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 Causes Modern education

Revolutions in other countries (like France)

Pessimistic attitude towards activities of British and Christian Missionaries

Sanskritisation by Upper caste Impact 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. Negative effects Communal consciousness

Caste based identity

Community orientation rather than national orientation

Insecure feeling by large masses Limitations They concerned only small sections of society.

Worked for their respective community.

Failed to emphasize that colonial rule was inimical to their interest. Reforms regarding Women

 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. 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 & 5 Demanded property inheritance rights for women. Political activist  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. 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. Continued  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 .

 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 2012 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 Answer: B 2016 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 Answer b Henry Vivian Derozio (1809-1831) 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." 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. Theosophical Society 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. 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 2013 Annie Besant was

1. responsible for starting the Home Rule Movement

2. the founder of the Theosophical Society

3. Once the President of the

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 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. Continued 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. 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 Swami Dayanand Saraswati 1824-83 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 Continued  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

Cow protection movement Ramakrishna Parmhansa (1834-1886)  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”. Swami Vivekananda 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 Prarthana Samaj Religious reform

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. Social 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. 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. 2012 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. Answer: C Gopal Hari Deshmukh  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."

Servants of India Society

 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 Social Service League

 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). Narayana Guru (ca. 1854–1928)

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. Justice Movement

 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. 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 Sarda Act 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 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) 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 Continued  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 Muhammad Iqbal (1876- 1938)  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. Religious Reform among the

 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, , 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.