Hinduism - 19.

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19. Renaissance in Hinduism

 

In the 18th century religion suffered a serious decline mainly because

the impact of a completely different civilization. English education

destroyed the isolation of India and brought about an active ferment.

Many Indians of the time became either sceptics who leaned towards

Christianity, or reactionaries who sought to preserve at any cost the

ancient forms and institutions. Fortunately, at this time, enlightened

Europeans like Sir William Jones, Sir Charles Wilkins, Colebrooke,

Monier-Williams and Max Muller revealed by comment and by translation

the treasures of ancient Indian wisdom. Their work was later

supplemented by art lovers and art critics, who revealed the secrets of

sacred and secular art-forms and concepts.

 

As an outcome of these influences and counter-influences, there arose a

series of movements which have been rightly described as a renaissance

of Hindu life and thought. Raja Ramamohan Roy was the most outstanding

pioneer of these movements. He struck a note of universalism in tune

with the spirit of the Upanishads. Born in Bengal in 1772, he studied

Persian, Arabic and English. In 1803 he published a book in Persian,

with a preface in Arabic, entitled Tuhfat-ul- Muwahhidin. It carried a

protest against idolatry and sought to establish a universal religion

based on the idea of the unity of Godhead. He started a controversy with

the Christian missionaries and published a book in which he tried to

separate the moral teachings of Jesus from the miracles described in the

Gospels. Rammohan Roy, along with David Hare, stressed the necessity of

education in India on modern lines, in opposition to those who objected

to English education and insisted on a return to the past. He repeatedly

declared that he had no intention of breaking away from the ancestral

religion, and wished to see it restored to its original purity. In order

to carry out his ideas he founded the Brahma Samaj on the basis of

theism. The Trust Deed of the Samaj laid down that 'no graven image,

statue or sculpture carving, painting, picture, portrait or the likeness

of anything shall be admitted within the building.'