The Brahmo Movement

This began with Raja Rammohan Roy who wanted to question the problems in Hinduism. To solve these issues and to find the truth of Vedanta, he started the Brahmo Samaj in 1828. It rejected iconography or the worship of any kind of imagery. It spoke against the evil practices of Sati, which was abolished later after sustained campaigning. He also established two schools to bring education to the masses.

 After his death, the mission was taken over by Devendranath Tagore in 1843. He was a fierce writer who criticised the British and Christian missionaries who were converting poor people. He also urged Hinduism to bring large scale changes so that people would not leave their religion and convert.

 Another member Keshabchandra Sen started advocating against child marriage, polygamy and caste system. He and some of his followers were very radical and broke from the Brahmo Samaj to form the ‘Bharatiya Brahmo Samaj’. This movement could not sustain itself and led to another break into ‘Sadharan Brahmo Samaj’. After all these splits they could not sustain the movement.