and all-transfiguring, all-embracing and
all-fulfilling, all-absorbing and all -transcending Spirit.
Limitations — nay, aberrations — there might be ; but the
distinguishing mark, the predominant note, the prime concern,
of blessed Bharatavarska is God-consciousness. The central
principle, the master passion, 'the driving power,' of her
accredited worthies is God-vision. To trace the lineaments
and study the ways, to follow the foot-steps and bow to the
will, to imitate the purposes and reproduce the nature — in a
word, to realise and fulfil oneself as a projected emblem — of
the divine Spirit, is the one prevailing national ideal, surviv-
ing all vicissitudes ; and to have saved from oblivion, purified
from accretions, and readjusted for modern needs this indwell-
REASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL HERITAGE 269
ing Theistic spirit of India, was the Raja's high service to
the nation. His translations of the Upanishads, his elucida-
tion of the Vedanta, his exposition of the gayatri, his defence
of Hindu Theism, his advocacy of spiritual worship, his
passionate pleading for a devout life as incomparably superior
to the most engrossing ceremonialism— all these were
suggested and sustained by that patriotic and nation-
building purpose of re-instating a living liberal faith
amidst clogging symbolism and enervating superstition.
He re-directed the national intellect to the teachings of the
ancient national scriptures, and reopened the national
soul to the inspiration of the most honoured national seers.
* • * *
To the keen gaze of his soul there lay bare, amidst the
puzzling heap of national scripture, a fund of eternal truth
and inexpressible joy which, sympathetically studied, judi-
ciously adopted, intelligently imparted, and reverently
received, might form the pabulum — the staple food —
for his and many a coming generation of eager seekers
after God. In this spirit (as Max Muller has thought-
fully pointed out), not of a prudent adherence to mere
antiquity, ^but of an honest search for and a grateful appre-
ciation of the seeds of imperishable truth, that he sought to
lay down the Vedanta of the Upanishads,stripped of its strange
and disguising coverings, as the basis of the new national
life. There he rejoiced to meet the seers of ancient wisdom —
types of Emerson's "teachers from within" — proclaiming
(to adopt the happy language of the same sage) a God, not of
tradition, not of rhetoric, not even of inferential conviction,
but of direct sight — a vision and an ecstasy — that circled
the world with a halo of celestial glory and transported the
soul with the raptures of Heaven. There he was grateful
to find a revelation of God's truth that for loftiness of
conception, depth of insight, serenity of contemplation,
2/0 RAMMOHUN ROY
fervour of devotion, austerity of discipline, perfection of
disinterestedness, and intensity of beatitude, would ever
remain unsurpassed, if at all equalled, in the history of -the
world. * * * *
Rammohun Roy, the ardent restorer of the Upa-
nishadic Vedant as the deepest insight of the Hindu ( the
Eastern ) genius, was likewise the gifted interpreter of the
richest expression of the Semitic ( the Western ) genius —
the heart of Jesus. The India of the Rishis, rich and blessed
in the wealth of the soul, was, however, not — could not be —
the India of Rammohun Roy. Alike external pressure and
internal throb were all along modifying and recasting the
national ideals and replenishing and redirecting the national
energies. * * * *
Heaven had ordained India to be the spiritual Piayag of
the world — the sacred spot of the congruent confluence of
the mighty world-currents of East and West — of the joy
and the strength that come of a lasting, vital harmony of
intellect and will, knowledge and power. A vaster and
more comprehensive synthesis than had hitherto been realised
— had hitherto been, perhaps, possible— had to be attempted :
a reverent garnering of "the wisdom of the East and the
West," a holy communion of sage and prophet in «truth and
goodness. In this devout spirit of genuine yet thoughtful
enthusiasm Rammohun Roy submitted his "Precepts of Jesus,
the guide to peace and happiness" to the world, as a
spiritual and ethical code calculated powerfully to conduce to
the elevation of "men's ideas to high and liberal notions of
God" and to "the maintenance of the peace and harmony of
mankind at large." To bring h»me to the "business and
bosom" of India the serene godliness, the self-sacrificing
love, the ethical vigour and the winning grace of Jesus, and
thus to enshrine the Heaven-appointed author of the Christ-
ian life and civilization of the west in the heart of the
nation, was the avowed object of this remarkable publication.
HARMONY OF THE EAST AND WEST 2/1
The warm controversy it led to was, perhaps, the indirect
testimony to its worth and its necessity. Now that with
the lapse of nearly three generations all the personal and
occasional element in that tough fight for truth has ceased
to disturb the vision, the work may justly be valued as the
prophetic forecast of that great reconciliation — that organic
federation — of East and West, through which every faithful
and progressive nation will realize the fulness of its potency
in a universal humanity. The future of India is rich with a
promise almost baffling persent estimation, even because it
appears to be that eternal capital of the Spirit-empire, whither
pilgrim souls from all quarters, with their heart-offerings of
ideals, aspirations, endeavours and achievements, are drawn
to the shrine of immortal Love, and whence will issue forth a
Light radiant as the glory of the Lord and a Peace passing
all mere human understanding. That this ancient land, thus
high-honoured of Heaven, may fulfil this lofty destiny, depends
undoubtedly on her readiness to imbibe this catholic — liberal
and reverent — spirit of Rammohun Roy — a spirit inspired by
the faith and active in the hope that it is with the sublime
soul-contributions and the loving heart-tributes of all worthy
peoples that God will at last make "the pile complete."
This spirit, now fairly familiar, at any rate in theory, it was
the unique distinction of Rammohun Roy to have inaugurat-
ed ; and here is one further proof that he is the builder of
modern Indian nation, the father of new India.
It is very cheering to note that this gradual commingling
of the best in the East and in the West for the ultimate
:u>
perfection of both, aye, of the whole humanity^ as ) being
Heaven's own method, is realised in an increasing degree on
all hands.
* * * #
This was an intuitive perception of Rammohun Roy ;
who was, not only (to use Prof. Sir M. Williams's language)
2/2 RAMMOHUN ROY
'the first earnest-minded investigator of the science of com-
parative religion that the world has produced," but also (as
Prof. Max Muller put it) the first to complete a connected life-
current between the East and the West — the inspired engineer
in the world of faith that cut the channel of communication,
the spiritual Suez* between sea and sea land-locked in the
rigid sectarianism of exclusive revelation, and set their separate
surges of national life into one mighty world-current of
universal humanity.
INDEX
Adam, Rev. William, 5,6,8,9, 14, 67,
68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 92, 106, 107
109, 112, 119, 120, 121, 123, 125,
126, 127,128, 131, 132, 133, 170,
xlviii, lx,hdii, Ixxiv, Ixxvi.
Adams, Hon. John, 99, 104.
Aikin, Miss Lucy, Ixiii, Ixxii, Ixxiv.
Aitchison, Mr. G. N, 231.
Akbar, Emperor, 41.
Alexander, Mr. Nathaniel, 856.
Amherst, Lord, 49, 107, 117, 143,
191, xlii, xlvi.
Anderson, Mr, Ixx.
Arnot, Dr. 200,
Arnot, Mr, 100, 195, 219, 220,229,
OQO
Asiatic journal, 105, 115, 150, 230,
Atmiya Sabha, 30, 132, xxxix,
Ixxix.
B
Baily, Mr, 143,
Banerjee,Hon'ble Babu Sttrendrnath,
xlvii, liii, Ixii, Ixiii.
Bannerji, Krishna Ch. p. 2
,, Hariprasad ,,
,, Amar Ch. ,,
Brajabinode ,,
Earth, M. his 'The Religions of
India' quoted, 40.
Batabyal, Ramjay, 19.
Bengal Herald, The 164.
Benson, 182,
Bentham, Jeremy, 124, 140, 171,
183, Ixix.
Bentinck, Lord William, 143, 145,
148, 151, 164, 191, Iv, Ixxvi.
Bhattacharya Shyama, 2
Bhattacharya Gaurikanta, challen-
ges R. R. in a book called Gyan
Chandrika, 18.
Bidyabagish— See Yidyabagish
Boot, Dr, Ixiv.
Bose, Babu A. C, 136
Bose, Holodhar, 33
Bose, Kamal Lochan 130
35
Bose, Nanda Kishore, 33, 221, 232.
Bose, Babu R. N, 138,
Brahma Mandir, Ixxvii.
Bowring, Mr. John, 130,
Brahmo Samaj, its origion, 129, its
commencement, 132, its trust-deed,
160, the consecration of its rnandir,
161, xlvii, xlviii, Ixxix.
Brahmo Sabha, 152, 159, xliii.
Brahmunical Magazine, 72, 73, 108
Briggs, H. P, 228,
Brihaddevata, 41,
Brooke, M. H, his letter quoted, 43.
Brougham, Lord, 184.
Brown, Dr, xliv.
Bryce, Rev. Dr. 59, 88, xlii.
Buckingham, Mr., 76, 94, 100, 105,
Ixxiii.
'Calcutta Journal? The, 197.
Calcutta Unitarian Society, 74.
Carey, Rev. Dr, 60, Ixxix.
Carpenter, Dr, 7,185,212,217, 222,
227, 229, 230, 235, Ixviii, Ixxi,
Ixxv.
Carpenter, Miss Mary, quoted, 197,
200, 217, Ixxvii.
Castle, Miss, 214, 216, 222.
Chaitanya, xxxiv.
Chakravarti, TaraChand,129, 133,
134.
Chalmers, Dr, 163.
Channing, Dr. Ixiii, Ixxii.
Chatterjee, N. N, 115, 220,
Chowdery, Kaleenath Ray—See
Munshi
Collet, Miss, xli, xlviii, xlix, Ixxiii,
Ixxvi, Ixxx.
Cornwallis, Lord, 42, 43, 191.
Crawford, Mr. J, 153, 154.
Cropper, 182.
D
Das, Rarnhari, 138, 171, 222.
Davison, Mrs, 201,
Dawson, Rev, D, 200.
274
RAMMOHUN ROY
Deb, Chandra Shekhar, 127, 129,
169.
Dev Radhakanta, 39.
Dharmasabha 152, 167.
Digby, Mr. John, 14,15,16, 21, 36,
37, xxxvi, IXXY.
Dorin, Mr, 113.
Dowager Duchess of Cork, 183.
Duff, Dr. Alexander, 162, xxxix.
xlii, xliii, xlix.
Duncan, Jonathan, xxxix.
East India Company, 176, 190.
East, Sir E. Hyde, 35, 36, 106,
xl.
Elphinstone, J. R, 43.
Emperor of Delhi, 164.
Estlin, Mr. J. B, 126, 222, 224,
225, 226, 232, 235, Ixiv.
Ewer Mr, 46, 48.
F
Fergusson, Mr, 103.
Foster, Rer John, 222, 232, 235.
Fox, Rev, W. J, 186, 187, 229, li,
liv, Ixiii, Ixxviii.
Friend of India) 59, 61, 64, 65, 77,
104.
GhoseJogendraChunder, 109, 158.
Govinda Mala, 32.
Grey, Sir C. E, 157.
Grundy, Mr, 180.
Gyan Chandrika, 18.
H
Haider, Babu Rakhaldas, 23.
Hare, David, 35, 106, 221, xl, xlvi.
Hare, Miss, 222, 224, Ixxix.
Hare, Mr. John, 230.
Haringay, Mr, 117.
Harrington, Mr. 143.
Hastings, Lord, 46,49, 51,94, 113,
191.
Hastings, Warren, xxxix.
Heber, Reginald, 59, 109, 117.
Holdar, N, R, 164,
Hurkaru 80, 129, 15;.
I
Idolatry, an extract from Rain-
mohun's English Works, 26.
Impey, Sir Eliza,
Jay, Rev. William, 223, 235.
K
Kemble, Fanny, 199.
Kenny, Dr, 189.
Kenny Mr. 235.
Kiddle, Miss, 200, 212, 214, 215,
216, 217, 222.
Le Breton, Mrs, 198.
Leonard, 'Mr., History of Brahmo
Saniaj, 14, 16, 17, 21.
Leycester, Chief Judge, 113.
M
Macdonald, Rey. Principal, 145.
Macnaghten, Sir Francis, 100, 103.
Madras Courier, P. 38.
Malcolm, Sir John, 41.
Marshman, Dr. 60, 51, 64, 65, 77.
Martyn, Henry, 59, 166.
Max Muller, Prof, 231.
Mazumdar, Brajamohun, 33.
Middleton, Dr. 59.
Mill, James, Ixix.
Mirat-ul Akbbar, 97.
Misra, Sivaprasad, 32.
Mitra, Kishory Chand, 20.
Mitra Pyarichand, quoted, 35,
Montagu, Mr. Basil 199.
'Monthly Repository,' The, 188.
Mukerjee, Ramrotun, 171, 222.
Mullick, Mothur?nath, 130.
Munshi, Kalinath Roy,130,159,163.
N
Nizamat Adalat 143, 144.
Oakley, Mr. H. 46, 48.
Owen, Robert, 200.
Precepts of Jesus &c., 57.
Periodical Account, 60.
Poole, Edward, 67.
Purashcharan, 6.
Rajah of Burdwan 4, 169.
Rathbone, Mr. William, 182, 204.
Rees, Dr. T, 92.
INDEX
275
Roscoe, William, 180
Ross Judge, 143
Roy, Boykuntanath, 159
Roy Govindaprasad, 20
R°y Jaganmohan, succeeds his
father 9, dies 1811, 18, his wife
becomes a Suttee, 22
Roy, Kalinath, See Munshi
Roy, Radhaprasad 8, 125, 159
R. R. born 1, education 6,
marriage 6, travels 7, resides in
Benares 8, first treatise in Persian
(Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhiddin) 10,
Enters civil service 14, writes
Manazaratul Adyan (Discus
sions on all religions) 14,
at Rungpur 16, discusses reli-
gious subjects at Rungpur 17,
learns Kalpasutra 18, settles in
Raghunathpore 19, resides in
Calcutta 21, dissuades his brother's
wife from becoming a Suttee 22,
publishes the translation of the
Vedanta Sutras 25, starts At-
miya Sabha 30, keeps aloof from
the educational committee 35, 36,
his letter to Digby quoted 36, pub-
lishes 'A defence of Hindu Theism'
38, publishes his 'second Defence'
38, he is dragged into law courts
39, his agitation against Suttee
40, his work in connection with
Suttee Suppression 50, 51, 52, his
defence of women 53, publishes
'Precepts of Jesus' 57, his contro-
versy with the Christian Mission-
aries 59, publishes his appeal to
the Christian Public 61, his own
account of the controversy 64,
publishes his ' 'Second Appeal" 65,
translates the gospel into Bengali
67, his cosmopolitan sympathies 74,
issues his final appeal 77, his con-
troversy with Dr. Tytler 81, publi-
shes his humble suggestion &c. 83,
publishes his "Pathya Pradana" 87,
sued by the Rajah of Bur d wan
87, organizes a Unitarian Mission
92, starts the first vernacular
journal 94, starts a weekly paper
in Persian 97, objects the Press
ordinance 100, he appeals to the
king against the Press ordinance
103, addresses a letter on English
Education to Lord Arnherst 107,
founds a Sanskrit and Vedant col-
lege 110, writes a tract on Different
modes of Worship' 111, attacks
polygamy 115, his mode of living
137, 138, his hymns 139, 140,
interviews with Lord William
Bentinck 145, presents an address
to the Governor-General 151,
petitions against the new Jury
Act 153, the prophet of
New India 155, his vindication
of the Bengal law of transmission
of property 156, brings out a
book on the l'the Rights of Hindus
&c." 157, publishes a tract on
'the Universal Religion &c." 158,
erects a building for the Brahmo
Sabha 159, foundation of the
Brahmo Samaj 161, helps Duff in
his educational endeavours 163,
prepares himself to go to Europe
164, he is made a Rajah 164, his
life threatened 166, starts from
Calcutta 169, meets with an
accident 178, visits the French
frigates 178, visits a Unitarian
chapel 180, is invited bv William
Roscoe 180, visited by distinguish-
ed men 182, honoured by the
Unitarians 184, E. I. Company
entertains the Raja 191, cham-
pions the Indian cause 192, was
presented to the King 194, publish-
es his 'Remarks on settlement in
India, of Europeans 205, visits
Paris 210, was buried 227, in-
scription on his tomb-stone, 228,
xxxiii, xxxvi-xlvii, 1 to Iviii, Ix to
Ixiii, Ixvii to Ixxx, Ixxiv-lxxxviii,
Ixxx.
Raja Ram, 169,
Roy, Ramkanta, 34, dies 1803,
9
Roy, Ramlochan 3
Russel, Lord John, 202,
S
Samachar Durpan, 72, 108,
Sambad Kaumudi, 94, 113, 150,
xlv, Ivii.
Sarma, Rama Chandra, 132,
Sastri, Sankara, 38,
Sastri, Pandit Sivanath, his History
of the Brahmo Samaj quoted, 38,
167,
276
MMOHUN ROY
Sastri, Subrahmanya, 38 }
Sati or Suttee, 40, 42, 43, 44, ' 45,
46, 147, 151, 213, xxxv, Iv, Ixxii
Schmidt, Rev. Deocar, 61
Scoresby, Rev. Mr, 180
Sen, Nityananda, xxxviii
Sen, Ram Kamal, 220, xxxviii
Sen, Rajnarain, 33
Sen, UdayaCharan, xxxviii
Smith, Courtney, Mr., 113
Smith, Dr. George, xlii
Smith, Judge, 143
Smith, Samuel, Mr. 76
Spurzheim, 182
Sri Chaitanya of Nadia, xxxiv
Sterling, Secretary, 166
Sumachar Chandrika 149
Sutherland, James 177, 179, 182
190, 195, 232, Ixxi
Tagore Dwarakanath 33, 125, 130,
159, 164, 228, Notes, xxxviii
Tagore, G.N., 137
Tagore, Maharshi Devendranath,
xlv
Tagore, Prusunna Cooniar, 125,
131, 159
Tagore, Ramananth, 159
Tait, Mr. 180
Tarini, R R's mother, 3
Tatwabodhini Patrika, xlvii
Thakur— See Tagore
Tirthaswami Hariharananda, 34
Tomyn, Captain, 42
Trust Deed of the Brahmo Samai,
159, 160
Tuckerman, Dr, 121, 123, 125, 130,
Ix
Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidiu, 10
Turton, Mr, 103
Tytler, Dr, p. 80
U
Unitarian Association, 135
Unitarian Committee, 125, 128
V
Vedantabagish, Pandit Kalibar,
xlvii,
Vedanta College, 110, xlvi
Vidyabagish, Ram chandra, 35,
134, 159
Vidyalankar, Mrityunjaya, 38
Vidyavagisa Utsavananda, 134
W
Ware, Rev. Henry, 89
Warner, Rev. Richard, 223
Wellesley, Lord, 43, 191
Wilson, Horace Hayman, 220, xliv,
xliv
Woodford, Mr, 211
Woodford, Mrs. 203
Wynn, Mr, 154, 1
Yates, Mr, 60, 67
Young, Col, 140
Young, Mr. J, 124, 171
LIST OF SOURCES USE M THIS LIFE.
The letters of William Adam. In the Inqui I Nov. 4, 1882, the Author,
Miss S. D. Collect, says : "I have been so .fortunate as to be favoured
by the executrix of the late Mr. William Adam (formerly a Unitarian
missionary at Calcutta) with much interesting matter from his private
letters relating to the Rajah."
Other previously unpublished materials. In the same letter the Author
says : Some of my Brahmo friends in India have supplied me with
valuable materials for the work, which will be quite new to the
English public." Among these may be included history of the Brahmo
Samaj by P. S. N. Sastri.
The published works of Rammohun Roy, as cited in text, notably
"The English Works of Raja Rammohun Roy: edited by Jogendra
Chunder Ghose, M.A., L.L.B. : compiled and published by Eshan
Chunder Bose. Calcutta : Bhowanipore, Oriental press. 1885." 2
vols. with biographical introduction by the editor.
Adam, William : A Lecture on the Life and Labours of Rammohun Roy ;
Calcutta, 1879.
Correspondence relative to the Prospects of Christianity and the
means of promoting its reception in India. Cambridge, U.S.A.. 1824 ;
London, 1825.
Aspland, Robert: A Sermon on occasion of the lamented death of the
Raja Rammohun Roy, with a biographical sketch. London, 1833.
Barth, Auguste: The Religions of India, translated by J. Wood.
London, 1882.
Carpenter, Lant : A Review of the Labours, Opinions, and Character of
Rajah Rammohun Roy, in a discourse on occasion of his death; and a
biographical memoir, to which is subjoined an examination of some
derogatory statements in the Asiatic Journal. London and Bristol,
1833.
Carpenter, Lant, and others : A Biographical Memoir of the late Rajah
Rammohun Roy, together with a series of extracts from his writings.
Calcutta, 1835.
Carpenter, Mary : The Last Days in England of the Raja Rammohun
Roy. London, 1866.
Chatterji, Nagendranath ; Life of Rammohun Roy. Calcutta, 1880.
Chatterji, Nanda Mohun: Some Anecdotes from the Life of Rani
Mohun Roy. Calcutta, 1881
Collet, Sophia Dobson : The Brahmo Year Book,— 1882. London:
Williams & Norgate.
Outlines and Episodes of Brahmic History, reprinted from the Modern
Review, January, 1884 W. Speaight & Sons, London, 1884.
Article on Rammohun Roy in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
2?8 RAMMOHUN ROY
j J°nn : Preface to Reprint of Rammohtm Roy's Abridgement of the
Yedanta. London, 1817.
Drummond, Wm. Hamilton, D.D. : A learned Indian in search of a
Religion. London, 1833.
Fox, W.J. : A Discourse on occasion of the Death of Ramniohun Roy.
London, 1833.
Ghose, Jogendra Chunder: Biographical Introduction to the English
works of Rajah Ram Mohun Roy. Calcutta, 1885.
Heber, Right Rev. Reginald, Bishop of Calcutta : Narrative of a Journey
through the Upper Provinces of India . . . and Letters written
from India. London, 1828.
Jay, William : Works. London, 1843.
Kemble, Fanny: Record of a'Girlhood, an autobiograpy. London 1878.
Leonard, G.S. : History of the Brahmo Samaj. Calcutta, i879.
Macdonald, Rev. K. S.: Rajah Ram Mohun Roy, the Bengali Religious
Reformer. Calcutta, 1879.
Marshman, Dr. Joshua: A'Defence of the Deity and Atonement of Jesus
Christ, in reply to Ram-mohun Roy, of Calcutta. London, 1822.
Martin, Montgomery : History of the British Colonies. London, 1835.
Navakanta Chattopadhyaya : Short Life and Character of Rajah Ram
Roy. Dacca, 1890.
Parliamentary : Papers relating to Hindu Widows. 1821 to 1830.
Porter, Rev.J.S. Scott The Growth of the Gospel: A sermon occasioned
by the lamented death of the Raja Ramniohun Roy. Belfast, 1833.
Smith, George : Life of Alexander Duff. London, 1879.
de Tassy, Garcin : Rudiments de la langue Hindustani. Paris, 1833.
Ware, Rev. Henry : Correspondence relative to the Prospects of Christi-
anity, etc. Cambridge, U.S.A., i824; London, 1825.
Warner, Rev. Richard, Rector of Great Chalfield, Wilts. : A Sermon on
Charity, the greatest of Christian Graces. 1832.
Periodicals (Magazines, Newspapers, etc.) contemporary with
Ramniohun Roy : —
Asiatic Journal, Bristol Gazette, Bristol Mercury, Calcutta Journal,
Court Journal, Friend of India, Hurkaru, Indian Free Press, Indian
Gazette, Jonn Bull, Mirat-ul-Akbbar, Monthly Repository, Samachar
Chundrika, Sambad Kaumudi, Sumachar Durpun, Tattwabodhini
Patrika, Times.
Also article by Babu Kishary Chand Mitra in the Calcutta Review for
December, 1845, and an article by Keshub Chunder Sen in the Indian
Mirror for July 1st, 1895.
RAMMOHUN'S WORKS,
The following is the list, given in the order of time, of Rammohun's
wo'rks : —
1803 or 1804.— Tuhfatul Muwahhidin, or a gift to Deists. Murshidabad.
Translated into English bv Moulavi Obaidullah El
Obaide, Calcutta, 1884.
1815.— Translation into Bengali of the Yedanta Sutra.
1816.— Abridgement of the Vedant.
1816.— Translation into English and Bengali of the Kena and Isha
Upanishads.
1817.— Translation into English and Bengali of the Katha, Munduk and
Mandukya Upanishads.
1817— A Defence of Hindu Theism. Parts I. and II.
1818. — A Conference between an Advocate for, and an Opponent of, the
practice of Burning Widows alive.
1820.— A Second Conference.
1820.— The Precepts of Jesus : the guide to peace and happiness : ex-
tracted from the Books of the New Testament ascribed to the
Four Evangelists.
1820.— An appeal' to the Christian Public in defence of the Precepts of
Jesus.
1821.— A Second Appeal.
1821.— Brahminical Magazine, I., II and III.
1821.— Sambad Kaumudi.
1822.— Mirat-ul-Akhbar.
1822. — Brief Remarks on Ancient Female Rights.
1822. — Answers to Four Questions.
1823.— Third and Final Appeal to the Christian Public.
1823.— Memorial against Government Press Order of March, 14.
1823. — Ram Dass's papers.
1823.— Brahminical Magazine, No. IV.
1823.— Humble Suggestions to his Countrymen who believe in One God.
1823.— Medicine for the Sick (in Bengali).
1823.— Letter on English Education.
1824.— Prospects of Christianity.
1824.— Appeal for Famine-Smitten Natives in South Deccan.
1825.— Different Modes of Worship.
1826.— Bengali Grammar in the English Language.
1827.— Divine Worship by means of the Gayuttri.
1827.— Answer of an Hindu to the question : Why do you frequent a
Unitarian place of worship ?
1829.— Religious Instructions founded on Sacred Authorities.
1830.— Trust Deed of Brahmp Samaj.
1830.— Address to Lord William Bentinck on the Abolition of Suttee.
1830.— Abstract of the Arguments regarding the Burning of Widows
considered as a Religious Rite.
1830.— The Rights of Hindus over Ancestral Property according to the
Law of Bengal.
1831.— Revenue System of India.
1831.— Questions and Answers on the Judicial System of India.
1831.— Additional Queries respecting the Condition of India.
1832.— Remarks on Settlement in India by Europeans.
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