Brahmo Samaj
From Free net encyclopedia
Brahmo Samaj is a social and religious movement founded in Kolkata, India in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He was influenced by western thought and was one of the first Indians to visit Europe. He died in Bristol, England. The Brahmo Samaj movement thereafter resulted in the Brahmo religion in 1850 founded by Debendranath Tagore — better known as the father of Rabindranath Tagore.
The popularity of the Brahmo Samaj grew as a result of the raising of a new class of educated Indians that resulted from the occupation of India by the British Empire. Its prime belief is that there is only one God. It rejected the Vedas, the caste system, polytheism, idol worship, and the belief in avatars.
The core principles of the Brahmo Samaj are:
- There is only one God.
- No created object is to be worshipped as God, and God alone is to be considered as infallible.
The Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth century had among its luminaries a large number emerging from the Brahmo Samaj, Rabindranath Tagore being the foremost of them. Keshab Chandra Sen (1838–1884) and Protap Mazumdar (1840–1905) are some other notable members of the Brahmo Samaj.