Brahmo Samaj

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Categories: 1828 establishments | Religious faiths, traditions, and movements | Bengali renaissance | Religious organizations based in India

Brahmo Samaj (Bengali ব্রাহ্ম সমাজ Bramho Shômaj) is a social movement which culminated in the Brahmo religion. It was conceived as reformation of the prevailing Bengal of the time and began the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century.

1 Meaning of name
2 History and timeline
3 Social & Religious reform
4 Doctrine
5 See also
6 References and notes
7 External links

Meaning of name

"Brahmo Samaj" literally means the society of worshippers of the 'One True Formless Force'. Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম bramho) means one who worships "Brahman", or the supreme spirit of the universe existing within one's self, and Samaj (সমাজ shômaj) means community of people united.^[1]

History and timeline

Image:Raja Ram Mohan Roy.jpg

Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Ram Mohan is regarded as the founder of the Brahmo Samaj.

The movement was started on 20 August 1828 by Raja Rammohun Roy and his friends when they opened a place for public worship, Brahma Sabha ( Bramho Shôbha "One God Society") on Chitpore Road (now Rabindra Sarani), Kolkata, India. It was publicly inaugurated on 11th Magh or 23 January 1830. The former date is celebrated as Bhadrotsab ( Bhadrotshôb "Bhadra celebration") and the latter as Maghotsab ( Maghotshôb "Magh celebration"). These are the two main festivals of Brahmo Samaj.

Of Roy's movement the noted physicist, Jayant Narlikar, writes:

“

Roy understood that the emerging knowledge from the West could not be ignored…He was deeply appreciative of the liberal philosophical traditions of India, and he founded the Brahmo Samaj, a religious movement to popularise those enlightened ideas… Since religion played a dominant role in the public life of his times, he went on to reform religion itself… His criticism of the existing religion and its rigid practices and caste barriers was inspired by his desire to make religion consistent with the changing world of his times…^[2]

”

Following the death of Raja Rammohun Roy in 1833, internal management was left entirely in the hands of Ram Chandra Vidyabagish. In 1839, Debendranath Tagore, son of Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, a friend and active supporter of Raja Rammohun Roy, joined the Sabha. On 7th Pous 1765 Shaka (1843) Debendranath Tagore and twenty others were formally initiated into what was then named Calcutta Brahmo Samaj for the first time with a signed covenant. The Pous Mela at Santiniketan starts on this day^[3]

Image:Keshub Chunder Sen.jpg

Keshub Chunder Sen

Keshub Chunder Sen joined the Calcutta Brahmo Samaj in 1857. This name it retained till the year of the first schism in 1866, after which it was changed to Adi (original) Brahmo Samaj. The new one was called Brahmo Samaj of India.

Although, the Brahmo Samaj movement was born in Kolkata, the idea soon spread to the rest of India. That happened to be the period when the railways were expanding and communication was becoming easier. Outside Bengal presidency some of the prominent centres of Brahmo activity were: Punjab, Sind, and Bombay and Madras presidencies. Even to this day, there are several active branches outside West Bengal. Bangladesh Brahmo Samaj at Dhaka keeps the lamp burning.^[4]

Social & Religious reform

In all fields of social reform, including abolition of the caste system and of the dowry system, emancipation of women, and improving the educational system, the Brahmo Samaj reflected the ideologies of the Bengal Renaissance. Brahmoism, as a means of discussing the dowry system, was a central theme of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's noted 1914 Bengali language novella, Parineeta. After controversies, including the controversy over Keshub Chandra Sen's daughter's child marriage rituals wherein the validity of Brahmo marriages were questioned, the Brahmo Samaj Marriage Bill of 1871 was enacted as the Special Marriages Act of 1872 and set the age at which girls could be married at 14.^[5] All Brahmo marriages were thereafter solemnised under this law which required the affirmation "I am not Hindu, nor a Mussalman, nor a Christian". The Special Marriages Act 1872 was repealed by the new Special Marriages Act in 1954 which became the secular Marriage law for India. The old Special Marriages Act of 1872 was allowed to live on as the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 for Hindus - Brahmo Religionists are excluded from this Act; which is applicable, however, to Hindus who follow the Brahmo Samaj. Recently on 05.May.2004 the Supreme Court of India by order of the Chief Justice dismissed the Government of West Bengal's 30 year litigation to get Brahmos classified as Hindus. The matter had previously been heard by an 11 Judge Constitution Bench of the Court (the second largest bench in the Court's history). As of 2007 the statutory minimum age for Brahmos to marry is 25(M)/21(F) versus 21(M)/18(or 15F) for Hindus.

It also supported social reform movements of people not directly attached to the Samaj, such as Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar’s movement which promoted widow re-marriage.

Doctrine

The fundamental principles of the Brahmo Samaj are that:

There is only one God, the creator and sustainer of the world, who is infinite in power, wisdom, love and holiness (see monotheism).
No created object (including human being) is to be worshipped as God. God manifests himself directly to the human soul, and no prophets or scriptures are mediators between God and the soul.
There is only one way to salvation and that is by worshipful deeds.
Neither Vedas, nor any other scriptures are infallible. All religious teachers and books are to be honored but not venerated.
All human beings are equal before God. Thus there is no division based upon caste, colour, race or sex.

References and notes

^ History of the Brahmo Samaj by Sivanath Sastri
^ The Scientific Edge by Jayant Narlikar.
^ Rabindra Bharati Museum Kolkata, The Tagores & Society
^ There are references to some of the activities outside Bengal in History of the Brahmo Samaj by Sivanath Sastri. David Kopf has mentioned about his meeting with Brahmos outside Bengal at the All India Brahmo Conference held at Hazaribagh in 1970, in his The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind.
^ Brahma Sabha