Ancient India Facts

Raja Ram Mohan Roy Biography, Life History & Facts

Raja Ram Mohan Roy Biography:

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born on 22nd May 1772. Raja Ram Mohan Roy biography is quite interesting so continue reading and you will find valuable information about him. His place of birth was Hoogly district, Radhanagar Village, which was situated under the Bengal Residency. Today Bengal Residency is termed as West Bengal. He is known as a modern reformist who brought the moment to abolish child marriage and Sati. His children were Radhaprasad and Ramaprasad. His parents were Ramakanta Roy (Father) and Tarini Devi (Mother). He was well versed in several languages such as Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, and English. He learned Persian and Urdu in Patna, Sanskrit in Varanasi and English while residing in Kolkata. Raja Ram Mohan Roy is utterly famous for bringing in most of the political reforms in the 17th and 18th centuries in India that made him famous across the world. There is simply no doubt that he is one of the greatest reformers in the 17th and 18th centuries in India. One of his major accomplishments was the eradication of the brutal ritual of Sati followed across India and completely stopping Child Marriages across India.

Ramakanta Roy Ram Mohan’s father was a wealthy Brahmin, an orthodox and religious rituals believer. Ram Mohan got married at the age of 8 years. When Ram Mohan was 14 years, his interests were more inclined towards becoming a Monk. His mother was totally against it and did not agree with him becoming a monk. He left that thought right away to follow his mother’s strict orders. The ritual of child marriage was quite common during those periods. His first wife died soon after the marriage. After a gap of 2 years, Ram Mohan got married again at the age of 10 years. With the second wife, he had 2 sons. The life expectancy during those days was quite less and Ram Mohan’s wife died in the year 1826. Raja Ram Mohan Roy got married for the third time whose name was Uma Devi. Education was one of the major requirements during those days to get employed in the East India Company, an era when the Britishers ruled India. Ramakanta Roy Ram Mohan’s father was strictly orthodox but promoted education to his kid as the source of income.

After completion of Bengali and Sanskrit from the village school, Ram Mohan learned Persian and Arabic language in a Madrasa. During those days, as most of the parts of India were ruled by Mughals, Persian and Arabic languages were highly in demand. The courtiers of the King were well versed in Persian and Arabic. It was necessary for any individual working as a courtier to be well versed in both Persian and Arabic languages. Further to add on, Ram Mohan started learning the Quran and various other scriptures. Once completing learning both Persian and Arabic language, he went to Banaras to learn Sanskrit. Coming from the Brahmin family, it was quite easy for Ram Mohan to learn Sanskrit. It took quite lesser time to learn the Sanskrit language, which helped him in learning the Vedas and Upanishads. It is quite outstanding to know that, at such a young age, Ram Mohan Roy was able to learn so many languages that had such intrigue nuances. By the early ’20s, Ram Mohan was going through the scriptures written in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic language. By the time he was 22 years and he was well versed in English as well. Once learning the English language, he started studying the philosophical works of Aristotle and Euclid, which further cemented his concepts when it came to the spiritual and religious conscience. Ram Mohan Roy joined the East India Company as a clerk after completing his education. After a few years, he was promoted as Dewan to collect the revenue checks from the people.

 Raja Ram Mohan Roy Achievements:

During his tenure with the East India Company, he studied Christianity and people enjoyed Raja Ram Mohan Roy Achievements. He found out that there are several traditions as well as superstitions followed in Hinduism. He was against worshiping the idols and stated that there should be one deity that all need to believe. It led to the formation of Brahmo Samaj in the year 1828 in Kolkata. All his efforts did lead to several changes and played a huge role in reforming the moral principles that were taught in the Vedanta school of philosophy. These changes are considered to be one of most important Raja Ram Mohan Roy achievements. After a few years, he co-founded the Calcutta Unitarian Society. 

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was not a king who ruled the kingdom. He was bestowed as King by the Mughal Emperor, Akbar the second for his exceptional thought process in the field of social and philosophical reforms. It is not so easy for any individual to be termed as Raja and Ram Mohan Roy is one such human being to achieve such a feat. For then on, he was known as Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

 Raja Ram Mohan Roy Books:

Before his demise, Ram Mohan had provided a lot of social and philosophical methods that are still applicable in the current era. There were a lot of magazines that were published by Ram Mohan himself in various languages such as Persian, Bengali, Hindi, and English. Some of the noticeable magazines published by him were Mirat-Ul-Akbar, Sambad Kaumudi, and Brahmanical Magazine. These were quite famous across West Bengal and many did believe that these were the best publications to exist in the early 18th century. Some of the other famous publications that were known are Tuhfat-Ul-Muwahhidinor, Vedanta, Moonduk Upanishad, Kathopanishad, The Percepts of Jesus- Guide to peace and happiness, Brahmapasona, Ishopanishad, Brahmasangeet, Gaudiya Vyakaran, as well as the Universal Religion. It is quite astonishing to find that within a span of just 60 years, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was able to publish so many magazines and papers, and even today Raja Ram Mohan Roy books are discussed in several colleges to make students understand the core concepts to make a publication successful.  Discussing Raja Ram Mohan Roy biography we cannot miss his death as well! Raja Ram Mohan Roy died at the age of 61 years on 27 September. He died because of Meningitis at Stapleton in Bristol. There is a street in England named after Raja Ram Mohan Roy, to mark as a remembrance of the amount of extraordinary work that he did during his lifespan.

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