Almost a hundred years before Mohandis K. Gandhi began his campaign against British rule in India, a man named Ram Mohan Roy stood at the forefront of Indian independence and for the establishment of human rights among the poor and bereft. Now, a full-length biography of this great statesman is at last available, a work of scope, compassion, and deep learning written not simply for scholars and pundits but for generalists and India enthusiasts as well.

Born of a high-ranking Brahman family, Ram Mohan Roy decided early in life to dedicate himself to the betterment of humankind and especially to the plight of the urban lower classes. Founding and editing several influential journals as a young man, he boldly spoke out for principles which until then were literally unheard of, including social reform of the lower castes, the rights of orphans, and the discouraging of such cruel religious rituals as forcing Hindu widows to immolate themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands.

One of the true international pioneers of women's rights, Ram Mohan Roy spent much of his career calling attention to the dreadful condition of women in India and to speaking out against sexism. His publications on these and other subjects were admired by the likes of Emerson Thoreau, and intellectuals throughout Europe. Truly, without his writings the reforms of Gandhi would not have borne fruit a century later., ISBN13: 9780913729151 ISBN10: 0913729159 Material Type: hardcover