Ram Mohan Roy was born on 22 May , 1772 in an orthodox Brahmana family . His father Rama Kant Roy was a Vaishnava Brahmana and mother a Sakta Brahmana . The title of Roy ' was given by the Nawab of Bengal to his great grand - father , Krishna Chandra Banerjee . He had his education at Patna and Benaras and was , perhaps , the most eminent linguist of his times . He was a scholar not only of Bengali , Sanskrit and English but also of Arabic , Persian , Greek , Latin , Hebrew and seventeen other languages and literatures .
Important events and years of his life are summarily described here :
In 1803 , Ram Mohan Roy went to Mushirabad after the death of his father .
From 1803 to 1814 he worked for the East India Company as the personal diwan, first of Woodforde and then to Digboy . The association with these English civil servants, especially Digboy, was instrumental in Roy's study of modern western thought.
In 1814, he resigned from his job and moved to Calcutta in order to devote his life to religious, social and political reforms.
After shifting to Calcutta in 1818 he renewed his interaction with the scholars of the Port William College and the Diwani Adalat in Calcutta with whom he had been in contact with the course of his business dealings in Calcutta prior to 1803. Notable among his English friends in Calcutta were James Young, a merchant and of Jeremy Benthan ; David Hare, a philanthrophist; and J.S. Buckingham the radical editor of Calcutta Journal. The writings of Locke, Hume, Bentham and the Christians Unitarians exerted much influence on Ram Mohan.
His studies of Hindu theology and metaphysics failed to generate in his mind and heart any devout reverence for orthodox Hinduism. Due to his critical intellectualism Hare, a and social rationalism, he became one of the founders of the Bengal renaissance.
In 1815, Ram Mohan came to Calcutta and in 1816 started the Atmiya Sabha. In Calcutta he came in contact with Christian missionaries of the Unitarian School.
In 1818 Ram Mohan began his celebrated crusade for the abolition of Sati, and in 1829 Lord William Bentinck, the then British Governor General of India, rendered Sati illegal. The year 1829 may be taken as an important landmark in the social history of India. Ram Mohan Roy thus won immortal fame in the crusade to free Hindu women from the dark and in- human practice of Sati.
In 1827 Ram Mohan formed the British India Unitarian Association.
On 20 August 1828 he founded the Brahmo Samaj.
On 15 Nov. 1930 he sailed for England to be present there to counteract the possible nullification of the Act banning 'Sati' due to powerful propaganda mounted by the orthodox Brahmanas against the Act. Incidentally it may also. be noted that Ram Mohan was given the title 'Raja' by the titular Mughal Emperor of Delhi, whose grievances the former was to present before the British king. When he was in England, the first Reform Act was passed and he hailed it as the victory of liberty, justice, and right over oppression, injustice and wrong. Among his important activities in England was the presentation of the memorandum to the select committee of the House of Commons on the Revenue and Judicial System of India.
He fell ill and died at Bristol on 27 December 1833.
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