Kalicharan Brahma

Kalicharan Brahma कालिचरण ब्रह्म
Born	18 April 1860 Kajigami, Assam, India
Died	8 May 1938 (aged 78) Kajigami, Assam, India
Other names	Mech Gandhi, Gurudev
Occupation	Social reformer
Spouse(s)	Khwmsri Brahma Uphasi Brahma
Children	7 (4 daughter, 3 Sons)
Parent(s)	Khoularam Mech (father) Randini Mech (mother)

Khwmsri Brahma

Khoularam Mech (father)

Kalicharan Brahma (Bodo: कालिचरन ब्रह्म 1860–1938), originally Kalicharan Mech, was a 20th-century social and religious reformer of Bodo society. He joined a new religion called Brahmo Dharma / Brahmoism Adi Brahmo Samaj faction in Calcutta around 1906, and he is reverentially called Gurudev or Guru Brahma by Bodo people of lower plains of Assam along Brahmaputra river. Other great Assamese Brahmos of the time include Gunabhiram Barua and Swarnalata Devi of the same faction, all of whom agitated against Colonialist Imperialism of any kind. The followers of this group are locally known as Brahmas in tribute to their religion and the holy river of which they are sons.

Kalicharan was born on 18 April 1860, at Kajigaon village in Dubri District, Assam state of India. His father was Khoularam Mech and mother was Randini Mech. Khoularam was a timber merchant and one of the rich person of the those days, as Kalicharan grew up he became intelligent, honest and thoughtful. He became a great religious preacher of Brahmo faith and brought over revolutionary changes in Bodo society by his continuous and sustained programme of reformation against the prevailing Bathou worship. All the educated and enlightened section of the Bodo community including Rup Nath Brahma lent their all-round efforts in his reformatory programme, religious propagation through spread of education and political activism."

By the end of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, the Bodo Society was also suffering from religious, moral and political degradation. The young Kalicharan Brahma could perceive the deplorable condition of the Bodos who were"bogged down with evil social practices" due to which the other commitments despised them. The Bodos who were the original inhabitants of the Brahmaputra valley were going through an identity crisis. They had developed an inferiority complex. They were rapidly relinquishing their customs and traditions. The Bodo Society was disintegrating with the increase in the number of conversion to other religions. Many educated and affluent Bodos had begun to see their traditional beliefs and customs as stumbling blocks to modernization and human achievement.

...
Wikipedia