Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/170

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110
LIFE OF R. LAHIRI

Christianity; and the missionaries made bold retorts. They attempted to show that Brahmism had no reasonable basis, and that it was but an endeavour to effect a compromise between Hinduism and Christianity; while the editor of the Patrika said that the religion the cause of which he advocated was founded on the infallible teachings of the Vedas. This caused great discord among the members of the Samaj; for Akhai Kumar Dutta, who had left off editing the Tatwabodhini, and his party did not believe in the Vedas as the word of God, and protested therefore against the position taken up by that journal; while the new school of thinkers, led by Ram Gopal Ghosh, was not backward in throwing taunts at the Brahmos as time-serving hypocrites.

In the midst of these agitations the Krishnagar College was opened, in the beginning of 1846, and Ramtanu was appointed second master of the Collegiate School. Before he left Calcutta his friends, Krishna Mohan Banerji and others, had a valedictory meeting, and presented him with a watch, which he kept till the end of his life, as a precious memento of their love for him.