Hinduvta and Rammohan

 

Hinduvta and Rammohan

By: Sri Bandyo

Before I commence, let me provide a brief overview on Rajarshi Rammohan since people hardly heard his name let alone being familiar with his work.

Who was Rajarshi Rammohan?

• The first Internationalist and greatest ever Hindu/Indian celebrity 
• The first ideologue to inspire freedom fighters and revolutionaries across the globe to free nations from Colonialism 
• First Indian to oppose slavery globally
• First Indian to dismiss socialism.
• His writings changed the psyche of American Intellectuals (Jeffesson, Theorogh, Emerson and hundreds more)
• Father of Inter Religious Studies in the world
• The greatest Hindu Shastri in Modern Era 
• He was respected and honored as the ONLY Vedantin by Asiatic Society
• First to envision Sanskrit as the national language
• First to bring forth and promote Sanskrit treasure - Vedas and Upanishads, for the masses
• First to promote Vedanta globally
• Proponent of Varnashram Dharma as per the guidelines of the Vedas
• Creator/promoter of Hindu Dharma (Hinduism) as an umbrella of various Hindu Sampradayas
• The Rescuer of India's Education System from the worst ever disaster and First to re-introduce Scientific learning in modern era
• First Indian to re-introduce Women education in Modern India
• First to stop Harmful social Customs 
• First to raise voice against Polygamy
• First to raise voice for the Property rights for Hindu women
• First to cross kala pani and broke through the walls of India’s exclusiveness
• First to Defend Murty Puja in modern era
• First Hindu to evaluate Jesus and Christianity
• First Indian to evaluate Islam/Prophet Mohamad/Quran
• 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
• Father of Hindu Identity and Hindu Revival
• 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
• First Indian to envision Home Rule - An independent India
• The 'Father of Indian Journalism'
• First revolutionary to fight British  
• Sowed seeds for all types of required movements
• First to estimate EIC's draining money out of India
• The Father of Modern India

Based on above highlights, it can be declared that Rajarshi was undoubtedly the greatest son of India in the recorded history.

Now let us delve into the topic of Hindutva and Rammohan. Let us first define what Hindutva is. To some, it is simply another word for Hindu-ness. To some others, it is Hindu Nationalism. Definition of Hindutva varies from person to person.

However, in today’s context, it has multiple meaning hence it is required a broader understanding. To me, the following suffice the concept of today’s Hindutva:

• Protecting the Interests of Hindus and Hindu Unity
• Promotion of Hindu Ideals, transitions, darshan, culture etc.
• Taking pride of Hindu heroes and Itihasa
• Dispelling misconceptions on Hindu Dharma 
• Expansion of Hindu Dharma for greater Humanity and performing Pratyavartan
• Performing Social reform that inhibits and impedes the progress of Hindu Society
• Creating a defense mechanism to protect Hindus
• Respecting Bharat Mata as the holy Land
• Providing Seva to support the society
• Having a free nation for Hindus to inhabit 
• 
  

Having said above, now I am going to show how Rajarshi championed the cause of Hindutva based on above guidelines.

Reviving the ancient scriptures:

First and foremost, he was greatest Hindu Shastri in Modern Era in the line of Shankaracharya, Ramanuja, Chaitanya etc. who Revived Vedanta in its original form.

Rammohan Ray was a neo-sastri from the fringes of the declining brahmanical matha system of late-eighteenth, early nineteenth-century Bengal. Rammohan tells us his education began in the family home under the tutelage of a learned sastri, Nandakumar Vidyalankara, better known as Hariharanandanath Tirthaswami Kulabadhuta, a Sakta vamacara tantrika sannyasi. Moving to Calcutta he read the Brahmasutrabhasya and the Talavakara, Isa, Katha, Mandukya and Mundaka Upanisad bhasyas of Sankaracarya in the tol of the eminent Vedanta scholar, Fort William College-Supreme Court pandit Mrtyunjaya Vidyalankara, a pupil of the Sabha Pandit of Nator, Sir William Jones’ ‘third university’, the pre-eminent eighteenth-century ‘matha in Bengal’.

Among these other pandits was Sivaprasad Sharma who read Upanisads with Rammohan Ray and became the pandit of the Atmiya Sabha.

Ramacandra Vidyabagis, Hariharananda’s brother, a student of Rammohan Vidyavacaspati Goswami Bhattacaryya of Santipur, one of the few thriving mathas in nineteenth–century Bengal, took over as Rammohan’s guru. Ramacandra became a trusted sastric authority later serving as acarya of the Brahmo Samaj. Rammohan could legitimately claim to be a pedigreed product of the nineteenth-century matha system in Bengal.

Rammohan Ray understood Vedanta to mean the core doctrines of the Vedic Upanisads doctrines as set forth in the Vedantasutrabhasya of Sankaracarya, and in the Vedic Upanisads, the Talavakara, Isa, Katha, Mandukya, and Mundaka, as expounded by Sankaracarya, and encapsulated in the mahavakya, sacred dicta.

He laid out those core doctrines, as he understood them, in his first publication in 1815, Vedantasara. It came out simultaneously with his own English version, The Abridgement of the Vedant. Abridgement was not a word-forward translation of Vedantasara.

Vedantasara and Abridgement consisted of his own selection of 35 sutras out of 555 sutras presented as containing the core doctrines of the Vedantasutras.

Raja Rammohan Roy’s main intention was to oppose the perversion of Brahmanism. He wrote in 1815, Vedanta Grantha and in 1816, Vedanta Sar. Vedanta Grantha was a Bengali commentary on the Vedanta and Vedanta Sar was in Bengali which he rendered into English as An Abridgement of the Vedant. His original elaborate works on the Vedanta Shastras, entitled Vedanta Grantha was translated into Hindusthani and distributed free of costs among his countrymen. (Collet, 1988, pp 72).

"Between 1816 and 1818, he made Bengali, hindi, and English translations of the Kena, Isha, Katha, Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads. Of those the Kena and Isha Upanishads appeared in 1816 and the Katha, Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads in 1817. All of those except the last, he translated in English also. He published those works with introductions and comments and distributed them free of costs among his countrymen to make them aware of the spirit of their religion, so that they could proceed towards social transformation.

In the preface to the Katha Upanishad of the Ujoor Veda, he expressed his extreme optimism regarding the good understandings of his countrymen. He believed that with such understanding, they would be able to understand the truth of their doctrines, as contained in that work of Rajarshi Rammohan Roy and in his other works which he had already presented before his countrymen. He was sure of the fact that his countrymen would be free from all prejudices one day.

Raja Rammohan Roy however was sure about the fact of quick realisation of the true notion of God by his countrymen which, he knew would show a right path of religion to the natives. That true notion would help them to incline friendly towards their fellow creatures‘ true love and respect towards God would help his countrymen to enrich their mind with humility and charity. At the same time Raja Rammohan Roy knew that such pure system of religion would make the mind of his countrymen independent, pure and sincere.

In the introduction to Kena Upanishad, Raja Rammohan Roy expressed the thought that "this work will, I trust, by explaining to my countrymen the real spirit of the Hindu scriptures, which is but the declaration of the unity of God, tend in a great degree to correct the erroneous conception which have prevailed with regard to the doctrines they inculcate." (Nag and Burman, 1946, PP 11).

The religious ideas of Raja Rammohan Roy which were the root cause of social upliftment had the basis of the Vedas and the Upanishads, rightly termed Vedanta. (or the Resolution of all the Vedas, the most celebrated and revered work of Brahmanical Theology), which held the view that the Supreme Being is incomprehensible and his worship alone is the source of unity and of all happiness. Those could lead to Eternal Beatitude. In 1817, there also appearedi in English "A Defense of Hindu Theism" and "A Second Defense of the Monotheistical system of the Vedas.”

Like Sankaracarya, Rammohan advocated abandoning the self-centered everyday common sense, empirical (vyavahara) standpoint and to seek the higher transcendental (paramarthika), spiritual self-denying perspective necessary for contemplation of the Supreme Being. Rammohan meant specifically the Vedic Upanishads as interpreted by Badarayana and expounded by Sankaracarya.

In his Mandukya tika he quoted Brahmasutra 3.4.39 which declared that the Vedic ideal is the varnasramacar upasak, one who worships the Lord from within society, the world affirmer seeking liberation, moksa, from the entanglements of society.

Writes Girijashankar Raychaudhuri, “Rammohan for the first time in this age brought forth the immense wealth of the Vedas and the Upanishads once again, which have been forgotten for long since (Raychaudhuri 2012: 37).

The Vedntic “god” presented in Roy’s Bengali works, “can neither be morally admired, nor loved, nor served,” putting it at a stark contrast with the Judeo-Christian concept of God. (Robertson,179)

"Robertson also is very clear that any kernel of similarity between Judeo Christian and Advaita theology is not an example of a shared common core, but  something that was originally, and more perfectly, prefigured in the Vedas and Upanishads. According to Robinson, Roy’s view was that it was this Upanishadic Advaita theology, predating Islam and Christianity by a millennia, was the highest form of religion. (Robertson, 180).

Writes Dr. Gautam Sen, London school of Economics:

"It’s the tradition denoted as Bhakti in Hinduism that survived Islam because it could endure dispersed. Jnana largely perished because centres of learning and the learned were largely extinguished or ossified, exceptions apart. The popular Bhakti tradition was vulnerable to corruption and degenerated without the mighty corrective of jnana. All the outrageous commentaries of missionaries were focused on the degraded practices originating in Bhakti. By contrast, the orientalists focused on study of the lost traditions of jnana with a degree of intellectual respect, considerable in some cases.

Much of the fraudulence of modern gurus are offshoots of corrupted variants of Bhakti, usually with a garnish of yoga that has been increasingly turned into callisthenics in practice.

It was Ram Mohan Roy who almost single-handedly revived the Vendantic tradition which reached its apogee, unequalled since, in Swami Vivekananda.”

And Netaji Subhas Bose wrote: “Ram Mohan urged a return to the original principles of Vedantism and for a total rejection of all the religions and social impurities that had crept into Hinduism in later times. “

First to envision Sanskrit as the national language

"For by a reference to history it may be proved that the World was indebted to our ancestors for the first dawn of knowledge which sprang up in the East, and thanks to the Goddess of Wisdom we have still a philosophical and copious language of our own, which distinguishes us from other nations."-Ram Mohan Roy

Though he requested British not to start Sanskrit 'college', he asked, in the same letter, to British to help the indigenous Sanskrit institutions - Tols and Chatuspthis.

Eventually British did accept his advice as during Charles Eliot, they provided funds to chatuspathis.

He wanted Sanskrit to gain the status of the Hindu national language and Sanskrit sources as the national ideology of Hinduism. - Houben, J. E. M. (Ed.). 1996.p. 354 Ideology and Status of Sanskrit:Contributions to the History of the Sanskrit Language. Netherland.

Creator/promoter of Hindu Dharma (Hinduism) as an umbrella of various Hindu Sampradayas

Prior to Rajarshi, the concept of Hindu Dharma as a unifying religio-cultural group did not exist. Hindus were divided not only in castes but also in various schools such as Vedantic, Vaishnavism, Ganaptya, Shaivism, Shaktism, Tantrism, and many others. Often many groups and subgroups would fight among themselves. Hence there was a serious lack of unity among Hindu groups. Muslims and Christians were taking advantage of those divisions.  

Rajarshi, at first felt the necessity to unite various groups under one umbrella. Thus, he promoted the concept of Hindu Dharma or Hinduism. For the first time a Hindu Unity, at least in concept, was achieved, This was indeed a great milestone that was imperative to achieve for Hindu Unity.

"Roy was perhaps among the first to confer upon a loose collective of religious ideas and practices the label of ‘Hinduism’/Hindu Dharma.

 In colonial India, this eventually made possible – at least in theory – a unified Hindu identity. (“Raja Rammohan Roy was very much a Hindu” by Dr. Amiya P. Sen)

In creation of a Vibrant Hindu Society, his work on reform

When a river or a pond becomes stagnant, the very purpose of them gets defeated and eventually they perish, unless they are excavated.

A society too gets stagnant unless a thorough reform is done for its very survival.

After centuries of Islamic rule Hindu society was under a deep stagnancy.

Rajarshi also took upon the task of reforming the society towards creating a healthy and vibrant environment.

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

First to stop Harmful social Customs 

Rammohan attacked all the evil practices from which the society was suffering. He led

a dharma Dharma Yudh against the practice of 'Sati', polygamy, child marriage, caste system, untouchability, female infanticide, purdah system and use of intoxicants, His ideas, preaching

and also the practical steps taken for this purpose had created a general mass awakening.

The religious ideas of Raja Rammohan Roy which were the root cause of social upliftment had the basis of the Vedas and the Upanishads, rightly termed Vedanta.

T. N. Madan (1983, 26) suggests Roy was the first Indian intellectual to scrutinize the social backwardness of India and urge for the eradication of superstitions.

The religious ideas of Raja Rammohan Roy which were the root cause of social upliftment had the basis of the Vedas and the Upanishads, rightly termed Vedanta. (or the Resolution of all the Vedas, the most celebrated and revered work of Brahmanical Theology), which held the view that the Supreme Being is incomprehensible and his worship alone is the source of unity and of all happiness.

"It was a matter of time that, Rammohan passionately pleaded and worked for social change; yet he was not a revolutionary. He had, in fact, the shrewdness to understand that Indian society of his time simply did not admit of revolutionary transformation but it did have the flexibility for slow adjustment. And thus, his effort at making reforms – social, religious and economic – from within. It was in this context that Rammohan challenged the prevailing priestly class which invented and perpetuated certain corrupt dogmas and doctrines and derived benefits from them. (Rammohan 1947: 44).

"From this diagnosis, Rammohan concluded that religious reform is both social reform and political modernization. And thus, accordingly, he conceived of setting up of reformist religious association like the Atmiya Sabha in 1815,  and the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which later became the Brahmo Samaj, as instruments of social and political transformation.

The Brahmo Samaj movement was the most potent and living force, which exercised a profound, though possibly an indirect influence even over orthodox Hindu society. Besides, for the sake of conformity, he wanted to take the Hindu mind back to the pristine glory and simplicity of the Vedas and Upanishads which, like ancient scriptures of other religions, upheld certain basic humanistic values and prescribed little that stood in the way of legitimate human efforts at betterment of material existence (Chakrabarti 2008: 32).

Upliftment of the status of Women: First Indian to re-introduce Women education in India

“According to Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in ancient India, all men and women were treated equal. He advocated equality between the two sexes and declared that women were not inferior to men morally and intellectually. Raja Ram Mohan Roy believed that unless women were freed from inhuman forms of oppression like illiteracy, child marriage, sati, purdah, Hindu society cannot progress.

Ancient India had many learned women. There were two types of scholarly women - the 

Brahmavadinis, or the women who never married and who studied the Vedas throughout their lives; and the Sadyodvahas who studied the Vedas till they married. Lilavati, Bhanumati, Gargi Maitraiyee were learned women in Ancient India who had thorough knowledge of all the Sastras/ancient texts. He supported equality between the two sexes and declared that women were not inferior to men, morally and intellectually. So, Ramhohan Roy was a great supporter of women’s education and he strongly believed that women should not be in purdah or confined to their homes but should get equal education as men so that they could stand against the atrocities against them and also fight various social evils. In 1822, Roy founded the Anglo-Hindu school where both boys and girls could study together. The Brahmo Samaj found by him in 1828, did immense work for the propagation of women’s education and encouraged families to send their girls/ women to school.” - Dr. Bipasha Sinha

People in his days used to believe that women were destined to damnation' they had neither the right to nor the ability for the acquisition of rational ideas. But Rammohan felt that Reason was indispensable for the humanity and all women as a part of humanity are entitled to it.

Rammohan was convinced that humanity would remain incomplete without the elevation and promotion of woman hood of the country. He pointed out that in Indians glorious past there was no dearth of cultured ladies like Maitreyi, Lilavati, the wife of Kalidas and others.

First to raise voice for the Property rights for Hindu women

He demanded property inheritance rights for Hindu women.

"Ram Mohan Roy advocated for girls' property of rights and women's education. He was one of the founders of the women's liberation movement in this country. The condition of women in Hindu society at that time was very dire. They were treated unfairly and deprived in various cases. According to Ram Mohan Roy, the main reason for the backwardness of Hindu women in all respects was their exclusion from property rights. Hindu girls did not have the right to enjoy their father's property. Even in the case of a married woman, after the death of her husband, the property could be passed on to her children but women had no rights.

In his book ‘Ancient Right’ of 1822, Ram Mohan Roy mentioned that in Hindu society in ancient India, Hindu girls had equal access and opportunities to property rights as men. Ancient sages such as Yajnavalkya, Katyayana, Narada, Vishnu, Brihoshpati, Byas, etc. have said that after the death of the husband, the wife will get an equal share of the property with her sons.

Even Manu has acknowledged the rights of women in his book 'Dayabhaga'.If the husband makes a distribution of property while he is alive, do not deprive the wife of her fair share - this is the provision of Dayabhaga i.e.liability(Dutt, 2002, p. 36). He further mentioned that according to the ancient Hindu scriptures, after the death of the husband, the property was shared equally between the wife and the son, and even after the death of the father, the daughter received one-fourth (1/4) of the property. He has tried to prove that how all kinds of deprivation have led to the loss of girls.

Naturally, the girls lost their freedom due to looting of property and they became slaves of the family. At that time, the thinking of the so-called intellectual person of the society was that the girls were less intelligent than men. Women existed only physically. The girls had no chance of a second marriage. Ram Mohan Roy strongly protested against all this. “ [Article by Dr. Anirudh Rakshit]

“Roy was a fearless and self-respecting man, but he had greater respect for women, making it a point to stand up whenever a lady entered the room. He also advocated for a woman’s share in ancestral property. He was, perhaps, the first feminist in India. This quality, I dare say, arrived neither from his exposure to the West nor from his alleged kowtowing to the English ruling class. It came very largely from his training as a tantrik, a tradition hinging on revering the ‘female principle and her manifestation’ in every woman. This was subsequently bolstered by his copious reading of monistic Vedanta and his larger interest in world-historical events.” [

Article by Dr. Amiya P. Sen raja-rammohan-roy-was-very-much-a-hindu]

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was first to raise voice against Polygamy

The Bengali society that he lived in at that time was peculiar. The reputation of a family depended on the character of marriages made by its female members. A kulin Brahmin family (those with titles Banerjee, Mukherjee, Chatterjee, Ganguly etc.) could lose its rank by wrong marriage of their daughter, whereas a non-kulin girl could bring honour to her family by marrying into a good kulin house. The result was polygamy. 

In most parts of Bengal kulin boys of ten started their careers as professional bridegrooms and 

before they turned twenty usually, they married many wives of ages from five to fifty. Matrimony became a sort of profession among the kulins. The outcome of this system was that it left a large number of women unhappy and barren. They were barren because they were widows or married to husbands with whom they did not generally cohabit. 

His attacks on polygamy were based on the shastras. The shastras allowed polygamy with many restrictions, but the practice in Bengal was not according to the Shastric laws. According to the ancient Hindu shastras, a man had to apply to the courts with reasons why he needed a second wife, if his first wife was alive and only with the consent of law could he re-marry.

[Article, “Raja Rammohan RoyOn Paving the Way for Women’s Education, by  Dr. Bipasha Sinha]

Rammohan's oath to prevent satidah

Some say that even Rammohan didn't agree with the pervasiveness of sati. Some say that the Sati of Rammohan’s elder brother's wife was not true.

Here is an authentic reference to refute above:

Excerpts from the book " Mahatma Raja Rammohan Roy" by Sri Nagendranath Chattopadhyay, one of the most respected biographers of Rammohan Roy. Page 26 and 27. Translated from the bengali book which was the 5th publication  in 1928 Rammohan's oath to prevent satidah

 Reading the biographies of the great men, one can see that one incident, (maybe in the slightest case) many times,  changes his life completely.  The finger of god  shows them the path of truth and duty through events.

 Who doesn't see the corpse being taken to the crematorium for hundreds of days in life?  But the prince of Kapilvastu saw it and he left the throne to create invaluable deeds all over the world.

 Hundreds of people in the world did not see the death in lightening?  But Martin Luther embraced religion in the world.

 Which child does not beat the little turtle?  But four years old Theodore Parkar, going to kill a turtle saw the act of conscience.

Similarly, who did not see the death of Sati at the time of Rammohan?  But he witnessed the wife of his eldest brother Jaganmohan's immolation and took a vow that as long as he lives he will eradicate this horrible practice.

 He wanted to stop her from Sahamaran. He explained a lot to all who were associated with the incident, but could not succeed.

 "The sati pyre is burning in a daze. To avoid the noise of the cry of the poor lady going out, various instruments are being played with great enthusiasm.

She is trying to escape from the cheetah in fear, but the relatives are pressing her chest with a bamboo ruthlessly.

 Rammohun Roy's heart was overwhelmed with kindness when he saw the cruel act arose, and yet he vowed that he would not die until the custom is abolished. "  [Rammohan's birthday anniversary speech by Rajnarayan Bose (Leader of Brahmo Samaj and grand father to Sri Aurobindo) who heard above from his father Sri Nanda Kishor Bose, a close friend of Rammohan. From the Book Mahatma Rammohan by Sri Nagendranath CHattopadhyay]

 * This satidah took place in 1811. 

First to cross kala pani and broke through the walls of India’s exclusiveness

Rammohan was the first to cross Kalapani that broke the isolation of India from rest of the world. He showed the way.

“... we did not go out, that we did not compare notes with other nations--that has been the one great cause of our downfall, and every one of you knows that little stir, the little life that you see in India, begins from the day when Raja Rammohan Roy broke through the walls of that exclusiveness. Since that day, history in India has taken another turn, and now it is growing with accelerated motion." - Swami Vivekananda

Fighting the Hostile Ideologies – Christianity, Islam and Socialism

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…. “

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’.

Rammohan meant specifically the Vedic Upanisads as interpreted by Badarayana and expounded by Sankaracarya.

-----------

First Indian to Evaluate 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.”

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 wrote 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 perhaps 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. [Dr. Shakti Sadhan Mukherjee, Dean History Department Burdwan University]

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”.

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:

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. [https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/17830/The-Roots-of-Modern-Indian-Communalism---And-an-Alternative--?fbclid=IwAR276sEeGftdsM6TrwT44KI2lCo7cF4GsQysRh-PpNZ5CHGoWEY6BZFpYHY

]

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.

Father of Hindu Identity and Hindu Revival

Professor Dr. Nurul Islam Manju, a critique of Rajarshi, wrote in his book 'History of Bengal Partition and Muslim League after a Hundred Years':-

"Although the Hindu religious reform movement initiated by Rammohan Roy during the British period seemed dynamic on the surface, the seeds of Hindu revival were hidden within it. On the one hand, the lawlessness, adultery and disorder within Hinduism, on the other hand, the slander of Hinduism by foreign Christian preachers disturbed him and he was inspired to reveal the true nature of Hinduism and bring about reforms within Brahminism.

The communal pressure was evident in Rammohan's writings. In his first book 'Tuhafat-ul-Muttayahiddin', published in 1804 when he was the Khas Munshi of the Murshidabad Collector, he says – " ---- Despite the incidents of intimidation, killing etc. of people belonging to the Muslim community, the Brahmins were firm in their religion and did not deviate from it.  Those who believed in the existence of many gods were often killed and tortured. Because people who believed in Islam were relatively cruel to the Brahmin community.

This statement of Rammohan worked like a sharp weapon in creating hatred and division between the two communities living side by side. Rammohan Roy was then the leader of the Calcutta Hindu community. Taking this opportunity of his statement, the British were able to use the weapon of communalism very easily.

In his famous appeal to the British government, he said, “The civil and religious rights of the natives of India have been trampled under Muslim rule for centuries. Now, by the grace of God, the yoke of those oppressors has been broken, so it is to be hoped that the natives will now get their rights back.” Here, by natives, Rammohan meant the Hindu community and highlighted two distinct streams of the population of Bengal. In the words of one researcher, “If one finds among them the rudiments of the religious-based two-nation theory, can he be blamed too much?”

Later, Hindu communal historians have been guided by Rammohan’s statement. Therefore, it can be said that Rammohan Roy was the father of the ‘Hindu identity’ that gradually developed through Rammohan’s religious reform movement in the early nineteenth century.  "The elements of the subsequent revival of Hinduism were inherent in Rammohan's efforts at religious reform based on scriptures." (Source: History Looking Back After a Hundred Years: The Partition of Bengal and the Muslim League, pp. 15-16, Author: Professor Dr. Nurul Islam Manjur, Department of History, Jahangirnagar University)

 Father of Hindu Socio-Spiritual-Patriotic Organizations

Rajarshi was the visionary to create the model for the Socio-Spiritual-Patriotic Organizations.

In his model there were four important aspects he conceived. 

• Spirituality – that includes self-realization and self-development
• Seva or service to the society including reforming Hindu Society from its ill practices
• Promote patriotism
• Defend Hindu Dharma from various misconceptions and attacks
• 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.

First Indian to envision Home Rule - An independent India

Ram Mohan’s English biographer rightly observes that he “presents a most instructive and inspiring study for the new India of which he is the type and pioneer. He embodies the new spirit, its freedom, its large human sympathy, its pure and sifted ethics, along with its reve­rent but not uncritical regard for the past and prudent disinclination towards revolt”. “Ram Mohan Roy laid the foundation of all the principal movement for the enervation of the Indians.”

As the biographer of Rajarshi aptly 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, … 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 Ram Mohan stands forth as the tribune and prophet of New India."

"Rammohun Roy's presence in this country," says the English biographer of the Raja, "made the English people aware, as they had never seen 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-conformist meeting-house, in the privacy of many a home, andb 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 India, so now he interpreted India to England.

“But his role in the liminality between two epochs resembles that of ancient Indian polymath Chanakya, who used the ruler Chandragupta Maurya to create an Empire out of his imagination. Rammohun was more strategic than inspired, a great planner and even a plotter, sometimes a performer and one who, standing deeply inside his times, could think of centuries beyond him. His depositions in the British Parliament in England may well be consolidated as his Arthashastra, strangely unchanged in spirit and even much of details as the present-day dispensation of the Indian Constitution.”  [article, “Rammohun Roy: Setting the DNA of Modern India by Dr. Susmita Sen]

He was the 'Father of Indian Journalism'

He was also a pioneer of Indian journalism, starting, in the early 19th century, one of the first Bengali weekly newspaper, Sambad Kaumudi, which helped shape people’s opinions on such issues as the abolition of suttee. The other journal was Mirat-ulAkhbar in Persian, which Rammohan closed down while protesting against the restrictions on press freedom. He published several journals in Bengali, Persian, Hindi and English to propagate social reforms.  Between 1803 and 1832, there were more than 40 publications on varied subjects.

First revolutionary to fight British  

There are a lot of instances that prove that Rammohan himself was involved in revolutionary activities under different name.  

“..The propaganda activity carried on by Rammohun and his friends in the Upper Provinces got results. British India had actually experienced the revolt within one year of the denial. One may question whether the insurrectionary propaganda was in any way responsible for the sepoy agitation at Barrackpore in November 1824? According to Bayley, the political propaganda of Rammohun Roy and his political friends had been causing troubles in upper provinces, which happens to be the home of most of the native soldiers in British Army, and the local administrators had been asking the Supreme Government to put an end to those propaganda activities.[Modern Review , Oct–Nov 1928, Internet access on 17.05.21] Ex–Governor General Lord Teignmouth also  stated that “in course of 1824, there was scarcely a district in the Upper Province  in which a spirit of dissatisfaction was not more or less manifested.”[Lord Teignmouth: Notes on Indian Affairs, I–p–159 quoted in Subarna Ghosh and Asoklal Ghosh: British India’s First Freedom Movement–1820–1830, p–48]

When the mutiny in 1824 was suppressed, a native of Kolkata Jogunnouth Mugmoodvre came forward to present the rebel sepoys as innocent sufferers and the Government officials as merciless barbarians. Under cover of “letter of a Native of India” addressing to the Right Honourable Charles Watkins William Wynn the President of the Board of Control, India Affairs [Oriental Herald, Vol 7, October–December1825, pp–188–192, accessed on 17.05.21] 

Jogunnouth described the Government report on the Barrackpore massacre as “quite vague and unsatisfactory” and “as far from correct.” He claimed that the sepoys had done nothing wrong beyond asking for increase of “bhuta (batta), an allowance given to the army in March, which on former occasions was increased when the Company’s troops were sent on distant expeditions.” He added, “as they continued to insist upon their claim, the other troops were commanded to fire upon them, which they did, accordingly, dispersing and cutting to pieces the whole regiment; and thus fell, without resistance, or were afterwards put to death, between four and five hundred men, by the hands of their fellow-soldiers!” Jogunnouth was a native Hindu and a resident of Kolkata; well versed in English and not pleased with the “press in its shackled state.” He was very much critical about the Kolkata paper “John Bull,” distinguished for its adoration for the local authorities and famous for  notorious misrepresentations. He was very much critical about Amherst Government; and suggested “that the whole affairs of the country(India) be placed under the superintendence of a Council, composed of twelve to twenty persons of talent and experience—as the civil and military gentlemen, who from long residence(in India) are well versed in the affairs of this country”. He also formally proposed that, the Governor or Captain General be divested of all but merely executive power subject to the control of the Council. Going back to Jogunnouth Mugmoodvre, during 1820s, there was only one person satisfying all the specifications that Jogunnouth possessed–Raja Rammohun Roy. It is far easier to believe that Jogunnouth Mugmoodvre and Rammohun Roy were one and the same person rather than to believe that Jogunnouth to be another man with identical quality but remained unknown to all. For obvious reasons political letters sent to England and published after 1823, were written under assumed name, so it can be well believed that the originator of the letter was Rammohun himself. 

Now the question thus arises that if Rammohun and his political friends, were indulging in anti–establishment propaganda in Bengal and in the politically sensitive Upper Provinces then they had been committing treason which leads to death penalty or arrest and kept under detention until death. His European friends also knew that they could be seized at any time and deported out of India. Yet Rammohun and his associates continued to instigate a systematic campaign to rouse anti–British feeling in the country. But how could they escape the hangman’s rope? John Palmer was Rammohun’s intimate friend. The political group of England that sponsored Rammohun was backed by Palmer Brothers. Palmers were also very close to George IV, the King of Great Britain at that time. Also Lord Moira and George IV, were more than friends. Apparently, so long as Lord Moira, better known as Lord Hastings, was the Governor General of India Rammohun and his political friends enjoyed some sort of protection. But soon after Moira’s relinquishment of charge, gagging of the Indian Press occurred. James Silk Buckingham and Sandford Arnot got their deportation order almost immediately after Moira’s departure. Buckingham left but Arnot fled to Chandannagore, then under France, but was arrested and deported. This was perhaps the first political arrest by British Government in a French territory .Rammohun also had his share of sufferings. By July 1824, Radhaprasad Roy, the elder son of Rammohun was prosecuted for misappropriation of  Government fund while acting as Nayeb Sheristadar of the Burdwan Collectorate. The case against Radhaprasad though was not of any extra–ordinary kind, he was tried by the highest criminal court. The special prosecutor Edmund Molony took every possible step to obtain a conviction. After two years, Radhaprasad was honourably acquitted while the accuser Shibnarayan Roy was punished. When the charge misfired at court , against a direct complaint of Molony to the Governor General Lord Amherst the Chief Justice Courtenay Smith was suspended and finally dismissed with 35 years of service to his credit. Sometime in early 1827, prosecutor Molony moved to the Governor General to re–open the case of Radhaprasad .” [Article by Mr. Rajib Gangulee] 

Sowed seeds for all types of required movements

He started Brahmo samaj. The samaj and the members inspired to launch many movements in the fields of Freeing India, Social and political freedom, propagating Hindu Dharma, Education, Culture etc.

Rastraguru Surendra Nath Banerjee : "Let it be remembered that Rammohun 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."

Bipin Chandra Pal: "Raja was the first to deliver the message of political freedom to India. He so keenly felt the loss of this freedom by his people that even as a boy, yet within his teens, he left his country and travelled to Tibet, because he found it difficult to tolerate the domination of his country by another nation

Chitaranjan Das: "There is no doubt that he was the first who held before us the ideal of freedom. He was the first to sound the note of freedom in every department of life and in every different culture that has met to-day in India. It may be that we have to modify that, it may we have to analyse that more carefully and more in details for the purpose of scientific study but it is enough for our purpose to say that he inaugurated many reforms – you might call that reforming activity. He inaugurated the reforms which again, in turn, gave rise to reaction which, again, gave rise to further reforms which made the nation turn on itself, till at last, it began to be self-conscious.

First to estimate EIC's draining money out of India

The East India Company was draining money from India at a rate of three million pounds a year in 1838. Ram Mohan Roy was one of the first to try to estimate how much money was being driven out of India and to where it was disappearing.

He also opposed the heavy export duties imposed on Indian goods.

Raja Rammohan Ray: The Father of Modern India

Ram Mohan Ray is called the Father of Modern India in recognition of his epoch-making social, educational, and political reforms. Bruce Robertson argues that Ray's intellectual and spiritual roots have been misunderstood even by those who have been most lavish in their praise. Made a hero for standing up to the British government in politics, his memory has been tainted by an ill-informed consensus, namely that he gave in to Europeans on matters of religion.

Nothing could have been further from the truth, Robertson argues. While Ray's political legacy may be said to have endured, his enormous contribution to modern Indian religious sectarian dialogue, where his greatest originality may be found, is sadly forgotten. Robertson argues that Ray set the agenda for modern India in his vision of a self-determining, modern, pluralistic society founded upon the Upanishadic principles of freedom of sadhana and one rule of law for all. [Bruce Carlisle Robertson, Oxford University Press, 1999]

“Rammohun was the first political moderator of India. He believed in democracy and individual freedom and greeted the liberation struggle of all nations. His advent has been in a period when the social and political conditions in our country were feudal, both in kind and spirit. The question of national independence was inconceivable at that time and ordinary people were completely indifferent to political issues. But there was Raja Rammohun Roy, the cosmopolite, the rationalist thinker, the representative man with a universal outlook who prepared the ground for national independence. The greatness and patriotism of this man who amid all attacks never lost sight of his self-imposed mission of uplifting his countrymen. “ [Bruce Carlisle Robertson, Oxford University Press, 1999]

Subsequently almost all greatest luminaries such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobondo, Surendranath Bandopadhyay, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Justice Ranade, Subhash Bose, Bipin Pal, Chittaranjan Das, Dr. Radhakrishnan to name few paid him the highest tributed as either the father of India or Prophet of Modern India.

Conclusion:

It clearly shows how Rajarshi Rammohan helped reviving the Hindu civilization by creating awareness of protecting the Interests of Hindus and Hindu Unity, promoting of Hindu Ideals, traditions, darshan, culture etc., creating pride of Hindu heroes and Itihasa, dispelling misconceptions on Hindu Dharma,  expanding the reach of Hindu Dharma for greater Humanity and performing Pratyavartan, implementing Social reform that inhibits and impedes the progress of Hindu Society, creating a defense mechanism to protect Hindus, bringing back respecting Bharat Mata as the holy Land and creating the atmosphere of the importance in providing Seva to support the society, envisioning a freedom which was the cornerstone of his vision and created and lay out the blueprint of social, cultural, spiritual and political organizations to serve the purposes mentioned above.

Hence, he is not only the Father of Modern India but also the father of Hinduvta.