Cox’S Bazar. Chittagong. Estd. 23rd July 1899.
The Cox’s Bazar Brahma Samaj, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, P. O.
Secretary:—Jogendra Nath Sen, Pleader, Cox’s Bazar.
Members: — 8.
Sympathisers:— 4.
The Services are conducted in Bengalee. The Samaj had a Mandir but it was demolished.
Cuttack. (Orissa). Estd. 1st July 1869.
(1) Utkal Brahma Samaj, Cuttack (Orissa). Secretary:—Babu Viswanath Kar, Balu Bazar, Cnttack.
Members:—18 men, 14 women, 30 children.
Sympathisers: —20.
Meetings:—Two devotional meetings in the week conducted sometimes in Uriya and sometimes in Bengalee.
Mandir:—The Utkal Brahma Samaj and the Adi Brahma Samaj have a pucca building in common.
Ministers:—1.Rai Madhusudan Rao Bahadur, who has been Minister for the last 30 years.
2. Babn Viswanath Ear, additional Minister, from July 1906.
Institutions:—Sangat Sabha. 2. Libraries. 3. Cnttack Town Victoria High School. 4. Sunday school.
Cuttack.
(2) Utkal Adi Brahma Samaj.
Secretary:—Babu Priyanath Ohose, Ganga Mandir, Cuttack.
Meetings:—Divine Service is conducted on Wednesdays.
Dacca. Estd. 13thDecember 1846.
(1) The East Bengal Brahma Samaj, Dacca.
Secretary:—Babu Bhuban Mohan Sen, B. A., Wari, Dacca.
Members:—110 Members: 103 Men,7 Ladies.
Out of these 65 reside in Dacca of whom are 25 anusthanic Members. Of those residing outside Dacca 28 are anusthanic. The women are all anusthanic.
Sympathisers: — About 70.
Meetings:—The total number of devotional and other Meetings is four. The language in which these meetings are generally conducted is Bengali.
Mandir:—The Samaj has a Mandir of its own, one of the biggest in India, opened in December 1869.
Preachers:—Babu Bhuhan Mohan Sen. Babu Girish Chandra Muzumdar.
Institutions: — 1.Students’ Association.
2. Mahila Samiti.
3. Sunday School.
4. Library.
5. East Bengal Brahma Conference.
6. Mission House.
Funds: —The minimum subscription for a member is Rs.3 per annum. Subscriptions are raised monthly. The Samaj possesses a permanent Income ofabout Rs. 300 a year as rent of roadside land, which is likely to increase in course of time. There are, a few permanent funds deposited in Post Office Savings Bank, interests only of which can be spent for charitable purposes every year.
History:—On the 6th December 1846 Sunday, about 6 years after The Tatwa-bodhini Patrica was Started in Calcutta by Maharsi Devendra Nath Tagore under the editorship of the renowned Pandit Akhoy Kumar Dutta, which spread a current of thought on Brahmism throughout the length and bredth of Bengal, a meeting was held at the house of Babu Braja Sunder Mittra in Dacca to discuss the opening of a Brahma Samaj at Dacca. Braj Sundar Mitra was a Native of the Dacca District, then an Asst. Superintendent in the Excise Department. His co-adjutor, another Assistant Superintendent of the Excise Department, Babu Indar Chandra Basu, and his friends Babu Govinda Chandra Basu, Deputy Magistrate and Babu Narottam Mallick Sadar Ameen (Munsiff) who were natives of Hooghli and places close to Calcatta and who had a personal knowledge of the movements of the Brahma Samaj then in full swing in Calcutta, were present at the Meeting. Babu Ram Kumar Basu of the Dacca District another Deputy Magistrate and Babu Biswambhar Das of Dacca Town, a clerk in the Excise Department were also present at the meeting. In this meeting it was decided that a Brahma Samaj should be started at Dacca. Accordingly on the following Sunday, the 13th December 1846 the first prayer meeting of the Dacca Brahma Samaj was held at the house of Babu Braja Sunder Mittra. This was the beginning of the Dacca Brahma Samaj.
Owing to the persecution by the orthodox Hindus following immediately after the opening of the Samaj, for nearly four years, the meetings of the Samaj were held at the residence of different members, sometimes secretly at different parts of the town. For 2 years out of this period the Samaj was under the protection of Babu Biswambhar Das mentioned before, an influential citizen, resident of Bangla Bazar. In 1850 the Samaj again assembled, publicly, at the residence of Babu Braja Sundar Mittra where it continued to be held for7 years. In 1857 the Samaj was transferred to the new residence of Babu B. S. Mittra purchased at Armanitola. Here it continued for 12 years, i.e., until about the close of 1869 when the present new Mandir was opened.
These 12 years, viz. from 1857 to 1869 were a period of great activity in the life of the Dacca Brahma Samaj and in the influence it exerted over the whole of Eastern Bengal. During this period almost all the influential educated people of the Dacca District, almost all of rank and position joined the Dacca Brahma Samaj. The rooms of the Armanitola house, lent to the Samaj by Babu Braja Sundar Mittra were found too small for the congregation; and in August 1866 a committee was formed for erecting a spacious Mandir for the Dacca Brahma Samaj to be hereafter called the East Bengal Brahma Samaj. The committee consisted of the following:—
Babu Abhoy Chandra Das, Personal Assistant to the Commissioner. —President.
Babu Ram Kumar Basu, Deputy Magistrate.
Babu Kailas Chandra Ghosh, Head Master, Dacca Collegiate School.
Babu Baikuntha Nath Sen, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Dacca.
Babu Akhoy Kumar Sen Deputy Inspector of Schools, Dacca.
Babu Gupi Mohan Basack, Head Master, Pogose School.
Babu Umesh Chandra Dass, Clerk, Commissioner’s Office.
Babu Radhika Mohan Roy, Zamindar, Treasurer.
Babu Dina Nath Sen, Teacher, Collegiate School, afterwards Inspector of Schools, Eastern Bengal, Secretary.
