BRÄHMA SAMÄJ, the new theistic church in India, owes its origin to Ràjâ Râm Mohan Râi, one of the leading men whom India has produced in later times. Râm Mohan Râi was born in the district of Bardwân in 1772. He mastered at an early age the Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian languages. Impressed with the fallacy of the religious ceremonies practised by his countrymen, he impartially investigated the Hindu Shastras, the Koran, and the Bible, repudiated the polytheistic worship of the Shastras as false, and inculcated the reformed principles of monotheism as found in the ancient Upanishads of the Vedas. In 1816 he established a society, consisting only of Hindus, in which texts from the Vedas were recited and theistic hymns chanted. This, however, soon died away on account of the opposition it met from the Hindu community. In 1830 the Râjâ organized a Hindu society for prayer-meetings, which may be considered as the foundation of the present Brâhma Samâj. The following extract from the trust-deed of the building dedicated to it will show the religious belief and the purposes of its founder. The building was intended to be “a place of public meeting for all sorts and descriptions of people, without distinction, who shall behave and conduct themselves in an orderly, sober, religious, and devout manner, for the worship and adoration of the eternal, unsearchable, and immutable Being, who is the author and preserver of the universe, but not under and by any other name, designation, or title, peculiarly used for and applied to any particular being or beings by any man or set of men whatsoever; and that no graven image, statue, or sculpture, carving, painting, picture, portrait, or the likeness of anything shall be admitted within the said messuage, building, land, ...tenements, hereditament, and premises; and that no sacrifice, offering, or oblation of any kind or thing shall ever be permitted therein; and that no animal or living creature shall within or on the said messuage, <fcc., be deprived of life either for religious purposes or food, and that no eating or drinking (except such as shall be necessary by any accident for the preservation of life), feasting, or rioting be permitted therein or thereon; and that in conducting the said worship or adoration, no object, animate or inanimate, that has been, or is, or shall hereafter become or be recognized as an object of worship by any man or set of men, shall be reviled or slightingly or contemptuously spoken of or alluded to, either in preaching or in the hymns or other mode of worship that may be delivered or used in the said messuage or building; and that no sermon, preaching, discourse, prayer, or hymns be delivered, made, or used in such worship, but such as have a tendency to the contemplation of the Author and Preserver of the universe, or to the promotion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence, virtue, and the strengthening of the bonds of union between men of all religious persuasions and creeds.” The new faith at this period held to the Vedas as its basis. Râm Mohan Râi soon after left India for England, and took up his residence in Bristol, where he died in 1835. The Brâhma Samâj maintained a bare existence till 1841, when Bâbu Debendra Nâth Tagore, of the Tagore family of Calcutta, devoted himself to it. He gave a printing-press to the Samâj, and established a monthly journal called the Tattwabodhini Patrikä to which the Bengali language now owes much for its strength and elegance. About the year 1850 some of the followers of the new religion discovered that the greater part of the Vedas is polytheistic, and a schism took place,—the advanced party holding that nature and intuition form the basis of faith. Between the years 1847 and 1858 branch societies were formed in different parts of India, especially in Bengal, and the new church made rapid progress, for which it was largely indebted to the spread of English education and the labours of the Christian missionaries.
The Brâhma creed was definitively formulated as follows. (1.) The book of nature and intuition supplies the basis of religious faith. (2.) Although the Brâhmas do not consider any book written by man the basis of their religion, yet they do accept with respect and pleasure any religious truth contained in any boôk. (3.) The Brâhmas believe that the religious condition of man is progressive, like the other departments of his condition in this world. (4.) They believe that the fundamental doctrines of their religion are also the basis of every true religion. (5.) They believe in the existence of one Supreme God—a God endowed with a distinct personality, moral attributes worthy of His nature, and an intelligence befitting the Governor of the universe, and they worship Him alone. They do not believe in any of his incarnations. (6.) They believe in the immortality and progressive state of the soul, and declare that there is a state of conscious existence succeeding life in this world and supplementary to it as respects the action of the universal moral government. (7.) They believe that repentance is the only way to salvation. They do not recognize any other mode of reconcilement to the offended but loving father. (8.) They pray for spiritual welfare, and believe in the efficacy of such prayers. (9.) They believe in the providential care of the divine Father. (10.) They avow that love towards Him, and the performances of the works which He loves, constitute His worship. ([ 1.) Th?y recognize the necessity of public worship, buc do not believe that communion with the Father depends upon meeting in any fixed place at any fixed time. They maintain that they can adore Him at any time and at any place, provided that the time and the place are calculated to compose and direct the mind towards Him. (12.) They do not believe in pilgrimages, and declare that holiness can only be attained by elevating and purifying the mind. (13.) They put no faith in rites or ceremonies, nor do they believe in penances, as instrumental in obtaining the grace of God. They declare that moral righteousness, the gaining of wisdom, divine contemplation, charity, and the cultivation of devotional feelings are their rites and ceremonies. They further say, Govern and regulate your feelings, discharge your duties to God and to man, and you will gain everlasting blessedness; purify your heart, cultivate devotional feelings, and you will see Him who is unseen. (14.) Theoretically there is no distinction of caste among the Brâhmas. They declare that we are all the children of God, and therefore must consider ourselves as brothers and sisters.
For long the Brâhmas did not attempt any social reforms. But about 1860 the younger Brâhmas, headed by Bâbu Kesab Chandra Sen, tried to carry their religious theories into practice by excluding all idolatrous rites from their social and domestic ceremonies, and by rejecting the distinction of caste altogether. This, however, the older members opposed, declaring such innovations to be premature. The theoretical schism now widened into a visible separation, and henceforth the two parties of the Brâhmas were known as the Conservatives and the Progressives. The progressive Brâhmas, or, as they call their church, the u Brâhma Samâj of India,’’ have made considerable progress. They have built a chapel in Calcutta, which is crowded every Sunday evening; and they encourage the establishment of branch Samâjes in different parts of the country. The number of avowed Brâhmas probably does not exceed 3000, but the greater part of the educated natives of Bengal sympathize more or less with the movement. (w. w. h.)
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