Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinent. He was given the title of Raja by Akbar II, the Mughal emperor. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration, education and religion. He was known for his efforts to abolish the practices of sati and child marriage. Roy is considered to be the "Father of Indian Renaissance" by many historians.
Dayanand Saraswati, was an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of Hinduism. His magnum opus is the book Satyarth Prakash, which has remained a highly influential text on the philosophy of the Vedas and clarifications of various ideas and duties of human beings. He was the first to give the call for Swaraj as "India for Indians" in 1876, a call later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak. Denouncing the idolatry and ritualistic worship, he worked towards reviving Vedic ideologies. Subsequently, the philosopher and President of India, S. Radhakrishnan, called him one of the "makers of Modern India", as did Sri Aurobindo.
Arya Samaj is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sannyasi (ascetic) Dayanand Saraswati in the 1870s.
Contemporary groups, collectively termed Hindu reform movements, reform Hinduism, Neo-Hinduism, or Hindu revivalism, strive to introduce regeneration and reform to Hinduism, both in a religious or spiritual and in a societal sense. The movements started appearing during the Bengali Renaissance.
The Gāyatrī Mantra, also known as the Sāvitri Mantra, is a sacred mantra from the Rig Veda, dedicated to the Vedic deity Savitr. It is known as "Mother of the Vedas".
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance.
The Bengal Renaissance, also known as the Bengali Renaissance, was a cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement that took place in the Bengal region of the British Raj, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. Historians have traced the beginnings of the movement to the victory of the British East India Company at the 1757 Battle of Plassey, as well as the works of reformer Raja Rammohan Roy, considered the "Father of the Bengal Renaissance," born in 1772. Nitish Sengupta stated that the movement "can be said to have … ended with Rabindranath Tagore," Asia's first Nobel laureate.
Keshub Chandra Sen was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Born a Hindu in the Bengal Presidency of British India, he became a member of the Brahmo Samaj in 1857 but established his own breakaway "Bharatvarshiya Brahmo Samaj" in 1866 while the Brahmo Samaj remained under the leadership of Debendranath Tagore. In 1878, his followers abandoned him after the underage child marriage of his daughter which exposed his campaign against child marriage as hollow. Later in his life he came under the influence of Ramakrishna and founded a syncretic "New Dispensation" inspired by Christianity, Vaishnavbhakti, and other Hindu practices.
Ramchandra Vidyabagish was an Indian lexicographer and Sanskrit scholar. His Bangabhashabhidhan, the first monolingual Bengali dictionary, was published in 1817. He taught at the Vedanta College established by Raja Rammohun Roy, and later at Sanskrit College from 1827-37. Closely associated with the work of Raja Rammohun Roy in Kolkata, he was the first secretary of the Brahmo Sabha established in 1828 and initiated Debendranath Tagore and 21 other young men into Brahmo Samaj in 1843.
Kalicharan Brahma, originally Kalicharan Mech, was a 20th-century social and religious reformer of Bodo society. He attained diksha in a new religion called Brahmo Dharma / Brahmoism Adi Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta around 1906, and is reverentially called Gurudev or Guru Brahma by the Bodo people of lower plains of Assam along the Brahmaputra valley. Other great Assamese Brahmos of the time include Gunabhiram Barua and Swarnalata Devi of the same faction, all of whom agitated against Colonialist Imperialism of any kind. The followers of this group are locally known as Brahmas in tribute to their religion and the holy river of which they are sons. He was the founder of Boro Chhatra Sanmilanni.
Brahmoism is a Hindu religious movement which originated from the mid-19th century Bengali Renaissance, the nascent Indian independence movement. Adherents, known as Brahmos, are mainly of Indian or Bangladeshi origin or nationality.
The modern religious philosophy of Brahmoism is based in part on the foundations of reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy's humanitarian philosophy, as exemplified by the Trust Deed of Brahmo Sabha, known to Brahmos as the 1830 Brahmo Trust Deed.
Adi Dharm refers to the religion of Adi Brahmo Samaj the first development of Brahmoism and includes those Sadharan Brahmo Samajists who were reintegrated into Brahmoism after the second schism of 1878 at the instance of Devendranath Tagore. This was the first organised casteless movement in British India and reverberated from its heart of Bengal to Assam, Bombay State, Punjab and Madras, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.
The Brahmo Conference Organisation (Sammilan) was founded on 27 January 1881 at Mymensingh Bangladesh to maintain communication between Adi Dharm and Sadharan Brahmo Samaj after the 2nd schism of Brahmoism in 1878. The stated objectives for founding the organisation included
The Tattwabodhinī Sabhā was a group founded in Calcutta on 6 October 1839 as a splinter group of the Brahmo Samaj, reformers of Hinduism and Indian Society. The founding member was Debendranath Tagore, previously of the Brahmo Samaj, eldest son of influential entrepreneur Dwarkanath Tagore, and eventually father to renowned polymath Rabindranath Tagore. In 1859, the Tattwabodhinī Sabhā were dissolved back into the Brāhmo Samāj by Debendranath Tagore.
Bijoy Krishna Goswami was a prominent Hindu social reformer and religious figure in India during the British period.
Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu monk from India. His teachings and philosophy are a reinterpretation and synthesis of various strands of Hindu thought, most notably classical yoga and (Advaita) Vedanta, with western esotericism and Universalism. He blended religion with nationalism, and applied this reinterpretation to various aspect's of education, faith, character building as well as social issues pertaining to India. His influence extended also to the west, and he was instrumental in introducing Yoga to the west.
Maghotsav is the main festival of the Brahmos celebrated on 11 Magh each year according to the Bengali calendar to mark the anniversary of Brahmo Samaj. The celebration commemorates the inauguration of the first Brahmo Samaj by Ram Mohan Roy on 23 January 1830, which was on 11 Magh according to the Bengali calendar in that year.
Below is a timeline of Adi Dharm or Adi Brahmo Samaj.
Rao Sahib Ayyathan Gopalan, popularly known as Darsarji and Darsar Sahib, was an Indian doctor, surgeon, professor, writer, philanthropist, social reformer, and Renaissance leader from Kerala. He is the founder of the Sugunavardhini movement (1900) and Depressed classes mission (1909) and also the leader and propagandist of Brahmo Samaj (1893) in Kerala. He denounced idol worship and fought to end those social practices in Kerala that he thought were unethical. Among his followers were Brahmananda Swami Sivayogi, Vaghbatananda, and Brahmavadhi P. Kunhiraman. Gopalan titled P. Kunhiraman as "Brahmavadhi" and Sivayogi as "Brahmananda Swami".
