Two types of leaders were there
i. Moderate
- Ready for change.
- Led by Lala Hansraj, Lala Lajpat Rai.
- Dayanand Anglo Vedic School started in Lahore.
ii. Orthodox
- Rigid ideas led by Swami Shraddhanand.
- Set up Gurukul parallel to Dayanand Anglo Vedic School.
RAJA RAMMOHAN ROY (1772-1833)
The central figure in social and cultural awakening was Raja Rammohan Roy. He is considered the Father of the Indian Renaissance. He was a man of versatile genius. He was rightly regarded as the first great leader of Modern India and The Father of the Bengal Renaissance. He was moved by a deep love for his people and country and worked hard all his life for social, religious, intellectual, and political regeneration.
Although he was born into an orthodox family, he was liberal and rational to the core. He learned Persian and read Kuran and Islamic law at Patna. He studied Sanskrit and Hindu Shastra and scriptures at Banaras.
He was a great scholar and had good knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. In order to learn good English, he joined the East India Company as Diwan (Revenue Officer) in 1803. He left the service in 1814, with good knowledge of the English language and an adequate understanding of Western society and culture, Western education, and their religion i.e. Christianity.
ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIO-RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION
Raja Rammohan Roy founded Atmiya Sabha (friends association) in 1815 and discussed the supremacy of monotheism with his associates like Dwarkanath. Tagore (father of Debendranath Tagore). He was the first Indian to identify the existing social evils prevalent in the society such as Sati, child marriage, restriction widow remarriage, and overall on deplorable conditions of widows.
RAJA RAMMOHAN ROY’S LITERARY WORKS
- A gift to the Monotheist, translation of the Vedas and the five Upanishads into Bengali, to prove his conviction that ancient Hindu texts support monotheism.
- Precepts of Jesus, in which he tried to separate the moral and philosophical message of the new testament, which he praised from its miracle stories
- Sambad Kaumudi, a Bengali weekly.
- Mirat-ul-Akbar, a Persian weekly
- Brahamnical magazine, an English periodical.
- Banga-Duta, a weekly in four languages- English, Bengali, Persian, and Hindi with Dwarkanath Tagore and others.
- It must be noted here that these literary works were used by Raja Rammohan Roy, to communicate with people.