Page:The Autobiography of Maharshi Devendranath Tagore.djvu/52

4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF preach, but only said, "Oh! how I wish that Rammohan Roy were present on this day."1 In 1844 my father established a Tatwabodhini Pathshala, or Theological School for the teaching of Vedanta and the training of young men to preach the Brahma religion; and in the following year he sent four students to Benares for higher theological studies. Each of these Brâhmans was instructed, to study one of the Vedas in the holy city. These men were, after their return, employed as preachers and ministers of the Brahma-Samaj. Of these, Pandit Ananda Chandra Vedantavagish was the most conspicuous. He held the post of chief minister of the Samaj till his death, published various editions of Vedanta works and the Bhagavat- gita, and was the editor of the Srauta and Grihya sutras, published in the Bibliotheca Indica of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

The year 1845 was memorable in the history of the Samaj, for the strenuous efforts put forth by the Brahmas to defend their religion against the attacks of Christian missionaries. Dr. Duff had published the year before unmerited strictures on the Brahmas and their religion in his work, India and Indian Missions. He described the Brahma-Samaj as a sect of Vedantists who believed in the infallibility of the Vedas. This statement led the Brahmas to a formal consideration of their position.

1 Related by Pandit Shivnath Shastri.