Raja Ram Mohan Roy:Father of Indian Renaissance
Bhagyaraj.V.B
Some Personalities would never fade away from the mind of people by virtue and glittering contributions after they pegged out.Ram Mohan Roy is a person like that.He led Indians from darkness to light when India was under the colonial rule.Being a member of orthdox Hindu family, he adhered to progressive outlook.He made a lot of contributions to women's empowerment,educational sector,social formation etc.He is a pioneer in the field of Indian Journalism.Ram Mohan Roy was born into a privileged Hindu family on May 22,1772 in Radhanagar Village of Hooghly district in Bengal presidency.Ram Mohan Roy was born to Ramkanto Roy (Father) and Tarini devi (mother).His father was a well-heeled brahmin.His father Ramkanto Roy was a vaishnavite,whereas his mother was from a sakta (worshipper of sakti as goddess) background.They had three children.First-born was a daughter.There is no historical account of the name of her.she married to one Sridhar Mukherji,whose son Gurudas Mukherji,was closely attached to Ram Mohan Roy in the later years of his life and he was one of his first adherent.
As per the custom of those time,Ram Mohan Roy tied the knot at the age of 9.but his wife died soon after that.He got hitched again at the age of 10.he had two sons with second wife,who died in 1824.They were Radhaprasad and Ramprasad.His eldest son,Radhaprasad was born in 1800 and youngest son,Ramprasad was born in 1812.Since his second wife died,he married for a third time and his third wife outlived him.Ram Mohan Roy married thrice in his life as his father was done.Ram Mohan Roy yearned to become a monk at the age of 14,but his mother strongly opposed the desire.Thus he threw in the towel his yearning to become a monk.
Ram Mohan Roy did schooling in Sanskrit and Bengali languages in the village school after which he was sent to madrasa in Patna where he learned the persian language and Arabic.he moved to Kashi to learn the complexity of Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures like the vedas and upanishads afterwards he completed schooling.he learned the English language at the age of 22.It is a notable thing that he learned one more foreign languages within a short period.he could understand the whole nine yards in the world as he was a multilingual person.
