DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0512
502 Modern Theism. Rammohun Roys successors.
separate body of advanced or progressive reformers, and
seceded from the old Society, leaving behind them all its
accumulated property. It was not, however, till November,
1866, that they were able to organize themselves into a new
Theistic Church called the Brahma-Samaj of India (Bhara-
tavarshiya Brahma-Samaj1), a church which gloried in having
broken entirely with Brahmanism, and severed every link
which connected it with the national religion.
At a meeting held on November nth, 1866, the day of
the incorporation of the new society, Mr. Sen announced that
the aim of the new Church would be to unite all Brahmas
into one body, to reduce their labours to a well-organized
system of co-operation, and to establish a central metropo-
litan Brahma-Samaj of all India, to which all other Samajes
throughout the country might be affiliated, or with which
they might establish friendly relations. This idea was not a
new one. An effort had been made in 1864 to establish
a General Representative Assembly or Council of all the
existing Brahma Samajes. A meeting was then convened,
and twenty-eight out of the existing fifty Samajes sent repre-
sentatives, but little further was done. Nor did Mr. Sen
ever succeed in making his own Samaj a centre of union and
authority, though for a long time his talents as an orator
secured him a position as chief leader of the Brahma com-
munity.
The first stone of the new Mandir or place of worship of
the Brahma-Samaj of India was laid on the 23rd of January,
1868, but the building was not opened until August (Bhadra),
1869. As might have been expected, the new Samaj ex-
hibited from its first foundation a decided reflection of its
founder's individuality. He had imbibed Vaishnava ideas
with his earliest impressions. Yet the peculiar vein of
1 This new Church has been sometimes called the progressive Brahma-
Samaj.
separate body of advanced or progressive reformers, and
seceded from the old Society, leaving behind them all its
accumulated property. It was not, however, till November,
1866, that they were able to organize themselves into a new
Theistic Church called the Brahma-Samaj of India (Bhara-
tavarshiya Brahma-Samaj1), a church which gloried in having
broken entirely with Brahmanism, and severed every link
which connected it with the national religion.
At a meeting held on November nth, 1866, the day of
the incorporation of the new society, Mr. Sen announced that
the aim of the new Church would be to unite all Brahmas
into one body, to reduce their labours to a well-organized
system of co-operation, and to establish a central metropo-
litan Brahma-Samaj of all India, to which all other Samajes
throughout the country might be affiliated, or with which
they might establish friendly relations. This idea was not a
new one. An effort had been made in 1864 to establish
a General Representative Assembly or Council of all the
existing Brahma Samajes. A meeting was then convened,
and twenty-eight out of the existing fifty Samajes sent repre-
sentatives, but little further was done. Nor did Mr. Sen
ever succeed in making his own Samaj a centre of union and
authority, though for a long time his talents as an orator
secured him a position as chief leader of the Brahma com-
munity.
The first stone of the new Mandir or place of worship of
the Brahma-Samaj of India was laid on the 23rd of January,
1868, but the building was not opened until August (Bhadra),
1869. As might have been expected, the new Samaj ex-
hibited from its first foundation a decided reflection of its
founder's individuality. He had imbibed Vaishnava ideas
with his earliest impressions. Yet the peculiar vein of
1 This new Church has been sometimes called the progressive Brahma-
Samaj.