THE ESSEX HALL LECTURE 1992 'I, - . .. >f . - ..,. ~.. ,. , .-. , . ' * >. I. , ,..,. , ,' ,, . <..; .. .,. ., . , . A, . ,, . , . , . - ... * 7 -... , , .~.. ,, ..> > >'i,, -* , :\... ., ." . RAMMOHUN ROY AND "THE DAY-STAR OF APPROACHING MORN" lip Medhurs THE ESSEX HALL LECTURE 1992 RAMMOHUN ROY AND "THE DAY-STAR OF APPROACHING MORN" Phillip Medhurst This is the Essex Hall Lecture for 1992 and it was deliv- THE ESSEX HALL LECTURE 1992 ered in Bristol, on April l l, 1992. Essex Hall is the Lon- don headquarters of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches and stands on the site of RAMMOHUN ROY AND the building where the first avowedly Unitarian con- "THE DAY-STAR OF gregation in an English speaking country met over two hundred years ago. The lecture was founded in 1892 APPROACHING MORN" and many distinguished persons in various fields have contributed to the series. The delivery of the lecture is one of the leading events during the General Assem- Phillip Medhurst bly's Annual Meetings. A complete list of previous lectures, many of which are still available for purchase, may be obtained by appli- cation to the Information Department of the General In 1817 English versions of some Hindu Scriptures were published Assembly, at the address printed below in LondonmlThese translations had, in fact, first appeared in Calcutta during the previous year from the pen of a Hindu of independent means called Rammohun Roy. The reprint had been edited by one John Digby while on leave from his duties with the Bengal civil serv- Published by the Unitarian Information ice. In it he prefixes an account of the translator: Department of the General Assembly of "Rammohun Roy ...is by birth a Brahmin of very re- Unitarian and Free Christian Churches spectable origin, in the province of Bengal, about forty- three years of age. His acquirements are considerable: to a thorough knowledge of the Sanscrit (the language Essex Hall of the Brahminical Scriptures) he has added Persian 1 - 6 Essex Street and Arabic; and possessing an acute understanding, he Strand, London early conceived a contempt for the religious prejudices WC2R 3HY and absurd superstitions of his caste ...He was after- (071) 240 2384 wards employed as a Dewan, or principal native offic- er, in the collection of revenues, in the district of Typeset by Z/an der Heyden Publishing which I was for five years Collector, in the East India 37 Selwood Road Company's Civil Service. By perusing all my public cor- Croydon, Surrey CRO 7JU respondence with diligence and attention as well as by corresponding and conversing with European gentle- men, he acquired so correct a knowledge of the English language to be enabled to write and speak it with con- ISBN 085319 921 siderable accuracy." 2 The particular reasons for the Unitarian interest in Rammohun were early indicated (in 1817) by Thomas Belsham, the minister of the @ 1992 by Phillip Medhurst l. the "Kena Upanishad" and the "Abridgement of the Vedanta" 2. Quoted in Sophia Dobson Collet: "The Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy". 1900. pp.23-24 Essex Street Chapel in L~ndon.~The first was to do with Rammohun's Within three years of Belsham's account there had been an ironic turn social status and education: in events. The correspondent quotes in full a letter written by Ram- "Rammohun Roy, a learned, eloquent, and opulent mohun in English dated Sept. 5, 1820. In his own words it explains Brahmin, having by the proper exercise of his own un- why Rammohun had become the subject of attention from Christians derstanding, discovered the folly and absurdity of the of somewhat different views: Hindoo mythology and of idol-worship... has entered "...I regret.. .that the followers of Jesus, in general, his protest against their impious, barbarous and idola- should have paid much greater attention to inquiries trous rites. Such doctrine from a person of such exalt- after his nature than to the observance of his com- ed rank, at first excited great astonishment, and gave mandments.. .On this consideration I have compiled infinite offence. But by degrees, the courage, elo- several passages of the New Testament which I thought quence, and perseverance of this extraordinary man essential to Christianity, and published them under prevailed over all the opposition; and it is said that the designation of Precepts of Jesus, at which the Mis- many hundreds of the native Hindoos, and especially sionaries at Serampur have expressed great displeas- of the young people, have embraced his doctrine." ure, and called me, in their review of the tract, an So far, Christianity had only made any headway with the poor of injurer of the cause of truth. I was, therefore, under the India. Furthermore, Rammohun's rank and education overcame any necessity of defending myself in an Appeal to the reservations which might have been entertained about the moral and Christian P~blic."~ intellectual calibre of his race. Such concerns seem uppermost in an The immediate fruit of Rammohun's enquiry into the doctrine of the anonymous poetic obituary that was later to appear in a Bristol news- Trinity had been his four pages of mild and inoffensive preface to paper: "The Precepts of Jesus" (1820). But criticism first evoked an "Appeal "'Twas thine to see, to feel the shame. in Defence" (1820) of 20 pages, then a "Second Appeal" (1821) of 150 Alas, what millions are blind! pages, and culminated in a "Third and Final Appeal" (1823) of 256 Insensible they bear the name, pages. But "Man" is not their grade or kind: The Baptist missionaries Carey, Marshman and Ward had founded Dark, vicious, cruel, mean, and base, a College at Serampore in 1818. They were the first Protestant mis- A gvov'lling, vile, and abject race.'4 sionaries from England to establish work in India. Rammohun assisted them with a translation of the Bible and to this end learned The second aspect of Rammohun's significance as outlined by Bel- both Hebrew and Greek. "The Precepts of Jesus: The Guide to Peace sham's early notice is more important: and Happiness" was printed at the Baptist Mission Press in 1820. It "He told a worthy clergyman at Calcutta about a year was mainly a compilation of the ethical sayings of Jesus, taken pri- ago, that he preferred Christianity to all other reli- marily from the first three Gospels, but without the historical or gions, and would certainly embrace it, if it were not for mythological framework. Thus Jesus's birth, death and resurrection, the doctrine of the Trinity. This was an insurmounta- as well as the miracles, were all left out. The emphasis was on the ble obstacle. At the beginning of this year, in January authoritative teaching of Jesus. Rammohun explained that he wished 1817, he informed the same respectable clergyman, to avoid controversy, and whether he believed them or not miracu- that he was now in the way of ascertaining whether the lous events were liable to arouse doubts among anti-Christians and doctrine of the Trinity is or is not the doctrine of the would carry little weight among Hindus. After all, Hindu mythology New Testament ...The result of this enquiry has not yet contained tales of an even more wonderful nature. reached England." The "Precepts" immediately came under attack from Joshua Marsh- man. He deplored this attempt by what he called a "heathen" to mis- 3. "Christian Reformer" Vol. IV. p.2. 1818 5. See Brajendra Nath Banerji: "English impressions of Rammohun Roy before 4. "The Bristol Mirror". 19 October 1833. p.4a his visit to England" in "The Modern Review" Calcutta. 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