Several contemporary groups, collectively termed Hindu reform movements 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.
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It is practised today mainly as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1839. The first Brahmo Samaj was founded in 1861 at Lahore by Pandit Nobin Chandra Roy.
Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as unparalleled in recent times.
Beni Madhab Das was an erudite Bengali scholar, a renowned teacher and a great patriot in British India. Subhas Chandra Bose was his student at Ravenshaw Collegiate School (Cuttack) and he left an indelible mark in the mind of his young student, as acknowledged in his book. Revolutionary Bhagavati Charan Panigrahi as well as legendary Nandini Satpathy are amongst his known students Bharat Pathik. When Bose was under internment and had decided to leave India, he wanted the blessings of his teacher, and so a clandestine meeting was organized for the purpose. A number of his other students occupied important positions in life. His personal life of dedication and devotion inspired all his students on to an eventful life. He was what was referred to as an exemplary teacher.
Umesh Chandra Dutta (1840–1907) was one of the pioneer Brahmos who firmly established the Brahmo Samaj at Harinavi in the face of severe opposition from local people. He was one of the founders of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and contributed substantially to the cause of education, particularly women's education. He was designated a ‘Sadhu’ for his pious life.
Sib Chandra Deb was one of the leading Derozians, virtually the first generation of English-knowing Indians. He had joined Hindu College in 1825 and was subsequently drawn towards Derozio. Sivanath Sastri recalls that even in his old age he fondly recalled in detail what Derozio used to say. A brilliant student he won a scholarship while studying at Hindu College. As a student, he occasionally attended the meetings of the Brahmo Sabha established by Raja Rammohun Roy. Initially, he joined the survey department as he had acquired proficiency in higher mathematics but changed over to general administration to become a deputy collector in 1838. The English allowed Indians to be promoted/ posted as deputy collectors in 1833. He was one of the early English-knowing Indian officials in government service.
Prasanna Kumar Roy was an educationist and the first Indian to be the principal of Presidency College, Kolkata.
Pandit Sitanath Tattwabhushan was the official theologian and philosopher of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. His hymns still form the basis of Brahmo rites and liturgies.
The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj is a division of Brahmoism formed as a result of schisms in the Brahmo Samaj in 1866 and 1878 respectively.
Banga Mahila Vidyalaya was the first women's liberal arts college in India. Established at Kolkata on 1 June 1876, by the liberal section of the Brahmo Samaj,the main constitutive idea was generated by Dwarkanath Ganguly ,he was a social reformer,had taken the oath to educate women and provide them all the rights as men's have. After his lots of efforts and fights,he would be able to construct it. It was successor of Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya set up on 18 September 1873 by Annette Akroyd. Banga Mahila Vidyalaya was merged with Bethune College on 1 August 1878. The short-lived Banga Mahila Vidyalaya not only laid the foundations for higher education of women in India, it was the pivotal issue which fostered the second split in the Brahmo Samaj. David Kopf says that while the immediate cause for the split in the Brahmo Samaj in 1878, was the marriage of Keshub Chunder Sen's daughter to the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, ‘’women’s emancipation was the major issue of the 1870s."
Deba Prasad Mitra, son of Jyotirindraprasad Mitra (1869–1918), was a renowned clinical pathologist and religious and social worker connected with the Brahmo Samaj. His life and work were greatly inspired and stimulated by the lives of his grandfather Braja Sundar Mitra (1820–1875), the founder of the East Bengal Brahmo Samaj at Dhaka and an inaugurator of the New Age in Dhaka and Eastern Bengal as a whole, and also his mother's grandfather Sib Chandra Deb (1811–1890), a pupil of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio at the Hindu College, the Founder-Secretary of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Kolkata, and pioneer of the modernization of his native village Konnagar, a few kilometers from Kolkata. Devaprasad's father Jyotirindraprasad was a qualified advocate and practiced law for some time, but when he found that one had to resort to falsehood for success in the legal profession, he gave it up and joined the service of the estate of the Tripura Native State at Comilla.
Brahmoism is a 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.
Ananda Mohan College, is an undergraduate evening college in north Kolkata. It started in 1961 as the evening branch of City College while Rammohan College started functioning as the morning branch. City College was founded by patriotic Brahmo leader Ananda Mohan Bose. The college is located at 102/1, Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani, Kolkata-700 009. It was one of the City Group colleges administered by Brahmo Samaj Education Society, a registered society, constituted by the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Kolkata. From 2017, it became a grant-in-aid college no longer administered by the Brahmo Samaj.
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 Hemendranath 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.
Ananda Mohan Bose was an Indian politician, academician, social reformer, and lawyer during the British Raj. He co-founded the Indian National Association, one of the earliest Indian political organizations, and later became a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. In 1874, he became the first Indian Wrangler of the Cambridge University. He was also a prominent religious leader of Brahmoism and with Sivanath Sastri a leading light of Adi Dharm.
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
Heramba Chandra College is popularly known as South City Day. It shares premises with Sivanath Sastri College and Prafulla Chandra College .The college with a high level of Commerce Education.Heramba Chandra College is affiliated with the University of Calcutta.
Krishna Kumar Mitra (1852-1936) was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist and leader of the Brahmo Samaj. He is remembered for his contributions to the Swadeshi movement through his journal Sanjibani.
Below is a timeline of Adi Dharm or Adi Brahmo Samaj.
Dwarkanath Gangopadhyay was born on 20 April 1844 and died on 27 June 1898. Dwarkanath was a Brahmo reformer in Bengal of British India. He made substantial contribution towards the enlightenment of society and the emancipation of women. He dedicated his whole life for the cause of women emancipation and encouraged them to participate in every walk of life be it politics, social services etc and even helped them to form organizations of their own. He was the husband of the first Indian practising lady doctor, Kadambini Ganguly.
