Pandit Sitanath Tattwabhushan was the official theologian and philosopher of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. [1] [2] His hymns still form the basis of Brahmo rites and liturgies. [2] [3]
He was born Sitanath Dutta, in a village in Sylhet in 1856. [4] He arrived in Calcutta for higher education in 1871. Although he initially joined Keshub Chunder Sen's Brahmo Niketan where he developed an interest in the philosophy of religion. However following the closure of that institute, he joined Alexander Duff's General Assembly's Institution in 1875. [5] In 1879, he joined Anandamohan Bose's City School as a teacher. Late in 1883, he joined the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj's institute of theology as its secretary, and was associated with its activities for twelve years. During this period he explored comparative discourses on Brahmo theology and religion. [5]
He was elected president of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1926. [6]
Following his extensive readings, and intellectual exchanges with his peers, he developed the view that the failure of Brahmoism to draw converts lay in its being less philosophic, and being more grounded on dogma, based on divine inspiration and unverifiable assertions. To counter this, he put forward the need for developing a faith based on philosophy. [5] In his written works, he developed a theological system of Brahmoism. This was based not on natural intuition or spontaneity, but on the metaphysics of theism and self-knowledge, based on the Upanishads and the Vedanta. [5] By emphasizing the primacy of ethical development as instrumental to the formation of consciousness, his thoughts presaged those of Vivekananda.
He attacked Vaishnava religion as he felt that natural or spontaneous religion based on the traditions of bhakti did not help in the development of critical rational faculties, and paradoxically served to keep the masses illiterate, and uncritical. [5]
His critical appraisal of Brahmo followers (primarily the followers of Keshub Chunder Sen's New Dispensation) as spiritual deviants, and his emphasis on logical empiricism earned him detractors both with the Brahmo Samaj (particularly the followers of Keshub Chunder Sen), and in the wider Hindu society, who criticized his efforts as effete scholasticism. [5]
Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya, best known as the biographer of Rabindranath Tagore, had married his daughter Sudhamoyee. She was one of the earlier period students of Santiniketan. She was founder of the Bolpur Balika Vidyalaya and was its headmistress for many years. [7]
Subinoy Roy, an exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, was the son of his youngest daughter Sukhamoyee Devi. [8]
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.
Sir Brajendra Nath Seal was a Bengali Indian humanist philosopher. He served as the second vice chancellor of Mysore University.
Keshub Chandra Sen was an Indian 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.
Girish Chandra Sen was a Bengali religious scholar and translator. He was a Brahmo Samaj missionary and known for being the first publisher of the Qur’an into Bengali language in 1886. He was praised by Islamic scholars in countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Iran for his choice of words.
Protap Chunder Mozoomdar was a leader of the Hindu reform movement, the Brahmo Samaj, in Bengal, India, and a close follower of Keshub Chandra Sen. He was a leading exemplar of the interaction between the philosophies and ethics of Hinduism and Christianity, about which he wrote in his book, The Oriental Christ.
Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee was a Brahmo reformer in India during the 19th century.
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.
Manmohun Ghose was the first practicing barrister of Indian origin. He is notable for his contributions towards the fields of women's education, for arousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen and for being one of the earliest persons in the country in organised national politics. At the same time his Anglicised habits often made him a target of ridicule in Calcutta.He was one of the co-founders of Indian National Congress.
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.
Ananda Mohan Bose was an Indian politician, academic, 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 Indian Reform Association was formed on 29 October 1870 with Keshub Chandra Sen as president. It represented the secular side of the Brahmo Samaj and included many who did not belong to the Brahmo Samaj. The objective was to put into practice some of the ideas Sen was exposed to during his visit to Great Britain.
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.
City College is a composite state government–aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It offers undergraduate-level courses in various arts, commerce and science subjects. The college is very popular for undergraduate study in the neighbourhood of Kolkata.
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.
Annette Susannah Beveridge was a British Orientalist known for her translation of the Humayun-nama and the Babur-nama.
Dwarkanath Gangopadhyay was a Brahmo reformer in Bengal, British India. He made substantial contributions towards societal enlightenment and the emancipation of women. Ganguly dedicated his life to the latter cause, encouraging women to participate in politics and the social services. He was the husband of the first female Indian physician, Kadambini Ganguly.
The Church of the New Dispensation was a religious movement founded in the 19th century by Keshab Chunder Sen, characterized by its syncretic blend of Hindu, Christian, and other religious traditions, and its focus on direct, personal spiritual experience and social reform within the framework of Indian Brahmoism.
Ram Chandra Bose was an educator, a lay evangelist, and a prominent writer in the region of North India known as the North-Western Provinces and Oudh in the late 19th century. He converted to Christianity while a student in Calcutta. Upon completing his education, he was employed by several Christian mission agencies as well as the government to teach in their schools. In the 1870s and 1880s, he was associated with the American Methodist Episcopal Mission and travelled across India as a lay evangelist. Many of his lectures were published as journal articles or compiled into books creating a prolific literary legacy. Bose wrote over 100 journal articles on religious, philosophical, and social issues for journals such as The Bengal Magazine edited by Lal Behari Day as well as the Calcutta Review, the Indian Evangelical Review, and others. Shortly before he died in 1892, he left the American Methodist Mission to join the Anglican Church Missionary Society.