The life and letters of Raja Rammohun Roy - WordPress.com

CO-OPERATION WITH DR, DUFFxliilRev Alexander Duff arrived in Calcutta in 1830. Theyoung missionry received a most cordial welcome andvaluable help from Raja Rammohun Roy, but for whosetimely co-operation he might have had to goback indisappointment. Let us again quote from the biographer ofDr. Duff: "In a pleasant garden house in the leafy suburbsof Calcutta, Raja Rammohun Roy, then fifty-six years ofage, was spending his declining days in earnest meditationof divine truth, broken only by works of practical benevolenceamong his countrymen, and soon by preparationsfor thatvisit to England, where in 1833, he yielded to the uncongenialclimate. 'You must at once visit the Raja', said GeneralBeatson, when Mr. Duff presented his letter of introduction,'and I will drive you out on an early evening'. Save byDuff himself afterwards, justice has never been done tothis Hindu reformer, this Erasmus of India." So the tworemarkable men met, the far-sighted Indian listened to theyoung Scotchman's statement of his objects and plans andexpressed general approval. Continues the biographer ofDr. Duff:"Greatly cheered by the emphatic concurrence of RammohunRoy Mr. Duff said the real difficulty now was, whereor how, to get a hall in the native city ;for the natives owingto caste prejudices, were absolutely averse to letting any oftheir houses to a European for European purposes. Then ifa suitable place could be got, how could youths of the respectableclasses be induced,since he was resolved to teachthe Bible in every class, and he was told this would constitutean insuperable objection. Rammohun Roy at onceoffered the small hall of the Brahmo Sabha in the ChitporeRoad, for which he had been paying to the five Brahminowners 5 a month of rental Driving at once to the spot,the generous Hindu reformer secured the Hall for the Christianmissionary from Scotland at 4 a month, Pointing to a