CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI

STANDARD-BEARER

A great soul comes into the pages of history when he makes some particular contribution in any field of human activity. Rammohun had the pride of place in his country's annals for his invaluable pioneer-work. But will that be saying the whole truth about him ? Was he not far greater than his work ? And was not his outer work, stupendous though it was, only a fraction of his more important work in the inner life of his people into which he infused the fire of his soul—the fire by which he sought to chase away the medieval darkness from the mind and heart of the race and impel it to move towards the Dawn of which he himself was the herald ? It was this movement in the racial consciousness, more psychological than otherwise, with which began a fresh striving, a new going forth, long needed by this ancient people to prepare for and fulfil its great destiny, of which it was not conscious then but the force of which has always sustained India's evolution in history. In fact, it is by and for this that India lives on.

When Rammohun was pleading for the introduction of English education in India, he was only acting in consonance with the Will of the Mother. For, the knowledge of the West—aggressively new though it was for an ancient and conservative people—was found to be an imperative need for energising that people into a vigorous national life without which it could never again rise and be its own true self. The mind of the people thus quickened began to produce fruits of which many were good, many bad, and many indifferent. Nevertheless, the awakened mind went on developing, as also the heart. The signs of this awakening could be perceived in those activities all of which were not as they should have been. But those initiated by Rammohun were working not so much externally as in the mind of the people, at least of those who had contact with him or sympathised with his ideas. And this work, above all, was essential to national reconstruction, being the psychological support for the sublime ideal held up before India and the world by Rammohun, the master idealist.

Yet the Brahmo Samaj may be taken to have been a symbol of India's the then aspirations of which Rammohun was the first authentic voice. Round it centred the varied ways in which the awakening nation sought to articulate its will to progress and advancement in every walk of life. Rammohun foresaw this and chose one who could worthily continue the work towards its fruition in the nation-wide effort to realise not only the

immediate ideal of the Samaj but through it the larger ideals of unity, freedom and greatness, which India must strive for and possess in order to be able to fulfil her destiny. His country's uplift was indeed the primary concern of Rammohun.

Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, called the 'Indian Croesus', was a close friend and collaborator of Raja Rammohun Roy. His son Maharshi Devendranath Tagore recording his reminiscences of the Raja says that the Raja's face had such a deep attraction for him that he used often to see him and sit before him looking on his beautiful face, absorbed in the contemplation of the Raja 'between whom and myself, writes the Maharshi, 'there was some mystic affinity... He exerted a most mysterious influence upon me.' When on the eve of his departure for England Rammohun came to Devendranath's house to take leave of his father and others he said that 'he could not leave the country without shaking hands with me'. And when he did that, 'the kindly grasp had had a force and a meaning in it which I realised in my later life'.¹ This is how Rammohun made his choice of the future leader of the movement. Subsequent history will show that the choice was a right one.

Devendranath Tagore was the eldest son of Dwarkanath Tagore of Jorasanko, Calcutta, a man of great wealth, influence and position, whose lavish expenditure and princely munificence earned for him the tide of Prince. Dwarkanath, as said before, was a friend and collaborator of Rammohun in some of his important endeavours to revitalize the national life. He was one of the founders of the first school in Calcutta for teaching English along with Bengali, of the Calcutta Public Library, the nucleus of the famous Imperial Library, now India's National Library, Calcutta Medical College where he made an endowment for scholarships, and the Hindu College, now Calcutta Presidency College, which was 'a nursery of geniuses', of many of those who led nineteenth-century movements.

Devendranath was born in Calcutta in 1817 and brought up in the lap of luxury. He had his early education in the school of Raja Rammohun Roy where he received his first lessons not only in English but in Bengali and where he imbibed Indian ideas which its founder took care to include in its curriculum. According to the prevalent custom of child marriage, Devendranath was married when he was twelve and his wife, Sarada Devi, six. When fifteen, Devendranath along with his fellow-students started the Sarvatattwadipika Sabha the main object of which was to develop the Bengali language by using it as the medium of discussion in the meetings of the Sabha. It was indeed courageous of him to have expressed his preference for Bengali at a time when the Hindu College students would have nothing but English as the medium of all their discussions in the Debating Societies. His unanimous election as Secretary of the Sabha

¹ An interview with the Maharshi, quoted in P. K. Sen's Biography of a New Faith, Vol. I, pp. 375-78.

is evidence of his popularity. In 1834 Devendranath obtained admission to the Hindu College and studied there for about four years after which period, as desired by his father, he joined his firm, Carr, Tagore & Co., for training in business. About this time Devendranath studied Sanskrit and Music, and began writing in Bengali in which he later prepared a Sanskrit grammar.

Even when young, Devendranath showed his contemplative turn of mind. In his eighteenth year he had his first inner experience, the occasion being the death of his grandmother to whom he was very much attached and whose selfless character drew him to her with deep ties of affection. When she was about to leave her body she was, according to orthodox Hindu custom, taken to the banks of the Ganga so that she could breathe her last in touch with the holy waters. It was the night before her death in the cremation ground, people singing the name of God when, writes Devendranath in his wonderful Autobiography, 'a strange sense of the unreality of all things suddenly entered my mind.... A strong aversion to wealth arose within me... in my mind was awakened a joy unfelt before.... It was a spontaneous delight, to which nobody can attain by argument or logic'. It soon disappeared leaving a void in his soul which began to yearn again for that ecstatic joy. He read the story of Narada in the Bhagavata which furnished him with a parallel to his case. Having passed through a period of spiritual desolation—the night of his soul—he decided to take to the path of knowledge and self-purification for which renunciation was so essential. He therefore gave away to others the valuable articles of furniture he possessed. He began studying Sanskrit and threw himself into a deep study of the Mahabharata, also all manner of philosophical literature in English in the hope that he might find therein the Truth which was his quest. All this brought some illumination to his mind but not the light his soul was longing for.

While in this state of depression, one day all of a sudden he saw a page from some Sanskrit book flutter past him. He picked it up but could not understand what was written on it. On a reference to a Sanskrit scholar he was told that it was the first verse of the Isha Upanishad which says : 'All this is for habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not after any man's possession'. Devendranath felt as if nectar from paradise had streamed down upon him through those words. His doubts were dispelled. 'A divine voice', he writes, 'had descended from heaven to respond to my heart of hearts, and my longing was satisfied. I wanted to see God everywhere ....I got just what I wanted— What a blessed day was that for me—a day of heavenly happiness ! Every word of the Upanishad tended to enlighten my mind, with their help I daily advanced along my appointed path.' Devendranath's sadhana from now

was to develop in himself the truth of the Upanishadic verse—'to feel Divine Immanence everywhere and to live the life without being attached to it.' And whatever success he had in it meant his success in his life's work for the cultural and spiritual uplift of his countrymen as he conceived it.

Devendranath's father knew of his soul's inward inclinations, yet he was confident that his son had the capacity to look after secular affairs and manage his business and this the son proved to his father's satisfaction. On the eve of his departure for England, Dwarkanath made a will to the effect that after his death Devendranath would be the owner of his half of the Company's shares. When he actually came to the ownership, Devendranath shared it equally with his two younger brothers. Apart from his magnanimity, his integrity also was exemplary. He cleared up the heavy debts of his father, and honoured all the promises of pecuniary help and other obligations of his father. Though he could have avoided many such payments, he took the entire responsibility upon himself and in discharging it he had to deprive himself of all his property.

Devendranath started on his public activities when he was very young. A born contemplative, he was nevertheless alive to the many evils that were then retarding the progress of the country. His was however a religious approach—truly Indian—and in this, as in many other things, he followed the great pioneer. Like Rammohun he drew his inspiration from the Upanishads the truths of which shaped his mind and inspired all his public activities. Indeed, they were the very breath of his life. And when he felt irresistibly urged to share these truths with others and disseminate them among larger circles he started in 1839 a society called Tattwaranjini Sabha which in its second sitting changed the name to Tattwabodhini Sabha. The exclusive emphasis on Western ideas and the use of English in all public discussions in literary and debating societies was not favoured by a section of the English-knowing progressives who in addition to English and Western ideas also wanted the cultivation of the Bengali language and the Vedic lore as embodied in the Upanishads. This was also the aim of the Sabha as declared by Devendranath. The foundation of the Sabha was one of Devendranath's greatest achievements, one of the most important chapters in his life dedicated to the cause of his country's uplift through 'higher spiritual Hinduism, free from the blind worship of idols'.

This 'higher Hinduism', in other words, the philosophy of Vedanta would, in Devendranath's view, be a reaffirmation of the sublimity of the ancient spiritual ideal of India and its unchallengeable universal character would be an effective safeguard against the foreign ideas that were then invading the mental life of the country. It seemed as if Rammohun had passed his torch on to Devendranath to chase away the darkness that threatened to engulf the country and its culture. Be it remembered that

the members of the Tattwabodhini Sabha were, almost all, front-rank English-educated intellectuals of the country who later led her renaissance in various fields of culture. During its twenty-year existence the Sabha served as a strong bulwark against cultural onslaughts of Europe.

To carry out the objectives of the Sabha he opened in 1840 a school called Tattwabodhini Pathsala for the training of youths in Indian and Western ideas through the medium of Bengali, English being taught as a language. This is called by a writer the first national school in India. One of the teachers of this school was Akshaykumar Datta, the talented litterateur and editor of the monthly journal Tattwabodhini Patrika, started by Devendranath in 1843, which lived and served through many vicissitudes and which continues to this day. The paper has had a most distinguished career and the honour of having been the forerunner of many journals that have come and gone. Day by day it grew to be an influential and informative organ of public opinion : it served also as an instrument of education and played a formative part in developing the Bengali language. Though its principal aim was the propagation of the 'advanced religious ideas of its founder', illuminating articles on literature, philosophy, science, history, biography and sociology, written by competent writers, in simple and lucid Bengali were its regular features. Tattwabodhini Patrika soon became the leading organ of thought in those early days of the renaissance when the country, invaded by foreign ideas and foreign ways of life, threatened to become denationalised. The Patrika met this frontal attack with its high ideals of national reconstruction based on truth, justice and reason, by which alone, it held, the country could recover its own self. Western ideas, it also held, were certainly welcome but Indians must know what the ideas of their own culture were. Not only this, the paper used regularly to discuss self-help in education, protection of Hindus and their religion from Christian missionary attacks, necessity of female education, prevention of drinking, development of physical power, the tyranny of indigo-planters, proper relations between ruler and ruled, social reform, etc.—subjects that indicate how widely alive Devendranath and his co-workers were to the problems of the country. According to the practice at the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Devendranath formed a committee to select books and articles for publication in the Patrika with himself as President. The committee consisted of eminent scholars : Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, Rajnarayan Basu, Rajendralal Mitra.

Devendranath wanted to revive the long-neglected Vedic culture in Bengal. And to this end he sent four scholars to Varanasi for the study of the four Vedas and the Upanishads. Devendranath himself once went to Varanasi to see with his own eyes how Vedic studies were pursued there. Meanwhile he changed his belief in the infallibility of the Vedas. This change was due to some extent to the persuasion of his rationalistic friends the most prominent of whom was Akshaykumar Datta. When therefore

the scholars returned Devendranath appointed them to collect relevant extracts from the Hindu scriptures in support of his religious beliefs. Another memorable work he did through the Sabha was the English rendering of some of the Upanishads done under his direction by Rajnarayan Basu, 'one of the most distinguished English scholars of the time', in the words of Devendranath. In this respect, he was one of the pioneers who helped in popularising the ancient lores of India among larger circles of readers.

When in his book India and India Missions, the English missionary Alexander Duff attacked idolatrous and non-idolatrous Hinduism Devendranath, though a believer only in 'the higher form' of that religion without its idolatry, came forward and met the challenge in a series of powerful articles published in 1845 in the issues of the Tattawabodhini Patrika under the title Vedantic Doctrine Vindicated. He then regarded the Veda as infallible. He wrote : 'We declare our firm conviction in the Vedas to be the only inciting principle by which our exertions are guided... They are the sole foundation of all our belief, and the truths of all our shastras must be judged of according to their agreement with them,. .What we consider as revelation is contained in the Vedas alone.'

Besides vilifying Hindu society and Hindu religion, the Christian missionaries were then carrying on their proselytising campaigns and their immediate victims were the students of the schools run by them. This caused great indignation and distress in the mind of Devendranath. The conversions roused his energies to the utmost to counteract the invasion of Hindu society by what he deemed to be not only 'foreign but also inimical to Indian thought and culture'. The Tattwabodhini Patrika took up the matter and published spirited articles against this onslaught on India. Devendranath organised a movement to prevent Hindu boys from being sent for education to Christian missionary schools. And in this he was joined by members of Hindu orthodoxy including Raja Radhakanta Dev. A largely-attended public meeting was convened and Rs. 40,000 was raised then and there for starting a school where children might be taught free of charge, as in Christian Mission Schools. The school was established under the name Hindu Hitaishi Vidyalaya (School for Hindu welfare).

After Rammohun left India the Brahmo Samaj had no leader capable of developing it on the lines laid down by its great founder. Those in charge could just keep it going. In 1842, about a decade after Rammohun's passing, Devendranath decided to join the Brahmo Samaj, and one day came in to see things for himself. He found, much to his disappointment, that there was nothing of an organisation that might keep together those who intended to come and worship in the Samaj. Some of the items of its routine were a direct negation of its basic principles. It seemed that the Samaj had been waiting all these years for the leadership of one chosen

by Rammohun himself who must have foreseen that none but Devendranath could keep it in shape and pilot it safely through.

After the experience of his first visit, writes Devendranath, T took upon myself the task of reforming the Brahmo Samaj and amalgamated the Tattwabodhini Sabha with it. It was arranged that the Sabha would further the interests of the Samaj.' Outlining the ideas that were from now to guide the Samaj, Devendranath made clear what Rammohun had not done that while they regarded the Upanishads as the true Vedanta, they had 'no faith in the Vedanta philosophy of Sankaracharya who seeks to prove the oneness of Brahman and all created beings. What we want is to worship God. If the worshipper and the object of worship became one how can there be any worship... .He is the worshipful, I am His worshipper. He is my Master, I am His servant... .This was my guiding principle. To disseminate this truth throughout India, to induce everybody to worship Him in this manner, to ensure that His glory should be proclaimed everywhere—this became my sole aim.' Strictly speaking, this was not the monotheism of Rammohun; it must have been Devendranath's own standpoint based on his inner personal experience. The Vedantic idea of One Reality took in it a particular form which posited 'a Person with attributes such as knowledge, will, etc. and a worshipper'. Is it not a sort of duality in which the ardour of the heart wells out in adoration of the Supreme ? Herein Devendranath fulfilled a spiritual need of the time opening the heart to the worship of the Divine, the heart's devotion sweetening and deepening the mind's consecration. A new turn was given to the religious attitude of the Brahmo Samaj which had its fuller flowering in the life and work of the leader of the next phase of the Brahmo Samaj movement.

Devendranath wanted the Brahmo Samaj to develop as a popular institution. He therefore drew up a declaration of faith for those who wished to be initiated into its ideal. He found that the gayatri mantra, whose adoption was intended by Rammohun for the worship of Brahma and which brought to Devendranath himself sublime spiritual experiences, was too deep and too difficult for the majority of the people to grasp and that 'it was likely to become a fetish'. Making its use optional, he altered the covenant thus : T shall daily devote my soul to the Supreme Brahma with love and reverence'. And Brahma, he quoted from the Upanishads, 'is Infinite Truth, Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Bliss'. Devendranath was the first signatory to the covenant and along with nineteen others went through a ceremony of initiation in Brahma Dharma on the 7th of Paus, 1765, Bengali Era (December 1843), when the old minister, appointed by Rammohun, moved to tears, declared : 'Such was the aim of Rammohun. His desire has been fulfilled'. By the month of Paus 1767 (December 1845) five hundred persons took the vow and were enrolled as Brahmos. No small achievement for the leader.

Devendranath's quest for more and more of spiritual light was growing in him with years, his study of the Vedic and Upanishadic texts intensifying it and opening before him newer and newer worlds of truth. In 1845 when he was twenty-eight he had a major spiritual experience which he describes in his autobiography : 'What profit, beyond all expectation, had I not gained by adopting the (Vedic) gāyatrī mantra ! I had seen God face to face, had heard His voice of command, and had become His constant companion. I could make out that he was guiding me, seated within my heart, inspiring all my religious feelings and guiding my soul.' This experience brought in him such an inner change that he became much more indrawn than before, and depended more on his 'Inner Guide' than any external aid in his spiritual endeavours. About this time there was a controversy over the infallibility of the Vedas and their revealed character. Devendranath agreed that the Vedas in their entirety need not be taken as infallible. Only such portions in them were acceptable as could conform to reason. Besides, he was disappointed at such Upanishadic declarations, as T am He', 'Thou art That', which, he said, 'turned the head of ordinary worshippers' and are therefore 'the source of much evil'.

His quest led Devendranath to the discovery that 'the refuge for Brahmo-ism' lies not in the Vedas or in the Upanishads but 'in the pure heart, filled with the light of intuitive knowledge.. ..To love the Supreme Spirit as seated in the heart and do His bidding is to worship Him.'

Devendranath now turned his attention to the propagation of the Brahmo Samaj ideal and he was happy over the success that attended his efforts in that direction. Chiefly through his own influence and exertions many Samajes were established in and near Calcutta. Yet it was not all plainsailing for him. With the rejection of the Veda as a revealed Scripture there began to grow a tendency amongst the younger members of the Samaj, headed by Akshaykumar Datta, not only to broaden the basis of Brahmoism by advocating new social ideals but also to apply the dry light of reason even to the fundamental articles of religious belief and all these found their expression in the columns of the Tattwabodhini Patrika in which, as already said, discussions on various social problems began regularly to appear. What these younger members wanted was to rationalize the Brahmo doctrines. Devendranath did not see eye to eye with them in everything. It was not that he was against social reform. In fact, he favoured widow remarriage, knew that the caste rules would some day be relaxed, and encouraged the legitimate aspirations of the younger section by allowing them to discuss social questions in the Tattwabodhini Patrika, But social reform was not his forte, neither was it an important concern of his life. A contemplative at heart, he could not tolerate any artificial method of assessing spiritual values. When therefore Akshaykumar Datta 'started a Friends Society in which the nature of God was decided

upon by show of hands', and when there was a definite decline in the religious enthusiasm of his friends and followers, Devendranath decided to 'concentrate my mind, and practise severe austerities in retirement for His sake. I shall leave my home never to return'.

So he made his way to the Himalayas where he spent his time in deep contemplation, study and communion, with a view to a complete surrender to the will and purpose of God. This was in 1856. And he did not return to Calcutta till 1858, shortly after the Sepoy Revolt. He returned not that he wanted to, but that the 'Inner Guide' commanded him to do so.

In 1859, within a year of his return, Devendranath was glad to find in the Brahmo fellowship Keshubchandra Sen, a young man of twenty, of genius and ability, with whose devoted cooperation Devendranath was now able to throw himself, heart and soul, into the work of the Samaj and it began to flourish and expand in every way. Keshubchandra joined the Brahmo Samaj after having read Rajnarayan Basu's speech on the characteristics of Brahmo religion, says Rajnarayan in his autobiography. Rajnarayan was an intimate friend and co-worker of Devendranath.

Devendranath's devotion and wisdom combined with Keshubchandra's youthful ardour and excellent qualities of head and heart produced brilliant results. Hundreds began to flock to the services of the Samaj, to listen to the fervid and inspired utterances of the old leader, 'every word of which made them feel that God was near'. The number of aspirants for initiation into the new faith increased week by week. Brahmo Samaj was developing a new life. This continued till 1866 when there occurred a schism.

Devendranath believed that in a conservative country like India what was necessary for the reformation of society was not rules imposed from outside but an inner change of heart brought about by 'the teachings of a pure religion'. Keshub and his group, on the other hand, writes Devendranath's son Satyendranath in his introduction to his father's autobiography, held radical views on social evils and were particularly keen on removing them as early as possible. Devendranath, however, yielded to them as far as his personal feeling about them could permit, but he drew back when Keshub's followers were going too far.

As in his attitude towards social reform, so also in his religious idealism, Devendranath was guided by his inner perception which led him to the view that the ancient scriptures of India contain the highest of spiritual truths, sufficient at least for India's further progress and development. Keshub would go in for truth and light from any country, any religion, any culture. Besides, to his regard for the Christ as a divine incarnation Devendranath could never reconcile himself, as the Infinite, for him, was too vast for a human body to encompass. He looked upon religious founders as messengers of God and on this point he seemed to have been of one mind with Rammohun. These are among the reasons why Keshub withdrew from the parent body in 1865 and in the following year started

the Brahmo Samaj of India, the old church continuing under Devendranath's leadership as 'Adi Brahmo Samaj', the name he gave to it.

In his work for the Samaj after the schism, as before it, Devendranath had Rajnarayan Basu for his young but able collaborator. Rajnarayan was a man of sound learning and had a deep knowledge of the ancient ideas of the Hindus from the standpoint of which he approached Brahmoism and his exposition of it was regarded as authentic both by the Brahmos and the Hindus in general. He had a number of European admirers too. 'The Adi Samaj has adopted', he wrote, 'a Hindu form to propagate theism among Hindus. It has, therefore, retained many innocent Hindu usages and customs and has adopted a form of divine service containing passages extracted from Hindu sastras only, and a ritual containing as much of ancient form as could be kept consistently with the dictates of conscience... It leaves matters of social reformation to the judgments and tastes of the individual members.' As regards the use of the teachings of other religions, Rajnarayan wrote : 'We certainly do not act against the dictates of conscience if we quote texts from the Hindu śāstras only and not from other religious Scriptures of all the countries on the face of the globe. Moreover, there is not a single saying in the Scriptures of other nations which has not its counterpart in the Sastras. There are innumerable religious and moral sayings in the Hindu Sastras, some of them announced with sublime simplicity and others with the greatest beauty and felicity of expression. The Hindu Sastra is a vast ocean containing gems without number; search and you will find. Being the sons of wealthy parents, we need not go begging for the motto of a religious discourse at other men's doors. If the Sastras can satisfy the highest aspirations of the soul, there can be no objection to the adoption of a book of texts containing selections from the Sastras and the Sastras only.'

This is a standpoint taken obviously out of an inner perception of the eternal truths of Hindu thought—truths born of the supreme spiritual vision of the ancient Rishis. The standpoint need not therefore be called conservative or national, even as the standpoint of those who quote other religions out of the same perception need not necessarily be liberal or international. Anyway, if the original Brahmoism is called reformed Hinduism it does not take away from its importance as a progressive movement for the moral regeneration of man. 'The Hindu religion', says Devendranath, 'is a broad and liberal religion. It gives one a large scope for manifold progress. So instead of being separated from the Hindus we must be with them and preach Brahmoism. It is Hinduism which we must raise to the status of Brahmoism.' In one of its issues of 1869 the Tattwabodhini Patrika wrote : 'The Adi Brahmo Samaj maintains that Brahmoism is both universal religion as well as a form of Hinduism. The principal ground of its maintaining this opinion is that theism is true

Hinduism according to a right interpretation of the Hindu Shastras.'

It is these root ideas of Devendranath and Rajnarayan that guided the Brahmo Samaj and gave a psychological impetus to the cause of India's resurgence in modern times. Institutionally, the Samaj did not, because of the new movement led by Keshubchandra, expand beyond the immediate sphere of its activities. But its psychological influence was deep and irresistible and whatever success the latter movements achieved was not a little due to the essentially Hindu basis which Devendranath gave to their earlier phase.

Devendranath's ideal was not a life-negating one. It accepted life and the necessity for its sublimation. This devout soul did whatever he could to discover the spiritual basis of life and then to build on it a higher life. And the power with which he made such endeavour was not only whatever inner power he developed in him but also the power of reason which, he felt, India needed for her liberation from the evils that were blocking her progress. Naturally, therefore, he turned towards setting up schools for the education of Indians on Indian lines.

Mention has been made before of what Devendranath had already done in this connection in order to counteract the denationalising educational activities of the Christian missionaries. He succeeded his father as a Director of the Hindu College. In 1848 when a teacher of that College embraced Christianity Devendranath strongly supported the demand made by another Director for the removal of that teacher from the 'Hindu' College. When again next year a student of that College became a Christian Devendranath wrote to the Secretary of the College asking him to strike off his name from the ro'ls. Not only this. He was ever alive to the interests of the public and whenever they were in jeopardy at the hands of the authorities Devendranath would forthwith raise his voice against it.

While he was a great lover of English and was keen on its study by Indians, he was particularly interested in the cultivation of the mother tongue by his countrymen. This was evident when due to his and the others' efforts Bengali was made the medium of instruction in the schools in the Bengali-speaking areas, started in the then Bengal under the direction of the Governor-General, Lord Harding. When, again, the Government sought his opinion about the education of Indians, he wrote a memorable letter vigorously pleading for the spread of Bengali among the Bengalis. He also suggested that cheaper text-books in Bengali should be prepared and published as done before by the School Book Society for books in English. In that letter Devendranath also expressed himself against the teaching of any religion in those schools which should confine themselves to imparting moral instruction to students. Education, he held, should be for all, both men and women.

Devendranath was actively connected with a number of public institutions which aimed at advancing the cause of social, educational and cultural

progress of the country. One such was Samajonnati-bidhqyini Suhrid Samiti (Society of Friends for Organising Social Uplift). Devendranath was its President from the very beginning in 1854. Its objectives, defined in its first meeting, were introduction of female education, remarriage of Hindu widows, prevention of child marriage and polygamy. As its President, Devendranath submitted a memorial to the Legislative Council for the removal of legal disabilities of remarried Hindu widows, and for the establishment of girls' schools in every quarter of the suburbs of Calcutta. Prominent public men like Pyarichand Mitra, Akshaykumar Datta, Rajendralal Mitra, Sibchandra Dev, Digambar Mitra were members of this society.

Devendranath's appearance in the political field was not sudden. The freedom of his country had ever been in his thoughts even when they were devoted to spiritual subjects. 'The Brahmo religion', he says in one of his religious discourses, 'which has for its soul Brahma himself is the religion by which we will win back our freedom. Without freedom prosperity and happiness are impossible. Subjection is the root of all sorrow. We have learnt from the Brahmo religion that to be liberated from sin is the soul's religion and that along with soul's freedom all other freedoms are attainable.' Again in his Autobiography : 'If I could preach the Brahma religion as based upon Vedanta, then all India would have one religion, all distinctions would come to an end, all would be united in a common brotherhood, her former valour and power would be revived and finally she would regain her freedom.' Devendranath's aspirations, expressed as far back as 1845, like Rammohun's before him, were obviously the first seeds of freedom, sown and resown in the national consciousness, and were among the first factors in its crystallisation.

It is not known if he had then in his mind any idea that behind the attainment of political freedom there must be political agitation, a conscious striving of the national being towards that end. There is evidence, however, that he was clear about it in 1851. In 1853 the British Parliament was to renew its charter to the East India Company. Progressive Indians felt it necessary to place before the Parliament their views so that the terms of the charter might be revised to the best interests of India. In 1851 Devendranath started the National Association. There is a view that 'The Landholders Association' was revived and reorganised under this new name. The Bengal Harkara, a contemporary periodical, wrote in its issue of 18 September 1851 : 'Baboos Prasanna Coomar Tagore and Devendranath Tagore will never associate their names with an undertaking which they do not hope to carry out.' The preamble defining the aims and objects of the National Association says : 'Some of the laws that have emanated for the last few years from the Legislative Council of the British Indian Empire, militate against the rights and possessions of the subjects of the empire.. .thereby frustrating the expectations entertained as to the nature

of the administration of the empire.' 'The National Association was formed for the purpose of adopting measures that may contribute to the welfare of the society.' Devendranath was its Secretary. Within a month and a half of its inception the British India Association, a revival of British India Society, started functioning with the same end in view. Devendranath was also actively connected with it as its Secretary. Among the subjects for agitation by this Association was that the Government must pay the ckowkidars (village watchmen) and not the people who had so far been paying them, and that the people should have rent-free land. Within a fortnight of the inception of the Association, Devendranath addressed letters to similar associations in Madras and Bombay pointing out the need for united action by all such associations, and that there should be one common agent for all of them, instead of one for each, as hitherto, 'so that Indians might express their agreed views and press their common demands for administrative reforms throughout the country.' Devendranath also informed them that his Association had already collected Rs. 16,000 for carrying out its objectives. The most important thing he initiated during his Secretaryship was a move in the form of a memorial submitted by the Association to the British Parliament for the introduction in India of those self-governing institutions which had already come into existence in other British colonies, and as a first step to it, the appointment of a majority of Indian members in the proposed Legislative Council.

After this nothing of a particular nature is known about Devendranath's active connection with any political institution. Evidence is, however, available that he gave his whole-hearted support to the famous Jatiya Mela (National gathering) founded in Calcutta by Navagopal Mitra in 1867 with a view to giving shape to the ideas of Rajnarayan Basu for the promotion of national feeling among Indians. As in his social, religious and educational endeavours, so in his political ones too, Devendranath had always the cooperation of many a prominent public man of Calcutta, some of whom have been mentioned before. The progressive mind that was at the back of these earlier political strivings found its fuller expression in the foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. Devendranath had always full sympathies for the Congress. Many a time he invited the Congress leaders to his home and gave them whatever advice he deemed proper for the furtherance of the Congress cause.

Devendranath's munificence reflected the nobility of his soul. Lakhs of rupees he gave away for public welfare and for the promotion of religion, culture and education. One such is the famous Asrama of Santiniketan the site of which he chose in 1863 as a solitary resort for quiet contemplation. It was originally a bare, desolate spot—a haunt of dacoits —which he came across on one of his journeys. Attracted by its quietness he pitched his tent under the two Saptaparni (seven-leaved) trees, still standing there, and spent his time in meditation and prayer. It is said

that one day as he was in meditation the dacoits surrounded him but coming near and seeing him deeply absorbed in meditation, the leader of the gang waited for the Maharshi to open his eyes and when he did so the dacoit begged for pardon and offered to serve him all his life.

On the marble slab which marks the place of his meditation are inscribed in Bengali his words about the divine Presence in his inner being : 'tini āmār prāṇer ārām, maner ānanda, ātmār śānti', 'He is the repose of my life, the joy of my heart, the peace of my soul.'

Devendranath loved the place so much that he transformed it into a sylvan retreat, an Asrama, which in 1888 he dedicated to the public under a Trust Deed endowing it with an annuity of Rs. 6000 for the use of those who wished to meditate on God, free from all antagonsim of creed and sect. The only things forbidden were speaking ill of any religious sect, obscene amusement and meat-eating. It was at this place hallowed by the sādhanā of Devendranath and of numerous seekers from far and near who used often to come there for quiet contemplation that in 1901 Rabindranath with the warm approval of his father started his famous school Brahmacharyasram, as he called it then and which he developed later into the present international centre of learning, under the name of Visvabharati.

The last years of his life Devendranath spent mostly in retirement and inward pursuits. He left his body on 19 January 1905.

The inspiration of Raja Rammohun Roy was without doubt an impelling factor in all that Devendranath did for his country's uplift. It was the great pioneer's universal vision of 'essential Hinduism' which found articulation in the theistic church which Devendranath formally established on the basis of his inner experiences. That he could give a shape to the Samaj Ideal and do all his noble work for the uplift of his country was due to his having in him a combination of knowledge and devotion, of reason and intuition, the former an influence of Western ideas, the latter a racial inheritance. But crowning all was his love for the ancient Indian ideal as embodied in the Upanishads. This love was so deep that there was a period in which he along with his associates in the Tattwabodhini circle would all the time discuss or think of nothing but the teachings of the Upanishads and would have each a name of an Upanishadic Rishi in order, as Rajnarayan Basu says, to recreate the spiritual atmosphere of that great Age of the Spirit. No wonder that the movement led by Devendranath for the religious, social, cultural and even political advancement of his people, should be called one of neo-Hinduism, and this was his greatest contribution to the growth of resurgent India.

While he strove to be always in communion with God he discharged whole-heartedly all the obligations of life. A man of God, he was also a man of the world, and all his life he tried to live up to the truth of this harmony of spirit and life given him in his early days by the verse of the

Isha Upanishad. That is why Sri Ramakrishna said of him : 'He tried to combine both yoga and bhoga (enjoyment) in his life.' On the breast of Devendranath Sri Ramakrishna noticed the signs of one who practices Yoga.