DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0496
486 Modern Hindu Theism. Rammohun Roy
It was thus that the germ of the first Theistic church was
planted at Calcutta in 1838. The commencement of its
existence as a living growing organization did not take place
till two years later. The beginning of January, 1830, now
half a century ago, inaugurated a new era in the history of
Indian religious thought. It ushered in the dawn of the
greatest change that has ever passed over the Hindu mind.
A new phase of the Hindu religion then took definite shape,
a phase which differed essentially from every other that had
preceded it. For no other reformation has resulted in the
same way from the influence of European education and
Christian ideas.
The increase of contributions had enabled Rammohun Roy
to purchase a large house in the Chitpore Road, and endow
it with a maintenance fund. Trustees were appointed, and
the first Hindu Theistic Church, or, as it was sometimes
called by English-speaking natives, the Hindu Unitarian
Church1, was then opened in Calcutta on the nth Magha,
1751, equivalent to January 23, 1830. The name given to it
by Rammohun Roy indicated its Unitarian character, and
yet connected it with the national faith. It was called
Brahma-Sabha, or Brahmlya-Samaj, that is to say, 'the
society of believers in God,' the word Brahma being an
adjective formed from Brahman (nom. case Brahma), the
name of the one self-existent God of orthodox Hinduism.
The trust-deed of the building laid down that it was to be
used as a place of meeting for the worship of the One
Eternal, Unsearchable, and Immutable Being, the Author
and Preserver of the Universe, to the promotion of piety,
morality, and charity, and the strengthening of the bonds
of union between men of all religious classes and creeds2.
1 So the Press at which Rammohun Roy's publications were printed
was called the Unitarian Press.
a It is said that in accordance with this principle, Eurasian boys used
to sing the Psalms of David in English, and Hindu musicians religious
songs in Bengali.
It was thus that the germ of the first Theistic church was
planted at Calcutta in 1838. The commencement of its
existence as a living growing organization did not take place
till two years later. The beginning of January, 1830, now
half a century ago, inaugurated a new era in the history of
Indian religious thought. It ushered in the dawn of the
greatest change that has ever passed over the Hindu mind.
A new phase of the Hindu religion then took definite shape,
a phase which differed essentially from every other that had
preceded it. For no other reformation has resulted in the
same way from the influence of European education and
Christian ideas.
The increase of contributions had enabled Rammohun Roy
to purchase a large house in the Chitpore Road, and endow
it with a maintenance fund. Trustees were appointed, and
the first Hindu Theistic Church, or, as it was sometimes
called by English-speaking natives, the Hindu Unitarian
Church1, was then opened in Calcutta on the nth Magha,
1751, equivalent to January 23, 1830. The name given to it
by Rammohun Roy indicated its Unitarian character, and
yet connected it with the national faith. It was called
Brahma-Sabha, or Brahmlya-Samaj, that is to say, 'the
society of believers in God,' the word Brahma being an
adjective formed from Brahman (nom. case Brahma), the
name of the one self-existent God of orthodox Hinduism.
The trust-deed of the building laid down that it was to be
used as a place of meeting for the worship of the One
Eternal, Unsearchable, and Immutable Being, the Author
and Preserver of the Universe, to the promotion of piety,
morality, and charity, and the strengthening of the bonds
of union between men of all religious classes and creeds2.
1 So the Press at which Rammohun Roy's publications were printed
was called the Unitarian Press.
a It is said that in accordance with this principle, Eurasian boys used
to sing the Psalms of David in English, and Hindu musicians religious
songs in Bengali.