Which among the following freedom fighters is regarded as the "Father of Modern India"?

The correct answer is Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Key Points

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy
  • ​In Radhanagar, Bengal, on May 22, 1772, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born into an orthodox Brahman household.
  • He is regarded as the "Father of Modern India" and ‘Father of Indian Renaissance’.
  • In Patna, he studied Persian and Arabic in his early schooling. There, he read the Quran, the writings of Sufi mystic poets, and the Arabic translations of Plato and Aristotle.
  • He read the Vedas and Upnishads and studied Sanskrit in Benaras.
  • When he was sixteen, he penned a logical criticism of Hindu idolatry after returning to his village.
  • He served as Woodforde's and Digby's personal diwan for the East India Company from 1803 until 1814.
  • He left his position in 1814 and relocated to Calcutta to dedicate his life to religious, social, and political reforms.
  • He founded the Atmiya Sabha in 1815, the Calcutta Unitarian Association in 1821, and the Brahmo Sabha in 1828 which later became the Brahmo Samaj.​

Additional Information

• Swami Vivekananda:
  • He was born in 1863 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He died in 1902.
  • His original name was Narendranath Datta.
  • He was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, thinker, and patriot.
  • He was the founder of the Ramkrishna Mission.
  • He introduced the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the world.
  • In 1893 he gave his famous speech to the World's Parliament of Religions also known as the Chicago speech.
• Keshab Chandra Sen:
  • He is an Indian scholar, philosopher, and social and religious reformer, lived from 1838 to 1884.
  • He was one of the most well-known Brahmo Samaj leaders.
  • He was born on November 19, 1838, into an affluent Vaishnava family in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
  • In 1855 he established “The British India Society”.
• Baba Dayal Das :
  • Born in Peshawar in 1783, he played a significant role in the nineteenth-century Sikh socio-religious reform movement.
  • He argued against the predominance of rituals and superstitions and in favor of a return to the basic teachings of Sikhism, which placed an emphasis on the worship of an formless God.