Ramkamal Sen (1783–1844) was a Bengali scholar, writer, and lexicographer in the 18th century. He was known as 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 Arthur Wellesley's wars against Tipu Sultan and the Marathas. It was the tenth oldest bank in India and was renamed Ban ...

and Secretary of the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an 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 philologist Will ...

, Calcutta.

Childhood

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

Hooghly River The Hooghly River (, also spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the G ...

in a Baidya Brahmin family, he proceeded to

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

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"

Career

self-made man A self-made man is a person whose success is of their own making. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, has been described as the greatest exemplar of the self-made man. Inspired by Franklin's autobiography, Fr ...

, 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 Orientalism, oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Lord Wellesley, then Governor-Gener ...

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

Social works

He was connected with many of the social activities of his time. When Hindu College 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 Sanskrit College and University (erstwhile Sanskrit College) is a state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It focuses on liberal arts, offering both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Ancient Indian and world history, Be ...

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. He publicly opposed (with Radhakanta Deb) 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