Introduction to the Third Edition

EDITORS’ PREFACE

Third Edition, 1962
Edited by Dilip Kumar Biswas and Prabhat Chandra Ganguli
Published by Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Calcutta

PREFACE

Miss Sophia Dobson Collet’s The Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy has the distinction of being the standard biography in English, of the great pioneer of the nineteenth century Indian renaissance. Published posthumously in 1900 (six years after the death of the author) by Harold Collet, London, it soon engaged the attention of the reading public in Europe and India and in 1913 a well-edited second edition was brought out by the late Hemchandra Sarkar, missionary of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, from Calcutta. This Indian edition was also sold out within a short period and since then the work had been lying out of print. In the meanwhile interest in Rammohun Roy’s life and times has steadily been on the increase in this country and abroad and a fresh study and assessment of him appears at the present moment to be a keenly felt desideratum. Accordingly, at the request of the executive committee of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, we have endeavoured to prepare the present edition of the book.

The author, as it will appear from the brief sketch of her career appended at the end of the present volume, was a life-long invalid and she collected the material for her study and wrote portions of her work from sick-bed. Her strength having failed after she had made some progress, she requested a friend, Rev. F. Herbert Stead, to continue and complete it for her. Rev. Stead worked on the immense mass of material collected by her long and laborious researches and succeeded ultimately in finishing the book and getting it published. Up to a point the continuator’s text could be revised by Miss Collet, but later the complete breakdown of her health made even this impossible and Rev. Stead had to work practically without any guidance. The present text can thus properly be divided into three sections: (1) pages 1-124 (up to the first paragraph) are from the pen of Miss Collet; (2) pages 124-183 (up to the first paragraph) represent that portion of the continuator’s manuscript which could secure the benefit of Miss Collet’s revision; (3) the rest of the book, which is exclusively the composition of Rev. Stead. The latter however has carried out his task so ably and with such complete self-effacement, that one hardly feels as one reads through the pages that more than one hand are at work in the field of penmanship. In fact his great success in continuing and completing Miss Collet’s narrative, fully justifies the following remark he made in the continuator’s note: “But the work in conception, outline, materials, and in all but concluding literary execution, is and remains Miss Collet’s.”

It is hardly necessary here to dilate upon the intrinsic merits of Miss Collet’s work. To be the biographer of Rammohun Roy, was with her, the supreme mission of life, in trying to fulfil which she defied all obstacles including serious and continuous ill health. This passionate zeal had been nicely matched by the complete detachedness of her outlook and a phenomenal capacity for collecting facts and verifying them. These sterling qualities mark all her literary activities detailed notice of which has been taken in appendix xi to the present volume. Nowhere however are these so much in evidence as in her Life of Rammohun Roy, which has lost none of its high standards of usefulness and literary excellence even after the lapse of more than sixty years. This is certainly not the same as saying that the present work does not suffer from limitations and inadequacies. On the factual side it has very naturally come, as all objective accounts invariably must, to be a little out of date with the progress of time and subsequent discovery of fresh data from quarters originally beyond the reach of the author. To some readers again its value as an interpretative study may seem to have been slightly impaired because of the occasionally perceptible inclination of the author and the continuator to overemphasise the Christian element in Rammohun’s thought. This is however not at all surprising. By circumstance, training and conviction Miss Collet and the continuator were sincere Christians. (Miss Collet had given up her inherited Unitarian faith in later life and had returned to Trinitarianism; Rev. Stead the continuator was for a long time a Congregational minister at Leicester.) Moreover not knowing Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, they were incapable of any deep understanding or appreciation of the ancient and medieval spiritual and cultural heritage of India the best and noblest elements of which, no less than the influences of Western learning, had provided Rammohun with the basis for his philosophy of life. This criticism from the Indian point of view should however by no means be allowed to detract in any way from the great merit of their work,—a labour of love—performed with singular honesty and sincerity under extremely trying circumstances. The present generation of Indians should ever remain grateful to these two foreigners who had taken so much pains to preserve the life-story of one of their great countrymen.

The great importance of Rammohun Roy in the national life of present-day India as well as the supreme necessity of a thorough study of his life and work by the students of modern Indian history, cannot be overemphasised. This is not the proper place for a full-fledged discussion of these topics. We can however form an adequate impression of this by referring to the estimates forthcoming from two great contemporary Indians, both of whom can be counted as worthy products of the modern Indian renaissance. Rabindranath Tagore clearly admits having received the basic ideals of his life from Raja Rammohun Roy and describes the mission of his hero in the following characteristic lines: “Rammohun belongs to the lineage of India’s great seers who age after age have appeared in the arena of our history with the message of the Eternal Man.” (Bhārat Pathik Rammohana Rāya, Visvabharati, 1366 B. S. pp. 68, 138). Swami Vivekananda’s tribute is no less emphatic. Sister Nivedita gives the following record of a conversation with Swamiji at Nainital in May, 1898: “It was here too that we heard a long talk on Rammohun Roy, in which he [Swami Vivekananda] pointed out three things as the dominant notes of this teacher’s message, his acceptance of the Vedanta, his preaching of patriotism and the love that embraced the Mussulman equally with the Hindu. In all these things, he claimed himself to have taken up the task that the breadth and foresight of Rammohun Roy had mapped out.” (Notes of Some Wanderings with Swami Vivekananda, Third Edition, Udbodhan Office, Calcutta 1948, p. 16). Tagore and Vivekananda, both eminent in their respective spheres, are known to have differed radically in their environment, ideals and outlook, and the fact that personalities of such different moulds could draw inspiration equally from Rammohun Roy, illustrates sufficiently well how widely and deeply the latter’s life and thought had moved and influenced the succeeding generations in India.

The method followed by the editors in revising and bringing the book up to date, may be briefly stated. The original text of Miss Collet and the continuator remains unaltered. The foot-notes and references have all been carefully checked and corrections have been made wherever necessary. References to pages have been specifically inserted in those cases where the original notes were without them. In some cases the original foot-notes have required further elaboration and the editors have put their own comments within brackets under their signatures. New foot-notes and references introduced by the editors are also similarly signed. To each chapter the editors have further added supplementary notes in which they have sought to discuss the controversial topics according to the context, as well as to incorporate relevant material that has come to light since the first edition of the book was published in 1900. Except nos. viii and ix (which appeared as Introduction to Dr. H. C. Sarkar’s edition of 1913), the remaining nine appendices are new additions to the present volume. The list of Rammohun Roy’s publications and the index have been prepared afresh. The select bibliography is a new feature which—it is hoped, would be welcome to those who would wish to make a further study of the subject. In short, the editors have spared no pains to bring Miss Collet’s book up to date and make it useful for modern readers. They will consider their labours amply rewarded if it serves to create some interest in the life and times of Raja Rammohun Roy among the reading public.

The editors regret that it has not been possible to maintain any kind of uniformity in the spelling of Indian proper names and the readers are requested to consult the index for standard forms in most cases. They also apologise for the many misprints that have crept into the text. The more serious ones have been noticed in the errata appended at the end.

In conclusion the editors consider it their pleasant duty to offer grateful thanks to all the institutions and individuals that have helped them in their task. To the Principal and the Librarian of the Serampore College they are indebted for kind permission to consult the old records of the Serampore Baptist Mission and the old files of the Friend of India preserved in the library of the College. Dr. Stephen N. Hay, Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago, kindly drew their attention to a few unpublished letters of Rammohun Roy now preserved in libraries of Europe and America, and also gave some useful suggestions. The Academy of Fine Arts, the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the Bangīya Sahitya Parishad, Sri Amal Home, Sri Asoke Chatterjee, Sri Devaprasad Mitra and Sri Nisikanta Sen have kindly lent rare books and old photographs in their possession for the purpose of illustrating the book. The editors are grateful to Sri Devaprasad Mitra who has kindly seen the book through the Press with great care and to Srimati Bharati Biswas who has rendered ungrudging assistance in correcting the proofs. Thanks are also due to Sri Birendrakumar Roy, Secretary, Sadharan Brahmo Samaj who has taken keen interest in the progress of the work; to Sri Pulinbihari Sen, for obtaining many of the rare illustrations; and to Sri Jagadindra Bhaumik for seeing these through the Press. Grateful mention must also be made of the unfailing courtsey and co-operation received from Sri Manindrakumar Sarkar, Manager, Brahmo Mission Press and his staff, as well as from the Bengal Autotype Company.

Calcutta DILIP KUMAR BISWAS PRABHAT CHANDRA GANGULI

CONTINUATOR’S NOTE

[The Continuator of Miss Collet’s unfinished work scrupulously kept himself anonymous throughout. His identity however has been disclosed by Miss Clara Collet, a niece of the author in a letter to Dr. P. K. Sen, dated November 9, 1933. We come to know from the said letter, that he was the late Rev. F. Herbert Stead who was for several years a Congregationalist minister at Leicester, the editor of the Independent and Nonconformist (1890-92) and shortly after Miss Collet’s death in March 1894, the Warden of the Robert Browning Settlement at Walworth. For the text of Miss Clara Collet’s letter, see P. K. Sen’s Biography of a New Faith, Calcutta 1950, Vol. I, Appendix I, pp. 353-54.—Editors.]

“I am dying. I cannot finish my ‘Life of Rammohun Roy’. But when I enter the Unseen, I want to be able to tell Rammohun that his ‘Life’ will be finished. Will you finish it for me?” Such was Miss Collet’s message. It was sent to one whom she had never so much as seen, who had taken no part in the movements which she had most at heart, and who had only the vaguest knowledge of her hero. The work was not at all along the line of his main pursuits. But to a request of this kind, uttered on the threshold of the eternal world he felt there could be only one answer. It came to him as a mandate which he could not disobey,—a mandate none the less imperative because wholly unexpected and unprepared for.

In undertaking the task he has endeavoured simply to complete the author’s work. Of the immense mass of material which he used, almost all had been collected by her during long and laborious years of patient research: there was scarcely a source he drew from, which she had not indicated. Her general impression of Rammohun’s character he has verified and followed. He has adhered to her method of spelling Indian names, excepting in quotations of titles and passages from other works, where he has reproduced the spelling however arbitrary or inconsistent, of his sources. Being himself no expert in Indian affairs, he gladly acknowledges the technical aid he has received from Miss E. A. Manning, Mr. N. Gupta and Mr. Ananda Mohun Bose. But the work in conception, outline, materials and in all but concluding literary execution, is and remains Miss Collet’s.

The author died on the 27th March, 1894. The continuator regrets that the work has not appeared sooner. The delay has been occasioned, first by the interposition of obstacles for which he was not responsible, and next by the exigencies of other and more inexorable duties. His part has had to be done in snatches of leisure that were very rare and very brief.

CONTENTS

Appendix

I | Petition Against the Press Regulation | 423 II | Rammohun Roy’s Letter to Lord Amherst on Western Education | 457 III | Congratulatory Address to Lord William Bentinck on the Abolition of Suttee | 461 IV | The Trust Deed of the Brahmo Samaj | 468 V | Petition of Akbar II to King George IV as drafted by Rammohun Roy | 478 VI | Correspondence between Rammohun Roy and Jeremy Bentham | 488 VII | Rammohun Roy’s Letter to Robert Dale Owen | 494 VIII | Rammohun Roy’s Autobiographical Letter | 496 IX | Rammohun Roy’s Correspondence on the eve of his Visit to France | 499 X | Document from Madras Record Office on Rammohun Roy’s Religious Views | 505 XI | Sophia Dobson Collet: A Biographical Sketch | 508 | List of Raja Rammohun Roy’s Publications | 525 | Select Bibliography | 542 | Index | 545

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS