MARY CARPENTER. 71 



Rammohun Roy was a young Brahman of high 

 caste. He was exceedingly intelligent, highly educated, 

 and very thoughtful. At a very early age he began 

 to have doubts about the truth of the religion in which 

 he had been brought up. As he spoke out what he 

 thought very plainly and boldly, his father and friends 

 were very angry with him. His mother, it is said, 

 agreed with him, and was convinced by his argu- 

 ments, but she refused to give up the religion of her 

 friends and country. One day, when she was about 

 to set out on a pilgrimage to Juggernaut, he remon- 

 strated with her, and she said, " You are right, but 

 I am a woman, and cannot give up observances which 

 are a comfort to me." The son, however, did not 

 shrink from giving up what he had ceased to believe 

 in. He braved both the scorn of his acquaintances 

 and the anger of his father, in order to be true to his 

 convictions. 



He continued his studies, went on to examine 

 other religions, and found that they were all very 

 much alike. At last his attention was directed to 

 Christianity, and by it he was strongly attracted. 

 He was particularly impressed by the precepts and 

 life of Jesus, and although he never believed in the 

 divinity of Christ, or agreed in opinion with orthodox 

 English Christians, he freely declared that the pre- 

 cepts of Jesus led to peace and happiness. 



When Rammohun Roy visited England he was 

 warmly received wherever he went. At the time of 



