DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL

LAW
UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW.

HISTORY

ROUGH DRAFT
ON
BRAHMO SAMAJ
Under The Guidance of:
Submitted by:-

Dr. Vandana Singh

Gulafsha
Asst. Professor (History)

Rollno.62

Dr. RMLNLU

II Semester

Signature of Professor

Signature of student

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................3

Objective........................................................................................................................4

Introduction....................................................................................................................4

Tentative Chapterisation.................................................................................................5

Bibliography...................................................................................................................6

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide
Assistant Professor Dr. Vandana Singh for her guidance, monitoring and constant
encouragement to give shape to this project. The blessing, help and guidance given by them
time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to embark.
I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to my respected seniors who
share their cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me in
completing this task through various stages.
Lastly, I thank the almighty, my parents, brother, sisters and friends for their constant
encouragement without which this assignment would not have been possible.

Gulafsha

OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this project and research is to study the Socio-religious movement:
The Brahmo Samaj in India. Various socio-religious reform movements took place in India
during British rule and these were the expression of the rising national consciousness and
liberal ideas. The Brahmo Samaj was the first organized expression of the national
awakening.

INTRODUCTION
The Brahmo Samaj was found under the leadership of Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833)
who launched it against the caste system, child marriage, Sati branding them as
undemocratic, inhuman and anti-national. He believed in the Universalist perspective of
religion. The main contribution of the Brahmo Samaj to the society of India was that it
evoked issues that were common to people all around the Indian sub-continent. It is credited
with being one of the most important reform movements in India which led to the foundation
of modern India.
After the departure of Rammohun Roy for England (November 1830) and his death there
(September 1833), the Brahmo Samaj as on organisation gradually reached a declining
condition and the new life was infused into the Brahmo movement by Debendra Nath
Tagore (1817-1905). He developed scepticism about the infallibility of the scriptures and
finally repudiated it. He substituted intuition for the authority of the scriptures. By means of
intuition; he located sections of Upanishads which served as the religio-ideological basis of
the doctrines and programmes of Brahmo Samaj.
Keshub Chandra Sen (1838-84) was the next leader of the Brahmo Samaj. Under him, the
doctrine of the Brahmo Samaj was increasingly adapted to the doctrines of pure Christianity.
The Brahmo Samaj, under him, now adopted a much more radical and comprehensive
scheme of socia1 reform placing much greater emphasis on female emancipation, female
education and a total abolition all caste distinctions.
The Brahmo Samaj was not merely a religious movement but also included in its programme
items of social and political reform, it was the precursor of the subsequent social reform
movement initiated by the early Indian National Congress. The religious reform movement
thus prepared for purely secular, social and political reform movements in the country.
4

TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION

1. INTRODUCTION
2. MEANING
3. FIRST PHASE: RAJA RAM MOHAM ROY

FOUNDER
FOUNDATION
REASONS
ORGANIZATION
CONTRIBUTION

4. MIDDLE PHASE: DEBENDRA NATH TAGORE

DEPARTURE OF ROY
BRAHMO

SAMAJ

UNDER

DEBENDRA

TAGORE
FINAL OUTLOOK
5. LATER PHASE: KESHUB CHANDRA SEN
ACHIEVEMENTS OF SAMAJ UNDER KESHUB
FAILURE
6. BRAHMO SAMAJ: A BRIEF OUTLOOK
AFFIRMATIONS
NEGATION
SCRIPTURES AND TEACHERS
7. CONCLUSION
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
5

NATH

Desai, A.R., Social Background of Indian Nationalism.

Chandra, Bipan, Indias Struggle for Independence.
http://www.thebrahmosamaj.net/history/history.html
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/gospel/introduction/brahmo_samaj.html
http://brahmosamaj.org/