CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY 26 Organization Known As Brahmo Samaj of India by Panderung
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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 WilliamACADEMYBrahmo 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 DadobaACADEMYof 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’.