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Henry Perronet Briggs, portrait of Rammohun Roy, plate in Collet, Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy, 2nd edition (Calcutta, 1914) · Colour plate of the full-length portrait of Roy by Henry Perronet Briggs (the painting hangs in the Bristol Museum according to Collet), reproduced as the frontispiece of Sophia Dobson Collet, 'The Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy', second edition (Calcutta, 1914), Internet Archive scan from University of California Libraries (copyright status listed as not in copyright). Painter died in 1844 and the plate was published in 1914, so the image is public domain by age in the United States. The plate caption names only the sitter; the attribution to Briggs rests on Collet's text (a full-length portrait by Briggs in the Bristol Museum, which Dr Lant Carpenter, who knew Roy, judged the best portrait extant) and on a matching Commons file credited to Briggs. Cropped from the upper part of the plate (about 1290 x 1550 pixels in the 2132 x 3730 page scan) and downscaled to 999 x 1200; no upscaling. The date of the painting is not stated in the sources read. · Public domain (painting by an artist who died in 1844; reproduction published in 1914)
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
Britannica describes him as a religious, social and educational reformer, sometimes called the father of modern India, who founded the Atmiya Sabha (1815), the Anglo-Hindu School (1822), the Vedanta College (1826) and the Brahmo Samaj (1828).
He argued against sati in two published conferences (1818, 1820), and Britannica says his writings emboldened the government's 1829 prohibition of the practice.
He pressed for English-language, Western-style education, opening the Anglo-Hindu School with a curriculum that included science, and was founder and editor of two of India's earliest weekly newspapers.
Moments That Reveal Them
When orthodox members objected to sitting on the Hindu College committee with him, he withdrew from it but, in Alexander Duff's account, kept working for the college from outside.
This is consistent with pursuing a project's success over his own place in it. Proactive Agency
After the missionary Joshua Marshman denounced his Precepts of Jesus, he answered with an Appeal to the Christian Public and later a Second and a Final Appeal.
This is consistent with answering criticism in public rather than withdrawing from the dispute. Conflict Tolerance
Turning Points
In 1827 he and other Bengalis withdrew support from the Unitarian association, and in 1828 he founded the Brahmo Samaj, against the wishes of his collaborator William Adam.
This is consistent with choosing his own institutional line even when it broke with a close collaborator. Independent Thinking
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Sources
- Ram Mohan Roy (Q335269), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-10-30): label 'Ram Mohan Roy', description 'Indian religious, social, and educational reformer, and humanitarian', born 1772-05-22, died 1833-09-27; Korean label '람 모한 로이'. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Wikipedia, 'Ram Mohan Roy', fetched for orientation only (names, dates, main institutions). Never counted as a source for any row.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Ram Mohan Roy' (Britannica Editors, last updated October 2026), read in full. CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE: calls him a religious, social and educational reformer sometimes called the father of modern India, founder and editor of two of India's earliest weekly newspapers, founder of the Atmiya Sabha (1815), the Anglo-Hindu School (1822), the Vedanta College (1826) and the Brahmo Samaj (1828), and says his writings emboldened the 1829 prohibition of suttee. Concise tertiary entry that is admiring in places; its description of his 1829 mission to England is context only here.
- Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography, 'Roy, Rammohun', read in full: a scholarly biographical entry covering his Persian and Bengali tracts, the Atmiya Sabha, the two conferences on sati (1818, 1820), the lawsuits and hostility from orthodox opponents, the Precepts of Jesus controversy with the missionary Joshua Marshman, his work with William Adam, the Anglo-Hindu School and Vedanta College, and the Brahmo Samaj, including Adam's sceptical view of his motives. Independent of the Brahmo Samaj and of Collet; written from a Unitarian standpoint.
- Sophia Dobson Collet (completed by a friend; second edition ed. Hem Chandra Sarkar), 'The Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy' (Calcutta, 1914), Internet Archive scan from University of California Libraries, read for the preface, the introduction on education (including Alexander Duff's 1853 evidence on the founding of the Hindu College), the chapter list, the passage on Roy's offer of the Brahmo Sabha hall to Duff, the description of his person and the Briggs portrait footnote, and the frontispiece plate. An insider, admiring biography (first edition 1900, compiled by a Unitarian admirer); used for dated episodes and quoted evidence only.
- Humanists UK, Humanist Heritage, 'Rammohun Roy (1772-1833)', read in full: a short institutional profile describing his newspapers, his protest against press censorship, his campaign against sati and child marriage, the Brahmo Samaj, and his reception by British freethinkers and Unitarians. Admiring heritage page written to claim a link to organised humanism.
- World History Commons, 'Sati: Petition, Orthodox Hindus' (the petition of the orthodox Hindu community of Calcutta against the Suttee Regulation, 14 January 1830, with editorial annotation), read in the first part: the opposing view that sati was sanctioned by custom and scripture and that the regulation was an interference in religion. Used as the counter-voice to his campaign; a document of the opposing party, not a source about Roy's conduct.