Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, born on May 28, 1883, was a major player in India’s Independence. He was a poet, a writer and a politician, who shaped Indian nationalism through the concept of Hindutva, a term that was coined by this leader.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Concept of Hindutva

Hindutva has been a much misunderstood word these days, for, the term Hindu has been equated with the religion, Hinduism and many people have termed this concept as an idea of following and promoting one religion.

Hindutva, a Value System

In actual sense, what Sarvarkar meant was a value system based on the culture and traditions of this land. It was a value system that revolved around the core principles of Universalism, Humanism, Positivism, Pragmatism and Rationalism.

Savarkar believed in influencing the masses towards independence, by reminding them of their unique cultural identity.

Activities as youth

Savarkar’s pro independence activities began from his student days in England, where, as a part of the India House, he founded the twin student societies, Abhinav Bharat Society and Free India Society to encourage the youth to participate in Indian revolution for independence.

Veer Savarkar and his friends

Img: courtesy Flickr

Publications

He also brought out many publications towards this effect. “The First Indian War of Independence” was one of his major works highlighting the Indian struggle of 1857 against the British misrule. The work was banned by the British administrators.

Fighting untouchability and casteism

Savarkar was against religions, untouchability and openly spoke out against castism. He thereby played a vital role in forging unity among masses. He is credited to have facilitated in discarding the practice of untouchability in the remote areas of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, in less than 10 years.

Netaji on Savarkar

Netaji in his speech of June-25, 1944, acknowledged Savarkar’s perspicacity.

Savarkar with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Starting Ganesh Utsav

Savarkar was also one of the leaders along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak who started the Ganesh Utsav that became and is still one of the major festivals of Maharashtra, to build national and cultural unity.

Ganesh Utsav

Veer Savarkar Paying Homage to Lokmanya Tilak in 1937

In Jail

For all these, Savarkar was arrested in London in 1910 for carrying out anti-colonial activities. While being shifted to India in a ship, Savarkar tried to escape when the ship reached Marseilles by diving into the water and escaping to the shore. But, the alarm bells were rung before he could be saved by his friends and he was rearrested. He was now sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment, i.e, 50 years in jail and was shifted to the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar islands. His brother was also in same jail at the same time for many years, but both did not know of each others’ presence.

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Cellular Jail, Savarkar Cell

This did not impede Sarvarkar as he carried out his pro independence activities from jail. He wrote his biggest work on Hindutva while serving his sentence.

In 1921, Savarkar was released on the condition that he would not hence forth encourage and carry out any revolutionary activities.

Speeches across land

Once outside jail, Savarkar concentrated on travelling across the country and giving speeches on the concept of Hindutva that he had formulated while in prison. As an able orator and poet, he was able to greatly influence the minds of the people towards his idea of India.

Veer Savarkar giving speech

President of Hindu Mahasabha

He was elected the president of Hindu Mahasabha in 1937, which he served until 1943.

Against partition

Savarkar was vehemently against partition. His position on partition has been aptly summarized by Ambedkar in his work, ‘Pakistan or Partition of India’.

“Mr. Savarkar… insists that, although there are two nations in India, India shall not be divided into two parts, one for Muslims and the other for the Hindus; that the two nations shall dwell in one country and shall live under the mantle of one single constitution…”

After Independence

After Independence, Savarkar continued his agenda of promoting Hindutva through his oratory, poetry and writing skills. He had to sail through a few controversial moments when he was accused in Mahatma Gandhi assassination case, but was later acquitted.

‘Veer’ Savarkar

Savarkar passed away on 26^th February, 1966. Around 2000 Rastriya Swayam Sevaks conducted a grand funeral for this great freedom fighter. The term ‘Veer’ was added to his name in recognition of the great courage he had shown in fighting the British Rule.

We, Hari and Hema got the opportunity to visit his cell in Andaman Jail. We recollect with pain to have seen the many torture tools that were used then.

The struggle, the freedom fighters have gone through to give us, the next generations, the freedom we are enjoying today truly leave us tearful and speechless!!!

The only words that arise in the silence are,

“Are we living up to the dreams they cherished for India, for the sake of which they underwent so much torture?”

Thomas Munro – A friend of India

Munro was one British officer who was friendly to India. He was a friend of India. He was an officer, who unlike the other colonial officers, had great respect and admiration for the native customs of the land.

Sir Thomas Munro was born on 27^th May, 1761 at Glasgow. He arrived in India in 1789.

In 1820s, the British did an extensive All India survey of the education system of the land, which was conducted by Sir Thomas Munro, who later went on to become Major General Thomas Munro.

Sir Thomas Munro

British Survey of Educational System

As per Sir Thomas Munro’s survey, in every village, there was more than one Gurukula. Every temple had a Gurukula attached to it. Every region and kingdom prided in the Mahavidyalaya, the institutions of higher learning that were nearby, at hand.

He saw a vibrant education system that existed in India, prior to the imposition of the British education system.

His survey also showed that in the traditional education system, caste played no role, and was not restricted by gender or religion.  

He started this survey from Bellary, which is in the centre of Deccan.

Thomas Munro

Prosperous Bellary of antiquity

Bellary was a prosperous land, rich in minerals. This Bellary was associated with the Kishkinda Kingdom of Ramayana times. Hampi, the capital of Vijayanagara Kingdom of Krishnadevaraya was also located in this Bellary area.

Bellary was thus not a backward area but a prosperous land from ancient times. In the recent few decades too, Bellary has yielded mining wealth of legendary proportions.

Bellary

It is from such a well-to-do region, that Thomas Munro started his famous education survey. The survey was extended all over South India.

Survey of Madras Presidency

Thomas Munro was then posted in the Deccan region and was given the task of conducting an extensive survey of the schooling system that was prevalent there. He did a caste wise enumeration in each district that came under the purview of his survey.

His report is an eye opener for all.

Percentage of Sudra and Athi Sudra children going to Gurukula in Madras Presidency

The above statistics emphatically show that, in the Madras Presidency Area of those days, which covered most parts of South India, the Shudra and Athishudra children were the majority of students, uniformly in all the 4 language regions.

It can be observed that Madras Presidency Province extended from Orissa coast in the North to Kanyakumari in the South as well as to the Malabar Coast in the West. Adjoining kingdoms of Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore and Calicut were also included in this extensive survey.

The survey also placed before all, district wise data of student of different castes studying in the same school together.

Caste Wise Division of School Students in the Madras Presidency and adjoining kingdoms

Going through these statistics in the survey report, we see that district after district, without fail, Shudra and other castes outnumbered the Brahmins in schools. The word Soodra was the way Shudra was spelt in those days.

This emphatically brings out the fact that, it was not only the Brahmins who went to Gurukula. All students of the society had equal opportunity to go to the traditional and native schools of India.

In the analysis of this chart, what comes out clear is that it was the kings, the Raja who did not send their children to Gurukula but instead seemed to prefer home schooling.

Whereas the students of Brahmana, Vaishya, Shudra and Athishudra, all studied together in the same schools, under the same teachers, in same classrooms and studied the same subjects. These statistics clearly bring out, that the interest of Shudra in education and enrollment in schools were in equal numbers or infact a lot more.

Religion and Gender not a barrier

Major General Sir Thomas Munro touched on the aspect of gender and religion, at Fort St.George, Madras on 10th March, 1826. As per what he said, in the Malabar region from 1822 to 1825, 11963 boys and 2190 girls went to school. Of these 1,122 girls belonged to Muslim families. He conducted this survey when he was posted at Malabar.

Malabar Region

Education of Muslim girls

Thomas Munro’s experience at Mantralaya

When Thomas Munro was the Collector of Bellary, he made a survey of the lands and fixed rents and taxes on a uniform scale. However he was not able to appropriately determine the ownership of the lands that were in the hands of the Matnralaya Mutt, the place where Sri Radhavendra Swamy’s Samadhi is located.

Mantralaya

The devotees of Swamy Raghavendra told Munro that even though Raghavendra Swamy has been in Brahma Samadhi for the last 130 years, He will continue to live for the next 700 years. They asked him to meet Raghavendra Swamy and seek from him clarification regarding the lands. Thomas Munro was moved seeing the faith of the people, and decided to meet the Swamy. He arrived at Mantralaya and sat by the Samadhi. He was astonished to see Raghavendra Swamy appearing before him in a manifested form.

Raghavendra Swamy and   Sir Thomas Munro

The Swamy then explained to him in detail regarding the extent of the land belonging to the Mutt. He then became invisible again. Thomas Munro who was awed at getting darshan of the Swamy in person, passed the lands in the Mutt’s favour.

Sir Thomas Munro

Sir Thomas Munro passed away on 6^th July, 1827 at Gooty, after being infected with Cholera, in the then Madras Presidency. He was buried at a graveyard in Gooty.

For His efforts of the education survey and his other such untiring efforts, such as redesigning a peasant friendly land revenue system and a more people friendly district administration system which survives to this day, Major General Thomos Munro was knighted as Sir Thomas Munro. That is the honour and importance that the British had accorded to his sincere efforts and the survey.

A magnificent bronze statue of Sir. Thomas Munro stands to this day in the centre of Chennai, erstwhile Madras city, as a sign of the high esteem, in which he was held by both Indians and the British.

Munro Statue in Chennai

The interesting bit of information on the side is that, this statue, made in Britain by Sir. Francis Chantrey, a popular sculptor, shows Sir Thomas Munro without a stirrup, stirring up a controversy on whether it was an oversight or a true depiction of Munro who loved to ride bareback.

Stirrup or not, popular sentiment overrode and Munro continues to sit astride on his horse, as one of the landmarks of Chennai.

More on Thomos Munro and his education survey in our book, Breaking The Myths – About Society.

Buy this book at : https://www.artoflivingshop.com/breaking-the-myths-about-society-vol-2-9789385254789

Ashutosh Mukherjee

Ashutosh Mukherjee born on 29^th June, 1864 in Patna is among the foremost educationist that this country has every produced. He is the father of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, a leader who gave an alternative to the Nehru narrative in the early 1950s.

Tiger of Bengal

“Banglar Bagh”, “the tiger of Bengal,” was the popular name by which Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was referred to, for, for his high academic skills and at the same time high self esteem and courage with which he interacted with the British. He was indeed a ‘tiger’ in the field of education.

Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University

Ashutosh Mukherjee was the Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University from 1906 to 1914 and again from 1921 to 1923.

He made the University one of the foremost centers of learning in India during his stint. His ability to identify and groom young talent is well known in the field of academics even today.

Supported Raman

As the Vice Chancellor, Ashutosh Mukherjee persuaded the famous Indian Physicist C V Raman to teach at the University.

At the time Raman was posted at the government’s Finance department who were reluctant to release him. Moreover, the terms of endowment professorship that Raman had to fulfill disqualified him.

Ashotosh Mukerjee however, convinced the budding physicist Raman to work as a Palit Professor of Physics at the Science College that was affiliated to the University at a much lower salary. Raman’s pioneering research in Physics called the Raman Effect led him to win the noble price.

Persuaded Radhakrishnan

In 1921, he was able to convince another budding philosopher, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to join the Calcutta University. Dr Radhakrishnan went on to become one of the great philosophers of the land and finally the President of India.

Helped Ramanujam

Ashotosh Mukherjee also inspired the famous Mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanuajam and helped him to put forth his theories in the academic circle.

Encouraged Samskrt scholars

Similarly, Ashotosh Mukherjee also identified Mahodaya N S Ananthakrishna Sastry and Mahomaya Chinnaswamy Sastri, great Samskrt scholars who were living in deep south near Tanjare in a village called Tiruvaiyaru.  He took them to Calcutta, provided them both physical and mental space, and encouraged them to bring out tens of volumes of Samskrt literature, which formed the basis of a great revival of Samskrt studies in eastern India then.

Shielded Bose

He also supported young Subhas Chandra Bose, then a student of the Presidency College where he assaulted English professor Oaten for abusing Indians. Subhas was removed from the College.

As the Vice-Chancellor, there were persuasions on Ashotosh Mukherjee to remove him from the University as well. Mukherjee did not want to destroy the career of a brilliant student who had stood up against injustice. He made alternate arrangements for Subhas to study at the Scottish Church missionary college.

Ashutosh Mukherjee nurtured many such young students who contributed to the progress of the land.

Teacher to the teacher

Today, we celebrate Teacher’s day on September 5^th as the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

For this teacher, it was the teacher Ashutosh Mukherjee who facilitated the rise to great heights that Dr Radhakrishnan came to. A good teacher is known by the student he creates. Ashutosh Mukherjee’s name shines for the youth he picked and nurtured.

It is through the efforts of such great men, the foundations of the modern university system of education as built on.

Let us further his legacy

Let us further the cause of education in India that this great educationist had nurtured and stood for through his life.

Rashbehari Bose

Rashbehari Bose was one of the prominent Indian leaders who fought against the British Rule.

Role in Ghadar revolution

He played a prominent role in the Ghadar revolution, a pan Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army that was planned by Ghadar party and carried out in February 1915.

Worked as a Clerk at Forest Research Institute

Rashbehari Bose worked as a head clerk at the Forest Research Institute, in Dehradun, which was set up in 1906.

The Building where Rashbehari worked as a clerk, in Dehradun

Leaving for Japan

Post the Ghadar revolution, Rash Behari Bose had to leave India to escape from the British hunt. He left for Singapore on May 22nd, 1915 and from there went to Japan in June, under the impersonation of Raja P N T Tagore, a distant relation of Rabindranath Tagore.

In Japan, he played a key role in the formation of the Indian National Army.

On arriving in Japan, he met his colleagues of the Ghadar Party, Herambalal Gupta and Bhagavan Singh and formulated the agenda against the British, in hiding.

Indo Japan Connect

The Indo – Japan connect from a friendship angle was initiated during the 1915s, when Japan gave shelter to Rash Behari Bose, who was looking for a place to hide from the British. Despite many requests from the British to extradite him, Japan firmly stood by him.

Key thought leaders of Japan, such as Tsuyoshi Inukai, who later went on to become the Prime Minister of Japan, Mitsuru Toyama, a Pan Asian leader of Japan, became his close friends and together they established the platform of the modern day bond between India and Japan.

A dinner party hosted in the honour of Rash Behari Bose in 1915 at Japan.

Mitsuru Toyama is at the centre of the table, Tsuyoshi Inukai to his right and Rash Behari Bose is behind Mitsuru Toyama – A file photo

Becoming a Japanese citizen

When Japan, an ally of the British in the First World War, discovered their identities and wanted to extradite them, Herambalal escaped to US, while Rash Behari came out of his ‘hiding’ by marrying the daughter of a Japanese bakery owner and becoming a citizen of Japan. Through this bakery, he also introduced Indian Curry to Japan.

Rash Behari Bose with his Japanese wife

Nakamuraya Curry

Rash Behari was admired by most of the Japanese as also Nakamuraya Bose. The Nakamuraya Curry launched by Rash Behari in Japan, is still a favourite food, widely sold in food chain outlets of Tokyo as, “Indian Curry”.

More on Rash Behari and the Indo-Japan Connect, in our book, Indo Japan, A Connect Over Millennia.

As a journalist

Rash Behari became a journalist and explained the Indian view to the outside world for the next 20 years. It was due his earnest efforts that a conference was held in Tokyo in 1942 to discuss political issues.

Forming of Indian Independence League

The Indian Independence League was soon formed, under the leadership of Rash Behari.  Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was made the president of this league.

Formation of INA

Many Indian prisoners captured by the Japanese army in Burma and Malaysia were persuaded to join the Indian National Army under this Independence league.

Thus, the Indian Army took shape due to the efforts of Rashbehari Bose. It was named Azad Hind Fauj.

Conferred prestigious title

Rashbehari passed away on 21^st January, 1945. The Japanese government honoured him with the prestigious title, ‘The Second Order of Merit of the Rising Sun’, the highest recognition for a foreigner.

It is even more heartening to note that a royal coach was sent by the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, to carry the mortal remains of this great Indian revolutionary.

 

Maharana Pratap

Maharana Pratap is one of the kings who has left a permanent stamp in the minds of the people of this country. He was a Rajput ruler of Mewar, a region located in the present day Rajasthan, and gave a tough time to the Mughals.

Maharana Pratap’s Rajput kingdom, highlighted in this map in orange, was an island in the midst of the Mughal Empire, which speaks volumes about the valour of this king, who had kept the Mughals at bay.

The rivalry between Rana Pratap and Akbar is well known.

Battle of Haldighat

A fierce battle was fought between Rajput King Maharana Pratap and Mughal King Akbar on June 18^th, 1576 CE, which has now come to be called the Battle of Haldighat.  Another record says that this battle was fought on 21^st June. But these four days from 18^th to 21^st are commemorated in Haldighat and also at his birth place.

Akbar’s Ploy

Akbar wanted to extend his Mughal Emipre. The ploy he adopted was to take strong Hindu kings under him through friendship. These Hindu kings in turn helped him to defeat other Hindu kings. Maharana Pratap was persuaded by Akbar in every way, to come under him, but the Rajput King refused. Akbar soon lost his cool and declared a war on Rana Pratap. Rana Pratap also made preparations for the battle.

                                                Maharana Pratap and Akbar

The battle

The two armies took stage at Haldighat. Akbar’s Army had 200000 soldiers while Rana Pratap had only 22,000.

Battle of Haldighat

Great Valour of Rana Pratap

The lesser numbers for Rana Pratap did not mean that the battle was a cake walk for Akbar. Rana Pratap and his soldiers fought with great valour. As much as this battle was fought by Rana Pratap’s brave warriors, it was also a story of great versatility shown by his horse, Chetak. Even though Rana Pratap was defeated, Akbar’s army was not able to completely conquer the Rajput king.

Maharana Pratap on his horse, Chetak at the battle

Sacrifice of Chetak

Rana Pratap’s horse made a great sacrifice in saving his master. Just as Alexander had a brave horse in Bucephalus, Rana Pratap had Chetak. Chetak was a native breed war horse, a Kathiawari.

Alexander on his horse Bucephalus 

Chetak was seriously injured in the battle, but, to save his master’s life, it crossed over a big canal, to safety.

Maharana Pratap crossing the Canal

As soon as it crossed, it fell down dead. Rana Pratap broke down and was moved by the great commitment his horse had shown in saving his life. He created a beautiful garden at the spot where Chetak had passed away. A statue was later erected in its memory at Haldighat, where it had shown great bravery.

Maharana Pratap and his injured horse, Chetak

Scooter and Helicopter in its name

The valour of this horse is so ingrained in the Indian minds that the famous scooter in the 1980s and 1990s of India was named Chetak. Chetak is also an inspiration behind the name of India’s indigenously built helicopter. There is also an Express train in the name of Chetak.

                                                  

Chetak Helicopter

Chetak Express Train

Chetak Scooter

Many statues have been built over the centuries depicting Rana Pratap on his horse, Chetak.

Statue of Maharana Pratap on his horse, Chetak

Popular across land

This battle of Haldighat goes down as one of the greatest battles fought by Maharana Pratap.  After this battle, the ethos and valour of Maharana Pratap reached far and wide.

In Coin

His valour has been commemorated by the Government in a coin.

A Serial

A serial on Maharana Pratap was aired in TV, in English, Hindi and other vernacular languages. This serial was very popular, even in regions not visited by  Maharana Pratap.

Such is the spread of his valour all over the land, across languages.

 

World Turtle Day

Amphibians

Tortoises and turtles are reptiles. They are able to survive both on land and in water.

They were one of the early creatures to make the evolutionary shift from living in water to also living on land. A big shift.                             

Tortoise Turtle – Difference

The major difference between a turtle and a tortoise is that turtles mostly live in water while tortoises mostly live on land. Some of the other differences being,

Difference in	Tortoise	Turtle
Shell	Dome shaped shells	Flat shells
Feet	Bent legs and short feet	Webbed feet with long claws
Diet	Mostly Herbivorous	Omnivorous
Hatchlings	Hatchlings move to mother’s burrow from their nest soon after birth	Hatchlings stay in their next on their own for 3 to 4 months
Life span	80-150 years	20-40 years

Tortoise legends across the world

There are numerous legends associated with tortoises across many civilizations.

        Dasavatara

In the sequence of Dasavatara, the 10 incarnations of Divinity Vishnu, Kurma Avatara, the tortoise incarnation, is the second Avatara, incarnation of the Divinity Vishnu. The first in the 10 incarnations was Matsya, the Fish, which can live only in water. The second is Kurma, a tortoise which can live both on land and water, representing the evolutionary leap.

Vishnu takes the form of a tortoise and supports the hill on His back during the churning of the oceans, Samudra Manthan by the Deva and Asura.

           Sri Kurmam Temple

There is a temple in Srikakulam district of coastal Andhra Pradesh dedicated to this Kurma Avatara of Vishnu. The temple is called Sri Kurmam. The idol in the temple is not a sculpture designed by man, but a fossil of a real tortoise.

        Tortoises and Tectonic plates

Indian geological texts also describe the earth as being supported by 8 tortoises.

Here, the analogy of the tortoise stands for the 8 solid tectonic plates on the earth’s crust, over the molten core of the earth, which are constantly moving but very slowly, just like a turtle and its hard shell which covers the soft animal inside.

          In Indonesia

The architectural representation of this turtle legend can be seen in the old archaeological sites of central Java in Indonesia and the adjoining Bali islands too.

       American Legend

There is a similar turtle legend that is explicitly expressed in the ancient American legends too, where a turtle dives to the bottom of the ocean to bring back mud to create the earth.

Thus, we see that turtles have been revered across civilizations from time immemorial.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin on his study of various life forms, conducted his research on the famous Galapagos tortoise of Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean that live for over 100 years.

World Turtle Day

World Turtle Day is observed every year on May 23^rd to raise awareness on turtles, tortoises, and their protection.

On this day, animal lovers and organizations come together and organize events around turtles and tortoises.

Caring for Turtles

Turtles might not be favourites of people, like dogs, but it is vitally important that we care for this species, one of the ancient creatures of our planet.

Need to protect Turtles

This Turtle’s day, let us take steps to protect this endangered species, by saving the turtle hatchings on the coasts.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Socio Religious Reformer

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a socio – religious reformer during the British rule, who was a major player in effacing some of the evils prevalent in the Indian society. He challenged some of the practices that had crept into Indian culture which was detrimental to the progress of India. He played a key role in the abolishing of Sati and pitched for women’s rights at a time when superstition and social bigotry was much prevalent in the Indian society.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Father of Modern India

For laying down the guidelines for the development of the Indian society under the British Rule, he was given the title ‘Father of Modern India’.  His ideas were propagated through Brahmo Samaj which he later founded.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born on May 22^nd, 1772 at Radhanagar village of Hoogli district in Bengal.

An Independent Thinker

From his young age Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an independent thinker. He had differences with his father, an orthodox Brahmin, on certain superstitions and practices that were followed in the society. He was also against idol worship.

Travel to Himalayas

He soon left home for Himalayas seeking true wisdom and travelled upto Tibet. He returned home after this Himalayan sojourn.

Entering Marriage

After his return, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was compelled to enter into marriage by his parents, inorder to bring about a change in his thinking process and outlook.  The marriage however did not have any impact on his progressive mindset.

Learning Vedas and Upanishads

Raja Ram Mohan Roy travelled to Varanasi and pursued his interests in Indian philosophy, studying the Veda and Upanishad.

Forming Atmiya Sabha

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was against all superstitions, which he wanted to remove from the society. His first step in bringing about a change in the society was taken when he formed the Atmiya Sabha. The main aim of this association was to trigger socio religious reforms in the society. He vehemently opposed the practices of Sati and Polygamy and pushed for women rights, such as women’s right to own property. Another area of activity for this Sabha was women’s education. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was seen as a savior for women, working to improve their lives.

Founding Brahmo Samaj

In 1828, he founded the Brahmo Samaj through which he furthered his mission of educating people to give up what he called ‘evil practices’ that had crept into Hindu religion.

Brahmo Samaj

Sati

According to him, evil practices such as Sati and polygamy were actually allowing Christianity to get converts and bring a bad name to Hindu religion.

The practice of Sati

Immediately a year later, the efforts of Brahmo Samaj and its founder bore fruit, when Sati was abolished in 1829.

Establishing Schools

Raja Ram Mohan Roy established many schools under Brahmo Samaj to spread his idea of education, which was an amalgam of Vedic and Western thought. He felt a change in the education system was necessary for India to make progress in the modern world.

Ever Indebted

Brahmo Samaj remains the legacy of Raja Ram Mohan Roy to this day, an institution that has grown over the last two centuries.

This country will be ever indebted to Raja Ram Mohan Roy for ridding the society of unwanted superstitions and inculcating the true sense of modernism in people at the time of British rule, to bring about a progressive outlook in the minds of the people, away from conservatism.