Raja Rammohan Roy has come to be called the ‘Maker of Modem India’. Without giving up what was good and noble in the past, he laid the foundations for a great future. He put an end to the horrible custom of burning the living wife with the dead husband. He was a great scholar and an independent thinker. He advocated the study of English, Science, Western Medicine and Technology. He spent his money on a college to promote these studies. He stood firmly against all sort of social bigotry, conservatism and superstitions. He also supported education, particularly education of women. He believed that English-language education was superior to the traditional Indian education system, and he opposed the use of government funds to support schools teaching Sanskrit. In 1822, he founded a school based on English education. Most people remember Raja Ram Mohan Roy as the man who fought to abolish Sati (the practice of a wife immolating herself on her husband’s funeral pyre) and also founded the Brahmo Samaj. But his contribution was a great deal more than that. The book captures evocatively the spirit of the man and the essence of the times he lived in.
