Rajnarayan Basu

Rajnarayan Basu (1826–1899) was an Indian writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, in Kolkata, Bengal. A monotheist at heart, Basu converted to the Brahmoism sect at the age of twenty. After retiring, he was given the honorary title of Rishi or sage. He was one of the best known prose writers in Bengali in the nineteenth century, writing often for the Tattwabodhini Patrika, a premier Brahmo journal. Due to his defence of Brahmoism, he was given the title "Grandfather of Indian Nationalism".

Birth and early life Basu was born on 7 September 1826, in a Bengali Kayastha family of the present-day South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. The ancestral seat of the Basu family was Garh Gobindopur, Kolkata. The Parishad was established to promote Bengali language literature yet ironically conducted meetings in English until Basu's request.

As an intellectual, he founded the Brahmo Samaj house and inaugurated Nabagopal Mitra's Hindu Mela, an organisation created to spread nationalist feelings among Indians. and he himself started one in Midnapore. In 1868, he retired and moved to Deoghar where he spent the last years of his life. His grandson, eminent philosopher and freedom-fighter, Sri Aurobindo has inscribed his tribute to Rajnarayan in a beautiful sonnet.

Select bibliography

In Bengali Brahmo Sadhon (Serving Brahmoism)(1865) Dharmatatvo Dipika (The Light of Religious Theory) (1866–67) Hindudhormer srestotto (The superiority of Hinduism)(1873) Sekal aar eikaal (Then and now) (1873) Hindu othoba Presidency College-er itibritto (A history of the Hindu or Presidency College) (1876) Bibidho probondho (Various essays) (1882) Rajnarayan Basur Attocharit (Autobiography) (1909)

In English A defence of Brahmoism and the Brahmo Samaj (1863) Brahmic Advice, Caution, and Help (1869) The Adi Brahmo Samaj, its views and principles (1870) The Adi Brahmo Samaj as a Church (1873)