Farewell to Kolkata

Portrait of Protap Chunder Mozoomdar taken in accordance with the World’s Parliament of Religions. Chicago, 1893, Public domain image.

Protap Chunder Mozoomdar gave a farewell address to his Brahmo Samaj congregation on Sunday evening, July 9, 1893.2“Rev. PC. Mozoomdar’s Departure for America,” The Interpreter 2, no.1 (1893): 2. Delivered two days before his departure for the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Mozoomdar’s speech is ridden with hopes and fears no doubt heightened by what he felt to be a call from God to fulfill the prophecy of global religious unity pronounced by his late friend and mentor Keshub Chunder Sen.3Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, Lectures in America & Other Papers (Calcutta: Navavidhan Publication Committee, 1955), 33-41. Before the danger of a long sea journey, PCM worried aloud over his frail health, ability to glorify God, and the loneliness of his wife Saudamini, who would stay behind in Kolkata. He sought from his listeners both prayers for his wellbeing and the cessation of their sectarian quarrels. Saddened by the past decade of conflict within the Brahmo Samaj, PCM called for peace among its factions, the inner strife of which threatened any chance for the united theistic brotherhood he hoped would result from the World’s Parliament of Religions. As will be seen, these concerns followed Mozoomdar throughout his westward journey.

  1. “Rev. PC. Mozoomdar’s Departure for America,” The Interpreter 2, no.1 (1893): 2. ↩
  2. Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, Lectures in America & Other Papers (Calcutta: Navavidhan Publication Committee, 1955), 33-41. ↩