Origins of Brahmoism - Part 2

Note this is based on the current draft of the Adi Dharma Research
Project. It is littered with historical bloopers which shall no doubt be
corrected when it finds its way into the Wikipedia.

In part 1 of this series we had touched on William Carey "Father of the
Modern Misisonary". Immediately a few Brahmos assumed their missionary
positions and demanded to be let out. Lets see what part 2 does to them.

Sarbajit
EXTERNAL LINK to our  "friends" :
http://www.friendsofserampore.org.uk/

Origins of Brahmoism - Part 2

In 1792 the British Baptist shoemaker William Carey published his
influential missionary tract

"An Enquiry of the obligations of Christians to use means for the
conversion of heathens".

In 1793 William Carey lands in India to settle here. His objective is to
translate, publish and distribute the Bible into Indic languages and
convert the Hindus thereby. Astutely he realizes that the
"mobile" (ie. service class) Brahmins and Pundits are best
situated to help him in this endeavour, and he begins cultivating them.
He learns the Buddhist and Jain religious works that expose chinks in
the armor of Hinduism's doctrine.

In 1795 Carey makes contact with a Sanskrit scholar - the Tantric
Hariharananda Vidyabagish - who later introduces him to Rammohun Roy who
wished to learn English. Roy is already a colourful character in his own
right. A contemporary biographer chronicles Rammohun's life thus far
as,


"Rammohun's education was controversial. Born in 1772 (this date was
later entered as 1774 for the Bengal Civil service) his father Ramkanta
had given him the conventional education in those days for the service
class - Bengali, Persian and Arabic. Unfortunately for Ramkanta,
Rammohun with his new found knowledge of Arabic also tasted the fruit
forbidden to Brahmins of Quran and was converted to its strict
monotheism. Rammohun's mother Tarini Devi was scandalised and packed her
son off to Benares (to study Sanskit and Vedas) before he could take the
irrevocable step. In Benares, Rammohun's rebellion continued and he
persisted in interpreting the Upanishads through the Holy Quran's
monotheist strictures especially against idolatry. Benares, the
spiritual seat of traditional Hinduism, was awash with temples to the
billion gods of Hindu pantheon, and Rammohun would not complete his
formal Vedantic education there. He instead travelled widely (not much
is known of where he went, but he is said to have extensively studied
Buddhism at this time) to eventually return to his family around 1790.
Around 1796, he was persuaded to learn English in addition to better his
prospects."

Between 1796 and 1797 the aforesaid trio fabricate a spurious religious
work known as the "Maha Nirvana Tantra" (or "Book of the Great
Liberation") and palm it off as an ancient religious text to
"the One True God"  actually the Holy Spirit of Christianity
masquerading as Brahma. (The explanation later given by Rammohun to his
family concerning his whereabouts during this period is that he went to
"Tibet" – then as far away as "Timbuktoo"). For the
next 2 decades this amazing document is regularly and conveniently added
to. Its "judicious" translations are used in the law courts of
the English Settlement in Bengal as Hindu Law for adjudicating upon
property disputes of the zamindari. However a few British Magistrates
and Collectors begin to suspect its "convenient" forgeries and
its usage (as well as the reliance on Pundits as sources of Hindu Law)
is quickly deprecated. Hariharananda has a brief falling out with Carey
and separates from the group to go about his mendicancy but maintains
lifelong personal and familial ties to Rammohun. (The Maha Nirvana
Tantra's significance for Brahmoism lies in the wealth that
accumulates to Rammohun Roy and Dwarkanath Tagore by its
"judicious" application, and not due to any religious wisdom
within – although it does contain an entire chapter devoted to
"the One True God" and his worship).

In 1797, Rammohun reached Calcutta to become a "banian" (ie.
moneylender). Rammohun also continues his vocation as Pundit in the
English Courts and starts to make a living for himself. He begins
learning the rudiments of Greek and Latin.

In 1799, Carey is joined by misisonary Joshua Marshman and the printer
William Ward at the Danish settlement of Serampore, after the news of
his great triumphs in India reach back home.

From 1803 till 1815, Rammohun served the English Company's
"Writing Service" commencing as private clerk "munshi" to
Thomas Woodforde, Registrar of the Appellate Court at Murshidabad (whose
distant nephew - also a Magistrate - later made a rich living off the
spurious Maha Nirvana Tantra  under the pseudonym Arthur Avalon). Later
Rammohun spent many years at Rangpur where he renewed his contacts with
Hariharananda. William Carey by this time is well settled at Serampore
and the old trio renew their profitable association. William Carey is
also aligned now with the English Company, then headquartered at Fort
William, and his religious and political ambitions were increasingly
intertwined. At the turn of the 19th century the Muslims,  although
considerably vanquished after the battles of Plassey and Buxar, still
posed a formidable political threat to the Company. Rammohun was now
chosen by Carey to be the agitator among them. He thus embarked on a
remarkable new career described by the contemporary biographer as,


"Rammohun's remaining life is a melange of his denunciation of
various religious beliefs, if now Islam, then Hinduism and finally
Christianity in his career as political agent for diverse vested
interests.

Under Carey's tutelage in the next 2 decades, Rammohun launched his
spirited attack against the bastions of Hinduism of Bengal, namely his
own Kulin Brahmin priestly clan (then in control of the many temples of
Bengal) and their priestly excesses. The social and theological issues
Carey chose for Rammohun were calculated to weaken the hold of the
dominant Kulin class (especially their younger disinherited sons forced
into service – who constituted the mobile gentry or
"bhadralok" of  Bengal) from the Mughal zamindari system and
align them to their new overlords of Company. The Kulin excesses
targeted include -  sati (the concremation of widows) , polygamy,
idolatory, child marriage, dowry.  All  causes equally dear to Carey's
ideals.

In the final analysis, we find that Rammohun's religious reform is
but a tool to implement his powerful social reform agenda which lays the
foundation for modern India.

Here is the summary of Rammohun's long association with William Carey,
by the contemporary biographer.


In 1805 Rammohun published Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (A Gift to Monotheists)
- an essay written in Persian with an introduction in Arabic in which he
rationalised unity of God. Although a critique of the deception and
universal falsehood prevalent in all organised religions,  it was a paen
to "rational ego" and Rammohun's own hitherto unrecognised divine gift
of intellectual power and acquired knowledge. Being published in
Persian, it particularly antagonised sections of the Muslim community
and for the next decade Rammohun travelled to serve with John Digby of
the East India Company as munshi and then as Diwan. His English and
knowledge of England's Baptist Christianity increased tremendously.
He also cultivated friendship in a Jain community to better understand
their approach to Hinduism - rejecting priesthood (which for long in
Bengal demanded bloody ritual sacrifices) and God itself,


n 1815 after amassing large wealth, enough to leave the Company,
Rammohun resettled in Calcutta and started an Atmiya Sabha - as a
philosophical discussion circle to debate monotheistic Hindu Vedantism
and like subjects. Rammohun's mother, however, had not forgiven him and
ironically from 1817 a series of lawsuits were filed accusing Rammohun
of apostasy with the object of severing him from the family zamindari.
Rammohun countered denouncing his family's practice of sati where widows
were burned on their husband's pyres so that they laid no claim to
property via the British courts. 1817 was also the year when Rammohun
was alienated from Hindu zamindars in an incident concerning the Hindu
(later Presidency) College involving David Hare.  Hindu public outrage
in 1819 also followed Rammohun's triumph in a public debate over
idolatry with Subramanya Shastri, a Tamil Brahmin. The victory, however,
also exposed chinks in Rammohun's command over Brahmanical scripture and
Vedanta whose study he had somewhat neglected. The trusted younger
brother of Hariharanda, a Brahmin of great intellect Ram Chunder
Vidyabagish was brought in to repair the breech and would be
increasingly identified as Rammohun's alter-ego in matters theological
for the rest of Rammohun's life especially in matters of Bengali concern
and language. By now it was suspected (but never established) that Carey
and Marshman were behind Rammohun's English works, a charge
repeatedly made by the Hindu zamindars. From time to time Dwarkanath
Tagore a young Hindu Zamindar had been attending Sabha meetings and he
privately persuaded Rammohun (financially reduced by lawsuits and in
constant danger from Hindu assassins) to disband the Atmiya Sabha in
1819 and instead be political agent for him."

From 1819, Rammohun's battery now increasingly turns against Carey
and the Serampore missionaries. With Dwarkanath's munificence he
launches a series of attacks against Baptist "Trinitarian"
Christianity and is now considerably assisted in his theological debates
by the Unitarian faction of Christianity.