Ramkamal Sen (1783–1844) was the Diwan of the Treasury, Treasurer of the

Bank of Bengal The Bank of Calcutta (a precursor to the present State Bank of India) was founded on 2 June 1806, mainly to fund General Wellesley's wars against Tipu Sultan and the Marathas. It was the first bank of India and was renamed Bank of Bengal on ...

and Secretary of the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

, Calcutta.

Childhood

Born at Garifa, Naihati town in North 24 pargana district. on the banks of the

Hooghly River The Bhagirathi Hooghly River (Anglicized alternatively spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') or the 'Bhāgirathi-Hooghly', called the Ganga or the Kati-Ganga in mythological texts, is the eastern distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, Indi ...

in a

baidya Baidya or Vaidya is a Hindu community located in Bengal. Baidyas, a caste (''jāti'') of Ayurvedic physicians, have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, b ...

family, he proceeded to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

in 1791 for his education. His father was Gokul Bihari Sen and his wife was Chandramani Debi. His grandson was the pre-eminent social reformer and founder of the Nababidhan Brahmo Samaj,

Keshab Chandra Sen Keshub Chandra Sen ( bn, কেশবচন্দ্র সেন; also spelled Keshab Chunder Sen; 19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within ...

Career

self-made man "Self-made man" is a classic phrase coined on February 2, 1842 by Henry Clay in the United States Senate, to describe individuals whose success lay within the individuals themselves, not with outside conditions. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Foun ...

, starting as a petty compositor earning eight rupees a month, "He worked for several years in a Hindustani press after which he was appointed as a clerk in the

". Shibnath Shastri writes, "by dint of his capabilities, hard work and diligence, he rose to be its indigenous secretary. He was subsequently nominated a member of its committee." In 1812, he secured a job in

Fort William College Fort William College (also known as the College of Fort William) was an academy of oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India, located within the Fort William co ...

. Finally, he rose to be a Dewani of the Treasury, and treasurer of the Bengal Bank.

Social Work

He was connected with many of the social activities of his time. When

Hindu College Hindu College may refers to several colleges around the world, including: India *Dharmamurthi Rao Bhahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty's Hindu College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu * Gobardanga Hindu College, West Bengal * Gokul Das Hindu Girls College, Moradab ...

was established in 1817, he was a member of its committee. After a failed first attempt to remove Derozio from the school for preaching Christianity, he also became principal of the newly established

Sanskrit College The Sanskrit College and University (erstwhile Sanskrit College) is a state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It focuses on liberal arts, offering both UG and PG degrees in Ancient Indian and world history, Bengali, English, Sa ...

for sometime. Sastri wrote: "Babu Ramkamal Sen acting as their mouthpeice, ... called a Committee meeting, and moved that Mr Derozios's manners and conduct was such as to injure the morals of the boys in touch with him and he should be removed from the staff of masters." He was a member of the Medical Commission set up by Lord William Bentinck. Ramkamal Sen was well known as being a staunch pro-''sati'' activist and lifelong opponent of

Ram Mohan Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform m ...

. He publicly opposed (with

Radhakanta Deb Raja Sir Radhakanta Deb Bahadur ( bn, রাজা রাধাকান্ত দেব; 10 March 1784 – 19 April 1867) was a scholar and a leader of the Calcutta conservative Hindu society, son of Gopimohan Deb of Shovabazar Raj who was the ...

) Roy's agitation against ''sati'' (the practice of forcing Hindu widows to be burnt on their husbands funeral pyre). He was also President of the ''Gaudiya Sabha'', (a prominent association of Bengali Hindu ultra-conservatives). Along with Radhakanta Deb, he was appointed as an Indian member of the "Tea Committee" in 1834. In the same year he published an English-Bengalee dictionary in 2 volumes with 58,000 words which was commissioned by the Serampore Baptist Mission (1817–1834). Another famous book that he co-authored was ''Hitopadesha'' in 1820, a collection of fables modelled on Aesop's.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Ramkamal 1783 births 1844 deaths Bengali Hindus 19th-century Bengalis 18th-century Bengalis People from Kolkata People from Hooghly district Indian social reformers Social workers from West Bengal Indian social workers Businesspeople from Kolkata