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Socio – Religious Reform Movements

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Socio – Religious Reform Movements

shape Introduction

A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements. The article Socio - Religious Reform Movements presents the list of Socio - Religious Reform Movements and persons who were involved in this Socio - Religious Reform Movements.

shape SRRM

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Brahmo Samaj:
  • Raja Rammohan Roy established the Brahmo Samaat Calcutta in 1828 in order to purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism.

  • He is considered the rst ‘modern man of India’.

  • In 1815, he established the Atmiya Sabha.

  • Later, it was developed into the Brahmo Sabha in August 1828.

  • He preached that there is only one God.

  • He combined the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bible and the Quran in developing unity among the people of different religions.

  • work of the Atmiya Sabha was carried on by Maharishi Debendranath Tagore (father of Rabindranath Tagore),Who renamed it as Brahmo Samaj.

  • Raj Rammohan Roy is most remembered for helping Lord William Bentinck to declare the practice of Sati a punishable offence in 1829.

  • He also protested against the child marriage and female infanticide.

  • He felt that the caste system was the greatest hurdle to Indian unity.

  • He favoured inter-caste marriages. He himself adopted a Muslim boy.

  • In 1817, he founded the Hindu College (now Presidency College, Calcutta) along with David Hare, a missionary.

  • Rammohan Roy started the FIrst Bengali weekly Samvad Kaumudi
    • Edited a Persian weekly Mirat-ul-Akhbar.
  • He stood for the freedom of the press 21. Rammohan died in Bristol in England in 1833.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Young Bengal Movement:
  • Henry Vivian Derozio was the founder of the Young Bengal Movement.

  • He was born in Calcutta in 1809 and taught in the Hindu College, Calcutta.

  • His followers were known as the Derozians and their movement the Young Bengal Movement.

  • They attacked old traditions and decadent customs.

  • They also advocated women’s rights and their education.

  • They founded associations and organized debates against idol worship, casteism and superstitions.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Arya Samaj:
  • The Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswathi at Bombay in 1875.

  • Born in Kathiawar in Gujarat, Swami Dayanand (1824-83) was a scholar, a patriot, a social reformer and a revivalist.

  • He believed the Vedas were the source of true knowledge.

  • His motto was Back to the Vedas.

  • He was against idol worship, Child marriage and the caste system based on birth.

  • He encouraged inter-caste marriages and widow remarriage.

  • He started the Suddhi movement to bring back those Hindus who had converted to other religions to its fold.

  • He wrote the book Satyartha Prakash which contains his ideas.

  • The Arya Samaj, though founded in Bombay, became very powerful in Punjab and spread its inuence to other parts of India.

  • The first Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) School was founded in 1886 at Lahore.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Prarthana Samaj:
  • The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 in Bombay by Dr Atmaram Pandurang.
  • It was an off-shoot of Brahmo Samaj

  • It was a reform movement within Hinduism and concentrated on social reforms like interdining,inter-marriage, widow remarriage and uplift of women and depressed classes.

  • Justice M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar joined it in 1870 and infused new strength to it.

  • Justice Ranade promoted the Deccan Education Society.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Mission:
  • The original name of Swami Vivekananda was Narendranath Dutta (1863-1902)

  • He became the most famous disciple of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

  • In 1886 Narendranath took the vow of Sanyasa and was given the name, Vivekananda.

  • He preached Vedantic Philosophy

  • Swami Vivekananda participated at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago (USA) in September 1893 and raised the prestige of India and Hinduism very high.

  • Vivekananda preached the message of strength and self-reliance.

  • He asked the people to improve the lives of the poor and depressed classes.

  • He founded the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur in Howrah in 1897.

  • It is a social service and charitable society.

  • The objectives of this Mission are providing humanitarian relief and social work through the establishment of schools, colleges, hospitals and orphanages.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements -Theosophical Society:
  • The Theosophical Society was founded in New York (USA) in 1875 by Madam H.P. Blavatsky, a Russian lady, and Henry Steel Olcott, an American colonel

  • Their main objectives were to form a universal brotherhood of man without any distinction of race, colour or creed and to promote the study of ancient religions and philosophies.

  • They arrived in India and established their headquarters at Adyar in Madras in 1882.

  • Later in 1893, Mrs Annie Besant arrived in India and took over the leadership of the Society after the death of Olcott.

  • Mrs Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu School along with Madan Mohan Malaviya at Benaras which later developed into the Banaras Hindu University.

Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar:
  • Pandit Ishwar Chandra was a great educator, humanist and social reformer

  • He rose to be the Head Pandit of the Bengali Department of Fort William College.

  • Vidyasagar founded many schools for girls

  • He helped J.D. Bethune to establish the Bethune School

  • He founded the Metropolitan Institution in Calcutta

  • He protested against child marriage and favoured widow

  • Remarriage which was legalised by the Widow Remarriage Act (1856).

  • It was due to his great support for the spread of education that he was given the title of Vidyasagar

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Jyotiba Phule:
  • Jyotiba Phule belonged to a low caste family in Maharashtra

  • He waged a life-long struggle against upper caste domination and Brahmanical supremacy.

  • In 1873 he founded the Satyashodak Samaj to ght against the caste system.

  • He pioneered the widow remarriage movement in Maharashtra and worked for the education for women.

  • Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitri Bai Phule established the rst girls’ school at Poona in 1848

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Muslim Reform Movements:
  • The Muslim reform movements started a little later because they had avoided western education in the beginning.

  • The first effort was in 1863when the Muhammad Literary Society was set up in Calcutta.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Aligarh Movement:
  • The Aligarh Movement was started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98) for the social and educational advancement of the Muslims in India

  • In 1866, he started the Mohammadan Educational Conference as a general forum for spreading liberal ideas among the Muslims.

  • In 1875, he founded a modern school at Aligarh to promote English education among the Muslims.

  • This had later grown into the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College and then into the Aligarh Muslim University.

Socio - The Deoband School:
  • The orthodox section among the Muslim ulema organised the Deoband Movement.

  • It was a revivalist movement

  • To propagate among the Muslims the pure teachings of the Koran and the Hadi

  • To keep the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

  • The new Deoband leader Mahmud-ul-Hasan (1851-1920) sought to impart a political and intellectual content to the religious ideas of the school.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Sikh Reform Movement:
  • Baba Dayal Das founded the Nirankari Mission.

  • He insisted the worship of God as nirankar (formless).

  • The Namdhari Movement was founded by Baba Ram Singh.

  • His followers wore white clothes and gave up meat eating.

  • The Singh Sabhas started in Lahore and Amritsar in 1870 were aimed at reforming the Sikh society.

  • They helped to set up the Khalsa College at Amritsar in 1892.

  • They also encouraged Gurmukhi and Punjabi literature.

  • In 1920, the Akalis started a movement to remove the corrupt Mahants (priests) from the Sikh gurudwaras

  • Later, the Akalis organised themselves into a political party

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Lokahitawadi:
  • Started by Gopal Hari Deshmukh. Advocated western education and a rational outlook.

  • He advocated female education for the upliftment of women.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Indian (National) Social Conference:
  • Founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao.

  • It held its first session in 1887.

  • Its main focus was on the abolition of polygamy and kulhinism and it encouraged inter-caste marriages.

  • It also pledged to fight child marriages.

  • The Conference is sometimes referred to as the social reform cell of the Indian National Congress.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - Servants of India Society:
  • Formed by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1915.

  • It did notable work in providing famine relief and in improving the condition of the tribal.

Socio - Religious Reform Movements - The Justice Party Movement:
  • T.M. Nair, Sir Pitti Theagaraja Chettiar and the Raja of Panagal formed the South Indian Liberal Federation (SILF) in 1916 to protest against the domination of Brahmins in government service, education and in the political eld.

  • The newspaper, Justice, was their main organ for expressing views and opinions.

  • The SILF came to be called the Justice Party later on.

shape Quiz

1. Shuddhi Movement was a part of which Socio-Religious movement
    A. Dharmo Samaj B. Arya Samaj C. Brahmo Samaj D. Prarthana Samaj

Answer: Option B
2. Who started the Religious Reform Association?
    A. Mirza Ghalib B. Qazi Nazrul Iqbal C. Dada Bhai Nauroji D. Pheroz Shah Mehta

Answer: Option C
3. Which religious reformer of Western India was known as 'Lokhitwadi'?
    A. Gopal Hari Deshmukh B. RG Bhandarkar C. Mahadev Govind Ranade D. BG Tilak

Answer: Option A
4. Which of the following was not actively engaged in social and religious reforms in India?
    A. Raja Ram Mohan Roy B. Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar C. Jotiba Phule D. Bharatendu Harish Chandra

Answer: Option D
5. Which of the following social religious reform institutions is/are founded by Rajaram Mohan Roy? 1) Atmiya Sabha 2) Brahmo Sabha 3) Brahmo Samaj of India
    A. 1 and 2 Only B. 2 and 3 Only C. 2 Only D. 2 and 3 Only

Answer: Option A
6. Consider the following statements.. I. Mahadev Govind Ranade founded the Widow Remarriage Association (1861). II. He established the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the Deccan Education Society. III. He believed that religious reform was separate from social reform. Choose the incorrect statement(s).
    A. I and III B. III only C. I only D. I and II

Answer: Option B
7. Who was the first Indian to resist the political reforms?
    A. Dadabhai Nauroji B. Surendra Nath C. Ram Mohan Roy D. Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Answer: Option B
8.Who among the following emphasized on this statement “the reformer must attempt to deal with the whole man and not to carry out reform on one side only”?
    A. Narayan Chandavarkar B. Atmaram Panduranga C. Mahadev Govind Ranade D. None of the above

Answer: Option C
9. Who was the founder of the Indian reform Association In 1870?
    A. Debendranath Tgore B. Keshav Chandra Sen C. Ram Mohan Roy D. Dyanad Saraswati

Answer: Option B
10. Who among the following social reformers was known for proficiency in Sanskrit language
    A. Dayanand Saraswati B. Iswar Chandra Vidhyasagar C. Raja Rammohan Roy D. All the above

Answer: Option D
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