HISTORY March 20, 2018

SOCIO RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS IN INDIA DURING THE 19th CENTURY

General Problems – Education, Gender inequality, Superstition

Specific Problems – Sati, condition of Widow, Tonsure, Child Marriage, Female

Infanticide

Other problems– purdah , polygamy, Dowry System

Reformist movements – Responding to time, scientific temper of the modern era

Revivalist movements – revival of old system

Wahabi Movement

Arya Samaj

Modern education

Revolutions in other countries (like France)

Pessimistic attitude towards activities of British and Christian Missionaries

Sanskritisation by Upper caste

Causes

Wave of reforms

Removal of Sati

Child infanticide banned

Widow remarriage act in 1856.

Focus on Education

National Orientation

Cultural consciousness

Woman Empowerment

Marriageable age of girls was raised 1860.

Impact

Communal consciousness

Caste based identity

Community orientation rather than national orientation

Insecure feeling by large masses

Negative effects

They concerned only small sections of society.

Worked for their respective community.

Failed to emphasize that colonial rule was inimical to their interest.

Limitations

The conditions of women at the beginning of 19th century was miserable.

They did not get equal treatment.

They were denied Education.

Female Infanticide, Child Marriages, Dowry System, Sati, Tonsure

The movement for reforms regarding women addressed these issues.

Reforms regarding Women

Q: What was sati and what does it means?

The term sati literally means a 'pure and virtuous woman'. It was applied in case of a devoted wife who contemplated perpetual and uninterrupted conjugal union with her husband life after life and as proof thereof burnt herself with the dead body of her husband.

Indian reformers led by Ram Mohan Roy

launched a frontal attack on the evil of sati.

With an eye, to the coming Charter debates in

the British Parliament and anxious to get a

renewal of its charter for another 20 years by

presenting a creditable image of its activities

in India, the Court of Directors encouraged

Bentinck to enact legislation to suppress sati

who banned it in1829.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy : Father of the Indian Renaissance

Learnt various languages as he thought religion can be studied only through the

language its books were written in.

Used logical reasoning & rational thinking

1814:Set up Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta

Supported David Hare to set up Hindu college 1817

Founded Vedanta College at Calcutta in 1825 where he introduced Mechanics &

Voltairs Philosophy

Wrote Gift to Monotheists (1809)

Opposed Idol Worship

Translated to Bengali the Vedas & 5 Upanishads

Demanded property inheritance rights for women.

Roy condemned oppressive practices of Bengali zamindars & demanded fixation of

maximum rents.

He also demanded abolition of taxes on tax free lands.

He called for a reduction of export duties on goods abroad & abolition of the

Company's trading rights.

He demanded judicial equality

Roy was an internationalist

Was influenced by the French Revolution.

He stood for cooperation of thought and activity & brotherhood among nations.

He supported the revolutions of Naples & Spanish America & condemned the

oppression of Ireland by absentee English landlordism & threatened emigration from

the empire if the reform bill was not passed.

Political activist

Brahmo Sabha (1828) Main theme “Nirgunasapna” (formless worship)

Purpose was to purify Hinduism

Promoted Monotheism – Oneness of God [opposites are polytheism – more than 1

God & Pantheism – Everything is God]

The new society was to be based on the twin pillars of reason & the Vedas &

Upanishads.

Most of all it based itself on human reason which was to be the ultimate criterion for

deciding what was worthwhile & what was useless in the past or present religious

principles & practices.

Followers of Samaj were Keshab Chandra Sen ,Debendra Nath Tagore, Ishwar

Chandra Vidyasagar, Ashwani Kumar Datta, Derozians , Prasanna Kumar Tagore,

Chandrashekhar Deb & Tarachand Chakravarty, 1st secretary of the Brahma Sabha.

After Roy’s death, Debendranath Tagore headed Brahmo Sabha

Tagore repudiated the doctrine that the Vedic scriptures were infallible

In 1839 he, founded Tatvabodhini Sabha.

The Tatvabodhini Sabha & its organ the Tatvabodhini Patrika promoted a systematic

study of India's past in the Bengali language.

The Samaj actively supported the movement for widow remarriage, abolition of

polygamy, women's education & opposed superstitious practices & rituals

Samaj denied the need for a priestly class for interpreting religious writings

Brahmo Samaj split, Keshub Chandra Sen , Anand Mohan Bose left & started “All

India Brahmo Samaj”

Under D Tagore, it was Adi Brahmo Samaj

AM Bose & Shiv Narayan Shastri started Saddharno Brahma Samaj

Continued

Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding Brahmo Samaj?

1. It opposed idolatry.

2. It denied the need for a priestly class for interpreting the religious texts.

3. It popularized the doctrine that the Vedas are infallible.

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

2012

Answer: B

Consider the following :

1. Calcutta Unitarian Committee

2. Tabernacle of New Dispensation

3. Indian Reform Association

Keshab Chandra Sen is associated with the establishment of which of the above?

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

2016

Answer b

Teacher in Hindu college Calcutta 1826-31

Started the Young Bengal movement

Inspired by French revolution

Had radical thoughts of liberty & freedom

Derozio was perhaps the 1st nationalist poet of modern India.

Due to his early demise the movement came to an end

SN Banerjee described the Derozians as "the pioneers of the modern civilization of

Bengal, the conscript fathers of our race whose virtues will excite veneration & whose

failings will be treated with gentlest consideration."

Henry Vivian Derozio (1809-1831)

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-91)

Worked for the cause of emancipation of women.

Promoted education among girls & set up institutions for them .

As a Government Inspector of Schools, he organised 35 girls' schools, many of

which he ran at his own expense.

As Secretary to the Bethune School, he was one of the pioneers of higher education

for women.

All his life he campaigned against polygamy.

Due to his efforts widow remarriage act was passed in 1856.

In 1850, he protested against child-marriage.

Principal of the Sanskrit College.

He opened the gates of the Sanskrit college to non-Brahmin students

To free Sanskrit studies from the harmful effects of self-imposed isolation, he

introduced the study of Western thought in the Sanskrit College.

He also helped found a college which is now named after him.

He also devised a new Bengali primer & evolved a new prose style.

Started by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge in New York

in 1875

After a few years Olcott & Blavatsky moved to India & established the International

Headquarters at Adyar.

Theosophists advocated the revival & strengthening of the ancient religions of

Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, & Buddhism.

They recognized the doctrine of the transmigration of the Soul.

They also preached the universal brotherhood of man.

As religious revivalists the Theosophists were not very successful.

Movement led by westerners who glorified Indian religions & philosophical

tradition. This helped Indians recover their self-confidence, even though it tended to

give them a sense of false pride m their past greatness.

Theosophical Society

Annie Besant (1847-1933) and Theosophical society

Annie Besant also joined the movement( came to India in 1893).

Election of Annie Besant as its president after the death of Olcott in 1907.

Worked for revival of Hinduism -its philosophy& modes of worship.

Founded the Central Hindu college at Banaras which was later developed by Madan

Mohan Malaviya into the Banaras Hindu University.

Organized Home Rule Movement

Annie Besant was

1. responsible for starting the Home Rule Movement

2. the founder of the Theosophical Society

3. Once the President of the Indian National Congress

Select the correct statement/statements using the codes given below.

a) 1 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

2013

Ans C

Annie Besant joined the team much later, in 1889.

Mahatma Jyoti Govindrao Phule

Started the Dalit Movement

Was against upper class Brahminical domination

Satya Shodhak Samaj is a religion established by him in 1873.

This was started as a group whose main aim was to liberate the Shudra &

Untouchable castes from exploitation and oppression.

Phule used the symbol of Rajah Bali as opposed to the, Brahmin's symbol of Rama.

He openly condemned the inequality in the religious books, orthodox nature of

religion, exploitation of masses by the means of it, blind & misleading rituals, &

hypocrisy in the prevalent religion.

Advocated the ideals of human well being in broader aspects, human happiness,

unity, equality, & easy religious principles & rituals.

In 1851,Phule & his wife started a girls' school at Poona & soon many other schools

came up.

Active promoters of these schools were Jagannath Shankar Seth & Bhau Daji.

Through his writings & activities Phule always condemned caste hierarchy & the

privileged status of priests in it.

Wrote Gulamgiri & Sarvajanic Satyadharma

Phule was also a pioneer of the widow remarriage movement

Vishnu Shastri Pundit founded the Widow Remarriage Association in the 1850's.

Another prominent worker in this field was Karsondas Mulji who started the Satya

Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage.

Continued

2016

Satya Shodhak Samaj organized

(a) a movement for upliftment of tribals in Bihar

(b) a temple-entry movement in Gujarat

(c) an anti-caste movement in Maharashtra

(d) a peasant movement in Punjab

Answer c

Mulshankar

He had received education on Vedanta from a blind teacher named Swami

Virajananda in Mathura.

Started Arya Samaj (1875) movement at Bombay & shifted headquarters to Lahore

“Go Back to Vedas” was the slogan.

Believed in infallibility of Vedas.

Approved Vedas, rejected Puranas & anything related to western culture.

He also favored the study of western sciences.

Swaraj word was used for the 1st time by Swami Dayanand.

Advocated equal rights for men & women.

He was against idol worship, ritual, & priesthood

He opposed caste system.

Inter caste marriage act 1872

Satyarth Prakash

Swami Dayanand Saraswati 1824-83

He attacked child marriage.

Samaj fixed the minimum marriageable age at 25 years for boys & 16 years for girls.

Swami once lamented the Hindu race as "the children of children".

The work of the Swami after his death was carried forward by Lala Hansraj, Pandit

Gurudutt, Lala Lajpat Rai & Swami Shraddhanand, among others.

Some of his followers later started a network of schools & colleges in the country to

impart education on western lines.

Lala Hansraj played a leading part in this effort.

1902:Swami Shradhananda started the Gurukul near Hardwar to propagate the more

traditional ideals of education.

Continued

This movement became anti Muslim & anti Christian movement.

Shuddhi movement began for reconversion of converted Hindus

Cow protection movement

Continued

Was a saintly person who sought religious salvation

in the traditional ways of renunciation, meditation, &

devotion(bhakti).

In his search for religious truth or the realization of God he lived with mystics of

other faiths, Muslims & Christians.

He emphasized that there were any roads to God & salvation & that 'service of man

was service of God, for man was the embodiment of God’.

“So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold everyman a traitor, who

having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them”.

Ramakrishna Parmhansa (1834-1886)

Disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhansa

Great humanist

Believed in Karma ( Action)

Proclaimed the essential oneness of all religions

Vivekananda condemned the caste system and the current Hindu emphasis on rituals,

ceremonies, and superstitions, & urged the people to imbibe the spirit of liberty,

equality, & free-thinking.

He himself subscribed to Vedanta which he declared to be fully rational system.

Took part in World Religious Conference in US

Ramkrishna Mission started in 1897, Belur, West Bengal

Swami Vivekananda

Prarthana Samaj

Prarthana Samaj was founded by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang in 1867 with an aim to make people

believe in one God & worship only one God.

Main reformers were the intellectuals who advocated reforms of the social system of Hindus.

Parallel to Brahmo Samaj

Although the adherents of Samaj were devoted theists, they didn’t regard the Vedas as divine or

infallible.

They drew their nourishment from the Hindu scriptures & used the hymns of the old

Marathi "poet-saints" like Namdev, Tukaram in their prayers.

Their ideas trace back to the devotional poems of the Vitthalas as part of the Vaishnava

bhakti devotional movements of the 13th century in Maharashtra.

But, beyond religious concerns, the primary focus of the Samaj was social & cultural reform.

Religious reform

Prarthana Samaj critically examined the relations between contemporary social &

cultural systems & religious beliefs & gave priority to social reform as compared with

the political changes already initiated by the British government.

Their reform movements led many projects of cultural change & social reform in

Western India, such as the improvement of the lot of women & depressed classes, an

end to the caste system, abolition of child marriages & infanticide, educational

opportunities for women, & remarriage of widows.

Its success was guided by Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, a noted Sanskrit

scholar, Narayan Chandavarkar, & Justice Mahadev Govinda Ranade.

Social reform

Mahadev Govinda Ranade(1842-1901)

Was the soul of The Indian National Social Conference.

Campaigned for abolition of caste, inter caste marriages, widow remarriage,

education for women upliftment of low castes & Hindu Muslim unity.

Ranade emphasized that "the reformer must attempt to deal with the whole man &

not to carry out reform on one side only".

Indian Social Conference-1887

Founded by M G Ranade & Raghunath Rao

Behramji Malabari was other important member

Met annually at the same time & venue as the INC

Can be called the social reform cell of the INC

Conference advocated inter caste marriages, opposed polygamy etc.

Launched pledge movement to inspire people to take a pledge against child marriage.

During Indian freedom struggle, the National Social Conference was formed. What was

the reason for its formation?

a) Different social reforms groups or organisations of Bengal region united to form a

single body to discuss the issues of larger interest and to prepare appropriate

petitions/ representations to the government.

b) Indian National Congress did not want to include social reforms in its deliberations

and decided to form a separate body for such a purpose

c) Behramji Malabari and M.G.Ranade decided to bring together all the social reform

groups of the country order one organisation.

d) None of the statements (a), (b) and (c) given above is correct on this context.

2012

Answer: C

An outstanding champion of new learning and social reform in Maharashtra was

Gopal Hari Deshmukh, who became famous by the pen name of 'Lokahitawadi'.

Advocated the reorganization of Indian society on rational principles & modern

humanistic & secular values.

He attacked Hindu orthodoxy & supported social & religious equality. He said, "If

religion does not sanction social reform, then change religion."

Gopal Hari Deshmukh

Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society in 1905.

The aim of the society was to train national missionaries for the service of India; to

promote, by all constitutional means, the, true interests of the Indian people; and to

prepare a cadre of selfless workers who were to devote their lives to the cause of the

country in a religious spirit.

After Gokhale's death (1915), Srinivasa Shastri took over as president

Servants of India Society

Another Gokhale follower Narayan Malhar Joshi founded it in Bombay with an aim

to secure for the masses better & reasonable conditions of life & work

They organized many schools, libraries, reading rooms, day nurseries & cooperative

societies.

Their activities also included police court agents' work, legal aid & advice to the

poor & illiterate, excursions for slum dwellers, facilities for gymnasia & theatrical

performances, sanitary work, medical relief & boys' clubs & scout corps.

Joshi also founded the All India Trade Union (1920).

Social Service League

Sree Narayana Guru Swami, was a Hindu saint, sadhu & social reformer

He was born into an Ezhava family, in an era when people from that community &

other communities, faced much social injustice in the caste-ridden Kerala society.

Gurudevan, as he was known by his followers, led a reform movement in Kerala,

rejected casteism & promoted new values of spiritual freedom & social equality.

S.N.D.P. Yogam

He stressed the need for the spiritual and social upliftment of the

downtrodden by their own efforts through the establishment of temples

and educational institutions.

In the process he denounced cultural convention of Chaturvarna.

Narayana Guru (ca. 1854–1928)

Madras Presidency of British India.

It was established in 1917 by T. M. Nair & P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series

of non-Brahmin conferences & meetings in the presidency.

Communal division between Brahmins & non-Brahmins began in the presidency

during the late-19th & early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices &

disproportionate Brahminical representation in government jobs.

They demanded separate representations for the lower castes in the legislature.

The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish

an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras.

Justice Movement

Self-Respect Movement

Movement with the aim of achieving a society where backward castes have

equal human rights, & encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context

of a caste-based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy.

It was founded in 1925 by E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar) in Tamil Nadu.

The movement was extremely influential not just in Tamil Nadu, but also overseas in

countries with large Tamil populations, such as Malaysia & Singapore.

“We are fit to think of 'self-respect' only when the notion of

'superior' & 'inferior' caste is banished from our land“

Self-respect marriage system

Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 popularly known as the Sarda Act after its

sponsor Rai Sahib Harbilas Sarda to the British India Legislature in India was passed in

1929, fixed the age of marriage for girls at 18 years & boys at 21 years.

It came into effect in 1930 & it applied to all of British India, not just to Hindus.

It was a result of social reform movement in India.

The legislation was passed by the British Indian Government.

However, the Act remained a dead letter during the colonial period

Sarda Act

Started the Aligarh movement

Impressed by modern scientific thought & worked all his life to reconcile it with

Islam.

This he did, first of all, by declaring that the Quran alone was the authoritative work

for Islam & all other Islamic writings were secondary.

According to him Muslim women should be given political & economic rights

Set up Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College in 1875 which became Aligarh Muslim

University in 1920

Insisted on cooperation with Britishers & reforms among Muslims.

Persuaded Muslims to receive modern education.

Opposed purdah ,polygamy, easy divorce etc

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898)

His loyal followers are collectively described as the Aligarh School.

Chiragh Ali, the Urdu poet Altaf Husain Hali, Nazir Ahmad, & Maulana

Shibli Nomani were some of the other distinguished leaders of the Aligarh

School.

Syed's progressive social ideas were propagated through his magazine Tahdhib-ul-

Akhlaq

Continued

One of the greatest poets of modern India,

Influenced through his poetry the philosophical & religious

outlook of the younger generation of Muslims as well as of Hindus.

Like Vivekananda, emphasized the need for constant change and ceaseless activity

and condemned resignation, contemplation, & quiet 'contentment.

He urged the adoption of a dynamic out look that would help change the world

A humanist.

In fact he raised human action to the status of a prime virtue.

Man should not submit to nature or powers that be, he said, but should control this

world through constant activity.

Nothing, was more sinful in his eyes than passive acceptance of things as they

were.

Condemning ritualism, asceticism, & other worldly attitude, he urged men to work

for and achieve happiness in this world of the living.

Muhammad Iqbal (1876- 1938)

Religious Reform among the Parsis

•

Religious reform begun in Bombay in the middle of the 19th century

1851: Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha or· Religious Reform Association was started

by Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, S.S. Bengalee etc.

Dadabhai was one of the founders of an association to reform the Zoroastrian

religion & the Parsi Law Association which agitated for the grant of a legal status to

women and for uniform laws of inheritance & marriage for the Parsis.

The message of reform was spread by the newspaper Rast Goftar (Truth-Teller).

It campaigned against the entrenched orthodoxy in the religious field

Initiated the modernization of Parsi social customs regarding the education of

women, marriage & the social position of women in general.

‘I regret to say,’ wrote Raja Rammohan Roy in 1828, ‘that the

present system of religion adhered to by the Hindus is not well

calculated to promote their political interest. The distinctions of

castes introducing innumerable divisions and sub-divisions

among them has entirely deprived them of patriotic feeling, and

the multitude of religious rites and ceremonies and the laws of

purification have totally disqualified them from undertaking any

difficult enterprise. It is, I think, necessary that some change

should take place in their religion at least for the sake of their

political advantage and social comfort.” Written at a time when

Indians had just begun to experience the ‘intellectual and

cultural turmoil that characterized social life in nineteenth

century India this represented the immediate Indian response.

The British conquest and the consequent dissemination of

colonial culture and ideology had led to an inevitable

introspection about the strengths and weaknesses of indigenous

culture and institutions. The response, indeed, was varied but

the need to reform social and religious life was a commonly

shared conviction. The social base of this quest which has

generally, but not altogether appropriately been called the

renaissance, was the newly emerging middle class and the

traditional as well as western educated intellectuals. The sociocultural

regeneration in nineteenth century India was occasioned

by the colonial presence, but not created by it.

The spirit of reform embraced almost the whole of India

beginning with the efforts of Raja Rammohan Roy in Bengal

leading to the formation of the Brahmo Samaj in 1828. Apart

from the Brahmo Samaj, which has branches in several parts of

the country, the Paramahansa Mandali and the Prarthana Samaj

in Maharashtra and the Arya Samaj in Punjab and North India

were some of the prominent movements among the Hindus.

There were several other regional and caste movements like the

Kayasth Sabha in Uttar Pradesh and the Sarin Sabba in Punjab.

The backward castes also started the work of reformation with

the Satya Sodhak Samaj in Maharashtra and the Sri Narayana

Dharma Paripalana Sabha in Kerala. The Ahmadiya and Aligarh

movements, the Singh Sabha and the Rehnumai Mazdeyasan

Sabha represented the spirit of reform among the Muslims, the

Sikhs and the Parsees respectively. Despite being regional in

scope and content and confined to a particular religion, their

general perspectives were remarkably similar; they were regional

and religious manifestations of a common Consciousness.

Although religious reformation ‘was a major concern of

these movements, none of them were exclusively religious in

character. Strongly humanist in inspiration, the idea of

otherworldliness and salvation were not a part of their agenda;

instead their attention was focused on worldly existence. Raja

Rammohan Roy was prepared to concede the possible existence

of the other world mainly due to its utilitarian value. Akshay

Kumar Dutt and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar were agnostics who

refused to be drawn into any discussion on supernatural

questions. Asked about the existence of God, Vidyasagar quipped

that he had no time to think about God, since there was much to

be done on earth. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Vivekananda

emphasized the secular use of religion and used spirituality to

take cognizance of the material conditions of human existence.

Given the inter-connection between religious beliefs and

social practices, religious reformation was a necessary prerequisite

for social reform. ‘The Hindu meets his religion at every

turn. In eating, in drinking, moving, sitting, standing, he is to

adhere to sacred rules, to depart from which is sin and impiety.’

Similarly, the social life of the Muslims was strongly influenced

by religious tenets. Religion was the dominant ideology of the

times and it was not possible to undertake any social action

without coming to grips with it.

Indian society in the nineteenth century was caught in a

vicious web created by religious superstitions and social

obscurantism. Hinduism, as

Max Weber observed, had ‘become a compound of magic,

animism and superstition’ and abominable rites like animal

sacrifice and physical torture had replaced the worship of God.

The priests exercised an overwhelming and, indeed, unhealthy

influence on the minds of the people. Idolatry and polytheism

helped to reinforce their Position. As suggested by Raja

Rammohan Roy, their monopoly of scriptural knowledge and of

ritual interpretation imparted a deceptive character to all

religious systems. The faithful lived in submission, not only to

God, the powerful and unseen, but even to the whims, fancies

and wishes of the priests. There was nothing that religious

ideology could not persuade people to do — women even went to

the extent of offering themselves to priests to satisfy their carnal

pleasures.

Social conditions were equally depressing. The most

distressing was the position of women. The birth of a girl was

unwelcome, her marriage a burden and her widowhood

inauspicious. Attempts to kill girl infants at birth were not

unusual. Those who escaped this initial brutality were subjected

to the violence of marriage at a tender age. Often the marriage

was a device to escape social ignominy and, hence, marital life

did not turn out to be a pleasant experience. An eighty-year-old

Brahmin in Bengal had as many as two hundred wives, the

youngest being just eight years old. Several women hardly had a

married life worth the name, since their husbands participated in

nuptial ceremonies for a consideration and rarely set eyes on

their wives after that. Yet when their husbands died they were

expected to commit Sati which Rammohan described as ‘murder

according to every shasfra.’ If they succeeded in overcoming this

social coercion, they were condemned, as widows, to life-long

misery, neglect and humiliation.

Another debilitating factor was caste; it sought to maintain

a system of segregation, hierarchically ordained on the basis of

ritual status. The rules and regulations of caste hampered social

mobility, fostered social divisions and sapped individual initiative.

Above all was the humiliation of untouchability which militated

against human dignity.

There were innumerable other practices marked by

constraint, credulity, status, authority, bigotry and blind

60 | India’s Struggle for Independence

fatalism. Rejecting them as features of a decadent society, the

reform movements sought to create a social climate for

modernization. In doing so, they referred to a golden past when

no such malaise existed. The nineteenth century situation was

the result of an accretionary process; a distortion of a once ideal

past. The reformers’ vision of the future, however, was not based

on this idealization. It was only an aid and an instrument —

since practices based on faith cannot be challenged without

bringing faith itself into question. Hence, Raja Rammohan Roy,

demonstrated that sati had no religious sanction, Vidyasagar did

not ‘take up his pen in defence of widow marriage’ without being

convinced about Scriptural support and Dayanand based his

anti-casteism on Vedic authority.

This, however, did not mean a subjection of the present to

the past nor a blind resurrection of tradition ‘The dead and the

buried,’ maintained Mahadev Govind Ranade, the doyen of

reformers in Maharashtra, ‘are dead, buried, and burnt once for

all and the dead past cannot, therefore, be revived except by a

reformation of the old materials into new organized forms.’

Neither a revival of the past nor a total break with tradition was

contemplated.

Two important intellectual criteria which informed the

reform movements were rationalism and religious universalism.

Social relevance was judged by a rationalist critique. It is difficult

to match the uncompromising rationalism of the early Raja

Rammohan Roy or Akshay Kumar Dutt. Rejecting supernatural

explanations, Raja Rammohan Roy affirmed the principle of

causality linking the whole phenomenal universe. To him

demonstrability was the sole criterion of truth. In proclaiming

that rationalism is our only preceptor,’ Akshay Kumar went a

step further. All natural and social phenomena, he held, could be

analyzed and understood by purely mechanical processes. This

perspective not only enabled them to adopt a rational approach

to tradition but also to evaluate the contemporary socio-religious

practices from the standpoint of social utility and to replace faith

with rationality. In the Brahmo Samaj, it led to the repudiation of

the infallibility of the Vedas, and in the Aligarh Movement, to the

61 | Socio-Religious Reforms and the National Awakening

reconciliation of the teachings of Islam with the needs of the

modern age. Holding that religious tenets were not immutable,

Syed Ahmed Khan emphasized the role of religion in the progress

of society: if religion did not keep pace with and meet the

demands of the time. It would get fossilized as in the case of

Islam in India.

The perspectives on reform were not always influenced by

religious Considerations A rational and secular outlook was very

much evident in Posing an alternative to prevalent social

practices. In advocating widow marriage and opposing polygamy

and child marriage, Akshay Kumar was not concerned about

religious sanction or whether they existed in the pa His

arguments were mainly based on their effects of Society. Instead

of depending on the scriptures, he cited medical Opinion against

Child marriage. He held very advanced ideas about marriage and

family: courtship before marriage, partnership and equality as

the basis of married life and divorce by both law and custom. In

Maharashtra, as compared to other regions, there was less

dependence on religion as an aid to social reform. To Gopal Han

Deshmukh, popularly known as Lokahitavadi whether social

reforms had the sanction of religion was immaterial. If religion

did not sanction these, he advocated that religion itself should be

changed as it was made by man and what was laid down, in the

scriptures need not necessarily be of contemporary relevance.

Although the ambit of reforms was particularistic, their

religious perspective was universalistic. Raja Rammohan Roy

considered different religions as national embodiments of

universal theism. The Brahmo Samaj was initially conceived by

him as a universalist church. He was a defender of the basic and

universal principles of all religions — the monotheism of the

Vedas and the Unitarianism of Christianity — and at the same

time attacked polytheism of Hinduism and the trinitarianism of

Christianity. Syed Ahmed Khan echoed the same idea: all

prophets had the same din (faith) and every country and nation

had different prophets. This perspective found clearer articulation

in Keshub Chandra Sen’s ideas. He said ‘our position is not that

truths are to be found in all religions, but all established religions

of the world are true.’ He also gave expression to the social

implications of this universalist perspective: ‘Whoever worships

the True God daily must learn to recognize all his fellow

countrymen as brethren. Caste would vanish in such a state of

society. If I believe that my God is one, and that he has created

us all, I must at the same time instinctively, and with all the

warmth of natural feelings, look upon all around me — whether

Parsees, Hindus, Mohammadans or Europeans — as my

brethern.’

The universalist perspective was not a purely philosophic

concern; it strongly influenced the political and social outlook of

the time, till religious particularism gained ground in the second

half of the nineteenth century. For instance, Raja Rammohan

Roy considered Muslim lawyers to be more honest than their

Hindu counterparts and Vidyasagar did not discriminate against

Muslims in his humanitarian activities. Even to Bankim, who is

credited with a Hindu outlook, dharma rather than religious

belonging was the criterion for determining superiority. Yet,

‘Muslim yoke’ and ‘Muslim tyranny’ were epithets often used to

describe the pre-colonial rule. This, however, was not a religious

but a political attitude, influenced by the arbitrary character of

pre-colonial political institutions. The emphasis was not on the

word ‘Muslim’ but on the word ‘tyranny.’ This is amply clear from

Syed Ahmed Khan’s description of the pre-colonial system: ‘The

rule of the former emperors and rajas was neither in accordance

with the Hindu nor the Mohammadan religion. It was based upon

nothing but tyranny and oppression; the law of might was that of

right; the voice of the people was not listened to’. The yardstick

obviously was not religious identity, but liberal and democratic

principles. This, however, does not imply that religious identity

did not influence the social outlook of the people; in fact, it did

very strongly. The reformers’ emphasis on universalism was an

attempt to contend with it. However, faced with the challenge of

colonial culture and ideology, universalism, instead of providing

the basis for the development of a secular ethos, retreated into

religious particularism.

The nineteenth century witnessed a cultural-ideological

struggle against the backward elements of traditional culture, on

the one hand, and the fast hegemonizing colonial culture and

ideology on the other. The initial refonning efforts represented the former. In

the religious sphere they sought to remove idolatry,

polytheism and priestly monopoly of religious knowledge and to

simplify religious rituals. They were important not for purely

religious reasons but equally for their social implications. They

contributed to the liberation of the individual from conformity

born out of fear and from uncritical submission to the

exploitation of the priests. The dissemination of religious

knowledge through translation of religious texts into vernacular

languages and the right granted to the laity to interpret

scriptures represented an important initial breach in the

stranglehold of misinterpreted religious dogmas. The

simplification of rituals made worship a more intensely personal

experience without the mediation of intermediaries. The

individual was, thus, encouraged to exercise his freedom.

The socially debilitating influence of the caste system which

perpetuated social distinctions was universally recognized as an

area which called for urgent reform. It was morally and ethically

abhorrent, more importantly, it militated against patriotic feelings

and negated the growth of democratic ideas. Raja Rammohan

Roy initiated, in ideas but not in practice, the opposition which

became loud and clear as the century progressed. Ranade,

Dayanand and Vivekananda denounced the existing system of

caste in no uncertain terms. While the reform movements

generally stood for its abolition, Dayanand gave a utopian

explanation for chaturvarna (four-fold varna division of Hindu

society) and sought to maintain it on the basis of virtue. ‘He

deserves to be a Brahman who has acquired the best knowledge

and character, and an ignorant person is fit to be classed as a

shudra,’ he argued. Understandably the most virulent opposition

to caste came from lower caste movements. Jyotiba Phule and

Narayana Guru were two unrelenting critics of the caste system

and its consequences. A conversation between Gandhiji and

Narayana Guru is significant. Gandhiji, in an obvious reference

to Chaturvarna and the inherent differences in quality between

man and man, observed that all leaves of the same tree are not

identical in shape and texture. To this Narayana Guru pointed

out that the difference is only superficial, but not in essence: the

juice of all leaves of a particular tree would be the same in

content. It was he who gave the call — ‘one religion, one caste

and one God for mankind’ which one of his disciples, Sahadaran

Ayyapan, changed into ‘no religion, no caste and no God for

mankind.’

The campaign for the improvement of the condition and

status of women was not a purely humanitarian measure either.

No reform could be really effective without changes in the

domestic conditions, the social space in which the initial

socialization of the individual took place. A crucial role in this

process was played by women. Therefore, there could be no

reformed men and reformed homes without reformed women.

Viewed from the standpoint of women, it was, indeed, a limited

perspective. Nevertheless it was realized that no country could

ever make ‘significant progress in civilization whose females were

sunk in ignorance.’

If the reform movements had totally rejected tradition,

Indian society would have easily undergone a process of

westernization. But the reformers were aiming at modernization

rather than westernization. A blind initiation of western cultural

norms was never an integral part of reform.

To initiate and undertake these reforms which today appear

to be modest, weak and limited was not an easy proposition. It

brought about unprecedented mental agony and untold domestic

and social tension. Breaking the bonds of tradition created

emotional and sentimental crises for men and women caught

between two worlds. The first widow marriage in Bengal attracted

thousands of curious spectators. To the first such couple in

Maharashtra the police had to give lathis to protect themselves!

Rukmabhai, who refused to accept her uneducated and

unaccomplished husband, virtually unleashed a storm. Faced

with the prospect of marrying a young girl much against his

conviction, Ranade spent several sleepless nights. So did

Lokahitavadi, Telang and a host of others who were torn between

traditional sentiments and modern commitments. Several

however succumbed to the former, but it was out of this struggle

that the new men and the new society evolved in India.

*

Faced with the challenge of the intrusion of colonial culture

and ideology, an attempt to reinvigorate traditional institutions

65 | Socio-Religious Reforms and the National Awakening

and to realize the potential of traditional culture developed during

the nineteenth century. The initial expression of the struggle

against colonial domination manifested itself in the realm of

culture as a result of the fact that the principles on which the

colonial state functioned were not more retrogressive than those

of the pre-colonial state. All intrusions into the cultural realm

were more intensely felt. Therefore, a defence of indigenous

culture developed almost simultaneously with the colonial

conquest.

This concern embraced the entire cultural existence, the

way of life and all signifying practices like language, religion, art

and philosophy. Two features characterized this concern; the

creation of an alternate cultural-ideological system and the

regeneration of traditional institutions. The cultivation of

vernacular languages, the creation of an alternate system of

education, the efforts to regenerate Indian art and literature, the

emphasis on Indian dress and food, the defence of religion and

the attempts to revitalize the Indian system of medicine, the

attempt to probe the potentialities of pre-colonial technology and

to reconstruct traditional knowledge were some of the

expressions of this concern. The early inklings of this can be

discerned in Raja Rammohan Roy’s debates with the Christian

missionaries, in the formation and activities of Tattvabodhini

Sabha, in the memorial on education signed by 70,000

inhabitants of Madras and in the general resentment against the

Lex Loci Act (the Act proposed in 1845 and passed in 1850

provided the right to inherit ancestral property to Hindu converts

to Christianity). A more definite articulation, however, was in the

ideas and activities of later movements generally characterized as

conservative and revivalist. Strongly native in tendency, they

were clearly influenced by the need to defend indigenous culture

against colonial cultural hegemony. In this specific historical

sense, they were not necessarily retrogressive, for underlying

these efforts was the concern with the revival of the cultural

personality, distorted, if not destroyed, by colonial domination.

More so because it formed an integral element in the formation of

national consciousness. Some of these tendencies however, were

not able to transcend the limits of historical necessity and led to

a sectarian and obscurantist outlook. This was possibly a

consequence of the lack of integration between the cultural and

political struggles, resulting in cultural backwardness, despite

political advance.

The cultural-ideological struggle, represented by the socio religious

movements, was an integral part of the evolving national

consciousness. This was so because it was instrumental in

bringing about the initial intellectual and cultural break which

made a new vision of the future possible. Second, it was a part of

the resistance against colonial cultural and ideological hegemony.

Out of this dual struggle evolved the modern cultural situation:

new men, new homes and a new society.