Raja Rammohun Roy / Saumyendranath Tagore.

Includes bibliographic details.

Darkness before Dawn --
Birth and Early Struggle --
Mission in Calcutta --
Controversy with Christian Missionaries --
Educational Reform --
Father of Bengali Prose --
Dhrupad Songs in Bengali --
Zeal for Political Reform --
A Pioneer Journalist --
Economic Reform --
Brahma Sabha and Brahmo Samaj --
Rammohun in England --
Rammohun's Impact --
Significant Dates and Events.

Rammohun Roy has been called the Father of Modern India, the first earnest-minded investigator of the science of comparative religion that the world has produced, one of the greatest reformers of his time, harbinger of the idea of Universal Humanism and prophet of a new age. While his contributions to the various departments of life were truly remarkable, it is not generally known that he was the first writer of Bengali prose in the polemic style. Poetry, too, was not foreign to his pen: he translated the Bhagavadgita in Bengali verse and composed some devotional songs. His command over his mother-tongue is amply borne out by his Bengali grammar-the best that was written in his time and in some respects unsurpassed by later attempts. His mastery of several oriental and occidental languages helped him to achieve an elegance of style which was simple, direct and expressive.

The monograph by Saumyendranath Tagore on the life and work of Rammohun Roy establishes the Raja's status as a pioneer of modern Indian literature.