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Socio-Religious Reform Movements (Spectrum Digest, Ch 5)

Original CAPF digest of nineteenth-century socio-religious reform: Brahmo, Arya and Prarthana Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Aligarh, and reform among all communities

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At a glance
PaperPaper ISubjectHistoryImportanceHigh
Book DigestModern HistorySocial ReformBrahmo SamajArya SamajAligarhSpectrum

The nineteenth-century reform movements responded to colonial criticism, Western education and Christian missionary activity by attacking social evils (Sati, caste, child marriage, the denial of women's education) and reforming religious practice. CAPF tests these almost entirely as founder-organisation-year-idea matches.

The reformers' two impulses

  • Reform within the existing tradition (Brahmo Samaj, Aligarh).
  • Revival of an idealised past (Arya Samaj, "back to the Vedas").

Both produced a new self-confidence and a critique of social injustice that fed the national awakening.

Hindu reform

  • Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the "father of the Indian Renaissance", founded the Brahmo Samaj (1828) in Calcutta. He campaigned against Sati (abolished by Regulation XVII of 1829 under Bentinck), idolatry and caste, and promoted monotheism and modern education. Keshub Chandra Sen later split the Samaj.
  • Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj (1875, Bombay), with the slogan "Back to the Vedas"; he opposed idolatry, caste by birth and untouchability, started the shuddhi (reconversion) movement, and inspired the DAV schools. His book is Satyarth Prakash.
  • Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission (1897) to carry forward the message of his guru Ramakrishna Paramahansa; he represented Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893.
  • Prarthana Samaj (1867, Bombay), with M. G. Ranade and R. G. Bhandarkar, worked for social reform in western India.
  • Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar championed widow remarriage (the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856) and women's education in Bengal.
  • Theosophical Society (Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, headquarters at Adyar, Madras, from 1882; later Annie Besant) revived interest in ancient Indian thought.

Caste and anti-caste reform

  • Jyotiba Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (1873) in Maharashtra against Brahmanical dominance and for the education of women and lower castes; his book is Gulamgiri.
  • Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker led the Self-Respect Movement in the south against caste and Brahmanical orthodoxy.
  • Sree Narayana Guru in Kerala (the SNDP movement) and B. R. Ambedkar later (Mahad Satyagraha 1927, temple-entry movements) carried anti-caste struggle into the twentieth century.

Muslim, Sikh and Parsi reform

  • Aligarh Movement: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (1875, Aligarh), later Aligarh Muslim University, to bring modern education to Muslims and promote rational interpretation of religion.
  • Deoband Movement (Darul Uloom Deoband, 1866) took a more orthodox, revivalist line and was nationalist in politics.
  • The Singh Sabha and later the Gurudwara Reform (Akali) Movement reformed Sikh religious institutions; the Gurudwaras Act, 1925 placed shrines under the SGPC.
  • Parsi reform: the Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (1851), with figures like Naoroji and Furdunji.

The status of women

Reform centred on abolishing Sati (1829), banning female infanticide, permitting widow remarriage (1856), raising the age of marriage (the Age of Consent Act, 1891), and promoting women's education. These themes connect directly to the human-rights essay (gender) in Paper II.

The security and human-rights angle

Reform movements articulated rights of women, of lower castes and of religious minorities a century before constitutional guarantees. Anti-caste reformers in particular shaped the later constitutional commitments to equality (Article 14), the abolition of untouchability (Article 17) and protective discrimination, the bedrock of India's rights framework.

Common traps

  • Brahmo Samaj 1828, Ram Mohan Roy; Arya Samaj 1875, Dayananda Saraswati; Ramakrishna Mission 1897, Vivekananda. Keep the years apart.
  • Sati was abolished in 1829 (Regulation XVII, Bentinck), the result of Ram Mohan Roy's campaign.
  • The Aligarh college (1875) is Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's; do not confuse with the orthodox Deoband (1866).
  • "Back to the Vedas" is the Arya Samaj slogan.

Authored practice

  1. Match the founder to the organisation: Ram Mohan Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Vivekananda, Jyotiba Phule. (Answer: Brahmo Samaj; Arya Samaj; Ramakrishna Mission; Satyashodhak Samaj.) Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.
  2. Sati was legally abolished in which year? (a) 1813 (b) 1829 (c) 1856 (d) 1891. Answer: (b) 1829. Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.

Cross-references

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