Raja Ram Mohan Roy- Indian Social Reformer

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Raja Ram Mohan Roy- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 1: Indian History- Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a great scholar and an independent thinker, was a prominent Indian social reformer of 19^th century modern India.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy is also known as the ‘Father of Indian Renaissance’ for his contribution to socio-religious reforms of contemporary Indian society.

Birth: Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born in Radhanagar, Hooghly District of Bengal Presidency in May 1772.
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born into an orthodox Bengali Hindu family.
Education:
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy attained higher education in Patna, Bihar where he studied Persian and Arabic.
- Learning various Languages: Raja Ram Mohan Roy had learned Bangla, Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit along with Hindi and English.
Learning about Religions: Raja Ram Mohan Roy moved to Varanasi and studied the Vedas, the Upanishads and Hindu philosophy deeply.
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy also acquired knowledge about Christianity and Islam as well.
Association with British Government: Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked in the Revenue Department of the East India Company from 1809 to 1814.
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy also worked as a personal Diwan to Woodforde and Digby.
Association with Educational Institutions: Raja Ram Mohan Roy helped in establishing many educational institutions to educate Indians in Western scientific education in English. For example-
- Hindu College, (1817): Raja Ram Mohan Roy helped David Hare’s efforts to establish the Hindu College in 1817.
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s English school taught mechanics and Voltaire’s philosophy. In 1822, Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded a school based on English education.
- Vedanta college (1825): Vedanta College established by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, offered courses in both Indian learning and Western social and physical sciences.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote a rational critique of Hindu idol worship at the age of sixteen.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy translated the Vedas and five of the Upanishads into Bengali.
Important writings: Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhiddin (a gift to deists) (1803), Gift to monotheists (1809), Kathopanishad (1816), Mundaka Upanishad (1917), Precepts of Jesus (1820), etc.
Important Journals-
- Samvad Kaumudi (1821) in Bengali: It regularly denounced sati as a barbaric act and against the tenets of Hinduism.
- The Brahmanical Magazine (1821)
- Mirat-ul-Akhbar (a Persian language journal) 1822.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy has been credited with the foundation of socio-religious organizations that worked played a key role in furthering socio-religious reforms of the contemporary Indian society of the time.
Important organizations formed by Raja Ram Mohan Roy are- Atmiya Sabha (1814), Calcutta Unitarian Association (1821), Brahma Sabha (1828) (later in 1830, it became Brahma Samaj).
Through these organizations, Raja Ram Mohan Roy ensured the support of like-minded and implemented his reform movement on the ground.

Rabindra Nath Tagore referred to Ram Mohan as ‘a luminous star in the firmament of Indian history’.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was given the title ‘Raja’ by the Mughal Emperor, Akbar II whose grievances he presented before the British king.
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy visited England as an ambassador of the Mughal king Akbar Shah II where he died in September 1833 in Bristol, England.