New Delhi: Google on Tuesday celebrated the 246th birth anniversary of renowned social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy recognised as the “Father of the Indian Renaissance”, who paved the way for a modern India.
Roy was a non-conformist to many a tradition he was born into on this day in 1772, in Radhanagar village in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
He studied Persian and Arabic along with Sanskrit, which influenced his thinking about God. He read Upanishads, Vedas and the Quran and translated a lot of the scriptures into English.
After his father’s death in 1803 he moved to Murshidabad, where he published his first book Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (A Gift to Monotheism).
Roy took a keen interest in European politics and followed the course of the French Revolution.
Roy was a founder of the Brahma Sabha in 1828, an influential social-religious reform movement. The Brahma Samaj played a major role in reforming and modernizing the Indian society.
However, his most significant contribution as a social engineer was towards women’s rights. Nearly 200 years ago, when evils like — Sati — plagued the society.
‘Father of Modern India’, Roy fought to abolish the practice of Sati. He was also known as the Father of the Indian Renaissance and established a number of schools to popularise a modern education system in India.
In 1830, he travelled to the UK as the Mughal Empire’s envoy to ensure that Lord William Bentinck’s law banning the practice of Sati was not overturned.
He campaigned for equal rights for women, including the right to remarry and the right to hold property.