Brahmo Somaj

Brahmo Somaj (Brahma Samāj—i.e. 'Church of the one God,' 'Theistic Church') is a religious and social association in India, originated by the celebrated Hindu rajah, Rammohun Roy (q.v.), in 1830, under the title Society of God. The accession of Debendranath Tagore, a wealthy Calcutta Brahman, in 1842, gave the movement a great impetus, which was also much aided by the spread of English education. Its main development took place under Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, born in 1838, who died in 1884. He joined the new church in 1858, and visited Europe in 1870. It was his aim to apply the principles of the church to practical life, and under his leadership the progressive party seceded from the original church, and assumed the title of 'Brahmo Somaj of India.' Their fundamental principles are that there is but one Supreme God, the object of worship; that nature and intuition are the sources whence our knowledge of God is derived; they reject all special revelation, and hold that religion admits of progressive development. They ignore all distinctions of caste, and consider all men as God's children; they abjure all idolatrous rites, and acknowledge no sacred books or places, but value what is good and true in all religions, and recognise the necessity of public worship. They have reformed the marriage customs and promoted female education. It is believed that the spirits of the saints and prophets may be invoked, or at least spiritually drawn into the life and character of the devotees. They have more than a hundred branches throughout India, and maintain two periodicals and several schools. Sen's co-religionists who disapproved of some of the tenets of the 'New Dispensation,' and of his conduct in marrying his daughter to a Hindu maharajah, seceded and formed in 1878 the Sadharan (or Universal) Brahmo Somaj, which rapidly rose to the foremost rank among the Theistic churches of India. The Arya-Somaj, founded by Dayānanda Saraswati, who died in 1882, differs from the Brahmo Somaj in that, like all the ancient theologians of India, he looked upon the Vedas as divine revelation. The most recent inventions of science were held to be alluded to in the Vedas; whatever was not found in them was false and useless. Amongst authorities see Brahmo Dharma, or Religion of the Brahmos (1850); The Brahmo Somaj Vindicated (1863), by Keshub Chunder Sen; Brahmo Year Books (1876, and following years); Last Days in England of the Rajah Rammohan Roy (1866), edited by Mary Carpenter; and her Six Months in India (1868); Hours of Work and Play, by F. P. Cobbe (1867); the English works of Rammohan Roy (1888); Mozoomdar's Life and Teachings of Keshub Chunder Sen (1888); and the Theistic Quarterly Review, which began to appear in Bengal in 1880 as organ of the Brahmo Somaj.