Socio-religious Reforms In India

During the late 1820s and 1830s, a radical trend emerged among Bengali intellectuals. The "Young Bengal Movement" was a trend that was more modern than Roy's ideology. The young Anglo-Indian Henry Vivian Derozio, who was born in 1809 and taught at Hindu College from 1826 to 1831, was the leader and inspirer of the Young Bengal Movement. 

 

•    He was a brilliant thinker who subscribed to the most radical ideologies of the time. He was greatly influenced by the French Revolution. Derazio and his illustrious followers, the Derozians and Young Bengal, were ferocious patriots. 

 

•    He was perhaps the first modern Indian nationalist poet. Because of his radicalism, Derozio was expelled from the Hindu College in 1831, and he died of cholera shortly after at the age of 22. 

 

•    Despite this, the Derozians continued Ram Mohan Roy's tradition of using newspapers, pamphlets, and public associations to educate the public about social, economic, and political issues. 

 

•    The Derozians were described by Surendranath Banerjee, a famous nationalist leader, as “the pioneers of the modern civilization of Bengal, the conscript fathers of our race whose virtues will excite veneration and whose failings will be treated with gentlest consideration.”

 

•    Debendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore's father, founded the Tatvabodhini Sabha in 1839 to spread Ram Mohan Roy's ideas. 

 

•    The Tatvabodhini Sabha and its organ, the Tatvabodhini Patrika, advocated for a systematic study of India's history in Bengali. 

 

•    Debendranath Tagore reorganised the Brahmo Samaj in 1843, giving it new life. The Samaj actively supported movements for widow remarriage, polygamy abolition, women's education, and ryot improvement, among other causes.

 

•    Vidyasagar was born in a poor family in 1820 and struggled to educate himself, eventually becoming the principal of the Sanskrit College (in 1851). Despite being a great Sanskrit scholar, Vidyasagar's mind was open to Western thought, and he came to represent a happy fusion of Indian and Western culture. 

 

•    Vidyasagar resigned from the government because he refused to accept undue government interference. 

 

•    He was incredibly generous to the poor. He rarely had a warm coat, so he always gave it to the first naked beggar he encountered on the street. 

 

•    He pioneered a new approach to teaching Sanskrit. He created a Bengali primer that is still used today. He contributed to the development of a modern prose style in Bengali through his writings. 

 

•    Non-Brahmin students were allowed to attend Vidyasagar's Sanskrit college. He introduced the study of Western thought in the Sanskrit College to free Sanskrit studies from the harmful effects of self-imposed isolation. He also contributed to the establishment of a college that is now named after him.

 

•    In 1855, he spoke out in favour of widow remarriage, backed by the weight of immense traditional learning. Under the inspiration and supervision of Vidyasagar, the first lawful Hindu widow remarriage among India's upper castes was celebrated in Calcutta on December 7, 1856.

 

•    Vidyasagar protested against child marriage in 1850. He campaigned against polygamy his entire life. As a Government School Inspector,

 

•    Vidyasagar established 35 girls' schools, many of which he ran on his own dime. The Bethune School, founded in 1849 in Calcutta, was the first fruit of the powerful women's education movement that arose in the 1840s and 1850s. Vidyasagar was one of the pioneers of women's higher education as Secretary of the Bethune School.

 

Parmahans Mandali: It began religious reform in Bombay in 1840, with the goal of combating idolatry and the caste system. It founded by Atmaram Pandurang along with Balkrishan Jaikar and dadoba Pandurang. It was a secret socio-religious group, established in 1840, in Bombay and is closely related to Manav Dharma Sabha which was found in 1844 in Surat. It was started by Durgaram Mehtaji, Dadoba Pandurang and a group of his friends.

 

Dadoba Pandurang assumed leadership of this organisation after he left Manav Dharma Sabha. He outlined his principles in Dharma Vivechan in 1848 for Manav Dharma Sabha and "Paramhansik Bramhyadharma" for Paramahansa Mandali. It acted as a secret society and is believed that the revelation of its existence in 1860 hastened its demise. 

 

Gopal Hari Deshmukh:  Also known as ‘Lokahitwadi,' was possibly the first religious reformer in Western India. He preached religious and social equality while writing in Marathi and making powerful rationalist attacks on Hindu orthodoxy.

 

Prarthana Samaj:  or “Prayer Society” in Sanskrit, was a movement for religious and social reform in Bombay, India, based on earlier reform movements. 

 

•    Prarthana Samaj was founded by the Dadoba Pandurang and his brother Atmaram Pandurang in 1863 when Keshub Chandra Sen visited Maharashtra, with an aim to make people believe in one God and worship only one God.

 

•    R.G. Bhandarkar, a famous Sanskrit scholar and historian, and Mahadev Govind Ranade were two of its great leaders (1842-1901). 

 

•    The Brahmo Samaj had a big influence on Prarthana Samaj. As a result of the Telugu reformer Viresal-efforts, in gam’s its activities spread to South India.

 

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule: He also known as Jotiba Phule, was a Maharashtra-based Indian social activist, thinker, and anti-caste social reformer.

 

•    His work encompassed a wide range of topics, including the abolition of untouchability and the caste system, as well as women's emancipation. 

 

•    Phule and his followers founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) on September 24, 1873, in order to achieve equal rights for people from lower castes. This organisation, which worked for the uplift of the oppressed classes, welcomed people of all religions and castes.

 

•    Savitribai Phule, his wife, was a pioneer of women's education in India. He is best known for his work to educate women and people from lower castes. 

 

•    In 1848, Phule established the first girls' school in Poona. He also established a home for widows. The couple was one of the first native Indians to establish a school for Indian girls. He was also the first reformer to advocate for education universalization.

 

In 1863, the Mohammedan Literary Society was established in Calcutta. This society encouraged upper and middle class Muslims to pursue western education by encouraging them to discuss religious, social, and political issues in light of modern ideas. Modern scientific thought astonished him, and he spent the rest of his life trying to reconcile it with Islam. 

 

•    He declared that the Quran was the only authoritative work in Islam, and that all other Islamic writings were secondary.

 

•    He urged people to develop a critical mind-set and think freely. He said, “so long as freedom of thought is not developed, there can be no civilised life.”

 

•    He also cautioned against fanaticism, narrow-mindedness, and exclusivity, urging students and others to be open-minded and tolerant. He claimed that a closed mind was a sign of social and intellectual backwardness. As a result, promoting modern education was his primary goal throughout his life. 

 

•    He established schools in many towns as a government official and had many western books translated into Urdu.

 

•    He established the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh in 1875 as a centre for the dissemination of western sciences and culture. Later, the Aligarh Muslim University grew out of this College.

 

•    He was an outspoken supporter of religious tolerance. He believed that all religions shared a common ground, which he referred to as practical morality. He strongly opposed any sign of religious bigotry in personal relationships, believing that a person's religion is a private matter. 

 

•    He was also against communal strife. He urged Hindus and Muslims to work together. 

 

•    He advocated for the elevation of women's status in society, as well as the abolition of purdah and the spread of education among women. Polygamy and easy divorce were also condemned by him. 

 

•    He received assistance from a group of devoted followers known as the Aligarh School.

 

•    Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, was a poet, philosopher, and politician in British India, as well as an academic, barrister, and scholar. His poetry, as well as the philosophical and religious outlook of the younger generation of Muslims and Hindus. 

 

•    Iqbal was a humanist at heart. Indeed, he elevated human action to the level of a primary virtue.

 

•    However, it is regrettable to note that he later supported the two-nation theory. He is widely credited with being the inspiration for the Pakistan Movement. He is called the “Spiritual Father of Pakistan.”

 

Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, S.S. Bengalee, and others founded the Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha or Religious Reform Association in 1851. The Religious Reform Association fought entrenched orthodoxy in the religious field and pioneered the modernization of Parsi social customs relating to women's education, marriage, and women's social status in general.

 

•    When the Khalsa College opened in Amritsar at the end of the 19th century, religious reform among Sikhs began. The Akali Movement arose in Punjab in 1920. The Akalis' main goal was to clean up the management of gurudwaras, or Sikh shrines.

 

•    Devout Sikhs had generously endowed these gurudwaras with land and funds. However, they had become autocratically managed by corrupt and self-serving mahants. 

 

•    In 1921, the Akalis led the Sikh masses in a powerful Satyagraha against the mahants and the government that aided them. 

 

•    In 1922, the Akalis compelled the government to pass a new Sikh Gurudwaras Act, which was later amended in 1925.

 

•    Madam H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel H.S. Olcott founded the Theosophical Society in the United States, and the Society's headquarters were established in Adyar, near Madras, in 1886.

 

•    Mrs. Annie Besant, who had arrived in India in 1893, was given leadership of the Theosophist movement, which grew quickly in India. 

 

•    Theosophists advocated for the revival and strengthening of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism, which were all ancient religions. The Theosophists were aware of the doctrine of soul transmigration. They also preached the idea of man's universal brotherhood.

 

•    It was a western-led movement that exalted Indian religions and philosophical traditions. Even if it tended to give them a false sense of pride in their past greatness, the Theosophical movement helped Indians regain their self-confidence. The establishment of the Central Hindu School at Banaras, which was later developed by Madan Mohan Malaviya into the Banaras Hindu University, was one of Mrs. Besant's many achievements in India.

 

•    Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in 1875.

 

•    Swami Dayanand believed that the Puranas, which he claimed were full of false teachings, had been used by selfish and ignorant priests to pervert Hindu religion. If later religious thought conflicted with the Vedas, Swami Dayanand rejected it. His complete reliance on the Vedas, as well as their infallibility, gave his teachings an orthodox hue.

 

•    The Arya Samaj placed a strong emphasis on Hindu society's liberation. Only the Vedas, according to Dayanand, are repositories of true knowledge, and the Vedic religion is the only religion. The Vedas contain the principles of economics, politics, social sciences, and humanities. 

 

•    His rallying cry, "Go Back to the Vedas," raised people's awareness. Other scriptures and ‘Puranas' were rejected by him. He was a staunch opponent of idol worship, ritualism, animal sacrifice, and polytheism, the concept of heaven and hell, and fatalism.

 

•    Hinduism was simplified by the Arya Samaj, who made Hindus aware of their glorious heritage and the superior value of Vedic knowledge. It was stated that Hindus should not seek guidance from Christianity, Islam, or Western culture.

 

•    Swami Dayanand was a staunch opponent of idolatry, ritual, and priesthood, as well as the prevalent caste system and popular Hinduism preached by Brahmins. 

 

•    Later, some of Swami Dayanand's followers established a network of schools and colleges across the country to provide western-style education; Lala Hansraj was a key figure in this effort. 

 

•    Swami Shradhananda, on the other hand, founded the Gurukul near Hardwar in 1902 to promote the most traditional educational ideal.

 

•    The status of women was assumed to be inferior to that of men based on various religious practises and personal laws. Following the establishment of the Dufferin hospitals, named after Lady Dufferin (the Viceroy's wife), efforts were made to make modern medicine and child delivery techniques available to Indian women. 

 

•    In 1925, Sarojini Naidu, a well-known poetess, was elected President of the National Congress. Several women were appointed as ministers or parliamentary secretaries in 1937.

 

•    The All India Women's Conference was established in 1927. Following independence, women's rights took a significant step forward. 

 

•    The Indian Constitution (1950) guaranteed complete equality between men and women in Articles 14 and 15. 

 

•    In 1956, the Hindu Succession Act made the daughter a co-heir with the son. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 made it possible to dissolve a marriage for specific reasons. 

 

•    Monogamy has been made compulsory for both men and women. Women have equal rights to work and to be hired by government agencies, according to the Constitution.

 

•    Equal pay for equal work is a principle enshrined in the Constitution's Directive Principles for both men and women.