⦿ Rammohao Roy has been described as the Father of Modern India.
⦿ He touched upon nearly every aspect of national life and for the regeneration of Indian nations.
⦿ He published his first philosophical work, Tuhfat-ul Murahhiddin in 1805 in which he analysed the major religions of the world in the light of ‘reason’ and ‘social comfort
⦿ He denied that religion was merely a matter of faith outside reason and attempted to myth of miracles associated with it.
⦿ In 1814 he started the Atmiya Sabha and carried on consistent struggle against the religiousand social malpractices.
⦿ He denounced idolatry and advocated monotheism.
⦿ He blamed the Brahman priests for perpetuating religious evils by keeping people ignorant iabout the true teachings of the indigenous scriptures.
⦿ To educate the people ‘he published the Bengali translation of some of the scriptures and profusely wrote in defence of monotheism.
⦿ His translations into and writings in the vernacular promote the growth of Bengali language.
⦿ Rammobn Roy remained a rationalist during the entire period of his intellectual life
⦿ In 1828 he established a new society, the Brahma Sabha which later came to be known as the Brdhma Samaj
⦿ His primary purpose was to rid Hinduism of its evils and to preach monotheism.
⦿ It incorporated the best teachings of other religions and acted as a powerful platform for the advocacy of humanism, monotheism and social regeneration.
⦿ He launched a crusade against thie evil practice of Sati
⦿ In 1829 when Lord William Bentinck, the GoverslorrGeneral of India, enacted a law against that practice.
⦿ The solution which he put forward for the living widows was not widow-marriage but ascetic widowhood.
⦿ He condehned polygamy, early marriage and opposed the subjugation of women and their infedor status in society
⦿ Female education was another effective method to free Indian Soceity from social stagnaion.
⦿ He propadated the introduction and spread of modern education which could act as a major vehicle for the dissemination of modern ideas in the country
⦿ Founded the famous Hindu College in 1817
⦿ He also ran an English school in Calcutta at his own cost
⦿ In 1825 he founded the Vedanta College which offeled both Indian and Western learning.
⦿ He stress on India’s need for Western scientific knowledge, Mathematics,Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Anatomy and other useful sciences.
⦿ His goal was the fusion of the best in the east and the West.
⦿ Ramnioha took up political and economic issues of the times.
⦿ He stood for the Indianisation of services, trial by jury, separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, freedom of the press, and judicial equality between Indians and Europeans.
⦿ He criticised the Zamindari system for its oppressive practices.
⦿ His every effort of social and religious reform was aimed at nation-building.
⦿ He attacked the rigidities of the caste system
⦿ He took active interest in international affairs and wanted amity among nations.
⦿ Rammohan Roy was certainly the first luminous star on the Indian intellectual firmament of the nineteenth century. In 1833 this great Indian passed away leaving behind his ideas and the message of modernisation for others to pursue.