Auld lang syne. Second series : $b My Indian friendsMüller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
History
Auld lang syne. Second series : $b My Indian friends
Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
India; Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max), 1823-1900 -- Friends and associates
Râmtonoo[7] was born in 1813, and must therefore have been older than
Debendranâth Tagore, who is generally considered as the Nestor of the
Brâhma-Samâj.
He was a pupil of David Hare, who had undertaken the philanthropic work
of educating native youths, and after spending a few years at his
school, he was admitted into the Hindu College at Calcutta, which was
established in 1817 as the first fruit of the annual vote of £10,000 for
educational purposes insisted on by the English Parliament. The teacher
who chiefly influenced the young men was D. Rozario, who, though branded
by the clergy as an infidel and as a devil of the Thomas Paine school,
was worshipped by his pupils as an incarnation of goodness and kindness.
It was Christian morality, as preached by D. Rozario, that appealed most
strongly to the heart of Râmtonoo and his fellow-pupils, many of them
very distinguished in later life, the fathers and grandfathers of the
present generation of Indian reformers. Râmtonoo became a model among
his friends in all matters pertaining to morality and conscience,
penitence and sincerity being the watchwords of his early career, vice
and hypocrisy the constant objects of his denunciation, both among his
equals and among those of higher rank and authority. Even the founder of
the Brâhma-Samâj did not escape his reproof, on account of what he
considered want of moral courage to act up to his convictions. As to
himself, he denounced caste as a great social and moral evil, and silent
submission to superstitious customs as reprehensible weakness. In order
to shame those who denounced beef-eating as sinful, he and his friends
would actually parade the streets with beef in their hands, inviting the
people to take it and eat it. The Brâhmanical thread which was retained
by the members of the Brâhma-Samâj as late as 1861, was openly discarded
by him as early as 1851. And we must remember that in those days such
open apostasy was almost a question of life or death, and that Rammohun
Roy was in danger of assassination in the very streets of Calcutta. It
is true that European officials respected and supported Râmtonoo, but
among his own countrymen he was despised and shunned. However, he
continued his career undisturbed by friend or foe, and guided by his own
conscience only. Poor as he was, he desired no more than to earn a small
pittance as a teacher in public and private schools. Later in life he
was attracted to the new Brâhma-Samâj, and became a close friend of
Keshub Chunder Sen. When he saw others who spent much time in prayer he
considered them as the most favoured of mortals, for pure and
conscientious as he was, he felt himself so sinful that he could but
seldom utter a word or two in the spirit of what he considered true
prayer before the eyes of the Lord. While cultivating his little garden
he was found lost in devotion at the sight of a full-blown rose, and
while singing a hymn in adoration of God, his whole countenance seemed
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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