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Raja Ram Mohan Roy
राजा राममोहन राय
The Father of the Renaissance who fought of Bhārat for reason
Years
1772 – 1833
Known as
Ram Mohan Roy — 'The Father of Modern Bhārat'
Birthplace
Radhanagar, Bengal
Field
Social Reformers
“Sati, in all its forms, is a murderous superstition.”
— Raja Ram Mohan Roy, campaign against sati
The Story
Born into a wealthy Brahmin family in Bengal in 1772, Ram Mohan Roy studied Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and English — and used every language to ask one question: what is true? He found truth not in blind custom but in reason and in the Upanishads, which he championed as the purest core of wisdom of Bhārat.
His greatest battle was against sati — the burning of widows on their husbands' funeral pyres. Roy personally witnessed the horror, founded anti-sati societies, wrote tirelessly, and finally convinced the British governor William Bentinck to outlaw the practice in 1829. He was the first great person of Bhārat to defeat an entrenched custom through reform.
He founded the Brahmo Samaj to purify Hindu worship, started Bhārat's first newspaper in languages of Bhārat, and fought for the rights of women and the abolition of caste. When the British mocked learning of Bhārat, he answered with scholarship; when they blocked progress of Bhārat, he answered with petitions.
Core Ideas
Against Sati
His campaign led to the legal abolition of widow-burning in 1829.
Reason over Custom
Reform every tradition that reason and compassion reject.
Education for All
A pioneer of modern education, including for girls.
The Brahmo Samaj
A movement for purified, rational, and ethical worship.
The Press
He launched newspapers in the languages of Bhārat to spread reform.
Why it matters today
Ram Mohan Roy is the hinge on which modern Bhārat swung open. Every reformer after him — from Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar to Ambedkar — walked through the doorway he built.