Social and Religious Reforms - unedited

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS IN INDIA
IN THE 19TH CENTURY



Q1. What were the new social classes that arose in India after the British conquest?

Ans. The Hindu society was predominantly divided into castes and sub castes. Though during the vedic times there was not rigidity in the class structure, over a period of time, rigidity had crept in and some classes were dubbed as untouchable.

The impact of the British rule was such that new social classes arose which were totally different from those existing before the British Rule. The result of permanent land settlement led to the creation of a new class of rish land lords who regarded the land as their private property and their main aim was gaining maximum monetary profits. They gave the work of cultivating the land to the tenants who had no total rights over the produce. Even where a peasant was a owner of a land, he was heavily in debt and always in the clutches of the money lender.

Another class which grew as a result of these types of land lords was a middle class which was only interested in the profits of the land and lived in cities. They had jobs in Public services and the industry. This group did not come up because of their family lineage but because of their education and they formed a very important group in the society. This group played a leading role in the demand for modernization and also development of the Indian society.

Other classes like landless peasants who shifted to the cities in search of jobs as they had lost their lands to the new land tenure systems became responsible for the peasant movements later on. They formed the class of unskilled labourers who lived in the cities in slums near the industry with no job security and harsh living conditions leading to death and disease.

The British conquest thus had far reaching impact on the Indian society. It was result of this impact and as a reaction to it that the people of our country started examining their society in order to reform it and lay the foundation for modernization.

Q2. Describe the social ills against which the social reform movements were directed. Describe three of these in detail? (The answer has been edited and is re-posted at the end of the chapter.)


Ans . The impact of British rule in our country was such that it paved the way for modernization of the Indian Society and also for social reconstruction. The 19th century saw the rise of a series of social and religious reform movements and these movements ultimately paved the way for national movement and ultimately paved the way for national movement and ultimately the independence of the country.

The social and religious reform movements was not confined to one social class or community it arose among all the communities and they attacked the misinterpretation of the holy texts to suit the needs of the priests and the ulemas. They also aimed at abolition of the rigid caste system, sati, child marriage and other inequalities. They also tried to encourage widow remarriage, education of women and total upliftment of the status of women in India.

BRAMHO SAMAJ AND RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy known as “The father of Modern India” came from a rich aristrocratic Brahmin family. Well versed in various languages like Sanskrit, English, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic and after studying the various philosophies and ancient texts combined in himself the best philosophies of east and the west. He was the first to take a lead towards social reform on rational and scientific approach. He founded the Bramho Samaj in 1828.

Through the Samaj he propogated the oneness and brotherhood of all religions and gave scientific reasoning to all texts. He encouraged the fact that one should study and understand the holy scriptures themselves and not through the intermediatary priests. The samaj attacked the caste system and he tried to legalise the abolition of sati and encourage widow remarriage. He worked and supported the British in the introduction of English Education in our country as he felt that he Indians have to go with the changing tide of the changing society and ultimately will be ready to handle the country after independence.

The samaj did signal work in the field of removal of caste distinctions and improving the conditions of women like education of women and widow remarriage. The step taken by the samaj was followed every where and slowly and steadily spread to other parts of the country and communities.

ARYA SAMAJ AND DAYANAND SARASWATI.

Mul Shankar or Dayanand Saraswati as he came to be known, belonged to a Brahmin family at Kathaiwar. He rebelled against idol worship and at the age of 22 ran away from home and tried to find truth through the Vedas. He propogated the reformation of Hinduism through the studying and right interpretation of Vedas. He propogated the hindu society should purify itself by turning to Vedas.

In his book Sathyartha Prakash published in 1979, he denounced other religions, child marriages. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. He samaj condemned idol worship and many of the religious rights in the religion. The samaj had revitalist rendencies and infact was not so forward looking as the other reform movements. But has credible workd in the field of women’s education in Punjab. Many schools were started for girls and boys and the medius of instruction was Hindi and English.


VIVEKANANDA AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a temple priest of kali temple at Dakshineshwar. Highly respected though being illiterate, he had a huge following even among his contemporary reforms. His solutions to every problem was simple and was easily understood.

His greatest disciple was Narendranath, who took the name of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda traveled the whole of the country in search of truth and reason. He found the reason we were being ruled by a foreign nation was we ourselves as our society was divided because of caste and religion. He took up the cause of reforming the society and founded the mission under the name of his mentor Ramakrishna and named it Ramakrishna mission.

Being impressed of the economic prosperity of the west and also the status enjoyed by the women there, tried to reform our society and through his writings and speeches brought about a sense of pride in our past which till then was made to be understood as barbaric by the British. He combined in him dynamism and nationalism and greatly influenced the younger generation to take pride in their country.


Q3. What were the points of controversy between the anglicists and the orientalists?

Ans. The British Government was the chief aganecy in the spread of modern education. The chief reason being that after the consolidation of the empire, the people for minor posts like clerical and others could not be brought from England. So the work of training the Indians was taken and English education was introduced in our country.

When the british took up the cause of English education, there arose a point of controversy between the anglicists and the orientalists. The anglicists led by Lord Macualay advocated the introduction of education of English and the medium of instruction also English. But the orientalists want the encouragement of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic learning and also the encouragement of modern learning through local languages. But ultimately the anglicists won and English education was introduced in the country but primary education suffered a lot because of this introduction.


Q4. Describe the main phases in the spread of modern education in India in the 19th century? What were the agencies which helped in the spread of English education in the same period?

Ans. In the early years of the 19th century, the government had shown indifference towards the growth of education in India but with the expansion and consolidation of the british empire, the need was felt in the introduction of English education and modern education.

The first efforts were made by the Christian missionaries and individual officers of the company. Though their main aim was spreading of Christianity but still their efforts played a pivotal role in laying the foundation of English and modern education in the country. With the growth of education among the Indians, some of the resourceful Indians started taking the cause of spread of modern education in the country. One of the most important achievements was the founding of the Hindu college at Calcutta in 1817. Ram Mohan Roy and David Hare played an important role in the opening of this college. The starting of Mohammaden Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 at Aligarh which later became Aligarh Muslim University too played an important role in the spread of English education. Many Indians too started opening schools and colleges.

The zeal of the bristish government in the spread of western culture and the support of Indians in the spread of education played an important role in making the government take interest in the spread of English education, it in 1813 decided to keep aside a sum of one lac in the encouragement of modern education and at the instance of Macualay introduced English as the medium of instruction. But Wood’s Despatch in 1854 brought about the introduction of local languages along with English brought about the encouragement of modern education in leaps and bounds.

Towards the end of the 19th century significant advances were made in the field of education not only by missionaries but also by the pioneering Indians themselves and thus the spread of modern education paved the way for nationalist movements in the country.


Q5. Name some newspapers which were started in the 19th century and which are coming out even today.


Take the answer from the book


Q6. What do you understand by the term ‘modernization’? In what respects was Indian society not modern in the early 19th century.

Ans: By the term modernization we mean the changes that have taken place from the past to the present where changes have occurred for the better standard of living of the people of the society.

With respect to modernization, our country was not modern in the early 19th century because in every respect the society was backward. Education was the privilege of the rich few and there was caste distinction in the society with untouchability was being followed. The rights were denied to the ordinary citizens and the aristocracy enjoyed all the rights and the king was the power and there was no one to oppose him in the kingdom. The country was divided in small kingdoms and every kingdom had its own king with his own set of laws and taxes and not uniformity in the laws that were governed.

The village was a self sufficient unit and though foreign trade and commerce did flourish and was the main stay the products were produced at the local level with the artisan and his family being involved in the production of the goods and not at a fast rate. Women did not enjoy the rights that the women of today enjoy and education was a dream to many of them.

Thus our country in the early 19th century was not modern as compared to the society of today and the industries, society and government was not as it is today.


Q 7. Did modern education help in the awakening of India ? Discuss.

The answer is on page 332 the whole paragraph under the heading ‘influence of education’


Question: - Describe the social ills against which the social reform movements were directed? Describe three of these in detail?

Answer: - The social reform movements rose among all communities of the Indian people. In religion they attacked bigotry, superstition and the hold of the priestly clan. In social life, they aimed at the abolition of castes, child marriage and other legal and social inequalities. The social reforms tried to eradiate inequalities heaped on women, tried to do away with caste divide by education and tried to build a mind set of the Indian people that was completely different from the one that existed at that time. These social reforms were educated and had seen the advantages that education brought about in the society. These were many social ills that the social reforms worked to eradicate. They were abolition of Sati, abolition of child marriage, encouragement of widow remarriage, doing away with the caste system and the right to property for women.

Abolition of Sati:- Sati was an inhuman practice in which the widow was burnt on the pyre of her husband. Previously it was practiced to protect the honor of the widow but later it was forced on the widow but later t was forced on the widow to take over the property. Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked and succeeded in making the abolition of Sati legal. A law was passed in 1872 abolishing Sati.

Caste Discrimination: - Caste had been the sole legal and social determinant to one’s total life. A person who belonged to a high caste would have nothing to do with the lower caste. The Shudras or the un-touchable as they were called were not allowed inside the village temple or allowed in any functions. The social reform movements brought about a change on the mind set of the Indian society that now caste no longer remained the sole legal discriminant.

Widow Remarriage: - Widow like the untouchables were considered a bad omen in the society. A widow was ill treated both in her in-laws place and all in her parents place. She was not allowed to take part in auspicious functions also. The reformers worked for the widow remarriage where by women would have a respectable place in the society.