Raja Rammohun Roy's tomb repaired, restored in Bristol

Prasun Sonwalkar

London, Aug 7 (PTI) A major restoration and repair work
has been carried out on the tomb of renowned Indian social
reformer Raja Rammohun Roy at the U.K.'s Bristol city, where
he died of meningitis.

The tomb is located in Arnos Vale Cemetery on the city
outskirts. It was built in 1843 by Dwarkanath Tagore, who
along with Rammohun Roy founded the socio-religious reform
movement Brahma Sabha (later became Brahma Samaj).

Carla Contractor, a local historian who has interacted
closely with the Indian high commission and others to preserve
and cherish Rammohun Roy's association with Bristol, told
P.T.I. that the restoration and repair was complete.

"This is very important to me. It has taken 20 years to
get to this stage. I am delighted that at last this major
monument in Bristol has been repaired and conserved," she
said.

The funds for the restoration work - over 50,000 pounds -
were committed by Aditya K. Poddar, a Singapore-based
businessman with roots in Kolkata.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (K.M.C.) had approached
Poddar after Mayor Bikash Bhattacharyya visited the tomb in
December 2006 and saw for himself the poor state it was in.

Every year, top representatives of the local council, the
Brahma Samaj and the Unitarian church and followers from all
over Britain and Europe congregate at the cemetery around 27
September, Rammohun Roy's death anniversary.

"The Raja was a remarkable man in his day. He fought for
women's rights and for the reform of legal and fiscal services
in India. He was a humanitarian and founder of the Brahmo
Samaj movement.

"All Indians can take pride in what the city of Bristol
has done in memory of the Raja and be proud too of their own
roots in the Indian subcontinent," Contractor said.

The last time when repair and restoration work was done
on the tomb was in 1883, according to archives in the
University of Calcutta, when minor restoration was done.

The work undertaken with the expertise of a conservation
architect included re-carving the pillars, repairing the
leaked roof, consolidating its foundation (it is based on a
slope) and repairing cracks in its foundation stone.

The tomb, a major structure in the cemetery, was designed
by architect William Prinsep, who was a friend of Dwarkanath
Tagore. Contractor said descendants of Prinsep had also
contributed funds for the repair work.

In 1997, the 50th year of India's independence, a statue
of Rammohun Roy was installed by the then high commissioner L
M. Singhvi at College Green, a prominent location in the
Bristol city centre.

Raja Rammohan Roy travelled to the U.K. in 1831 as an
ambassador of the Mughal Empire to ensure that an earlier
regulation on the practise of 'sati' (a widow immolating
herself on her husband's funeral pyre) was not overturned.

He died at Bristol, 169 km west of London, on 27th
September 1833.