Rammohun Roy

“ To the task of restoring and reforming it and of constructing the fabric of Society anew, of bringing together all that was best and noblest, and of making for the first time in their history the Bengali race into a people with great thoughts, high hopes and aspirations, Ram Mohan Roy set the whole force of his brilliant intellect and personality. It was but a reformer's accepted fate that he should meet with opposition and distrust from those whom he most strenuously strove to serve. ”

“ Should any one happen to be awake, she could not then overhear us," observed the other.
"No," returned Rajmohan, "should any be awake as you fear, then we are best as we are, for here under the shadows of the wall and the eaves, no one can possibly see us from the house—neither through the chinks nor probably from outside, should people happen to be out at this hour."
"True," said the other, "but who are in this room here?"
"Why should I tell you that?" Rajmohan said, but immediately addressed, "there can be no harm in telling it, in my chamber there is nobody there but my wife." ”

“ Ramchundra lived very happily with his father and mother to the day of their death, when he ascended the throne, and became a very popular Rajah; and the twelve wicked old Ranees, who had conspired against Guzra Bai and her children, were, by order of the Rajah, burnt to death. Thus truth triumphed in the end; but so unequally is human justice meted out, that the old nurse, who worked their evil will, and was in fact the most guilty wretch of all, is said to have lived unpunished, to have died in the bosom of her family, and to have had as big a funeral pile as any virtuous Hindu. ”

“ Losing not a moment, he seized Rajmohan's arms in an iron grasp. "Now Bhiku," said he to his hitherto silent companion, "will you hold the lamp and let this fellow see my face. It is a moon face, Raju, and will please you as much as your golden moon of a wife there." Bhiku brought the lamp and as bid held it close to his face.
"Sardar!" exclaimed Rajmohan in amazement, as he recognized his fellow-plotter of the night.
"Yes, sardar," replied the other, "I see you recognized me; friends never forget each other so soon." ”

“ Rajmohan sprang from the bed with clenched fists.
"Woman," he said fiercely, "deceive me not. Canst thou? Thou little knowest how I have watched thee; how from the earliest day that thy beauty became thy curse, I have followed every footstep of thine—caught every look that shot from thine eyes. ”

“ Let us while they are asleep ascending on our car, swiftly go our way without fear of molestation. Attached to me, the denizons of Ikshwāku's city will not again indulge in sleep underneath trees. A prince should deliver citizens from the calamity they bring upon themselves; but he should by no means drag them into those which he himself has brought on." Then Lakshmana spake unto Rāma like unto manifest Virtue on earth,—"O wise one, even this is relished also by me. Do you speedily ascend (the car.) " Rāma said unto the charioteer,—"Do thou at once yoke the car. I will repair to the forest. ”

“ Rajmohan replied, "you will do well not to conceal from me how much you stand in need of my aid. You are aware that a deed in such a big and wealthy house will be followed by too strict an enquiry and too hot a search for the property to render it convenient to you all to be enjoying your shares in quiet for some time, and you absolutely want somebody who can hold them in trust for you—which you well know none can do so well as I, specially as suspicion will not easily fall on me. ”

“ Although Ramtanu had broken with Hinduism and had not joined the Brahmo Samaj, he was quick to acknowledge what was good in both. To him it mattered little what a man's outward creed might be. Goodness was the same whether it was the goodness of a Hindu, a Muhammadan, a Christian or a Brahmo. Everything that was good and noble he set before himself as the end and aim of life. Every social movement, every reform calculated to improve the position of his fellow countrymen, met with his ready sympathy. ”

“ But the same circumstances which often so cruelly match the fairest and tenderest of fair and tender Bengalis, consigned the eldest of his daughters, the noble and beautiful Matangini, to the arms of the brutal Rajmohan; yet, when the marriage took place, Matangini's father thought he had not chosen ill. Rajmohan had indeed then reached manhood and was therefore unsuited in age—but this was not minded much. He possessed no handsome person—but a handsome person was to be looked for in a boy bridegroom, not in a man. ”

“ Then, briefly telling the soldier that he had done well, the rajah drew Ram Singh to one side, and in a few minutes learned from him how, in attending to the guru’s counsel, he had delayed to do the king’s message.
In the end the rajah found from some papers the proofs of his dead brother’s treachery; and Ram Singh established his innocence and integrity. He continued to serve the rajah for many years with unswerving fidelity; and married a maiden of his own rank in life, with whom he lived happily; dying at last honoured and loved by all men. Sons were born to him ”

“ At last the Rakshas woke up. “You dear little boy,” she said, “do not be afraid; I am only a poor old woman, and will not hurt you. Stay with me, and you shall be my servant.” This she said not from any feeling of kindness or pity for Ramchundra, but merely because she thought he might be helpful to her. So the young Rajah remained in her service, determining to stay there till he should have learnt from her all that he wished to know.
Thus one day he said to her, “Good mother, what is the use of all those little jars of water you have arranged round your house?” ”

“ The founder of the sect, Rām Mohan Roy, a Brāhman, was born in 1772 and died in England in 1833. He was sent to school at Patna, where under the influence of Muhammadan teachers he learnt to despise the extravagant stories of the Purānas. At the age of sixteen he composed a tract against idolatry, which stirred up such a feeling of animosity against him that he had to leave his home. He betook himself first to Benares, where he received instruction in the Vedas from the Brāhmans. ”

“ Bhiku quickly cut Rajmohan's bandages with his sword. "Het! clothes again!" muttered the robber as again he struck the hilt of his sword at a cane petara. [1] "but! out! wicked woman," said he highly exasperated and struck his weapon here and there on the bedstead. There was no Matangini on the bedstead.
"Here, Bhiku, bring the lamp here," roared the sardar once more, "the woman has hid herself beneath the taktaposh." Bhiku brought the lamp, trimming it well. Rajmohan followed ”

“ Ramchundra looked at the ruins of the low, flat roofed building in the corner of the compound. He had not noticed the broken wall over which the fugitives passed, but he seemed to suspect they had some way of entering the garden at that point.
Poking the stick in his hand among the shrubbery, Ramchundra resumed his search, gradually drawing near Dr. Avery, who stood grimly watching him revolver in hand. Ali Khan had edged over toward the mango, so that he stood between his companion and the fugitives. ”

“ Matangini read her fate in his looks and stood, not pale and trembling but firmly and proudly, with all the dignity and courage which had that very evening awed into silence the fury of her brutal oppressor. The howling of the wind and the clatter of the rain without, and the angry growl in the clouds above were the only sounds that disturbed the appalling silence.
At length Rajmohan spoke. "Accursed woman," he said in a bitter tone which had in it nothing of the unusual savage impetuosity of his temper, “did you not go to your paramour?" Matangini did not answer. ”

“ As the footsteps of her husband died away, Matangini left her bed and stealing with the same soft tread to the window overheard the following conversation.
After learning from Rajmohan that all was safe, his unknown companion began.
"Are you willing to assist us in this affair?"
"Not much I confess," said Rajmohan. "Not that I pretend to be honest so late, but though I don't like the man, he has done me some good."
"Why then do you not like him?" ashed the shrewd stranger.
"Because if he has done me some good he has done me harm too, and perhaps more harm than good," replied Rajmohan. ”

“ Madhav was surprised at this burst of temper but said nothing. Rajmohan however had scarcely a choice to make. For reasons which even his wife did not know, he had himself become anxious for a change of residence, though Radhaganj he had never thought of. He had made poverty the pretext of his application, but poverty seemed to be the least powerful cause which had led to it. And he also seemed to entertain the utmost repugnance to Madhav's proposal. Taking his chudder Rajmohan left the house. ”

“ These serpents—offspring of Kadru—are sharp-fanged and venomous; and had bound thee as arrows through the potency of illusion. O Rāma having truth for prowess, thou art fortunate,—along with that destroyer of foe in fight, Lakshmana. Hearing this, I, summoning energy, have come hither swiftly. And I, doing by thee as a friend, have from affection at once set you free from these dreadful arrowy bonds. But thou shouldst always be on thy guard. By nature the Rākshasas have cunning shifts in fight and thou, who art heroic and of a pure spirit, canst but rely on thy simplicity alone for strength. ”

“ It would never have been possible for Ram to be at once human and divine to us, it would never have been possible for the Ramayan to win our reverence and delight at the same time,—if the poetry of this epic had been to India a thing of a far-off realm of fancy, and not something included within the bounds of our society. ”

“ The rajah was so pleased with the bearing of Ram Singh that he ordered the wazir to give the young man to him in exchange for one of his own servants. So Ram Singh became the rajah’s attendant; and as the days went by the king became more and more delighted with the youth because, mindful of the old guru’s third counsel, he was always honest and spoke the truth. He grew in favour rapidly, until at last the rajah made him his treasurer, and thus he reached a high place in the court and had wealth and power in his hands. Unluckily the rajah had a brother who was a very bad man ”

“ He believed that it was not the spirit from which the old woman had liberated him but the young man who had beaten him. And he gave his servants the order to behead him early in the next morning. So, the servants took him from the hands of the counselor's daughters and led him to another room nearby, to carry out the order of their master. When they arrived Rammo used the secret which put them to sleep, and when they had fallen asleep, he cut the hair and beards of the servants and went back to his room. ”

“ Then, with plenty of money, he could bribe the soldiers and some of the rajah’s counsellors, head a rebellion, dethrone and kill his brother, and reign himself instead. He was too wary, of course, to tell Ram Singh of all these wicked plans; but he began by flattering him whenever he saw him, and at last offered him his daughter in marriage. But Ram Singh remembered the fourth counsel of the old guru—never to try to appear the equal of those above him in station—therefore he respectfully declined the great honour of marrying a princess. ”

“ On a certain Christmas Eve they made their trip in the moonlight, when the great shield of snow beneath the still and motionless trees lay pale, or patterned with the infinite beauty of lacework wrought by shadow in nature’s inimitable, delicate intricacy. ”

“ This kingdom, rid of thorns is to be conferred on Bharata, and thou shalt have to sojourn into woods for years nine and five. Do thou therefore repair unto forest, O Kākuthstha and save thy Sire from untruth." Whereto Rāma fearlessly replied 'So be it!' Hearing her words my husband of firm vows acted accordingly. He always maketh gifts and taketh none. He always speaketh truth and never telleth an untruth. This is his best observance, O Brahmana. His half-brother named Lakshmana is of mighty prowess. That best of men is Rāma's help and the destroyer of foes in battle. ”

“ Whether Rāma has been exiled through Kaikeyi's lust for dominion or through the exigencies of the bestowal of the boon, there cannot be any doubt that the king has acted most unrighteously. Even if this hath been done in harmony with the wish of the Lord, I do not perceive any reason for the banishment of Rāma. The king through lack of sense has done heedlessly what is opposed to morality; and this banishment of Rāma will but bring upon him woe here and hereafter. Fatherhood find I none in the monarch. My brother and feeder and friend and father is even Rāghava. ”

“ Thereat, with their hearts wrought up, grim-visaged Rākshasas descending from the wall, appeared before the Rākshasa-lord with pale faces. And then with woe-begone faces, those Rākshasas, skilled in speech, faithfully informed Rāvana in full of that unfortunate circumstance. "Those brothers—Rāma and Lakshmana—who had in battle been bound up in arrowy fetters by Indrajit,—and whose arms lay moveless,—having been emancipated from the arrowy bonds, are seen in the field of battle; and those ones like unto the foremost of elephants in strength, seem like elephants that have snapped their fetters". ”

“ Should we not have a place where we might meet and worship God in our own way?” This appeal touched the heart of Rammohan, and he hired the parlour of one Kamal Bose, in the Chitpore Road, that he and his friends might assemble there for worship. ”