Swami
Sahajanand (1781-1830): His original name being Gyanashyama, founded the Swaminarayan sect in Gujarat, which believed in a theistic God and prescribed a
moral code for its followers.
Raja
Rammohan Roy (1722-1833): Born in 1772 at Radhanagar in Burdwan district
(West Bengal) founded Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta 1815 to propagate monotheism and
reforms in the Hindu society. The Atmiya Sabha was named Brahmo Sabha and
finally Brahmo Samaj in 1828. Launched a movement for the abolition of Sati
through his journal Sabad Kaumudi (1819).
Debendranath
Tagore (1817-1905): Took over the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj after Raja
Rammohan Roy. Founded Tattvabodhini
Sabha in 1839 and published Tattvabodhini
patrika, a Bengali monthly to propagate the ideas of Raja Rammohan Roy. In
1854, the Tattvabodhini Sabha was amalgamated with the Brahmo Samaj. He
compiled selected passages from the Upanishads, which came to be known as Brahma Dharma.
Keshav Chadra Sen (1838-1884):
Keshav Chandra Sen was the leader of the Brahmo Samaj during the absence of
Debendranath Tagore. He started Bamabodhini
Patrika, a journal for women ./ He launched radical reforms, such as giving
up of caste names, inter-caste and widow remarriages and launched movement
against child marriages . These radical reforms let to be the first schism in
the Brahmo Samaj.
The original Brahmo Samaj came to be known as Adi Brahmo Samaj and the other, the Brahmo Samaj of India which was
established by Keshav Chandra Sen in 1866. Sen formed the Indian Reform Association in 1870, which persuaded the British
Government to enact the Native Marriage
Act of 1972 (popularly known as Civil Marriage Act) legalizing the
Brahmo marriages and fixing the minimum marriageable age for boys and
girls.
Atmaram Pandurang
(1823-1898): Atmaram Pandurang founded prathana
Samaj in 1867 in Bombay. M.G. Ranade joined it in 1870.
Swami Dayanand
Saraswati (1824-1883): Swami Dayanand Saraswati, originally known as Mula Shankar founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 in Bombay. Wrote Satyartha Prakash (in Hindi) and Veda- Bhashya Bhumika (partly in Hindi and partly in Sanskrit).
Blavatsky
(1831-91) and Olcott (1832-1907): Madam H.P. Blavatsky, a Russian woman and
Col. H.S. Olcott, an American, founded the Theosophical
Society
in New York in 1875, but shifted the headquarter of the Society to Adyar near
Madras in 1882.
Swami
Vivekanand (1863-1902): Swami Vivekanand (originally Narendranath Dutta), founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1887 as a social service league which was
register3ed as a Trust in 1897.