Brahmo Samaj

Brahmo Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded in Bengal in 1828. It promoted monotheism and challenged caste restrictions, idolatry, and some traditional religious practices.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy: A Bengali reformer who campaigned against sati and founded the Brahmo Sabha, precursor to the Brahmo Samaj. He established the organization in 1828 and shaped its early reform program.
Brahman: In several Hindu traditions, the ultimate reality underlying the universe and individual existence. The movement’s monotheism drew on interpretations of this concept as the single divine reality.
Debendranath Tagore: A Bengali religious reformer who joined the Brahmo movement and led the Tattwabodhini Sabha and Brahmo Samaj. He organized the movement after Roy’s death and gave it a more systematic theological direction.
Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829: A regulation issued by the East India Company government in 1829 that prohibited sati in the Bengal Presidency. Roy’s public campaign against sati helped build support for the prohibition.
Arya Samaj: A Hindu reform movement founded by Dayananda Saraswati in 1875 that upheld the Vedas as supreme authority. Unlike Brahmo Samaj, it grounded reform in the exclusive authority of the Vedas.
Brahmo Sabha: The religious association founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Calcutta in 1828, later known as the Brahmo Samaj. This was the movement’s original institutional form.
Hindu reform movements: Organized efforts to reinterpret Hindu traditions and change religious or social practices, especially from the nineteenth century onward. Brahmo Samaj was one influential movement within this broader reform history.
Keshab Chandra Sen: A Bengali religious and social reformer who became a prominent leader of the Brahmo Samaj in the 1850s. His leadership expanded the movement’s public reach and contributed to its major schism.
Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856: A British Indian law that legalized the remarriage of Hindu widows and specified related inheritance consequences. Its reform agenda overlapped with Brahmo advocacy for changes to Hindu social practices.
Ramakrishna Mission: A Hindu religious and philanthropic organization founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. Its devotional and pluralist outlook differed from Brahmo Samaj’s rejection of image worship.

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