Maghotsav, the main festival of the Brahmos is celebrated on the 11th of Magh each year according to the Bengali calendar to mark the anniversary of BrahmoSamaj. The celebration commemorates the inauguration of the first BrahmoSamaj by Raja Rammohun Roy on 23rd January 1830, which was the 11th Magh according to the Bengali calendar.Maghotsav is celebrated by prayers and singing of devotional hymns by Brahmos all over the world.

 

The first phase of its history is linked with its founder Rammohun Roy  and his concept of universal worship. The service consists of three parts,  recitation of the Vedas by Telugu Brahmins exclusively before the Brahmin members of the congregation, exposition of the Upanishads for the general audience, and singing of religious hymns. This would correspond exactly to the reading of the Bible, the sermon and the hymns of Christian worship, a model of congregational worship which was alien to the spirit of Hinduism. The similarities were only with the outward form and the contents of Rammohun’s universal worship were Hindu in character.

 

After the departure of Rammohun Roy for England and his death, the Samaj as on organisation declinedand new life was infused into the movement by Debendranath Tagore. His interest found its expression in his foundation of the TattwabodhiniSabha in 1839, which was a common platform for the progressive sections of the contemporary Hindu society, intellectual and cultural elite of mid-nineteenth century Bengal, rationalists and free-thinkers, reformers and educationists like Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.

 

The Brahmo movement spread rapidly and The Samaj had taken the shape of a religious sect or community with its own creed, rituals and regulations. Keshub Chandra Sen who joined the Samaj in 1857 wasappointed  anacharya of the Samaj. He was the first non-Brahmin to be elevated to that position.  Differences regarding creed, rituals and the attitude of the Brahmos to the social problems of the day, had arisen between Debendranath and Keshub, men of radically different temperaments and the Samaj soon split up, the old conservatives rallying round Debendranath,the Calcutta or AdiBrahmoSamajand the young reformists led by Keshub known as the BrahmoSamaj of India.

 

The Samaj adopted a radical and comprehensive scheme of social reform placing emphasis on female emancipation and education and an abolition of all caste distinctions. Its activities led to the formation of the Indian Reform Association in 1870 and the enactment of the Indian Marriage Act of 1872 validating inter-caste marriage.

 

The Samaj had a second schism on May, 1878 when some started the SadharanBrahmoSamaj mainly because their demand for the introduction of a democratic constitution was not conceded; they did not ascribe to the doctrine of adesha or Divine command; and on the ground of their objection to the marriage of Keshub’s daughter with the prince of Cooch Bihar allegedly in violation of the provision of the Indian Marriage Act of 1872. The new body displayed, considerable vitality and dynamism in making inroads into fresh fields of philanthropy and politics.