Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/173

 him; and how he refused it the use of his own hall. But he still sympathised with the movement, and the Samaj was in a thriving condition even when its meetings, instead of being held in the palace, took place first in a small house at Aminbazar, and subsequently in one built for it in 1847. But the advocates of Puranic idolatry did not remain inactive. They, under the leadership of some wealthy citizens, established a Dharmasabha, or an association for the defence of Hinduism. But they could not do any harm to the new school, as the Raja was in its favour. In fact, he stood as the umpire between it and the old school. Many of the pandits of the latter were convinced by him of the propriety of worshipping the one God of the Vedas, but had not the moral courage to act up to their convictions.

Many may be surprised to hear that Ramtanu had no sympathy with the Brahmo Samaj. He was one of those that had entered the lists against the Calcutta Brahmos in their unreasonable attacks on Christianity, and attempts to give the Vedas the character of a Divine revelation, and he was still opposed to them on principle. The letter he wrote on 24th July 1846, to his friend Raj Narain Bose, in Calcutta, a zealous Brahmo, explains his attitude toward the society, to which the latter belonged. The letter runs thus:

“MY DEAR RAJ NARAIN,—I cannot think much of the Vedantic movements here or elsewhere. Their followers merely temporise. They do not believe that the religion is from God, but will not say so to their countrymen who believe otherwise. Now, in my humble opinion, we should never preach doctrines as true in which we have no faith ourselves. I know that the subversion of idolatry is a consummation devoutly to be wished for; but I do not desire it to come about by employing wrong means. I do