International Journal of Academic Research I
P. Lingaiah
The changes in the social and cultural life they sought to materialize emerged out of this colonial order demanded a refashioning of the social world of the colonized, at the same time there was considerable social pressure to maintain traditional social practices. The social and religious reform witnessed in 19th century India, which was an attempt to reconcile the cultural world of the middle class with the demands of the new way of life, emerged out of this dynamic. As a result, unlike in Europe, reformation took precedence over renaissance in India. This is in fact the tragedy of the Indian renaissance. Its values – humanism, rationalism and universalism are relevant even today, particularly because casteism, religiosity and social violence are ruling society. But the values of the renaissance have lost their salience as they do not gel with the spirit of an aggressive capitalist order. The possibility of retrieving those values also appears to be difficult, if not impossible, partly because of the absence of linkages with the prevalent cultural ethos and partly because they are not within the ideological world of the hegemonic classes.
Renaissance or to trace the roots of modern social movements to these Among the Hindus in India, early manifestations. Neither reform goes back to the intellectual appears to be quite appropriate as efflorescence of the fifth century such characterizations tend to over- A.D. to the efforts of innumerable look the historical specificity of th heterodox sects in the 18 century. these movements. Their impact was The general tendency is to identify also vastly different. of them did them as Indian versions of the not lead to powerful social churning
International Journal of Academic Research I even if they challenged the existing civilizations try to overcome internal power relations in society. For some, stagnation and meet external the present was not altogether challenges. devoid of merit, and therefore they sought regeneration within the existing social organization, while The pre-colonial movements were others strove for changes through attempts to bring together cultural protest and dissent and yet others elements and intellectual resources stood for a rejection of the present in order to cope with the changing and the construction of an social situation. The Bhakthi alternative future. These tendencies movement, for instance, was were prevalent in Indian society engaged in ironing out religious and from the time of the Buddha and caste differences by propagating the developed through medieval times, idea of monotheism in a language as expressed in the Sufi and Bhakti and idiom accessible to the common movements. The Social and cultural man and foregrounding the virtues th regeneration of the 19 century was, of an egalitarian social order. The however, qualitatively of a different poetic rendering of these ideas by order than these pre-colonial Bhakti and Sufi saints not only manifestations of reform. What made them popular buy also helped distinguishes the intellectual, the common man internalize them. cultural and social regeneration Yet, neither the Bhakti nor the Sufi during the early phase of colonialism order was able to break out of the in India, generally described as feudal ethos and serve as the “renaissance”, from the movements ideological harbingers of a of reform in the pre-colonial period progressive transition. Instead, in were the linkages the former had the course of time, these movements with modernity. The attempt to tended to reinforce the social reform prevalent socio-religious differences they had once practices is quite common in all questioned. civilizations; it is a part of the reformers’ efforts to refine and Therefore, the indigenous refurbish the inner resources of movements of the pre-colonial era their civilizations. It is through such did not play a socially processes of renewal that all transformative role but confined
International Journal of Academic Research I their activities to a number of self- cultural ethos from the history of contained sects without much Western societies, received through communication or interaction with the medium of the ideological one another. The only activity in apparatuses of the colonial state. which most of them indulged was the annual congregations, which The European Renaissance were so ritualized and repetitive was characterize by the discovery that their influence steadily waned. and triumph of humanism and the By the end of the 18th century, re-emergence of man to the center of Bhakti had lost its verve, Sufi history with sensitivity to his influence had become limited to a creative ability, reflected in his few packets and heterodox sects did achievements in the past. The not have much of a following. In the Renaissance paintings that absence of an innovative and critical celebrated the human body are a spirit, orthodoxy and obscurantism, reflection of the rebirth of man. The which sapped the energy and emergence of man to the centre initiatives in society, reigned stage also meant emancipation from supreme. However, there was no social bonds, particularly religious paucity of dissent or protest in pre- bonds, which provided the colonial India, but they did not serve inspiration for the Reformation and as ideological inspiration for the necessary intellectual freedom breaking away from the feudal for Enlightenment. A new world of ethos. scientific knowledge and social thought were opened before him. The social and religious Renaissance, Reformation and reforms witnessed in 19th century Enlightenment formed an India were neither a continuation of interconnected triad from which past efforts nor their rein vocations modernity drew its strength, to face contemporary challenges. character and vision. While the pre-colonial movements were trapped in feudal ethics, the th 19 century regeneration occurred Modernity in India had a in the context of an emerging middle different trajectory. Its origin was class which mainly developed its not in indigenous intellectual and social vision, political beliefs and cultural churning but in the
International Journal of Academic Research I influences disseminated by the materialize emerged out of this colonial state and its agencies. The colonial order demanded a consumers and propagators of this refashioning of the social world of modernity were the newly emerging the colonized, at the same time middle class linked with the colonial there was considerable social administration and thus exposed to pressure to maintain traditional Western cultural. They were drawn social practices. The social and towards a new cultural situation religious reform witnessed in 19th through their association with the century India, which was an attempt colonial rulers as trading to reconcile the cultural world of the intermediaries and subordinates in middle class with the demands of the administration. the new way of life, emerged out of this dynamic. As a result, unlike in Such a situation, first Europe, reformation took developed in the Presidency towns precedence over renaissance in of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras India. and in other parts of the country later on, led to the emergence of a The cultural creativity and new breed of Indians who idealized intellectual efflorescence that were the West, adopted a Western- the hallmarks of the European modern way of life and subjected Renaissance were conspicuous by tradition to critical inquiry. The their absence in the Indian relationship between the traditional situation. The period of renaissance and the “colonial-modern” was not was not particularly known for dialogical but mainly one of creativity, which received an domination. Restricted by prevailing impetus only when renaissance and caste and religious practices and reformation merged with attracted by the “colonial-modern” nationalism and tried to usher in an life, this new breed of Indians alternative modernity. The Indian experienced the tension between intelligentsia had to undergo a long what was possible in the new world period of incubation before they and what was practiced in the could try to redefine the renaissance traditional. by exploring their cultural and intellectual roots. Such an enquiry, The changes in the social and however, got enmeshed in religion, cultural life they sought to
International Journal of Academic Research I leading to sectarian consciousness, reinvention or reinterpretation of which in turn undermined some of the past but only to an invocation of the core values of renaissance such tradition to gain legitimacy for as religious universalism. What creating new cultural and ideological reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, conditions. The debates on the Devendranath Tagore, Keshab abolition of sati or child marriage Chandra Sen and Narayana Guru are examples. The social or cultural did topropagate monotheism and the break brought about by such an unity of the godhead was indeed attitude towards the past was rather significant, but in a multi-religious superficial towards the past was society, the invocation of Vedanta as rather superficial as the critique of the source of inspiration adversely tradition did not in terrogate its affected the principle of ideological foundations. universalism which all of them upheld. This contradiction, which It was not based on remained unresolved, had serious traditional or Western resources, repercussions for the state of and as a consequence, an element of secularism in post-Independence ambiguity characterized the attitude India. towards tradition, on the one hand, and colonial modernity, on the other. Imitation rather than ingenuity, therefore, became the What is celebrated in India dominant feature of the modernity as the renaissance was actually an that the renaissance sought to usher attempt to reorder existing social in. the very term renaissance to and cultural practices in light of the describe what happened during the lived reality in the life of the middle colonial era is, therefore a class and the demands of the misnomer, not because it was far changing social and cultural world. removed from the European The practices to which the middle phenomenon but because most of its classes were traditionally subjected ideas were either borrowed from the were obscurantist, inhuman and West or uncritically invoked from irrational. The quest for an sectarian religious sources. The alternative to these practices, in attitude towards tradition was which the intelligentsia were textual rather than experiential. involved, did not lead to a
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Almost all reformers referred to the movements for social reform were Vedas, the Upanishads or the marginalized. By the 20th century, Quran; at the same time, none of Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana them invoked the syncretic tradition Samaji increasingly lost their of the Bhakti or Sufi movements. appeal. Arya Samaj ceased to be a The rebirth of man which the social force, Satya Shodak Samaj Renaissance connoted hardly could not sustain its radicalism, and happened in India. the Sree Narayana Movement had given up its concern for reform. The That raises the question social space thus vacated by these whether Indian society really movements have been colonized by experienced a renaissance and conservative and obscurantist whether it was later enriched by forces, giving way for the return of enlightenment. What Indian society the socio-religious practices that the witnessed was reform, both social reformation had tried to eliminate. and religious, which, caught between tradition and colonial modernity, and could not fulfill its historic mission. The intelligentsia The transition from involved in this effort, ranging from feudalism to colonial engagement Ram Mohan Roy to Narayana Guru, with prevalent religious practices. valiantly struggled to realize their The criterion of the critique was vision of a humane society but found neither exclusively Western nor them defeated by forces over which entirely indigenous. The renaissance they had no control. Their tragedy would appear to be a product of was that they either trusted the Western liberalism, which benevolence of colonialism, as Ram undoubtedly exercised a decisive Mohan did, or overlooked it as in the influence on it. Yet, it was not case of Narayana Guru. Their entirely a result of the impact of the inability to confront the cultural West as it’s often suggested in ideological domination of colonial historiography. Indigenous colonialism made them increasingly intellectual sources did help shape irrelevant. the character and agenda of the changes attempted during the As a consequence, when renaissance. Invoking the political struggles gained ground, traditional system helped the
International Journal of Academic Research I renaissance gain wider support and Dharma Paripalana Sangham, more importantly, social legitimacy. Sadhu Jana Samaj, the self- Respect That accounts for the centrally of Movement, and so on were engaged Vedanta in their religious in changing the existing pattern of philosophy, regardless of their caste worship as it was the main source of affiliation. exploitation of the laity by priests. All religious events were observed Liberals and conservatives with elaborate rituals prescribed by alike conducted their debate on sati priests, most of them rooted in and child and widow marriages by irrational and superstitious beliefs. drawing upon the prescriptions of The priests held believers to ransom the Vedas. The exposure to Western by officiating during the and traditional values, however did performance of rituals over which not lead to critical attempt to marry they exercised a monopoly. traditional values and beliefs with modernity. Within the re3naissance, The main features of the therefore, two streams emerged: one reform were congregational form of gave greater importance to tradition worship, anti-idolatry and rejection and the other to modernity of the mediatory role of priests. Eventually, both moved invoked These changes released individuals tradition moved towards revivalism, from irrational beliefs as developed whereas those who advocated around the practice of idolatry and modernity tended to discard their exploitation by the priestly tradition. The dichotomy thus order. Consequently, the traditional developed adversely affected the form of temple was replaced by possibility of retrieving the creative centers of community prayers where potential in tradition as well as reformed” men and women could charting out the path of an congregate in pursuit of their alternative modernity, distinct from spiritual quest. The mediation of the colonial and the traditional. idols and priests as necessary concomitants for communion with All major movements of God was firmly rejected. Although th religious reform during the 19 and idol worship and temple rituals th 20 centuries – Brahmo Samaj, Arya continued to hold their sway over Samaj, Prathana samaj, Satya the minds of believers, the shodak Samaj, Sree Narayana
International Journal of Academic Research I renaissance put forward an take decisions vested with the male, alternative that helped question he also commanded a privileged and some of the cruel and inhuman superior position compared with the practices perpetrated in temples in women in the family. The patriarch the name of God. was omnipresent and his authority was unquestioned. Even the reformers were not able to free Social reforms mainly themselves of this inherited centered on the emancipation of domestic culture as is evident from oppressed and marginalized groups the reminiscences of Ramabhai such as women and Dalits. Ranade, wife of the reformer and Subjected to patriarchal authority, nationalist leader Mahadev Govind women had to put up with neglect, Ranade. Yet, the renaissance efforts social isolation and violence. Their did succeed in bringing about an right to life was a male concession initial breakthrough in the condition infanticide and sati represented of women. their helplessness. The reformers intervened to ensure their right to life and freedom of choice. The The social reforms advocated abolition of sati and infanticide during the renaissance had two represented the former and widow dimensions. The first was related to marriage the latter. the need to simplify the elaborate rituals performed on different The initiative for these occasions such as birth, marriage changes was undertaken by and death. Apart from the “reformed” men who were seeking expenditure involved in the m which enlightened female companionship. the relatively poor found difficult to However, changes in the condition arrange, these occasions were used of women that the reformers by the powerful and by priests to advocated did not transgress the assert their authority. One of the patriarchal authority. Although major achievements of the women were allowed limited renaissance was the implementation freedom, they hardly enjoyed of a code of conduct for all such equality even in the domestic occasions. The process was started sphere. Not only was the right to by Devendranath Tagore when his
International Journal of Academic Research I father passed away. It later became castes”. Some of the important a concern of all reform movements. reform movements of this kind were those initiated by Mahatma Phule, For a fairly long time, the Narayana Guru, ‘Periyar’ E.V. renaissance in India was almost Ramaswamy, Ayyankali, Ayothee exclusively identified with the Das and Bhimarao Ambedkar. Most concern for modernization among of these movements were mainly the “upper castes”. The movements about gaining social dignity and for reform among them have been political rights and less about treated as synonymous with the economic rights. renaissance. More inhuman of all social discriminations was the Both social and religious treatment meted out to members of reforms were caste or religion the “lower castes”. The caste specific. Brahmo Samaj Addressed distinctions were observed not only the issues of the “upper castes”. So among them has been treated as was the case of Prarthana Samaj in synonymous with the renaissance. western India. The appeal of Arya More in human of all social Samaj was mainly to the discriminations was the treatment intermediary castes. As a result, meted out to members of the “lower these three major reforms although castes”. The caste distinctions were opposed to caste were not concerned observed not only among Hindus with the problems of “the but also among Muslims and untouchables” and confined their Christians. The “lower castes”, activities to the “upper castes” and variously described as classes. Only when movements arose ‘untouchbles”, “Harijians”, among the Dalits did the question of Scheduled Castes and Dalits, could their exclusion became a public not be part of the social mainstream: issue. Paradoxically, most of these they could not enter temples, use movements agitated for equality public roads or draw water from with the “upper castes” in matters wells. They were forced to live in of worship, civic rights and segregated parts of the village. This education. As a result, the rights of inhuman treatment was opposed by Dalits to worship in temples from reform movements, particular by which they were earlier excluded, to those from within the “lower use public roads, to draw water from
International Journal of Academic Research I village wells and to send their renaissance itself. Two tendencies children to schools became issues that have a bearing on this around which protests were development gained ground during organized. the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The first was a Organizationally, almost all disjunction between political and reforms and agitations were socio-cultural concerns. The confined within caste and religious renaissance in India was a response boundaries, a consequence of which to human suffering as expressed in was that this eventually led to caste social and religious practices; yet, it and religious solidarity movements. was not sensitive to the problem of In fact, most of them later survived political subjection. The attitude of because of caste affiliation. Those the leaders of the renaissance without such affiliation such as towards the feudal order and Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and colonial rule was, at best, Prarthana Samaj withered away, ambivalent. Many of them, such as whereas caste-based movements Dayananda Saraswathi and such as Kayastha Sabha, Sarin Vivekananda, maintained friendly Sabha, Nair Service Society and relations with India’s rulers. They Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana could neither associate themselves Sangham have survived. Such a with anti-colonial movements nor transformation is true of Muslims give lead tot anti-feudal opposition. and Sikhs also. None of them As a result, when anti-colonial anymore function as reform agitations gained strength, struggles organizations but tend to act as for sociocultural changes became political and social pressure groups. increasingly weaker and isolated They hardly have the legacy of their from the political mainstream. The former reform organizations in tendency to look inward within a whose name they continue to wield caste or religion, therefore, became a influence. possible option for consolidation.
Secondly, tradition was The reason for this conceived in religious terms and denouement can be partly traced to rationalization of or opposition to the internal weaknesses of the change was drawn from religious
International Journal of Academic Research I texts. In almost all cases of advocacy Ram Mohan Roy to Narayana Guru, for change – the abolition of sati and drew upon Vedanta as the infanticide or support for widow philosophical inspiration for their marriage – the exchanges between social vision. It was from the the supporters and opponents of influence of Vendanta that they reform were based on derived their belief in monotheism interpretations of the scriptures. and universalism. The renaissance The primacy religious tradition thus in India was not based on a rejection commanded circumscribed the of tradition but on its selective reform itself, be it among Hindus or incorporation. Muslims. But tradition was conceived This brought about in religious and not secular terms. ambiguity towards religious change The secular tradition was not and internal contradictions within invoked even when the unity of the the reformation. Moreover, invoking godhead was accepted as the guiding religion either for approval or principle. The reformation opposition helped the development invariably harped back to the Vedas of religious particularism, which for legitimacy, and almost every eventually led to an unbridgeable renaissance leader was involved in gulf between different communities. the propagation of the ideas of An inevitable consequence of this Vendata: Ram Mohan translated the contradiction was the undermining Upanishads into Bengali and of the religious universalism that English, Devendranth devoted his was central to the renaissance life to the dissemination of the thought. The transformation of philosophy of Vedanta from which universalism, which championed the he earlier received enlightenment, unity of all religious to particularism and Keshab Chandra Sen propaaged adversely, affected the development Vendanta through popular of the secular ethos. publications. Narayana Guru also was inspired by Vedanta even The manner in which though he belonged to a “lower tradition was invoked for purposes caste” and his teachings were the of reform also contributed tot eh ideological influence of a “lower- growth of particularism. Almost caste” movement. every leader of the renaissance, from
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Among Muslims also, the through the colonial agency and influence of religious texts was therefore had no roots of its own. evident. Be it for a Makthi Tangal in Faith on the other hand was rooted Kerala or a Syed Ahmed Khan in in indigenous culture and belief. northern India, reforms were to Hence, the triumph of faith over follow scriptural prescriptions. reason undid much of what the However, they tried to interpret renaissance tried to do. scriptures in such a fashion that the demands of a modern society could Two major thinkers of the be accommodated. It was such renaissance – Akshay Kumar Dutta perspective which informed Syed and Ram Mohan – had advanced a Ahmed Khan’s efforts to reconcile rational critique of social and Islam with modernity or Makthi religious practices and had tried to Tangal’s attitude towards the study establish primacy of reason over of languages. faith. Interestingly, they derived their ideas from entirely different sources – Akshay Kumar from the Western and Ram Mohan from the This attitude towards indigenous. An element of reason tradition was against the two basic was initially present in the thought ideas of renaissance – rationalism of all renaissance leaders to varying and universalism which led to the degrees. In most cases, reason coexistence of reason and faith. guided their social interventions. There was an internal struggle But neither they nor the movements within the renaissance to reconcile they inspired could sustain the them, but without much success. As commitment to reason. a result, commitment to the application of reason to social Idol worship was a case in practices receded to the background point. The popular belief was that and faith became the dominant the idol represented God and that criterion. This was possibly because worship of the idol was worship of tradition and modernity were God. The renaissance questioned divorced from each other as the this assumption and linked it to the latter did not emerge out of the exploitation of believers by the former. Like modernity, rationality priestly order. Temples were was also borrowed from the West identified as the locus of this
International Journal of Academic Research I exploitation, and therefore, a major that too within the confines of each aspect of reformation was the caste and religion. adoption of an alternative system of worship. This social dynamic had a serious effect on the universalistic Both Brahmo Samaj and perspective that the renaissance Arya Samaj eliminated idols from represented. On the basis of the their places of worship, where conception of monotheism and the prayers were led by a member of the unity of the godhead, renaissance congregation. In the reformed form thinkers put forward the idea that of worship, priests, to whom Ram different religions were nothing but Mohan attributed all superstitions, national embodiments of one had no role to play. The relevance of universal truth. As such, believers of the temple itself was questioned as all religions, despite their different it was argued that temples were not locations and different culture necessary to achieve communion belonging, partook of the elements with god. Nayarana Guru defied the of the same idea. But the existing position of priests by renaissance was unable to articulate consecrating an idol on his own. this universalistic idea in social and political terms. As a result, rather Reason, however, floundered than secularism, communal at the altar of practice. The impact differences gained ground. This is in of the renaissance was limited to a fact the tragedy of the Indian minuscule section of the burgeoning renaissance. Its values – humanism, middle class in the cities, linked rationalism and universalism are with the commercial and relevant even today, particularly administrative activities of colonial because casteism, religiosity and rule. Their interest in the social violence are ruling society. renaissance was limited to a But the values of the renaissance reconciliation of their belief systems have lost their salience as they do and practices with their new not gel with the spirit of an conditions of life. Therefore, they aggressive capitalist order. The were not able to provide a strong possibility of retrieving those values social foundation for the also appears to be difficult, if not renaissance, which remained a impossible, partly because of the caricature confined to reformation,
International Journal of Academic Research I absence of linkages with the promoted by the colonial prevalent cultural ethos and partly intelligentsia was not powerful because they are not within the enough to overcome the cultural ideological world of the hegemonic backwardness of society. Many of classes. the ills of contemporary Indian society can be traced to the unfinished agenda of the The renaissance in India was renaissance. an attempt to create a cultural world which would suit the “modern” requirements of an Anderson, L., Krathwohl, D., emerging middle class so that it Airasian, P., Cruikshank, K., Mayer, could emancipate itself from the R., Pintrich, P., Raths, J., & shackles of feudal practices. It Wittrock, M. (2001). A taxonomy for partially succeeded in this social learning, teaching, and assessing. task: inhuman social practices such New York: Addison Wesley, as sati and infanticide were Longman. abolished, cruel religious rituals such as hook swinging and human City, E. A., Elmore, R. F., Fiarman, sacrifices were abandoned, and S. & Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional women managed to gain some rounds in Education. Harvard, MA: element of freedom from patriarchal Harvard Education Press. control. Although the renaissance brought about a qualitative change Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, in perspectives and practices, its J. (2005). Preparing teachers for a impact was limited to a very small changing world: What teachers section of society. Yet, it did should learn and be able to do. San generate a cultural and intellectual Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. break without which the later movements would not have been Girod, G. (2002). Connecting possible. In this sense, the teaching and learning: A handbook regeneration of the 19th century was for teacher educators on teacher a precursor to modernity in India. work sample methodology. Not with standing this positive Washington, DC: AACTE contribution, the renaissance Publications.
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River, NJ: Pearson Merrill/Prentice Kentucky Department of Education Hall. (2008). Kentucky teaching standards. Retrieved Pankratz, R. (1999). Improving from http://www.kyepsb.net/teacher teacher quality through prep/standards.asp. partnerships that connect teacher performance to student learning. Kohler, F., Henning, J., & Usma- Unpublished manuscript, Western Wilches. (2008). Preparing Kentucky University, Bowling preservice teachers to make Green. instructional decisions: An examination of data from the Popham, W. J. (2009). All about teacher work sample. Teaching and assessment: Unraveling reliability. Teacher Education, 24(8), pp. 2108- Educational Leadership, 66(5), pp. 2117. 77-78.
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International Journal of Academic Research I erservices/student_teaching/docume assessment and analysis of student nts/teacher_work_sample. learning. Action in Teacher Education, 32(1), pp. 39-53. Stobaugh, R. (2013). Assessing critical thinking in elementary Tassell, J., Stobaugh, R., & schools. Meeting the common core. McDonald, M. (2013). Math and Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. science teacher candidates’ use of technology to facilitate teaching and Stobaugh, R, Tassell, J., & Norman, learning during student teaching. A. (2012). Improving preservice Educational Renaissance, 2(1), pp. teacher preparation through the 17-28. Teacher Work Sample: Exploring