BRAHMO-SOMAJ, brii'mA-seendij'. or, bet ter written, BaAnxtA-SvmAd (Hind. Brahma, Skt. Brahma. Brahma. prayer + mno, assembly for worship). (Theistic Church.) A religious and social association in 'India, originated by the eele brated Ilindu Rajah, Rammohno Roy (q.v.). in 1830. under the title Society of (;od. The conver sion of Debendra Nath Tagore, a rich 1:ralinian of Calcutta, in l812., gave the movement a strong impetus. which, with the spread of English edn catiam. succeeded in emancipating it from Vedan tisni. The latest and most advanced stage in the development of the Braluno-Somaj took place under Babu Keshub Chunder Sell, who joined the Church in 1858. Theahn of Selland his follow ers was to apply the principles of the sect to prac tical every-day life, and under his direction the more progressive members withdrew from the original organization and formed the 'Brahmo Somaj of India.' 1Their fundamental beliefs are as follows: That there is but one supreme God, the object of worship; that nature and reason are the sources Whence we derive our knowledge of God, and that religion allows progressive devel opment- They have renounced all the distinc tions of the caste system with which India ha° so long been fettered, and they consider all men as equally the children of God; they have given up all the old Vedic and Bralunanical sacrifices; they believe in no sacred books or places, but ac cept whatever is true and good. in any religion. In ISSO there Were 149 socncjcs scattered throughout India, and of these 44 have mandirs, or places of worship. They have established
schools, and have published at different times eighteen periodicals, of which six were in Eng lish. nine in Bengali, mid three in minor vernacu lars. They reformed the abuse of child marriage and have done mueh to promote female education. in ISTS, some of lien's followers who disapproved of certain of his tenets, and of his conduct in marrying his daughter at the age of 13 to a Mani maharajah. seceded and formed the Sadharan (or Universal) Brahmo-Somaj, which soon took the first place among the theis tie churches of India. The Arya-Somaj, founded by Dayananda Sarasvati (died I582), differs from the Brahmo-Somaj in considering the Vedas as divine revelation in which everything true and useful, even the recent discoveries of science, could be found. Consult: Braluno Dharma, orRe ligion of the Brahmos (1850) ; Keshub (Thunder Seri, Vindication of the Brahmo-Nomaj (Calcutta, 1800) ; (Those (editor), Works in English of Rammohan Roy Cale u t ta, 1588 ) ; Alm( )(titular, and Teachings of Kesh lib Chamfer Sea (Cal cutta, 1SS7 ) ; h. Al a x His Life and Sayings (New York, 1899) : id., .1 and Lang Nyne, Second Series (New York, 1899) ; and the Theistic Quarterly Review, the official organ of the Brahmo-Somaj, published in Bengal since 1SSO.