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.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Hinduism:
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.
Debendranath Tagore was an Indian philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj. He joined Brahmo samaj in 1842. He was the founder in 1848 of the Brahmo religion, which today is synonymous with Brahmoism. Born in Shilaidaha, his father was the industrialist Dwarakanath Tagore; he himself had 14 children, many of whom, including Nobel-prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore, made significant artistic or literary contributions to society.
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance.
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.
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.
The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj or Universal Brahmo Samaj is a division of Brahmoism formed as a result of schisms in the Brahmo Samaj first in 1866 and then another in 1878.
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.
Brahma Dharma refer to Hindu denominations that revere Brahma as the supreme:
Hemendranath Tagore (1844–1884), Debendranath Tagore's third son, is notable for being the first Brahmo as the first child born in 1844 to any of the original 21 Brahmos who swore the First Brahmo Covenant on 21 December 1843 at Calcutta. An intensely private person, he was also well known as the strict disciplinarian entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the education of his younger brothers in addition to being administrator for his large family estates.
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.
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".
Dr. Ayyathan Janaki Ammal (1878 –1945) was the first female doctor in Kerala and also in Malabar region which was an administrative district of Madras Presidency during British rule in India. She was also the first female doctor from the Thiyya community and also hailed with the title as the first Malayali lady doctor and surgeon. and the sister to Ayyathan Gopalan. a social reformer of Kerala, the founder of the Sugunavardhini movement (1900), Depressed Classes Mission (1909) and the leader and propagandist of Brahmo Samaj in Kerala.
Dwijendranath Tagore was an Indian Bengali poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendranath Tagore and the eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore.
