Social Reforms
Movements in India 19th and 20th Centuries
After reading this lesson
you will be able to:
Ø Able to known social problems Sati, Women
education, Abolition of Slavery and reforms in 19th and 20th
centuries.
Ø Identify some common characteristics of social
reform movement.
Ø Explain the role played by Raja Rammohan Roy and
his Brahmo Samaj in bringing about social reforms.
Ø Recognize the Prarthana Samaj as an institution
that worked for social reform.
Ø
Explain the ideology of the Arya
Samaj and its contributors to social reforms.
Ø Examine the contribution of the Ramakrishna Mission
to India’s awakening in the nineteenth century.
Ø Appreciate the efforts of the Theosophical Society
in promoting ancient Indian religions.
Ø Discuss the contribution of the Aligarh Movement
towards cultural and educational reforms amongst the Muslims.
Ø
Examine the reforms carried out by
the Sikhs and the Parsees to make their society enlightened.
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.
These social reform movements arose among all communities of the
Indian people. They attacked bigotry, superstition and the hold of the priestly
class. They worked for abolition of castes and untouchability, purdah system, sati, child marriage, social
inequalities and illiteracy.
Social reform became integral part of religious reform
in India and this was equally true of Brahma Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya
Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, and Theosophical Society in Hinduism as also among
the Muslims, the Parsis and the Sikhs. The social reform movement in India has
aimed at uprooting social evils and inculcating in men and women the spirit of
sacrifice for the general good of the society.
Some of these reformers were supported directly or indirectly by
the British officials and some of the reformers also supported reformative
steps and regulations framed by the British Government.
Sati and Child Marriages:
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. Enlightened Indian
rulers like Akbar, the Peshwas had imposed restrictions on its performance.
Though the East India Company broadly adhered to its
declared policy of noninterference with the social customs of the people, yet
early Governors-General like Cornwallis, Minto and Lord Hastings had taken some
steps to restrict the practice of sati by discouraging compulsion, forbidding
administration of intoxicating drugs to the sorrow-stricken widows, putting a
ban of the sati of pregnant women or widows below the age of 16 years and above
all, making compulsory the presence of police officials at the time of
sacrifice who were to see that no compulsion was used.
Enlightened Indian reformers led by Rammohan 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 William Bentinck to enact
legislation to suppress sati.
Regulation XVII of December 1829 declared the practice
of satis or burning or burying alive of widows illegal and punishable by
criminal courts as culpable homicide The Regulation of 1829 was applicable in
the first instance to Bengal Presidency alone, but was extended in slightly
modified forms to Madras and Bombay Legislative action in prohibiting
child-marriage came in 1872 when by the Native Marriage Act marriage of girls
below the age of 14 and boys below 18 years were forbidden.
However, this act was not applicable to Hindus, Muslims
and other recognised faiths and as such had very limited impact on Indian
society. B.M. Malabari, a Parsi reformer of the 19th century, started a crusade
against child marriage and his efforts were crowned by the enactment of the of
Consent Act which forbade the marriages of girls below the age of Sharda Act
1929 further pushed up marriage age and provided for penal action of boys under
18 and girls under 14 years of age. An improvement was made by the Child
Marriage Restraint Act, 1978 which raised the age of presage for girls from 15
to 18 years and for boys 18 to 21.
Education of Women:
Hindu society in the 19th century suffered from
religious illusions that Hindu scriptures did not sanction female education of
girls wrought wrath of gods leading to their widowhood.
The Christian missionaries, whatever their motive, were
the first to set up to Calcutta Female Juvenile Society in 1819. However, the
celebrated name of J.E.D. Bethune, President of the council of Education, will
always be remembered with respect. In 1849 he founded a Girl's School in
Calcutta.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar also did a lot in
popularising the cause of education and was associated with no less than
thirty-five girl's schools in Bengal.
In Bombay the students of Elphinstone Institute became
the spearhead of the movement for women education and founded the Students
Literary Society.
Charles Wood's dispatch on Education laid great stress
on the need for female education. In the broad perspective, women education
became a part of the general campaign for amelioration of the plight of women
in society.
Abolition of Slavery:
Slavery of the Greek or Roman or American Negro type
did not exist in India. Slavery in India was more akin to what may be termed as
bonded-servant, bonded-labour type and slaves in India were treated in a humane
manner unknown to Western countries.
In this context the observation of the Committee of
Circuit deserves to be quoted. It reads, "The ideas of slavery borrowed
from our American colonies will make even modification of it appear in the eyes
of our countrymen in England a horrible evil.
But it is far otherwise in this country here slaves are
treated as children of the families to which they belong and often acquire a
much happier state by their slavery than that could have hoped for by the
enjoyment of liberty. If in northern India slaves generally served as domestic
servants, in south India slaves were mostly employed in cultivation. Of course,
European slave-owners in India treated their slaves in the same inhuman manner
characteristic of Western slave-owners.
Impact of the Reforms Movement:
The British wanted to appease the orthodox upper section of
society. As a result only two important laws were passed. Some legal measures
were introduced to raise the status of women. For example Sati was declared
illegal (1829). Infanticide was declared illegal. Widow remarriage was
permitted by a law passed in 1856. Marriageable age of girls was raised to ten
by a law passed in 1860. A law passed in 1872, sanctioned inter-caste and
inter-communal marriages. The other law passed in 1891, aimed at discouraging
child marriage. For preventing child marriage, the Sharda Act was passed in
1929. According to it a girl below 14 and a boy below 18 could not be married.
In the 20th century and especially after 1919 the Indian national movement
became the main propagator of social reform. Increasingly, the reformers took recourse
to propaganda in the Indian language to reach the masses. They also used
novels, dramas, short stories, poetry, the Press and in the thirties (1930’s),
the cinema too spread their views.
Numerous individuals, reform societies, and religious
organizations worked hard to spread education among women, to prevent marriage
of young children, to bring women out of the purdah, to enforce monogamy, and
to enable middle class women to take up professions or public employment. Due
to all these efforts Indian women played an active and important role in the
struggle for independence of the country. As a result many superstitions disappeared
and many others were on their way out. Now, it was no longer a sin to travel to foreign countries.
Social
Reformers Pertaining to Women:
Brahmo Samaj and Raja Rammohan Roy:
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was popularly
known as the 'Father of Indian Renaissance ' was born on 22nd May 1772 in a
Brahmin family in Bengal. He founded the Atmiya Sabha in 1815 and the Brahmo
Samaj on 20th August 1828. Through these organizations/Institutions he fought
against Orthodox Hindus and the fanatic Christian Missionaries.
He was against of Sati system,
Polygamy, Child marriage, Caste system and Untouchability. He was the great
supporter of Inter-caste marriage, women education, Widow Remarriages etc.
Raja Rammohan Roy was not merely a religious reformer but a
social reformer also. His greatest achievement was the abolition of Sati in
1829. Raja Rammohan Roy realized that the practice of Sati was due to the
extremely low position of Hindu women. Therefore he started working as a stout
champion of women’s rights. He worked very hard for years to stop this practice
of ‘Sati’. In the early 1818 he set out to rouse public opinion on the question
of Sati. On the one hand he showed by citing the authority of the oldest sacred
books that the Hindu religion at its best was opposed to the practice and on
the other, he appealed to reason and humanity and compassion of the people. He
visited the burning Ghats of Calcutta to try and persuade the relatives of
widows to give up their plan of self immolation. His campaign against Sati aroused
the opposition of the orthodox Hindus who bitterly attacked him.
He advocated the abolition of polygamy (a practice of man having
more than one wife) and child marriage. He wanted women to be educated and
given the right to inherit property. He condemned the subjugation of women and
opposed the prevailing ideas that women were inferior to men in intellect or in
a moral sense. He advocated the rights of widows to remarry.
Arya
Samaj and Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883):
Swami
Dayanada was born in 1824 in a small town of Gujarat. Swami Dayanand Saraswati,
the founder of the 'Arya Samaj' in 1875 in Bombay and he was one of the maker
of Modern India. His Arya Samaj gave emphasis on the liberation of the Hindu
Society. He called people ‘Go back to the Veda’ created consciousness among the
people.
Dayanand Saraswati undertook a
tour of the entire county, made fiery speeches condemning the caste system,
idolatry, and child marriages and encouraged
remarriage of widows. He advocated the ideal age for a girl to be
between 16 and 24, and for men between 25 and 40. Dayanand Saraswati was the
first leader in the field of theology who welcomed the advances of sciences and
technology. To him, the Vedas as the source book contain the seed of science,
and to him, the Vedas advocate the philosophy of dynamic realism.
Prarthana
Samaj and Ranade:
The Prarthana Samaj was established in Bombay by Dr. Atma Ram
Pandurang (1825-1898) in 1876 with the objective of rational worship and social
reform. The two great members of this Samaj were Shri R.C. Bhandarkar and
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade. They devoted themselves to the work of social
reform such as inter-caste dining, inter-caste marriage, widow remarriage and
improvement of the lot of women and depressed classes.
Justice Mahavdev Govind Ranade (1842-1901) devoted his entire
life to Prarthana Samaj. He was the founder of the Widow Remarriage Association
(1861) and the Deccan Education Society. He established the Poona Sarvajanik
Sabha as well. To Ranade, religious reform was inseparable from social reform.
He also believed that if religious ideas were rigid there would be no success
in social, economic and political spheres. M.G.Ranade was the leader of social
reformation and cultural renaissance in Western India.
Ranade’s great message to the persons who were involved in
social service was “Strength of numbers we cannot command, but we can command
earnestness of conviction, singleness of devotion, readiness for
self-sacrifice, in all honest workers in the cause.”
Satya
Shodhak Samaj and Jotirao Govindrao Phule:
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, who was a prominent activist, thinker and social
reformer from the Indian state of Maharashtra during the 19th century, was also
famous by the name of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. During his time, he tried bringing
in positive renovations in the spheres of education, agriculture, caste system,
social position of women et al. Out of everything that Phule ever did, he's
most remembered for his selfless service to educate women and lower caste
people.
Jotirao Govindrao Phule popularly known as Jotiba. They worked
for the upliftment of women, took up the cause of women and downtrodden masses.
Jyotiba with his wife started a girls school in Poona, in 1857. He also opened
a school for the children of the depressed classes. Jotiba Phule was also a
pioneer of the widow remarriage movement in Maharashtra. He challenged the
dominance of Brahmins and worked for organizing and activating the masses. He
championed the cause of villagers and actively worked for rural development in
Maharashtra. Jotiba was given the tile of ‘Mahatma’ for his work for the cause
of the oppressed. In 1873, he founded the Satya-Shodhak
to give strength to his movement and make it popular.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar:
Another outstanding reformer in Bengal was Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar (1820-1891). A scholar of great depths, he dedicated himself to the
cause of the emancipation of women. It was due to his sincere efforts that
obstacles to the marriage of widows were removed through a law in 1856. He
played a leading role in promoting education of girls and started and helped
the setting up a number of schools for girls. Vidyasagar did not concern
himself much with religious questions. However, he was against all those who
opposed reforms in the name of religion.
Vidyasagar championed the uplift of the status of women
in India, particularly in his native Bengal. Unlike some other reformers who
sought to set up alternative societies or systems, he sought, however, to
transform orthodox Hindu society from within. Vidyasagar introduced the
practice of widow remarriages to mainstream Hindu society. In earlier times,
remarriages of widows would occur sporadically only among progressive members
of the Brahmo Samaj.
Kandukuri
Veeresalingam:
Kandukuri Veeresalingam was born on April 16th, 1848, in Rajahmundry was renowned scholar and a versatile intellectual
who stood strongly for several social causes, like widow remarriages and
abolition of child marriages. With his rational and dynamic thinking and views,
he battled vehemently for women's equal rights.
In 1878, the Rajahmundry Social Reform Association was
founded that emphasized on anti-nautch movement to discontinue the hiring of
nautch girls. However, the association started concentrating on widow
remarriage at a later stage. Under this association, Kandukuri Veeresalingam
organized the first widow remarriage on December 11, 1881 of Gogulapati
Sreeramulu and Gowramma. Though he faced severe criticism from the society but
he was successful in convincing people on accepting widow remarriage.
He later took up the cause of opposing child marriages
and Kanyasulkam, a kind of dowry given by the groom to the bride's parents. In
1884, Kandukuri Veeresalingam set up another school for girls at Innispeta in
Rajahmundry. He was honored with title of "Rao Bahadur" in 1893 by
the government in appreciation of his work towards the society.
Kandukuri Veeresalingam was highly influenced and moved
by the Brahmo Samaj leader, Atmuri Lakshmi Narasimha. Further, the ideologies
and principles of Raja Rammohun Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and Keshub
Chunder Sen made a great impact on him. Following the footsteps of Brahmo
Samaj, Kandukuri Veeresalingam established the first Brahmo Mandir in Andhra at
Rajahmundry in 1887. This was followed by a widows' home and a similar
structure for Social Reform Association at Madras. He began the first theist
high school, the Hithakarini School at Rajahmundry in 1908. In the same year,
he donated all his wealth and property for the social activities of Rajahmundry
Widows' Home and the school. All these donations were kept under the management
of Hithakarini Samaj Association.
Virchand Gandhi:
Virchand Gandhi
was from Mahuva. He advocated female education. He is a 19th-century Indian
patriot who was a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and contemporary to Swami
Vivekananda. He and Swami Vivekananda drew equal attention at the first World
Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He won a silver medal in same. His
statue still stands at the Jain temple in Chicago. He was key member of Indian
National Congress and as a reformer established.
Society for the Education of Women in
India (SEWI), under the banner of SEWI, several Indian women came to USA for
higher studies.
Gandhi Philosophical Society,
School of Oriental Philosophy,
Jain Literature
Society in London and he delivered 535 lectures in USA and Europe. He also died
at age of 37 alike Swami Vivekananda. Today Government of India has recognised
his service by issuing postal stamp in his memory.
Dhondo Keshav Karve:
Dhondo Keshav Karve (18 April
1858 – 9 November 1962) was a social reformer of his time in India in the field
of women's welfare. Karve was one of the pioneers of promoting women's
education and the right for widows to remarry in India. The Government of India
recognised his reform work by awarding him its highest civilian award, Bhārat Ratna, in 1958 (Incidentally his
centennial year). The appellation Maharshi, which the Indian public often
assigned to Karve, means “a great sage”. Those who knew Karve affectionately
called him as Annā Karve. (In Marāthi-speaking community, to which Karve
belonged, the appellation Annā is often used to address either one's father or
an elder brother).
Social
Reformers Pertaining to Depressed Classes
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar:
Dr B R
Ambedkar, popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was one of the architects of
the Indian Constitution. He was a well-known politician and an eminent jurist.
Ambedkar's efforts to eradicate the social evils like untouchablity and caste restrictions
were remarkable. The leader, throughout his life, fought for the rights of the
dalits and other socially backward classes. Ambedkar was appointed as the
nation's first Law Minister in the Cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He was
posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor in 1990.
Bhimrao
Ambedkar decided to fight against the caste discrimination that almost
fragmented the nation. Ambedkar opined that there should be separate electoral
system for the Untouchables and lower caste people. He also favored the concept
of providing reservations for Dalits and other religious communities.
Ambedkar
began to find ways to reach to the people and make them understand the
drawbacks of the prevailing social evils. He launched a newspaper called
"Mooknayaka" (leader of the silent). It was believed that, one day,
after hearing his speech at a rally, Shahu IV, an influential ruler of Kolhapur
dined with the leader. The incident also created a huge uproar in the
socio-political arena of the country.
Vitthal Ramji Shinde
Vitthal Ramji Shinde: (23 April
1873 – 2 January 1944) He was a prominent campaigner on behalf of the Dalit
movement in Maharashtra and established the Depressed Classes Mission to
provide education to the Dalits in Maharashtra.
Jyotirao Govindrao
Phule:
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, who was a prominent activist, thinker and social
reformer from the Indian state of Maharashtra during the 19th century, was also
famous by the name of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. During his time, he tried bringing
in positive renovations in the spheres of education, agriculture, caste system,
social position of women et al. Out of everything that Phule ever did, he's
most remembered for his selfless service to educate women and lower caste
people.
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule set up the Satya Shodhak Samaj or the Society of
Seekers of Truth along with Jyotirao in 1873. The real aim of this institute
was to prevent exploitation and misbehavior to people from the low caste Shudra
at the hands of the upper class Brahmins in the society.
Due to his relentless struggle to derive justice and equal rights for the
farmers and the lower caste, Jyotirao Govindrao Phule is regarded as one of the
most significant figure in the social reform movement in Maharashtra state
during his time. Phule himself belonged to a humble family from the Mali caste
in the city of Pune. His father Govindrao was a vegetable-vendor, where as his
mother died when he was just nine months old.
Dayanand Saraswati:
Swami
Dayanada was born in 1824 in a small town of Gujarat. Swami Dayanand Saraswati,
the founder of the 'Arya Samaj' in 1875 in Bombay and he was one of the maker
of Modern India. His Arya Samaj gave emphasis on the liberation of the Hindu
Society. He called people ‘Go back to the Veda’ created consciousness among the
people.
The most influential movement of religious and social reforms in
northern India was started by Dayanand Saraswati. He held that the Vedas
contained all the knowledge imparted to man by God and essentials of modern
science could also be traced in them. He was opposed to idolatry, ritual and
priesthood, particularly to the prevalent
caste practices and popular Hinduism as preached by the Brahmins. He
favoured the study of western science. With all this doctrine, he went about
all over the country and in 1875 founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay.
Pertaining to untouchability
1. Jamnalal Bajaj
Jamnalal Bajaj: (4 November 1884
– 11 February 1942) was an industrialist, a philanthropist, and Indian
independence fighter. Gandhi is known to have adopted him as his son. He is
known for his efforts of promoting Khadi and village Industries in India. With
the intent of eradicating untouchability, he fought the non-admission of
Harijans into Hindu temples. He began a campaign by eating a meal with Harijans
and opening public wells to them. He opened several wells in his fields and
gardens. Jamnalal dedicated much of his wealth to the poor. He felt this
inherited wealth was a sacred trust to be used for the benefit of the people.
In honour of his social initiatives a well known national and international
award called Jamnalal Bajaj Award has been instituted by the Jamnalal Bajaj
Foundation.
