Father of Hinduvta and the Greatest Hindu Revivalist Who First to Conceive a Bharat connecting herself with the Vedic Past
Celebrating
250th Birth Anniversary of Rajarshi Rammohan Roy
Who
was Rajarshi Rammohan Roy? Part 4 of 6
2nd
Edition - January 2, 2023, by Sri Bandyo
Highlights:
- First to Defended Murty Puja
- First Indian to valuate Jesus and Christianity
- First Indian to evaluate Islam/Prophet Mohamad
- First to start Dharma yudh against Christian conversion
- First to conceive the idea of Hindu Nation
- Greatest Hindu Revivalist Who First to Conceive a Bharat connecting herself with the Vedic Past
- He and his inspired individuals were the first to invoke Bharat as Mother and First to conceive and promote the idea of Swadesh
- Father of Hindu Socio-Spiritual-Patriotic Organizations
He was first to Defended Murty Puja
"If we believe that the Spirit, in the form of a dove or in any other bodily shape, was really the third person of the Godhead, how can we justly charge with absurdity the Hindoo legends of the Divinity having the form of a fish or of any other animal?” (Works, 620)
This line of argumentation is particularly important, as it marks one of the first uses of Hindu theology for biblical criticism.
He
also gives strong supportive reference of the mode of worship as prescribed in
the Vedas and does not completely discard murty puja.. He writes, "..the
Vedas, although they accepts idolatry as
the last provision for those who are totally incapable of raising their minds
to the contemplation of the invisible God of nature, yet repeatedly urge the
relinquishment of the rites of idol-worship, and the adoption of a purer system
of religion, on the express ground that the observance of idolatrous rites can
never be productive of eternal beatitude. These
are
left to be practiced by such persons only as, notwithstanding the constant
teaching of spiritual guides, cannot be brought to see perspicuously the
majesty of God through the works of nature."
Not
once was Rammohan accused by the Calcutta orthodox Hindu community of being
influenced by the missionaries and other English reformers or of being a
westernizer. Viewed from within the long intellectual history of India, this
was just the latest round in a running debate over millennia dating back to the
Vedic Upanisads, the Brhadaranyaka, Kena, and Chandogya 6.2.1’s (and elsewhere)
ekam evadityam, ‘one only without a second’.
-----------
First
Indian to valuate Jesus and Christianity
In sum, the Jesus presented by Roy in the Precepts was an entirely human figure; exalted but neither a messiah, nor the son of God, to be remembered primarily for his nature, not his message, and that Roy “did not grant Jesus any authority except the power of his message.” (Sugirtharajah, 37)
Sugirtharaja
goes on to comment that, “those who are engaged in advocacy hermeneutics will
find this Jesus disappointing. He was not a rebellious figure who was likely to
turn the world upside-down but a robot programmed to utter moral platitudes.” (Sugirtharajah,
37)
He wrote Precept of Jesus which is a Hindu view of bible. The core belief of Bible is Trinity - father, son and the Holy Ghost. In the book he completely discarded that as baseless and destroyed the key pillars of Christianity.
In his book, The Precepts of Jesus, published in 1820 (It was a compilation from the four gospels), “Rammohan had left out,” writes Dr. Sisir Kumar Das, “all passages in these gospels which describe either any miracle or refer to any prophecy or to the doctrines of atonement, Logos or the divinity of Christ. Rammohan is almost ruthless in his rejection of materials from the fourth gospel which is the most important interpretation of Christ’s teaching and the meaning of his life and death on the cross.”
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First Indian to evaluate Islam/Prophet Mohamad
Tuhfat-u-Muwahiddin
was written around 1804. Tuhfat-ul-Muwahiddin means A Gift to Deists-
Dedication to monotheists.
The
Introduction was written in Arabic though the original booklet was written in
Persian.
This
is probably the first theoretical criticism of the Qur'an by an Indian.
Introduced in Arabic Rammohan said that he wrote the booklet in Persian so that even those who do not speak Arabic can read his writing. He may have wanted to tell the ulema that he knew Arabic very well to understand and explain the Qur'an.
Persian
was then the official language. If you
wanted to get a job, you had to learn Persian.
During that period almost all the educated Hindus knew and wrote Persian. But learning Arabic was not easy.
Here is
a story about how Rammohan knew Arabic.
James
Silk Buckingham, the famous editor of Calcutta Journal (1817-1822) came to
Calcutta.
He Became acquainted with Arabic very well as he lived in Palestine since childhood.
He
had a discussion with Rammahan in Arabic.
Rammahan's secretary, Stanford Arnott, said Rammahan spoke Arabic so
fluently that Mr. Buckingham thought that Arabic was Rommohan's mother tongue.
So
Rammahan could write not only the introduction but also the original booklet in
Arabic. There is no doubt about it.
But Rammahan had to flee Murshidabad after writing this book. This essay was intended for Muslim Ulema. He may have wanted Muslim scholars to get enlightened a little after reading his book.
Abidullah
Ali-Ansari Ghazi in one of his books says about this, 'Raja's essay is not for
the general public but rather was addressed primarily to the Muslim Ulema, in
Murshidabad. Did he intend for top scholars of Islam to know the
meaninglessness of Quran so that they could decide for themselves about their
holi book?
'The polemics of this work upsets some
Muslims so much that Roy had to leave this place'.
Why he had to run away? His answer is to this composition of
Rammohan.
Here
is why. Ansari Gazi's writes:
"Rammohan
Roy's direct attack on Islam, the Koran, and the prophet is
fierce,
and it is expressed in very strong language ...
This booklet should be called the index-composition of the Bengali Renaissance of the nineteenth century.
Rammahan's clear view is that the advent of the prophets is not related to 'God, but outwardly causal' and 'out of nowhere'.
The
prophets were not sent to preach religion; its the imagination of the inventor.
Because the idea that one nation considers religion as the guide of truth is in the opinion of other nations the Religion leads people astray.
Rammohon goes further to point out that according to two verses of the Islamic Qur'an: if you see the idol worshipers anywhere, Kill them 'and "take them prisoner in a religious war and release them with a ransom."
In
the name of god, they say that killing or torturing idol worshipers (Brahmins
fall into this category) is a must under God's command. [1]
First to start Dharma yudh against Christian conversion
He
wrote, "No human possibility exists of converting the Hindoo to any sect
of Christianity!”
Rajarshi charges, “seems inevitably to induce derision of the religion of the conquered, although the religion of the conquerors may itself be quite ridiculous. In the case of the English in India, such behavior on the part of men renowned for their humanity and justice is most unjust and unreasonable. Vedas explained in the shastras are far more rational than the doctrines professed by the missionaries, and on the other, the doctrines and mythologies of the Puranas and Tantras , even if unreasonable are no more irrational than those of Christian proselytizers. “
Writes Sita Ram Goel: He had started publishing in 1821 a bilingual periodical, The Brahmanical Magazine, in Bengali and English. In the very first issue he had launched a spirited attack on missionary methods. “During the last twenty years,” he wrote, “a body of English gentlemen, who are called missionaries, have been publicly endeavoring, in several ways, to convert Hindus of this country into Christianity. The first way is that of publishing and distributing among the natives various books, large and small, reviling both religions and abusing and ridiculing the gods and saints of the former: the second way is that of standing in front of the doors of the natives or in the public roads to preach the excellency of their own religion and the debasedness of that of others: the third way is that if any natives of low origin become Christians from the desire of gain or from any other motives, these gentlemen employ and maintain them as a necessary encouragement to others to follow their example…
Were the missionaries likewise to preach the Gospel and distribute books in countries not conquered by the English, such as Turkey, Persia, etc., which are much nearer England, they would be esteemed a body of men truly zealous in propagating religion and in following the example of the founders of Christianity. In Bengal, where the English are the sole rulers, and where the mere name of Englishman is sufficient to frighten people, an encroachment upon the rights of her poor, timid and humble inhabitants and upon their religion cannot be viewed in the eyes of God or the public as a justifiable act. For wise and good men always feel disinclined to hurt those that are of much less strength than themselves, and if such weak creatures be dependent on them and subject to their authority, they can never attempt, even in thought, to mortify their feelings.”
In the same issue, he hinted at the indirect support of the Government in the missionary activities. He objected to the language used in the Friend of India for Hindus and Hindu Dharma. He called upon the missionaries to have a fair debate.
“To abuse and insult,” he said, “is inconsistent with reason and justice. If by force of argument they can prove the truth of their own religion and the falsity of that of Hindus, many would of course, embrace their doctrines, and in case they fail to prove this, they should not undergo such useless trouble to tease Hindus any longer by their attempts at conversion.” He continued, “They should not abstain from a debate considering the humble way of living of Brahmin scholars because Truth and Virtue do not necessarily belong to wealth and Power and Distinctions of Big Mansions.“
The Raja not only knew the Christian scriptures and theology at least as well if not better as any missionary, he was also aware that Christianity was divided into many sects, each at war with all others. He was well aware that the language which Christian sects hurled at each other was not much better if not worse than those which Christian missionaries were hurling at Hindu Dharma. But his greatest asset was his knowledge of the humanist and rationalist critique of Christianity which had come to the fore in the modern West. That came to his help when he presented his case progressively in his three appeals.
He handled the divinity of Jesus in the same manner.
“I ask,” he wrote, “whether it is consistent with the human notion of justice to release millions of men each guilty of sins unto death, after inflicting death upon another person (whether God or man) who never participated in their sins, even though that person had voluntarily proposed to embrace death, or whether it is not a great violation of justice according to the human notion of it, to put an innocent person to painful death for the transgressions of others.”
He asked a straight question, “If Jesus actually atoned for sin, and delivered men from its consequences, how can those men and women, who believe in his atonement, be still, equally with others, liable to the evil effects of the sins already remitted by the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus?” In place of substitutionary atonement, he recommended the Hindu view that ‘repentance alone is the sure and early remedy for human failure.
Finally, he came to the miracles of Jesus. The missionaries maintained that those miracles could not be questioned because it was written in the Bible which was a divine book and that they were witnessed by many people. Ram Mohun observed, “If all assertations were to be indiscriminately admitted as facts, merely because they have been testified by numbers, how can we dispute the truth of those miracles which are said to have been performed by persons esteemed holy amongst natives of this country?” Have they not accounts and records handed down to them, relating to the wonderful miracles stated to have been performed by their saints, such as Agastya, Vasistha, and Gotam, and their gods incarnate – such as Rama, Krishna and Narsimgh, in the presence of their contemporary friends and enemies, the wise and ignorant, the select and the multitude?
“The religious debate,” observes Dr. Sisir Kumar Das, “took a new turn. The issue of racial superiority slowly clouded the whole atmosphere. The area of controversy was enlarged. The Bharatiya intellectual slowly realized that Christianity was linked with European civilization – it was linked up with the power that ruled Bharat.” The dialogue had reached a point where the Raja had to exercise restraint.
Rabindranath
rightly said, “Rammohan brought back the life into Hindu Dharma… A Christian
revolution was inevitable if Rammohan did not crush it. For that Indians are
indebted to him forever”.
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First to conceive the idea of Hindu Nation
"Ram Mohan also coinage the idea of superiority of Hinduism over other world religions. He also introduced the notion of Hindu nation to counteract the strong national feelings of Christianity and Islam. His concept of Hindu nation was embedded in assigning Sanskrit the status of the Hindu national language and Sanskrit sources as the national ideology of Hinduism" (Houben, 1996, p. 354). Houben, J. E. M. (Ed.). 1996. Ideology and Status of Sanskrit:Contributions to the History of the Sanskrit Language.Netherland:
He emphatically said that his social reforms were to eliminate all social evils which were detrimental for Hindus to gain political power.
"The present social system of the Hindus does not have a proper plan to protect their political interests…. At least for their political convenience and social comfort there needs to be some change in Hindu Social Structure.” – Rammohan Roy
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Greatest Hindu Revivalist Who First to Conceive a Bharat connecting herself with the Vedic Past
Envisioning India from the Vedic age, and He and his organization were the cradle of Hindu nationalism.
Taking a cue from the Hrochian model, one could easily discern how Rammohan took up the task of “Phase A”, which is according to Miroslav Hroch, is generally a movement for reviving the ancient culture of that “nation” through historical and archaeological researches. Rammohan, consciously revived the Vedic and Upanishadic tradition of India and sought to disseminate the values underlying the Sacred Texts among the masses.
Following sociologist TN Madan, there are four signs—one who is confident in the ultimate authority of scripture as a source of knowledge, faith and morality; One who believes in the inerrancy of this scriptural knowledge and is therefore intolerant of dissent; who was a harsh critic of his contemporary social and religious system; and promoters of social and cultural renewal projects through the restoration or reconstruction of past traditions. Rammohan, while reforming the Hindu society of his time, recognized the Vedas and Vedanta as the foundation of Hinduism, so Madan correctly calls him the father of Hindu revivalism.
As per writer Mr. Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyay, “Rammohan ignores the rationalist and epistemological flow of the country's culture while extracting material from ancient Indian traditions to modernize Hinduism. …The Brahmo Samaj he founded never outgrew his Sanatan Hindu character and later became the hotbed of Hindu nationalism.”
He also wanted the Hindu Rule to be the best solution for India. In a petition to the British Emperor in 1823, Rammohan wrote that the civil and religious rights of India's 'natives' had been trampled under 'Muslim rule' of the past few centuries, including writer Dipankar Chakraborty's ' hints of 'two nation theory on religious basis'.
"... Explaining the establishment of Muslim supremacy in India, he says that as long as the balance of power between Brahmins and Kshatriyas remained in India in the past, the system of governance had a democratic character. But the collapse of this system ushered in a long period of autocratic rule—which He blamed it mainly on Rajput power—and as a result it was possible for the Muslim warriors of Ghazni and Ghuri to overrun India and establish their own tyranny.
“The principal sources of the modern Hindu outlook on truth and governance are found in the First Revival, sparked by the writings of Raja Rammohun Roy, and carried forward by leaders such as Tagore, Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhi, Radhakrishnan and Rajagopalachari.” - C R Sasikumar
In
his article The Roots of Modern Indian Communalism - And an Alternative The
Bengal Renaissance became a willing tool to spread this colonial ideology, the
Critique of Hinduvta, Mr. Mishra argues:
"The whole edifice of modern India’s liberalism is based on precepts established by the 19th century Bengal Renaissance, whose leading lights Rammohan Roy, Debendranath Tagore, and later, of course, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, invented the ‘1000 year slavery of Hindus’, ‘Indian civilisation primarily constituting Hindus, Buddhists, Jainis, even Sikhs, with Muslims as the the other’, ‘Muslim rulers disfiguring temples’ chronicle.
"The
RSS embodies values that are opposite to liberalism. But its reason for
existing is the philosophy and historical worldview created by 19th century
Bengal liberalism that many Indian elites still copy today.
Gandhi, Nehru, Azad spoke against communalism, but they never attacked the Bengal Renaissance, the ideological mentor of Indian communalism. [2]
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He and his inspired individuals were the first to invoke Bharat as Mother and First to conceive and promote the idea of Swadesh
One of his Brahmo Sangeet, he eulogized Bharat as mother. His ideological disciple Jotyrindranth Tagore composed a song which too considered the first song to invoke Bharat as Bharat Mata. Abanindranath Tagore for the first time painted the image of Bharat Mata.
He
wrote patriotic Brahmo Sangeet in which he promoted the idea of Swadesh.
It was thw Brahmo Samajis who started Hindu Mela, the first public Hindu social and cultural event with Hindu political intention. This event inspired to start National theatre and Srvajanin Ganesh FESTIVAL in Maharashtra.
Father of Hindu Socio-Spiritual-Patriotic Organizations
Rajarshi
was the visionary to create the model for the Socio-Spiritual-Patriotic
Organizations.
The concept of promoting universal ideals of Hindu Dharma, fighting adversaries to Hindu Dharma, Seva/Social work, social upliftment and patriotism came from Rammohan.
In
his model there were four important aspects he conceived.
1. Spirituality
– that includes self-realization and self-development
2.
Seva or service to the society including reforming Hindu Society
from its ill practices
3.
Promote patriotism
4.
Defend Hindu Dharma from various misconceptions and attacks
5. Take pride in Hindu Heritage/Civilization
He created Brahmo Sabha (later became Samaj) as the model organization to implement the above missions.
Later some of the major influential originations directly or indirectly got inspired and propagated the same missions.
Arya Samaj, Veda Samaj, Prarthana Samaj etc. were inspired organizations from the model Rammohan set forth.
Swami Vivekanada, too, coming from Brahmo background founded Ramakrishna Mission and followed the same.
Bharat Sevashram Sangha too falls into the same category.
Indian National Congress was founded by some of the Brahmo Samajis and many Brahmo Samajis took serious roles such as Ananda Mohan Bose (co-founder), Bipin Chandra Pal et al.
Anushilan Samiti was founded by Brahmo Samajis such as Brahmo Bandhov Upadhyay, Aurobindo Ghosh, Barin Ghosh et al.
Dr. Hegwawre The founder of Rastriya Sayangh Sevak Sangh (RSS) was a core member of Anushilan Samiti. His organization followed the same ideals as mentioned above. Later Guruji Golwalkar, who was initiated at the Ramakrishna Mission, rigorously implemented the same ideals.
Bharatya Janasangh, with a political aspiration, too was inspired by the same ideals. Many of their key leaders came from Brahmo Samaj or RSS.
Reference:
1.
Dr. Shakti Sadhan Mukherjee, Dean History Department Burdwan University
2. https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/17830/The-Roots-of-Modern-Indian-Communalism---And-an-Alternative--?fbclid=IwAR276sEeGftdsM6TrwT44KI2lCo7cF4GsQysRh-PpNZ5CHGoWEY6BZFpYHY
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