Rammohan Roy Hinduism

The ?igveda is the first book of humankind and the most sacred scripture of Hinduism. It also happens to be the most ill-understood book of our times. Despite the extensive study by academic and religious scholars, the purpose and meaning of the ?igveda and many ancient Hindu scriptures remain unclear. In this pathbreaking book, the discovery of the ?igveda as a book of ancient cosmology is described, and related to the seals of ancient Indus Valley Civilization, thereby challenging our perception of humanity."The Vedas have always been lauded as containing the secrets of cosmogenesis. Raja Roy in his remarkable book shows how this is true not only from the yogic vison but according to the latest insights of modern physics. The book takes the reader on a vast panoramic journey through the universe of matter, mind and human history as well."David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri), Director, American Institute of Vedic Studies"Roy presents a new framework for the understanding of the Vedic hymns from the point of view of physics and then he draws parallels with recent theories on the nature of the universe. We celebrate the new path he has hewn through the bush of old scholarship."Professor Subhash Kak, Oklahoma State University

Raja Rammohun Roy, A Pioneer Social, Religious, And Political Reformer, Is Often Called The Father Of Modern India. He Was A Man Of Capacious Powers Of Intellect, Broad Religious Sympathies And A Very Powerful Though Genial Personality. A Man Of Sterling Qualities, He Was Fully Equipped With Erudite Scholarship. He Presents A Most Instructive Study For The New India Of Which He Is A Pioneer. In A Fulsome Tribute, R. Venkata Raman Has Said, The Raja Was Distincity Different From The Other Great Men Of India Before His Day. In Range Of Vision, In Reach Of Sympathy, In Versatility Of Power, In Variety Of Activities, In Co-Ordination Of Interests And In Coalescence Of Ideas... (He) Is A Unique Figure In The History Of India, If Not In The Annals Of The Race . These Volumes, It Is Hoped, Will Be Well Received By The Academics And The Scholarly Community For Making A Serious Study Of Rammohun Roy.

Raja Rammohun Roy (1774—1833) was a great champion of liberty and civil rights in colonial India. He was also a true cosmopolitan who envisioned a world without borders. A tireless crusader for religious and social reform, Rammohun attempted a progressive reinterpretation of Hinduism and tried to improve the lot of socially marginalized groups such as women. Yet, in spite of his lofty public presence, Rammohun was a hugely controversial figure. He shocked the Hindu orthodoxy by his support to the abolition of Sati, offended evangelists by separating the moral message of Christ from the purely theological, and was often dragged into legal disputes over family property. By the time of his death in Bristol, he was as much resented as respected, both at home and abroad. Using relatively unexplored sources, this elegant and accessible new biography by Amiya P. Sen paints a fascinating portrait of one of the legendary makers of modern India.

This exceptional work is a study of the interreligious views of Raja Rammohun Roy - the 19th century's premier Hindu reformer, theologian, and polemicist – whose many initiatives heralded a rebirth of Hindu identity, both in India and abroad. The momentum of Roy's initiatives continued thereafter in all of India's efforts in religious, social and political transformation. His works and ideas awakened a self-awareness to discover the past, making it relevant to the present and visualizing a promising future. Herein is discussed Roy's meeting with both Islam and Christianity, an encounter that sharpened the Hindu mind to come to terms with these two vigorous Abrahamic faiths - one of which held a long and checkered history in India and the other, the faith of colonial domination.

Why, Salmond asks, would nineteenth-century Hindus who come from an iconic religious tradition voice a kind of invective one might expect from Hebrew prophets, Muslim iconoclasts, or Calvinists? Rammohun was a wealthy Bengali, intimately associated with the British Raj and familiar with European languages, religion, and currents of thought. Dayananda was an itinerant Gujarati ascetic who did not speak English and was not integrated into the culture of the colonizers. Salmond’s examination of Dayananda after Rammohun complicates the easy assumption that nineteenth-century Hindu iconoclasm is simply a case of borrowing an attitude from Muslim or Protestant traditions. Salmond examines the origins of these reformers’ ideas by considering the process of diffusion and independent invention—that is, whether ideas are borrowed from other cultures, or arise spontaneously and without influence from external sources. Examining their writings from multiple perspectives, Salmond suggests that Hindu iconoclasm was a complex movement whose attitudes may have arisen from independent invention and were then reinforced by diffusion. Although idolatry became the symbolic marker of their reformist programs, Rammohun’s and Dayananda’s agendas were broader than the elimination of image-worship. These Hindu reformers perceived a link between image-rejection in religion and the unification and modernization of society, part of a process that Max Weber called the “disenchantment of the world.” Focusing on idolatry in nineteenth-century India, Hindu Iconoclasts investigates the encounter of civilizations, an encounter that continues to resonate today.