Keshab Chandra Sen died on 8 January 1884. He was a Bengali Scholar, an orator, and a religious leader. He was trying to envision and establish a syncret
ic-synthetic religion with amalgamation of the best principles of Christianity and Hinduism. However his Brahmo Samaj was against idol or image worship. Their faith was in "Saguna Nirakar" aspect of god. God without form but with benevolent attributes- if one may say so. Quite a few bright and young college students came under the influence of this seemingly new, progressive and liberal reformist religious movemnt. He was the third chief of Brahmo Samaj and his service book for Samaj meetings, the slokasangraha, was a collection of texts from Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Chinese scriptures. It was a movement brought to birth by the conflict of East and West in the realm of intellect, and an attempt by educated Hindus to find relief from the impossibilities of the faith of their childhood. Pandit Sivanath Shastri gives an insider's view of history of the Brahma Samaj. Incidentally, despite the differences in ideals, he and Sri Ramkrishna became friends.
ic-synthetic religion with amalgamation of the best principles of Christianity and Hinduism. However his Brahmo Samaj was against idol or image worship. Their faith was in "Saguna Nirakar" aspect of god. God without form but with benevolent attributes- if one may say so. Quite a few bright and young college students came under the influence of this seemingly new, progressive and liberal reformist religious movemnt. He was the third chief of Brahmo Samaj and his service book for Samaj meetings, the slokasangraha, was a collection of texts from Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Chinese scriptures. It was a movement brought to birth by the conflict of East and West in the realm of intellect, and an attempt by educated Hindus to find relief from the impossibilities of the faith of their childhood. Pandit Sivanath Shastri gives an insider's view of history of the Brahma Samaj. Incidentally, despite the differences in ideals, he and Sri Ramkrishna became friends.Keshab Chandra Sen was born to an affluent Hindu family in Calcutta on 19 November 1838. Originally they belonged to Garifa village on the banks of the river Hooghly. His grandfather was Ramkamal Sen (1783-1844), a wellknown pro-sati Hindu activist and a lifelong opponent of Rammohan Roy. His father Peary Mohan Sen died when he was ten, and he was brought up by his uncle. As a boy, he attended the Bengali Patshala elementary school and later attended Hindu College in 1845 and Metropolitan College.
In 1855 he founded an evening school for the children of working men, which continued through 1858. In 1855 he became Secretary to the Goodwill Fraternity, a masonic lodge associated with the Unitarian Rev. Charles Dall and a Christian missionary Rev. James Long who also helped Sen. Sen established a British Indian Association in the same year.
Keshab Chunder Sen was also briefly appointed as Secretary of the Asiatic Society in 1854. For a short time thereafter Sen was also a clerk in the Bank of Bengal but resigned his post to devote himself exclusively to literature and philosophy. .
