SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHRONICLE AWAKENING IN INDIA IAS ACADEMY A CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE

Bentinck in abolishing it. He championed women's Hindu Reform Movements and Main rights like right of inheritance and property and Proponents attacked polygamy and the degraded state of widows. Brahmo Samaj and Raja Ram Mohan Roy • He fought for the introduction and spread of (1772 - 1833) modern education through the medium of English In August 1828, Roy founded the Atmiya Sabha, and made Bengali the vehicle of intellectual which was later renamed Brahma Samaj at Calcutta in intercourse in Bengal. order to purify Hinduism and preach monotheism. • In his political ideas and reforms, he believed in The Samaj under him was based on the twin pillars the unification of the divergent groups of Indian of reason and the ancient Hindu scriptures (only the society in order to bring about national Vedas and the Upanishads) and incorporated the best consciousness in India. He initiated public teachings of the other religions as well. agitation on political questions like the need for Raja Ram Mohan Roy reforms in the British administration, trade and • Born in 1772 in Radhanagar in Burdwan district economic policies, etc. in West Bengal and died in Bristol in England. He • He also pioneered Indian journalism through the is considered as the first 'modern man' as he was Mirat-ul-Akbar inorder to educate the public on the pioneer of socio-religious and political reform current issues and to represent the public opinion movements in modern India. before the government. His journal was called • He studied numerous languages - Persian, Arabic, Samvad Kumudhi. Sanskrit, English, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Brahmo Samaj after Roy - Debendranath Tagore (1817 etc. inorder to study the various religious scriptures - 1905) in their original. • Debendranath Tagore established the • He believed in monotheism i.e. doctrine of the unity Tattvabodhini Sabha (1839) at Calcutta to of God-head and opposed idol-worship. In 1803 propagate Raja Ram Mohan Roy's ideas. He he published a Persian treatise named 'Tuhfat-ul- formally joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1843 and Muwahidin' or 'A Gift to Monotheists' wherein he reorganized it. explains his concept of monotheism. • Keshav Chandra Sen promoted the Samaj in 1857 • He established the Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta in and became the right hand man of Debendranath. 1815 in order to propagate monotheism and fight During this time problems emerged between the against the evil practices in Hinduism. Later in older and the conservative section led by 1928 he established the Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta Debendranath and the newer and progressive to purify Hinduism and preach monotheism. section led by Sen over the issues of social reform • He laid emphasis on human reason and rationality particularly the caste system and over the to ChristianityCHRONICLE by publishing a book 'Percepts of relationship between Hinduism and Brahmoism Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happiness' in 1920 (while the latter stood for the complete abolition of which embodied the moral and spiritual percepts the caste system and maintained that Brahmoism is of Jesus without the narratives of the miracles. different form Hinduism, the former group wanted • He defended Hinduism and its Vedanta philosophy, to retain caste system, though criticizing its rigidity as found in the Vedas and the Upanishads, from and asserted that Brahmoism is Hinduism.) the ignorant attacks of Christian missionaries. • This led to the secession of Sen's group from the • He led a lifelong crusade against sati and finally parent body (which had come to be known as Adi in 1829 he succeededIAS in persuading Lord William ACADEMYBrahmo Samaj) in 1865 and formation of a new

© CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 26 organization known as Brahmo Samaj of India by Panderung. Dadoba outlined his doctrine or it in 1866. principles in the Dharma Vivechan (1848) and it • Debendranath Tagore spread the message of denied the polytheism of popular Hinduism, the caste system and the Brahmanical monopoly of Brahmo Samaj in other parts of India including knowledge. Bombay and Madras by his tours and adopted a much more radical and comprehensive scheme of • It was radical socio-religious society that was social reforms and infused bhakti into Brahmoism. formed in 1849 and that met in secret. • Further he formed the Indian Reform Association • Ram Bal Krishna Jayakar became President of the in 1870 and persuaded the British government to mandali. All members were required to pledge that enact the Native Marriage Act of 1872 (popularly they would abandon caste restrictions and each known as the Civil Marriage Act) which legalized inmate had to take food and drink from prepared Brahmo marriages and fixed the minimum age for by a member of a lower caste. the groom and the bride at 18 and 24 respectively. • The group came to an agreement on two major Second Schism in Brahmoism principles: firstly, they would not attack any religion and secondly, they rejected any religion • The second schism in Brahmoism occurred in 1878 which claimed infallibility. when a group of Sen’s followers under Ananda Mohan Bose and Shivanatha Shastri left him and • Branches of the organization were established at formed the Sadharana Brahmo Samaj. Poona, Ahmednagar and Ratnagiri. • The cause for this split was the question of • Its insistence on remaining a secret organization management of the samaj and the violation of the illustrated an unwillingness to openly challenge Native Marriage Act by Sen himself (he gave his Hindu orthodox. daughter in marriage to the ruler of Cooch Behar Prarthana Samaj but neither of them had attained the marriageable • The Brahmo ideas spread in Maharashtra where age under the Act.) Paramhansa Sabha was founded in 1849. Manav Dharam Sabha • In 1867 under the guidance of Keshab, the • Durgaram Manchharam (1809-1878) was a leading Prarthana Samaj was established in Bombay by figure among the small group of educated Gujaratis Atmaram Pandurang. who in the 1830s became strong critics of • Apart from worship of one God, in western India contemporary society. the main emphasis has been on social reform • Other participants included Dadoba Panderung, works rather than faith. Dinmuni Shanar, Dalpatram Bhagubai and • In the field of social reform the focus was on Damodar Das. They founded the Manav Dharam disapproval of caste system, raising the age of Sabha at Surat in 1844 and held open meetings marriage for both boys and girls, widow remarriage every Sunday. and women education. • As part of its programme, the Manav Dharam • Prominent leaders of the Prarthana Samaj were Sabha challenged magicians and the reciters of Mahadev Govind Ranade, R.G. Bhandarkar and incantations to demonstrate their skills. They also N.G. Chandravarkar. criticized caste but took no direct action against • In Punjab, the Dayal Singh Trust sought to implent the institution. Brahma ideas by the opening of Dayal Singh • The sabha had only a short career as an active college at Lahore in 1910. organization as it began to shatter in 1846 when Arya Samaj and Swami Dayanand araswati Dadoba Panderung returned to Bombay and ceasedCHRONICLE to function in 1852 when Durgaram (1824 - 1883) Manichharan left for Rajkot. • It was revivalist in form though not in content. • Although its life was severely limited, the sabha • It was founded by Swami Dayananda. He rejected was directly linked to later movements in western ideas and sought to revive the ancient Maharashtra and to the leaders of later movements. religion of the Aryans. Paramahansa Mandli • In 1875, Dayananda formally organised the first Arya • The movement was closely linked to Manav Samaj unit at Bombay. A few years later the headquarters Dharam Sabha IASand to the leadership of Dadoba ACADEMYof the Arya Samaj was established at Lahore.

© CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 27 • He looked on the Vedas as India’s ‘rock of the with the objective of carrying on humanitarian ages’, the true original seed of hinduism. His motto relief and social work through the establishment was ‘go back to the Vedas’. of schools, colleges, orphanages, hospitals, etc. • He condemned idol worship and preached unity • The latter is a religious order or trust founded by of God head. Vivekananda in 1887 at Baranagar (Though Belur • His views were published in his work ‘Satyartha has become the headquarters of both the Mission Prakash’. and the Math since 1898) with the objective of bringing in to existence a band of dedicated monks • He accepted the doctrine of Karma but rejected the who would propagate the teachings of theory of niyati (destiny). Ramakrishna Paramhansa (the universal message • He pleaded for widow remarriage and condemned of the Vedanta). child marriages. • Though legally two distinct entities, with separate • Anglo-vedic school was established at Lahore in 1866. funds and finances, the Mission and the Math are • The orthodox opinion in the Arya samaj which in practice a single body, with the members of the stands for the revival of vedic ideal in modern life Math forming the principal workers of the Mission set up the gurukul pathsala at Hardwar in 1902 and the trustees of the Math forming the governing which was exclusively for boys. body of the Mission. • The Samaj started the Shuddhi movement to Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) convert non-Hindus to Hinduism. • Originally known as Narendranath Datta, he was • Lala Hans Raj, Pandit Guru Dutt and Lala Lajpat born in 1863 in Calcutta. Rai were prominent leaders of the other section • He first visited Ramakrishna in 1881 and made who stood for the spread of English education frequent visits thereafter. He established a monastery and established a number of DAV schools and in Baranagar in 1887 after the death of his guru. colleges for both boys and girls. • He toured India extensively, attended the World • Dayanand’s political slogan was ‘India for the Parliament of Religions in 1893 at Chicago and Indians’. spoke at the Congress of History of Religions at Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836 - 1886), Paris in 1900. Ramakrishna Paramhansa and the Ramakrishna • He published two papers: the monthly Prabudha Movement Bharata in English and the fortnightly Udbodhana • Originally known as Godadhar Chattopadhay, he in Bengali. was born in 1836 in Kamarpukur village in Hoogly • He popularized the teachings of his guru, district in West Bengal. proclaimed the essential oneness of all religions and held Vedanta as a fully rational system. • He was a priest at the Kali temple in Dakshineswar near Calcutta and considered and emphasised that Theosophical Society Krishna, Hari, Ram, Christ, Allah are different • Madam H.P. Blavatsky laid the foundation of the names of the same God. movement in the Unites States in 1875. Later • Unlike Arya samaj, Ram Krishna Mission Colonel M.S. Olcott joined her. recognises the utility and value of single worship • In 1882 they shifted their headquarters to India at Adyar. in developing spiritual fervour and worship of the Eternal Omnipotent God. • The members of this society believe that a special relationship can be established between a person’s • Vivekanand emerged as the preacher of new- soul and God by contemplation, prayer, revolution. Hinduism.CHRONICLE • The society believes in re-incarnation, Karma and • He attended the Parliament of Religions at Chicago draws from the philosophy of the upanishads and in 1893. Samkhya, yoga and vedanta schools of thought. • The famous magazines of Ramkrishna Mission • The theosophical movement came to be allied with were Prabudh Bharat and Udbodhan. Hindu renaissance. Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math • After the death of Olcott in 1907 Annie Besant was • The former is a social service and charitable society elected as its President. She had joined the society formed by SwamiIAS Vivekananda in 1897 at Belur, ACADEMYin 1889.

© CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 28 • The society under Besant concentrated on the revival • Theodore Beck was his associate and was the first of Hinduism and its ancient ideas and inorder to Principal. Beck founded the union Indian Patriotic provide Hindu religious instruction\ she founded Association, Aligarh. the Central Hindu University at Varanasi in 1898 • In 1866 he founded the Muhhammadan which was later developed into the Benaras Hindu Educational Conference as a general forum for University by Madan Mohan Malaviya. spreading liberal ideas among the muslims. Young Bengal Movement • Unfortunately the movement in later stages became • Its founder was Henry Vivian Derozio, who was anti-congress and anti-Hindu and pro-British due born in Calcutta in 1809 and who taught at the to misconceived fears of Hindu domination. Hindu college between 1826 and 1831. He died of Deoband Movement cholera in 1831. • The orthodox section among the Muslim Ulema • His followers were known as the Derozians and organised the Deoband movement which began their movement as the Young Bengal Movement. after the foundation of the Dar-ul-Ulum at Deoband • The movement attacked old traditions and in 1866 by Maulana Hussain Ahmad and others decadent customs, advocating women’s rights and with the aim of resuscitating classical Islam and education and educating the public on the current improving the spiritual and moral conditions of socio-economic and political questions through the muslims. press and public associations. • It was a revivalist movement where objectives were • They carried on public agitation on public to propagate among the Muslims, the pure questions like freedom of the press, trial by jury teachings of the Quran and the Hadis and to keep and protection of peasants, etc. alive the spirit of Jihad against the foreign rulers. • The ulema under the leadership of Mohammad Muslim Reform Movements Qasim Wanotavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi founded the school of Deoband in the Saharanpur Aligarh Movement district of UP in 1866. • It was founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan for the • The school curriculum shut out English education. social and educational advancement of muslims in India. • Deoband school welcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. • Other prominent members of the movement were Altaf Hussain Hali, Dr. Nazir Ahmed, Nawab • In 1888 Deoband ulema issued a religious decree Mushin-ul-Mulk, Chirag Ali, etc. against Syed Ahmad Khan’s organisations. • He established two madarasas at Muradapur and Ahrar Movement Gazipur and in 1870 published Tahzib ul Akhalaq • It was a movement founded in 1910 under the and Asbad-i-Bhagvati. leadership of Maulana Muhammad Ali, Hakim • He advocated a rational approach towards religion, Ajmal Khan, Hasan Imam, Maulana Zafar Ali Khar rejected blind adherence to religious law and asked and Mazhar-ul-Haq in opposition to the loyalist for a reinterpretation of the Quran in the light of policies of the Aligarh movement. reason to suit the new trends of the time. • Moved by modern ideas of self-government its • Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was in the judicial services members advocated active participation in the of the company at the time of rebellion of 1857 and nationalist movement. stood loyal to the government. Ahmadia Movement • He triedCHRONICLE to reconcile his co-religionists to modern • Also known as the Qadiani movement, it was scientific thoughts and to the British rule and urged founded by Mirza Gulam Ahmad at Qadiani in them to accept services under the government. Punjab, towards the end of the 19th century with • He condemned the system of Piri and Muridi. the objective of reforming Islam and defending it against the onslaught of Christian missionaries • He opened a modern school in Aligarh in 1875 and the Arya Samajists. which developed into the Mohammadan Anglo • It gave religious recognition to modern industrial and Oriental College at Aligarh in 1877. The school technological progress and it became the most closely became the nucleus of the formation of the Aligarh knit and the best organized Muslim group in India. Muslim UniversityIAS in 1920. ACADEMY

© CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 29 • It laid emphasis on Guru Nanak and on Sikhism Parsi Reform Movements before the establishment of Khalsa by Guru Gobind Sing at Anandpur and this separated them from • In 1746 the Indian Parsis got divided into two the Namdaris. groups, when a group of them decided to accept the Iranian calendar and came to be known as the Namdharis ‘Kadami’ (ancient section) as opposed to the • Founded by Baba Ram Singh (1816-1885) in 1857, ‘Shahanshahis’ (royalists), who retained the who in 1841 became a disciple of Balak Singh of calendar used in Gujarat. This major division of the Kuka movement. the community lasted into the 20th century. • The movement was founded on a set of rituals • A second division was created by the movement of modeled after Guru Gobind Singh’s founding of Parsis into Bombay where many of them became the Khalsa with the requirement of wearing the wealthy as merchants, ship builders, commercial five symbols but instead of the sword the followers brokers, etc. Besides the Parsi religion was were supposed to carry a stick. frequently targeted by the Christian missionaries. • The movement required the followers to abandon • In this background, Naroji Furdunji edited in 1840s the worship of gods, idols, tombs, trees, snakes, the Fam-i-Famshid, a journal aimed at defending etc. and abstain from drinking, stealing, falsehood, the cause of Zoroastrianism. He also wrote a slandering, backbiting, etc. number of pamphlets and published the book Tarika Farthest in 1850. All these events led to the • Further the consumption of beef was strictly formation of a socio-religious movement designed forbidden as protection of cattle was important. to codify the Zoroastrian religion and reshape Singh Sabhas Parsi social life. • Shaken by Namdhari unrest, the speeches of • In 1851 a small group of educated Parsis formed Shraddha Ram of Arya Samaj and by the Christian the Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Parsi Reform conversions a small group of prominent Sikhs Society) with funds provided by K.N. Kama. decided to form the Singh Sabha of Amritsar which Furdunji Naoroji became its President and S.S. held its first meeting on 1st October, 1873 with Bengali its secretary. Thakur Singh Sandwhawalia as its President. • In 1850 Bengali started publishing a monthly • Soon it was rivaled by a new organization, the journal Jagat Mitra and the Jagat Premi in 1851. Lahore Singh Sabha which held its first meeting The sabha’s journal Rast Goftar was the main on 2nd November, 1879 led by Prof. Gurmukh voice of the movement. Singh and Bhai Ditt Singh. • The leaders criticized elaborate ceremonies at Akali Movement betrothals, marriages and funerals and opposed infant marriage and the use of astrology. • The main aim of the Akali movement of 1920s was to purify the management of the Sikh Gurudwaras • But the activities of the sabha divided the Parsis or shrines by removing the corrupt or selfish into two groups: those who advocated radical Mahants or priests. change and those who wished only limited altercations in rituals and customs, organized • The movement led to the enactment of the new under the Raherastnumi Mazdayasnan in Sikh Gurudwara Act by the British in 1925 and opposition to the radicals. removed corrupt priests through the act and also through the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak . Sikh Reform Movements Committee (SPGC) NirankarisCHRONICLEOther Reformers and Social workers • Baba Dayal Das (1783-1855) was the founder of • In western India Prof D.K. Karve took up the cause this movement of purification and return. In 1840s of widow remarriage and in Madras he called for the return of Sikhism to its origin and Veerasalingam Pantulu made Herculean efforts in emphasized the worship of one God and nirankar the same direction. Prof. Karve opened a widow’s (formless). home in Poona in 1899. He crowned his work by • Such an approach meant a rejection of idolatry setting up the Indian Womens University at and also prohibition of eating meat, drinking Bombay in 1916. liquor, lying, cheating,IAS etc. ACADEMY

© CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 30 • B.M. Malbari started a crusade against child He rejected the caste system and developed the marriage and his efforts were crowned by the concept of one caste, one religion and one God for enactment of the age of consent Act, 1891. mankind. His disciple Ayappan made it into no • In 1849 J.E.D. Bethune founded a girl’s school in religion, no caste and no God for mankind. Calcutta. • In Kerala, the Nairs started movement against the • All India women’s conference was organised in dominance of Nambudari Brahmins. C.V. Raman 1936. Pillai organised the Malyali Memorial. He wrote a novel Martanda Verma to show the military glory • Radha Soami Satsang was founded by Tulsi Ram. of the Nairs. Padmanabha Pillai founded the nair • Deva Samaj was founded by Shiva Narain service society in 1914. Agnihotri. • In 1873, Satya Sodhak movement was launched • Nadwah ul ulama was founded by Maulana Shibli by Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra to save the lower Numani in 1894 in Lucknow. castes from the Brahmins. He wrote ‘Gulamgiri’ • Justice movement was started in 1915-16 by C.N. and ‘Sarvajanik Satyadharma Pustak’. His theory Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja Chetti in of exploitation of lower castes was focused on Madras. It was against the predominance of the cultural and ethnic factor rather than on political Brahmins in education, government services and and economic one. politics. • The Mahars were organised by Gopal Baba • Self respect movement was started in 1925 by E.V. Walangkar in late 19th century against Brahmins Ramaswamy Naicker popularly known as Periyar. in Maharashta. Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar became It was against the dominance of Brahmins. their leader in the 20th century. Under his leadership the Mahars started burning Manusmriti • Periyar waged movement for forcibly temple entry, and tried to break with the Hinduism. burning of Manusmriti and wedding without Brahmin priest. He started his journal Kudi Arasu • In 1932 Gandhiji founded the Harijan Sevak in Tamil in 1929 to propagate his ideas. Sangh. • Ezhava movement was launched by Sri Narayan • Ambedkar founded the Scheduled Castes Guru. He started the movement of untouchable Federation. Ezhava against the Brahmin dominance in Kerala.

CHRONICLE

IAS ACADEMY

© CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 31