 Born
on 19 November 1838 in the illustrious Sen family
of Colootola, Keshab Chandra Sen embodied the
great social transition that gripped the post-Mutiny
India. the family actually hailed from Garifa,
a village about twenty miles away from Calcutta,
but settled in Colootola, Calcutta, where Keshab
was born. The Sens were Vaidyas by caste and Vaishnavas
by religion. Keshab's grandfather, Ramkamal Sen,
has an abiding place in the annals of the Bengal
Renaissance. A Treasurer of the Calcutta Mint
and later, the Dewan of the Bank of Bengal, he
was one of the founding fathers of the Hindu College
(1817), the School Book Society (1818), and the
Sanskrit College (1824) and the distinguished
author of an English and Bengali Dictionary.
Keshab Chandra's father, Peary Mohan, was
the Dewan of the Mint and was known for his
"probity, piety and beneficence",
a true successor to "the rank, refinement
and dignity" to which he was born. Keshab's
mother, Sarada Devi (daughter of Gourhari Das
of Farifa), imparted to her son her spiritual
fervour, affection and intelligence which moulded
Keshab's character. On 27 April 1856, Keshab
married Jaganmohini Debi, daughter of Chandra
Kumar Majumdar of Bali, at the age of eighteen.
Keshab was admitted to the Hindu School in 1845
from which he passed the Entrance examination
in 1853. He took admission in the Metropolitan
College the same year but left it to join the
Hindu College in 1854, from where he graduated
in 1856. From 1856 to 1858, he studied Philosophy
as a casual student under Mr. Jones, the Professor
of Philosophy in the College. he worked in the
Bengal Bank between 1859 and 1861, and in 1866
served as the Dewan of the Mint for a few months.
In his college days, his favourite western
authors were Reid, Hamilton, Morell, Theodore
Parker, Emerson and Milton, and in later years
he was fond of the works of Victor Cousin, `Night
Thoughts' of Edward Yound, Shakespeare's `Hamlet',
Christian sermons of Blair and Chalmers, works
on Theism by Newman and Miss Frances Cobbe.
But he was equally well grounded in Indian philosophical
and historical works, Bengali and Sanskrit literature,
Sriman Bhagabad Gita and the Vedas. But the
book that had the greatest impact on him was
a small tract on `Brahmoism' by Rajnarayan Bose.
It won him over to the theistic Church.
Soon after his conversion, he made a careful
study of the Young Bengal Movement of the day
and laid bare its limitations. In a tract, 'Young
Bengal, This Is For you' (June 1860) he remarked,
"Verily there is a line of demarcation
between a mind trained to knowledge and a heart
trained to faith, piety and moral courage. Rest
assured, my friend, that if in our country intellectual
progress went hand in hand with religious development...
patriotism would not have been a mere matter
of oration or essay but a reality in practice...
and our countrymen consolidated by religious
love would have realised all the benefits of
united exertions and mutual sympathies and effectually
surmounted many of those difficulties in the
way of social reforms which are now insuperable."
Keshab decided to fill up the gaps in the
young Bengal Movement. Brahmoism was broadened
with the Brahmo Movement to include social reform.
Apathy had yielded place to social usefulness
and Keshab led this new trend in the Theistic
Church. Religious fervour was added to the rationale
of reform (of. Keshab's lecture of 3 October
1861, before a meeting of the Brahmo Samaj,
vide P. K. Sen : The Biography of a New Faith,
Pt. I, p. 269).
Keshab almost itemised the reforms to be undertaken
by him and his associates-promotion of moral,
spiritual and humane education, eradication
of untouchability and casteism, spread of education
among women, spread of vernacular education
and vocational education and stress on temperance.
Keshab had started social reform earlier in
his career. in 1855 he had established an Evening
School in Colootola for adults and in 1859,
with the help of a dramatic club, he had put
on the stage `Bidhaba Bibaha Natak', a play
on widow-marriage by Umesh Chandra Datta.
In 1862, in a lecture on `The Destiny of Human
Life,' he condemned untouchability as a manmade
ungodly evil. In another lecture on `Social
Reformation in India' in 1863, he called upon
his countrymen to destroy caste and, what was
more important, to construct a universal brotherhood.
Mere defiance, according to Keshab, was no radical
cure. In a letter to Devendranath in 1861, he
expressed his anxiety for devising means for
having inter-caste marriages validated by legislation
(of. : Ajit Chakravarti : 'Maharshi Devendranath
Tagore', in Bengali, p. 339); and in 1862 the
first inter-caste marriage was brought about
by him under the Church. He did not rest till
1872 he could get the Brahmo Marriage Act enacted
by the Government.
But his greatest concern was for women's education.
He set it as one of the objectives of the Brahmo
Bandhu Sabha (The Society of theistic Friends)
founded in 1862. In 1864 he brought out a monthly
Bengali paper, the Bamabodhini Patrika, for
ladies. In 1800, yet another, the Paricharika,
came out. In 1865 he started the `Brahmika Samaj',
a society for Brahmo ladies, followed by a Women's
Conference next year to discuss the problems
of Indian womanhood. His crowning achievement
in the field was the foundation of the `Native
Ladies' Normal School' in 1871, supplemented
by a society for ladies' welfare, `Bama Hitaishini
Sabha'. In 1882 the school developed into the
`Native Ladies' Institution', now famous as
the Victoria Institution
As to education for men, he was equally zealous.
Besides the Evening School, he initiated the
Calcutta College in 1862, and in 1872 the Albert
College. In the letters of Indophilus (his pseudonym),
written in 1872, he formulated an elaborate
plan for comprehensive educational reforms.
By establishing the Industrial School in 1870-71,
Keshab tried to popularise vocational training
for promoting independent livelihood in the
country. It was his firm belief that vernacular
was the right medium for mass education.
In 1870 he brought out the Sulav Samachar,
a weekly vernacular newspaper sold for a piece
a copy, which became the cheapest means of mass
education and had a circulation of eight thousand
in two months' time. The same year, another
periodical, Mad Na Garal (Wine of Poison), was
started to espouse the cause of temperance.
Keshab even worked for the suppression of the
Liquor traffic when he went to England in 1870.
A Society, Bond of Hope, was formed for the
cause, tracts were distributed and the Government
was memorialised. In 1870 he sponsored the Indian
Reform Association with the five-fold objective:
education, cheap literature, improvement of
women, temperance and charity.
Keshab alone was responsible for the publication
of a dozen journals. The first that he brought
out was the Indian Mirror, started as an English
fortnightly in 1861 and
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converted into a daily
in 1871. It was the most celebrated journal of
the day. Other journals followed quickly: the
Dharmatattwa, a monthly religious journal, in
1864; the Bamabodhini Patrika in 1864; the Sulav
Samachar in 1870; the Madna Garal in 1870; the
Dharma Sadhan in 1872; the Sunday Mirror in 1873;
the Balakbandhu, an illustrated fortnightly children's
journal in easy Bengali, in 1878; the Paricharika
in 1880 and the new Dispensation in 1881. Journalism
was never put to such extensive use for social
amelioration before Keshab. In his hands the Press
became a national platform of supreme importance.
Keshab was primarily a religious preacher, the
prophet of the New Dispensation. He carried the
message of Brahmoism far and near by his incessant
travels and lectures. Between 1857 and 1884, he
had travelled over most of India and in 1870 had
also made a trip to England. Because of his missions
outside Bengal, the Theistic Church became an
all-India organisation. By 1866, there were sixty-five
sister organisations all over India, four in N.
W. Provinces, three in the Punjab, five in Madras
and one in Bombay. The total membership rose to
five hundred, twenty-five of them being women.
He had been able to accomplish nineteen Brahmo
marriages, and of them eight were inter-caste
marriages (Gour Gobinda Roy Upadhyay: `Acharya
Keshab Chandra,' Vol. I, p. 373).
In 1870 Keshab set sail for England for an intimate
study of the Western civilisation, as he himself
stated. he was given a grand ovation in England
and was introduced to Gladstone, Dean Stanley,
Max Muller, John Stuart Mill and others, by Sir
John Lawrence, erstwhile Governor General of India,
who had a very high opinion of Keshab. He was
received by Queen Victoria in private audience.
He spoke on `England's Duty to India', `Christ
and Christianity' `Indian Womanhood', etc., to
large English audiences. In the second lecture
he elaborated on the vision of a universal brotherhood
of man.
Keshab is regarded as the third major prophet
of the Theistic Church after Rammohun and Devendranath.
the story of his religious elevation remains to
be told. Keshab was awarded the title of `Brahmananda'
(Rejoicer in God) and was selected as `Minister'
of the Brahmo Samaj by Devendranath in 1862 within
a few years of his conversion in appreciation
of his spiritual fevour. In 1857 Keshab had started
the `Godwill Fraternity' - an association for
the discussion of religious subjects and for devotional
exercises. A step forward was the `Sangat Sabha'
established in 1860 for mutual assistance in spiritual
culture. Between 1860 and 1862, he drew up a programme
of social reform for the Church against the reservations
of Devendranath that the Brahmos must, confining
their attention to religion and avoiding a showdown
with the Hindu customs.
This was the first sign of the future schism in
the Church. The conservatism of Devendranath was
found inadequate by Keshab for the demands and
appeals of a new generation. There were also serious
doctrinal differences. Keshab in a lecture on
`Great Men' (1860) had established Revelation
in Nature, Soul and history, which to the conservatives
meant the importation of avatarism and supernaturalism.
The Divine Dispensation or `Vidhana' through the
Minister was also taken for Deism by the conservatives.
The cosmopolitan character of Keshab's concept
of relation based on love and universal brotherhood
appeared "grotesque and ridiculous to the
nation" according to the fathers of the
Church. It was construed as an aberration and
a product of Christian influence on Keshab.
A final conflict came over the introduction
of the Bhakti Cult into the Theistic Church,
viz., mass singing (Sankirtan), daylong prayers
and services, taking out of processions with
the accompaniment of khole and kartal (venerated
musical instrument of the Vaishnavas), etc.
It was, in essence, a struggle between the national
and emotional content of Brahmoism. The differences
were insuperable and the inevitable split came
in 1866. Keshab broke with the old Samaj and
established the Brahmo Samaj of India on 11
November 1866. In 1871 he established the Bharat
Ashram, a retreat where he and his missionaries
lived for some time with their families in spiritual
fellowship. In 1881 he preached the New Dispensation,
with the ceremonies and vows introduced by him.
The new Church had a direct appeal to the
heart of the people for its popular ways of
expression, service and reform and could rally
more people than the parent body. There was
a moral and social regeneration of a higher
magnitude. But all said, the personality cult
began to grow and the word of the Minister was
construed as God's scriptures. The rituals obscured
the contemplation of God. And finally when Keshab
gave his minor daughter in marriage to the Prince
of Cooch Behar, a non-Brahmo, contrary to his
professions, a large number of his followers
staged the second schism of the Church and the
dissident organisation was named the Sadharan
Brahmo Samaj. Like the Presbyterian Sect, it
had a more democratic setup than the body from
which it had seceded.
Nevertheless Keshab represented a necessary
transition in the religious and social upheaval
of the nineteenth century. Though Keshab was
primarily a religious and social reformer, his
views on nationalism were very concise and clear.
in his speech in Birmingham (1870), he categorically
stated, "I for one would not allow myself
to be denationalised. Bring the influence of
English education to bear upon the work of Indian
reformation, but I would ask you to let the
spirit of Indian nationality to develop all
that is good therein in a national way.... The
growth of society must be indigenous, native
and natural." He welcomed all that was
good in the West but not at the cost of India's
heritage.
In the lecture on `England's Duties in India'
he stressed the need for opening up to Indians
the higher appointments in the administration,
for restoration of the state scholarship...
to enable students to receive further training
in England, for normal schools to train women
teachers, for extension of women's education
on national lines, for mass education by making
vernacular the medium of instruction, for suppression
of the liquor traffic, and for better treatment
of Indians by British officials. England's duties
to India were boldly put forward before the
authorities in England. Keshab was proud of
his national heritage and was no apologist of
the British Raj. He even wanted to see vernacular
replacing English as the national language and
worked to that end.
Keshab had lectured more than he had written.
Many of his lectures were published as tracts,
a dozen of them in 1860. His works include:
`True Faith', `New Samhita', `Yoga-Objective
and Subjective', `The New Dispensations', Religion
of Harmony', Lectures in India',`Prayers' and
`Lectures in England' in English and `Sangat',
`Brahmo Gitopanishad', `Jivanveda', `Maghotsab'
and `Sadhu Samagam' in Bengali.
Keshab Chandra Sen died at the early age of
forty-five years in 1884. He was indeed a stormy
petrel in the history of our social and religious
reformation.
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