Motilal Roy (January 5, 1883 — April 10, 1959) was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

revolutionary, journalist, social reformer. He founded the

Prabartak Sangha Prabartak Sangha ( bn, প্রবর্ত্তক সংঘ) is a charitable institution known for its social work. It was founded in 1920 by Motilal Roy, a revolutionary, who was inspired and initiated in the spiritual path by Sri Aurobindo. Ba ...

, a nationalist organisation for social works.

Early life

Motilal Roy was born at Borai Chanditala,

Chandannagore Chandannagar french: Chandernagor ), also known by its former name Chandernagore and French name Chandernagor, is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is part ...

Hooghly district Hooghly district () is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli''. The district is named after the Hooghly River. The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsura (''C ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His father was Biharilal Singha Roy. Their family was originated from Chettri

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. Roy completed his schooling from Free Church Institution. After the sad demise of his only girl child, Roy attracted to

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

and in 1920 he organised a group to serve the poor people.

Activities

Motilal joined in the movement against

Partition of Bengal (1905) The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western are ...

in 1905. Latter he was attached with armed revolutionaries of Bengal. He collected that revolver and supplied to

Kanailal Dutta Kanailal Dutta ( bn, কানাইলাল দত্ত) (30 August 1888 – 10 November 1908) was a revolutionary in India's freedom struggle belonging to the Jugantar group. He was born in Chandannagar, West Bengal. He, along with Satyend ...

Shrish Chandra Ghosh Shrish Chandra Ghosh (1887 – 2 May 1941) was a Bengali revolutionary and Indian independence activist. Early life Shrish Chandra was born to Birajkrishna and Mahamaya in 1887, he hailed from the Subaldaha village, Burdwan district. His early ...

for the assassination of Naren Goswami in 1908. Roy established the Prabartak Sangha under the inspiration of

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

. Roy's home as well as the Sangha were the important safe house of Indian freedom fighters. Hundreds of

Indian independence activists The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of a many methods. This is a l ...

took shelter in Roy's house. Being a senior member of the revolutionary group he provided money and arms to the revolutionaries. in 21 February, 1910 Aurobindo reached at Chandannagar and stayed in Roy's house for 42 days safely before going

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. Roy assumed the title of ''Sangha Guru'' or the chief spiritual leader of the organization. He also established school, library, students hostel publication house and

Khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi as ''swadeshi'' (self-sufficiency) for the freedom struggle of the Indian subcontinent, and the term is used throughout India, Pakistan ...

business for people. A fortnightly journal of his organisation named ''Prabartak'' was edited by another senior revolutionary

Manindra Nath Nayak Manindra Nath Nayak (30 June 1897 – 28 December 1982) was a Bengali revolutionary and Indian independence activist. Early life Nayak was born in his maternal home at Chandannagar, Hooghly district in British India. His father name was Bhusha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Motilal 1883 births 1959 deaths Revolutionaries of Bengal during British Rule 20th-century Hindu religious leaders Bengali Hindus Hindu reformers Swadeshi activists Indian independence movement Revolutionary movement for Indian independence Indian independence activists from West Bengal