DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9550#0008
11 INTRODUCTION.
In introducing these works, it is perhaps fit that we
should give a short account of the life of the author, and
the times in which he lived, and of the circumstances
which surrounded him, and which were the direct causes
of the writings which are now republished.
Raja Ram Mohun Roy was born of a very respect-
able high-caste Brahmin family, at Radhanagore, a
village in the District of Hooghly in Lower Bengal, in
the year 1774, A. D. The English had just acquired
Bengal and were trying to establish sett led government
in the country. It was in this very year that the first
Governor-General of India and his Council were ap-
pointed, and the Supreme Court established. It was
indeed a momentous year for India. Raja Ram Mohun
Roy's father was Ram Kant Roy, a small Zemindar,
who had served under the Nawabs of Murshedabad
and had seen their downfall. His mother was a woman
of very great piety and remarkable firmness of charac-
ter. Her name was Tarini Devi, but she was commonly
known as Phool Thakoorani.
Toles of Pundits where Brahmins only were taught,
and Muktubs of Persian Moulovies, were the only
places of instruction in those days. Persian was still
the language of the Court, and all persons who were
ambitious of secular honours for their sons, had them
educated in Persian and Arabic. Ram Mohun Roy
was, consequently, after he had acquired what knowledge
he could, of Bengalee and Persian, in his native village,
sent in his ninth year to Patna the principal seat of
Arabic learning in Bengal. The extraodinary memory
and the uncommon intellectual powers of young Ram
Mohun enabled him to master the Persian and Arabic
In introducing these works, it is perhaps fit that we
should give a short account of the life of the author, and
the times in which he lived, and of the circumstances
which surrounded him, and which were the direct causes
of the writings which are now republished.
Raja Ram Mohun Roy was born of a very respect-
able high-caste Brahmin family, at Radhanagore, a
village in the District of Hooghly in Lower Bengal, in
the year 1774, A. D. The English had just acquired
Bengal and were trying to establish sett led government
in the country. It was in this very year that the first
Governor-General of India and his Council were ap-
pointed, and the Supreme Court established. It was
indeed a momentous year for India. Raja Ram Mohun
Roy's father was Ram Kant Roy, a small Zemindar,
who had served under the Nawabs of Murshedabad
and had seen their downfall. His mother was a woman
of very great piety and remarkable firmness of charac-
ter. Her name was Tarini Devi, but she was commonly
known as Phool Thakoorani.
Toles of Pundits where Brahmins only were taught,
and Muktubs of Persian Moulovies, were the only
places of instruction in those days. Persian was still
the language of the Court, and all persons who were
ambitious of secular honours for their sons, had them
educated in Persian and Arabic. Ram Mohun Roy
was, consequently, after he had acquired what knowledge
he could, of Bengalee and Persian, in his native village,
sent in his ninth year to Patna the principal seat of
Arabic learning in Bengal. The extraodinary memory
and the uncommon intellectual powers of young Ram
Mohun enabled him to master the Persian and Arabic