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 and journalist who founded the Prabartak Sangha, a nationalist organisation for social works.

Early life

Motilal Roy was born at Borai Chanditala,

Chandannagore Chandannagar (), also known by its former names Chandannagore and Chandernagor (), is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is a part of the area covered by Kol ...

, Hooghly district in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

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

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. After his only daughter died, Roy was attracted to

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, ''Mahavishnu''. It is one of the majo ...

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

Activities

Motilal joined in the movement against

Partition of Bengal (1905) The Partition of Bengal in 1905, also known as the First Partition of Bengal, was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern ...

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

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 Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

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

Indian independence activists Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

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, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

. 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, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

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

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 Bengal People from Chandannagar