RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY BY D. N. BANNERJEA

About the year 1784, he was sent, for instruction, to the Muhammadan seat of learning in Patna, where he continued as pupil till 1787. While he pursued his studies there, he was greatly attracted by the teachings of Moslem Sufis (i.e., mystics) who had broken away from the rigid orthodoxy of the Schools. These Sufi doctrines suggested affinities with the teachings of Vedanta and held his mind under their spell. They became formulative influences in his life. The Sufis, in common with Vedantists, set forth the ultimate goal of the religious endeavour to be absorption into the Divine, and full initiation into the last stage of revelation is attained after preliminary grounding and probation in the stages called “ The Way,” “ The Truth,” etc. Intuition was recognised as the best vehicle for the apprehension of reality, by the Sufis. It is also more than probable that Ram Mohan came into touch, while at School, with the Mua’tazallite philosophers, who taught that Reason was a sure and unfailing guide to the facts of life ; that belief in the resurrection of the body was untenable and that sensitiveness to the great moral issues of life was the inner core of religion. This school of thought exercised great influence during the eighth century A.D., in Baghdad and elsewhere, during a period, when through its numerous conquests in the East and the West, Islam came into touch with Greek civilisation and Christian ideals, and enriched—and was in its turn replenished by—non-Islamic cultures and traditions.

When Ram Mohan returned home, the rationalistic teachings his mind was steeped in, encouraged him to a revolt against idol-worship. His parents offered ingenious explanations, justifying the worship of images as mere symbols of the divine. But Ram Mohan had finally made up his mind to renounce idolatry, once and for all. Miss Collet tells us an amusing story of how Ram Mohan Roy was once prevailed upon by his mother to do homage to the idols for her sake. When he could no longer resist the repeated requests, he went and did the required homage, all the time being as pessimistic and sceptical as ever concerning the utility of the act. He went through great persecution at home and while very young was asked not to darken his father’s doorstep again. For several years he went about as a wandering ascetic, in search of truth and desirous of meeting great men who might give him fuller knowledge concerning the things that disturbed his soul. It is even suggested that he held, in the course of these wanderings, prolonged discussions with the Lamas of Tibet. But we possess no convincing evidence in support of this statement. After some time, however, his father pardoned him and allowed him to return, when he settled in Benares, and began the study of Sanscrit and Hindu scriptures, but did not commence the study of English till 1796. After the death of his father in 1803, Ram Mohan was most virulently attacked and persecuted by his mother, who wanted, by launching law-suits, to deprive him of his share in the ancestral property and even of his acquired means. But in this attempt she was completely defeated. She wanted to urge the plea that Ram Mohan’s persistent refusal to conform to Hindu ceremony and rites was proof positive that he was beyond the pale of Hinduism. In 1804, when settled in Murshidabad, he brought out a book in Persian called “ Tuhfatul Muwahhiddin “ or “ A Gift, to those who believe in the unity of the Godhead.’* His rationalistic utterances may have given offence to not a few, but these certainly mark a definite advance on irrational theory and pre-supposition expressed both by orthodox, unreformed Hinduism and the dogma- ridden Christianity of the missionary pathfinders like Carey, Marshman and Ward. We cast no reflection on the work that was splendidly done under difficult conditions by these really great men, who not only preached the gospel, but translated the Bible, started the first printing press in India, and helped in raising the depressed classes. But their theology was as crude and as hopelessly Calvinistic as their intentions were benevolent, and through theological narrow-mindedness they defeated the very object, for the promotion of which they had so heroically consecrated their lives.

On the abolition of suttee, a campaign was set on foot by the conservative section of Hindus demanding the abrogation of the new measure, since the new legislation amounted, according to them, to interference with religious custom and was a violation of the policy of religious neutrality. But Lord William was fortunately quite firm. Ram Mohan had already made ample quotations from the Shastras to show that suttee was voluntary and only secondary in importance to life-long chastity. A monster petition was, accordingly, addressed to the House of Commons by the conservative Hindus, and Ram Mohan was anxious lest the reactionaries should achieve their object and renew the nefarious custom that was a bar-sinister across India’s shield.

Shortly before his visit to England, Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahma Samaj in Calcutta. A building was erected, we understand, by Ram Mohan himself, in Chitpore Road, Calcutta, and opened on the 23rd of January “ To be used—“so the wording of the Trust Deed runs—“ ... as 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 particular Being or Beings, or by any man or set of men whatsoever, and that no graven image (italics are mine) statue or sculpture, carving, painting, picture, portrait or the likeness of anything shall be admitted within the said building, and that no sacrifice shall ever be permitted therein (italics are throughout ours) and that no animal or living creature shall within or on the said premises be deprived of life .. . . and that in conducting the said worship and adoration no object animate or inanimate that has been or is . recognised as an object of worship by any man or set of men shall be reviled or slightingly or contemptuously spoken of . . . and that no sermon-preaching, discourse, prayer or hymn be delivered, made or used in such worship but such as have a tendency to the promotion of the contemplation of the Author and and Preserver of the Universe to the promotion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence, virtue and the strengthening of the bonds of union between men of all religious persuasions and creeds.”

These words mark only the first beginnings of religious liberalism, characterised by the abolition of idolatry, animal sacrifice and even the use of “ carving, painting, picture, portrait.” We have as yet no systematic theology of the newer order, no organisation or definite conditions of membership. The pervasive line of thought is deistic, tinged with a spirit of toleration, and keen moral perception. But even so, it constitutes a fair advance on what had gone before. Prince Dwarka Nath Tagore was his chief supporter during these initial stages. We shall see that whereas the break with idolatry is complete, priesthood still occupies a prominent position. The chanting of selections from the Upanishads was done by Brahmins in a room screened off from the rest and here only Brahmins were admitted. We might here incidentally refer to the strong grip of conservatism even on a bold and progressive mind like Ram Mohan’s. During his visit to England he brought two Hindu servants with him, in order that his caste might remain inviolate, even though in India he combated both caste, idolatry and suttee. Then in India, though he freely dined with Muhammadans and Europeans, he would scrupulously use separate tables in the same room. The main thing behind these habits was, no doubt, the honest belief that open and complete break with orthodox usage might lead to complete social ostracism, and in case he lost his standing as a Hindu, his reforming propaganda might be crippled through restricted opportunity.