Socio-Religious Reform Movement
(Reform within Hinduism)
"Reform is a evolutionary thing not a revolutionary thing"
1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy & Brahmo Samaj
- He was the pioneer of Indian Socio-Religious reform movement and often considered as the 'Father of Indian Renaissance'.
- He opposed idolatry, denounced Sati, polygamy, abuse of Caste system and favoured remarriage of Hindu widows.
- In 1815, he founded Atmiya Sabha which carried a consistent struggle against the Socio-religious malpractices.
- Tuhfat-ul-Muwahiddin was his philosophical work in which he analysis major religions of the world in the light of reason and social comfort.
- He believed in the scientific approach, principle of human dignity, social equality and monotheiem.
- He also translated Vedas and Upanishads to prove his point.
- Samvad Kaumudi was the Weekly Bengali newspaper of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in which he denounced Sati pratha.
- In August 1828, he formed Brahmo Sabha which was later renamed as Brahmo Samaj.
- The objective of this organisation was worship and adoration of eternal, unsearchable and immutable god and also to promote charity, morality and benevolence.
- Rationality was the core of the Brahmo Samaj.
- From the beginning, Brahma Samaj remained limited to intellectuals and approached British to introduce any social reform.
- And because of his effort, Sati was declared illegal by the then governor general Lord William Bentinck in 1829 (The Bengal Sati Regulation Act).
- He died in 1833 in Bristol, London.
★ Debendra Nath Tagore
- He founded Tattvabodhini Sabha in 1839.
- He wanted to impart traditional knowledge with western thought.
- He joined Brahma Samaj in 1842 and started to work on two fronts, i.e., reform within Hinduism and at the same time criticising Christian Missionary activities.
★ Keshub Chandra Sen
- He joined Brahmo Samaj in 1858.
- He was very good at his voluntary skills.
- He held radical views like Cosmopolitinisation (i.e., incorporating teachings of all the religions).
- He held a very strong view against the Caste System and Hindu rituals.
- He openly favoured Inter-caste Marriages.
- In 1865, he was expelled from Brahmo Samaj.
- In 1866, he founded Brahmo Samaj of India.
- He married his minor daughter with the minor prince of Cooch Behar with all the orthodox Hindu rituals which led to the further division and formation of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1878.
2. Young Bengal Movement & Henry Vivian Derozio
- Derozio was an Anglo-Indian teacher who taught at Hindu College in between 1826 to 1831.
- He drew inspirations from French Revolution and inspired his disciples to think freely and rationally, question all authorities, ideals of liberty, equality and freedom.
- He also opposed all descendent customs and traditions.
- His followers were known as Derozians.
- Derozio was considered as the 'First Nationalist Poet of Modern India'.
- Later Surendranath Banerjee described Derozians as "the pioneer of the modern civilisation of Bengal".
3. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
- He was the blend of Indian & western thought.
- In 1851, he became the principal of Sanskrit College.
- He was a humanist who had immense sympathy for poor and oppressed people.
- His significant contribution was in the field of female emancipation.
- He dedicated his entire life for the cause of women.
- Due to his efforts, 'Hindu widow remarriage Act' was passed in 1856.
- As a secretary of Bethune School, he promoted higher education for women.
- He also released a Bengali newspaper Some Prakash.
4. Arya Samaj & Swami Dayanand Saraswati
- Dayanand was a sanyasi who promoted Vedas.
- He established Arya Samaj in 1875 at Bombay and later shifted his headquarter at Lahore.
- He believed that priestly class and Puranas have perverted the Hindu religion.
- He gave a famous slogan/mantra, "Go back to Vedas".
- He authored the following books -
- Satyarth Prakash
- Veda Bhasya
- Veda Bhasya Bhoomika
- Arya Samaj also started Suddhi Movement to bring back those Hindus who had converted to Islam and Christianity
- His real name was Mula Shankar.
- Swami Virjanand Saraswati gave him the name of Dayanand Saraswati.
- The members of Arya Samaj contributed immensly towards spread of education in India.
- Progressive Arya Samajist like Swami Hansraj established Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School in Lahore in 1886.
- Conservative Arya Samajist like Swami Shradhanand established Gurukul Pathsala (Gurukul Kangri) at Haridwar in 1901.
5. Ramakrishna Mission & Swami Vivekananda
- Ramakrishna Paramhansh was a priest in the temple of Dakshineshwar.
- He respected sanctity of all the faith and emphasised on religious universalism, recognised the utility of idol worship in evoking spiritualism (spiritual feeling).
- He had a great compassion for human suffering.
- He taught, "Yatra Jiva Tarta Shiva", which means Shiva (God) is in every Organism.
- Narendra Nath Dutta was the favourite disciple of Ramakrishna who later came to be known as Swami Vivekananda.
- Ajit Singh of Khetri gave him the name of Swami Vivekanand.
- Vivekanand deeply studied the Indian philosophy and western philosophy but he could not found solace until he met Ramakrishna.
- In 1893, he participated in All world religions' conference at Chicago to represent Hinduism where he emphasised on the need of a healthy balance between spiritualism and materialism.
- In Chicago, he emerged as the preacher of Neo-Hinduism.
- In 1897, he founded Ramakrishna Mission to carry out the humanitarian and social works. The headquarter of Ramakrishna Mission and Math are at Belur near Calcutta.
- He advocated the doctrine of Service, i.e., the service of all the living beings.
- He used to say. "Service of man is the service of god".
- He further said, "Motion is the law of life and stagnation results in degeneration".
- He denounced social evils prevalent in Hindu society including abuse of Caste System, rituals and superstitions.
- Though he did not gave any political message but he infused the youth of India with a sense of pride in India's past and faith in India's future.
- He further maintained that, "All living beings are embodiments of divine self, therefore the best way to serve the god is to serve the mankind".
- Subhash Chandra Bose regarded him as the "Spiritual father of the modern nationalist movement".
Some of the famous quotes of Swami Vivekananda
"Condemn none, if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so; if you can't, fold your hands, bless your brothers and let them go their own way."
"You have to grow from the inside out, no one can teach you, no one can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul."
"We are what our thoughts have made us, so take care about what you thinks, words are secondary, they (internal thoughts) travel far."
6. Theosophical Society
- The word Theos means Wisdom. This society was founded in USA by Madam Blavatsky and Colonel HS Olcott in 1875 to find wisdom.
- In 1882, they moved to Bombay and finally settled at Adyar near Chennai.
- The main aim of the Theosophical society was to attain wisdom for the realisation of goodhood.
- Theosophist discovered that the Hindu Upanishads were the storehouse of the wisdom for the realisation of the absolute truth and divinity.
- They developed faith in Hindu philosophy of reincarnation, trans-migration of soul, karma, rebirth, moksha, nirvana, etc.
- Miss Annie Besant made Theosophical Society very popular in India.
- It represented both Indian and International character.
- Annie Besant quoted, "The needs of India are among the others the development of nationalist spirit, an education founded on Indian ideals and enriched, not dominated by the thoughts and culture of the west."
- The society conducted researches on Hindu religious thoughts, translated and published Hindu scriptures which helps the process of intellectual awakening in India.
- Miss Annie Besant laid the foundation of 'Central Hindu College' at Banaras in 1898 where both Hindu religion and scientific subjects were taught.
- The college went on to develop into the famous 'Banaras Hindu University' in 1916 under the guidance of Madan Mohan Malviya.
7. Prarthana Samaj
- The samaj was founded by English educated elites of Maharashtra like Atmaram Pandurang in 1849.
- They were motivated by Keshv Chandra Sen's visit to Bombay.
- The samaj was pledged to worship of one god, i.e., monotheism and seek the truth in all religion.
- Mahadev Govind Ranade was its prominent leader. He wrote, "A theists confession of faith" in which he emphasised on a compassionate and omnipotent god similar to divine figures foun in the writings of Maratha Bhakti Saints.
- They followed a cautious program of reform which included widow remarriage, ending of caste restrictions, women education and raising the age of marriage for both male and female.
- Ranade also founded 'Poona Sarvajanik Sabha'.
- He was also one of the original founding member of the Indian National Congress (INC).
8. Satyasodhak Samaj (Satyasodhak means Truth Seeker)
- Jyotibha Phule founded the Truth Seeker society in 1873.
- He was from a gardener (mali) community who organised a very powerful movement against the upper caste domination and Brahmanical domination.
- The main aim of this organisation was -
- Spread of education among women and lower caste.
- Removal of untouchability and
- Social service
- He stressed on abolition of caste system and socio-economic inequalities.
- He was equally supported by his wife Savitribai Phule who was perhaps the first female teacher from the lower strata of the society.
- They were also the pioneer of widow remarriage in Maharashtra and they opened a girls' school at Poona.
- Two important works of Jyotiba Phule are -
- Sarvajanik Satyadharma
- gulamgiri (Ghulamgin)
9. Pandita Ramabai (Maharashtra)
- She fought for the rights of women and spoke against child marriage.
- She was one of the lieutenant of famous Rakhmabai Case which was related to the conjugal right of the women. It led to the passing of Age of consent Act in 1891.
- She founded 'Arya Mahila Samaj' in Poona to promote girls' education.
- She also founded 'Mukti Mission' in Poona for providing refugee to young widows abused by their families.
- She also created 'Sharda Sadan' for housing, education and vocational training to widows, orphans and visually challenged people.
10. Balshastri Jambhekar (Maharashtra)
- He was considered as the 'Father of Marathi Journalism'.
- He wrote a magzine, Darpan in which he talked about the social reforms.
11. Kandakuri Veer Salingam
- Perhaps, he was the first social reformer from Teulgu speaking area in this period.
- He was also influenced by the Keshav Chandra Sen's ideas.
- He laid the foundation of an organisation called 'Hitkarni Sabha'.
- He also opened a school for women education in 1874.
12. Shree Narayan Dharma Paripalana Yogam
- Shree Narayan Guru was from Ezhava Caste of Kerala, which constituted near about 26% of Kerala population and they were considered as untouchables.
- Narayan Guru started Shree Narayan Dharma Paripalana Yogam in 1903.
- He took up the issues like Right of admission to public school, recruitment to government services, access to roads and entry to temples and political representation.
13. Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation)
- On November 28, 1916, TM Nair and P. Thyagaraj established this 1st non-Brahmanical organisation in Madras presidency called South Indian Liberal Federation which later came to be known as Justice Party.
- In 1920, Justice party entered into the election also.
- Around 1937, it came under the influence of Periyar (E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker) and his self respect movement.
- Periyar transformed Justice Party into a social organisation. Dravidar Kazhagam and it withdrew from electoral politics.
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