Assignment Paper 4
Indian Writing In English
Ajit A. Kaliya
M.A. Sem 1
Roll No. 3
Enrollment No. 2069108420170013
Batch: 2016-18
Email- kaliyaajitbhai@gmail.com
Department Of English, MKBU
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Role Of 'Brahmo Samaj' In
Renaissance In India
Indian Renaissance can be
consider as great bless for Indian people. Because before that there were lots
of criminal practices and beliefs like Satipratha, idolatery, caste system,
untouchability, illiteracy, and so many other. There was intellectual darkness
all over India. So, it was necessary to awake people and stop those foolish
practices. And fluid of new thoughts came during British rule over India. Many
great prominent figures were influenced by Western culture and they started to
spread their thoughts house to house and religious and social awakening took
place. This is called Renaissance in India.
There were many people and
organisations who played great role in Indian reformation like Henry Derozeo,
Swami Vivekananda, Rammohan Roy, Aurobindo Ghose, Syed Ahmed Khan, Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, Dadabhai Navroji, Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophical
society and so on. The list is very long. All had played great role to awake
people against social and religious darkness. But among them one organisation
did more than others. And that's why when we talk about Indian Renaissance,
first names come in our minds are Raja Rammohan Roy and Brahmo Samaj.
Raja Rammohan Roy was
attracted to the west, he also had been repelled by Hindu practices and
beliefs. But he was cast in a different mould, and was always able to look
beneath the appearance and see into the truth of things. He saw that in the
West too, Christian profession and practice could be widely divergent. As for
Hinduism, he went to the Vedas and the Upanishads. Many gods were no doubt
mentioned, but transcending them all was Brahman. 'All is Brahman; I am
Brahman, that thou art'. These basic affirmations of the Hindu faith had
nothing to do with idolatry, caste, sari and the many other foolish, futile, or
criminal practices and beliefs in the Hindu fold. Back, then to the fount of
Hinduism, the deep well of its living waters would be seen to mix and merge
with the springs of other religions
also. In his time Rammohan stood almost alone, while the storms of detraction
blew around him. With a few selected friends he held counsel from time to time
on the perennial truths of all religions, and so the Brahma Sabha or Brahmo
Samaj was found in 1828. His work was continued by Dwaraknath Tagore, an
intrepid figure who also paid a visit to England, and his son Maharshi
Debendranath Tagore. In its great days, members of the Brahmo Samaj were
required to take these seven vows-
1. By loving God and
performing the works which he loves, I will worship God, the creator, the
preserver, and the destroyer, the giver of salvation, the omniscient, the
omnipresent, the blissful, the good, the formless, the one only without a
second.
2. I will worship no
created object as the creator.
3. Except the day of
sickness or tribulation, every day, the mind being undisturbed, I will engage
in love and veneration of God.
4. I will exert myself to
perform righteous deeds.
5. I will be careful to
keep myself from vicious deeds.
6. If, through the
influence of passion, I have committed any vice I will, wishing redemption from
it be careful not to do it again.
7. Every year, and on the
occasion of every happy domestic event, I will bestow gifts upon the Brahmo
Samaj. Grant me, O God, power to observe the duties of this great faith.
A great event in the history
of the Brahmo Samaj was the meeting of Debendranath and Keshub Chundar Sen in
1857. For the next ten years the two worked together, and the Brahmo Samaj was
a power in Bengal. The meeting point of both the religious and cultural
renaissance. But Keshub was more and more attracted to Christ and his gospel
and organised his own church in 1866. Many of the leaders of the community were
Samajists of one or another hue, and thus the Samaj may be truly said to have
played a vital role in Bengal's and India's cultural history during the 19th
century.
Raja Rammohan Roy had
started on several fronts the great task of national reconstruction, and
different men were destined to follow his lead in the different directions.
Thus Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar became the most determined social reformer after
Rammohan. The task of religions regeneration was taken up by Keshub Chundar
Sen. He sincerely felt that Christianity was not incompatible with the spirit
of Hinduism, and he felt also that a close understanding between India and
England was possible. He was an impassioned speaker, and his oratory made a
profound effect on his hearers in India as well as in England. How adroitly
Keshub tried to forge the links between England and India, and Christianity and
Hinduism, may be seen from these few extracts-
"Let then, India learn
from England practical righteousness. Let England learn from India devotion,
faith and prayer."
"You will find on
reflection that the doctrine of divine humanity is essentially a Hindu
doctrine, and the picture of Christ's life and character I have drawn is
altogether a picture of ideal Hindu life. Surely the idea of absorption and
immersion in the deity is one of those ideas of Vedantic Hinduism which prevail
extensively in India..."
"Let India, beloved
India, be dressed in all her jewellery-those 'sparkling orient gems' for which
this land is famous, so that at the time of the wedding we may find her a
really happy and glorious bride. The bridegroom is coming. Let India be ready
in due season."
"The Hindu shall eat
thy (Christ's) flesh in rice and drink thy blood in pure water, so that the
scripture may be fulfilled in this land."
But Keshub could also speak
in another stain, paint a vivid picture of the sorrowing East, and peremptorily
call Europe to order. His lecture on 'Asia's message to Europe' given in 1883,
the last year of his life, was typical of the man and his powers of oratory-
"Behold the sweet angel
of the East, into whose beauty the very colours of heaven seem to have been
woven the fair East in russet mantle clad lies prostrate, a bleeding
prisoner!... The desperate onslaughts of Europe's haughty civilisation, she
says, have brought sorrow into her heart, ignominy on her fair name, and death
to her cherished institutions... Alas! before the formidable artillery of
Europe's aggressive civilisation, the scriptures and prophets, the language and
literature of the East, nay her customs and manners, her social and domestic institutions,
and her very industries have undergone a cruel slaughter. The rivers that flow
eastward and the rivers that flow westward are crimson with Asiatic gore; yes,
with the best blood of Oriental life. Enough. Start, Europe, desist from this
sanguinary strife..."
This is no doubt the style
of an earlier day, but in his time Keshub seems to have created a great
impression on his hearers. He was boldly classed with Gladstone and Gambetta,
and the Rev. Joseph Cook declared: "He is an orator born, not made. He has
a splendid physique, excellent quality of organisation, capacity of sudden heat
and of tremendous impetuosity, and lighting like swiftness of thought and
expression, combined with a most iron self control."
This type of doctrines of
Brahmo Samajists affected every aspect of social, economic, cultural and
political life of the country. From the late 18th century, number of European
and Indian scholars began the study of ancient India's philosophy, science,
religious and literature. This growing knowledge of India's past gave to the
Indian people a sense of pride in their civilisation. For their struggle
against social evils, superstitions and inhuman practices and customs, the
reformers used the authority of the ancient texts. While doing so, most of them
based themselves on reason rather than mere belief and faith. Thus they made
use of their knowledge of Western ideas as well as of ancient learning.
The greatest achievement in
the field of social reform was the abolition of Satipratha in 1829. Rammohan
had seen how the wife of his elder brother was forced to commit Sati. His
campaign against Sati aroused the opposition of the orthodox Hindus who
bitterly attacked him. Rammohan Roy realised that the practice of Sati was due
to the extremely low position of Hindu women. He advocated the abolition of
polygamy and wanted women to be educated and given the right to inherit
property.
The influence of Brahmo
Samaj spread and branches were opened in different parts of the country.
Debendranath Tagore and Keshub Chundar Sen traveled throughout Madras and
Bombay presidencies and later, the northern India.
In 1866, there was a split
in the Brahmo Samaj when Keshub and his group held views which were more
radical than those of the original Brahmo Samajists. They proclaimed freedom
from the bondage of caste and customs, and from the authority of scriptures.
They advocated and performed inter caste marriages and widow remarriages,
opposed the custom of pardah and condemned caste divisions. They attacked caste
rigidity, started taking their food with the people of the so called lower
castes and other religions, opposed restrictions about food and drink, devoted
their life to the spread of education.
Today we can see that many
good changes has made in our society, like girls education, widow remarriage,
untouchability, Satipratha has banished. The root is those social reformers,
who fought for making the society better. Influence of West is very prominent.
But it was Brahmo Samaj who understood what is good in them and so what should
accept? They accepted good things from West and today we have better society
than that dark age of evil beliefs.
References:
Indian writing in English -
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar
Wikipedia
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