Gour Govinda Ray
| Gour Govinda Ray | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1841 Ghorachoba, Pabna (now in Bangladesh) |
| Died | 1912 Kolkata, India |
| Occupation | Religious reformer |
Gour Govinda Ray, Upadhyay, (1841–1912) was a notable scholar on Hinduism and a Brahmo missionary. He had edited for forty years Dhamatattva, an official publication of the Brahmo Samaj and assisted Keshub Chunder Sen in the compilation of Slokasangraha, a collection of quotes from different religious texts.
The son of Gour Mohan Ray, he was brought up by his uncle. He studied up to the Entrance (school leaving) standard in Rangpur High School. Later he studied Sanskrit and Persian. For sometime he studied ‘Daras’ under a Muslim fakir.
During the period 1863 – 1866 he was a sub-inspector of police. At the age of twenty-five, he gave up his job and became a follower of Keshub Chandra Sen. He joined the Brahmo Samaj as a missionary.
In 1869, Keshab Chandra Sen selected from his missionaries four persons and ordained them as adhypaks or professors of four old religions of the world. Gour Govinda Ray was made the professor of Hinduism, Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, the professor of Christianity, Aghore Nath Gupta, the professor of Buddhism and Girish Chandra Sen, the professor of Islam. Subsequently, Trailokyanath Sanyal was also ordained as an adhyapak of music. In the same year Keshub Chunder Sen’s move towards universalism in religion was further strengthened by the publication of four books - Gour Govinda Ray's work on the Gita, P C Mozoomdar's book The Oriental Christ, Aghore Nath Gupta's study on Buddha and Girish Chandra Sen's Tapasmala - life of Muslim saints and his Bengali translation of Koran and Hadis. For his erudition, he was bestowed with the title of ‘Upadhyay’ by Keshub Chanuder Sen.
The great scholar led a perfectly ascetic life, devoting his entire time to studies, never touching money. His worldly needs were met by the head of the Prachar Ashram, Kanti Chandra Mitra. It was the latter who took care of the education of his two children. Prachar Ashram was a small establishment of Brahmo Samaj of India at Patuatola Lane in Kolkata, meant primarily for missionaries and their families, with a students’ hostel and a press in an adjacent building.
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