Arguments against widow self-immolation in India. ROY, RAJAH RAMMOHUN. (1772-1833). Translation of Several Principal Books, Passages, and Texts of the Veds, and of Some Controversial Works on Brahmunical Theology. London: Parbury, Allen and Co., 1832. 8vo (214 x 128 mm). Contemporary calf, rebacked. Some minor spotting. Provenance: Caroline Fox, sister to the 3rd Baron Holland, Henry Richard Vassall-Fox (inscription and Holland House bookplate). The second edition, first English edition, being previously published in Calcutta in 1816. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian social reformer and writer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinent. He is most celebrated for his tireless campaign against the practice of Sati (widow immolation) which is discussed in this book, which led to its official abolition in 1829. He was given the title 'Raja' by the Mughal Emperor Akbar II. He was the first Indian intellectual to travel to Europe, where he died of meningitis in Bristol in 1833 The recipient, 'Miss Fox,' is Caroline Fox (1767-1845), sister of Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, whose bookplate this volume bears. Fox was a revered intellectual within the Whig elite. When the 'Father of Modern India,' Raja Ram Mohan Roy, arrived in London in 1831, he was warmly embraced by the Holland House circle. Period memoirs (such as Thomas Moore's) document Roy and Miss Fox attending the same private dinners and reform-minded salons together. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing