Question : Discuss the important social reform legislation passed in the 19th century, and elucidate the reaction of Indian leaders to the measures adopted.
(2000)
Answer : Till 1813 British authorities also followed a policy of non-interference in the religious, social and cultural life of the country, but after 1813 they took active steps to transform Indian society and culture. The officials British efforts at reforming Indian society of its abuses were on the whole very meagre and, therefore bore little fruit. Their biggest achievement was the outlawing of the practice of sati in 1829 when William Bentick made it a crime to associate in any way with the burning of a widow on her husband's pyre. Earlier the British rulers had been apathetic and afraid of arousing the anger of the orthodox Indians. It was only after Rammohan Roy and other enlightened Indians and the missionaries agitated perisistently for the abolition of this monstrous custom that the Government agreed to take this humanitarian step. Many Indian rulers in the past, including Akbar and Aurangzeb, the Peshwas, and Jai Singh of Jaipur, had made unsuccessful attempts to suppress this evil practice. In any case Bentinck deserves praise for having acted resolutely in outlawing a practice which had taken a toll of 800 lives in Bengal alone between 1815 and 1818 and for refusing to bow before the opposition of the orthodox supporters of the practice of sati.
Female infanticide or the practice of killing female children at the time of their brith had prevailed among some of the Rajputs clans and other castes because of the paucity of young men who died in large numbers in warefare and because of the difficulties of earning a livelihood in unfertile areas, and in parts of Western and Central India because of the prevalence of the evil custom of dowry in a virulent form. Regulations prohibiting infanticide had been passed in 1895 and 1802, but they were sternly enforced only by Bentinck and Hardings. In 1856 the Government of India passed an Act enabling Hindus widows to remarry. The Government acted after Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and other reformers had carried on a prolonged agitation in favour of the measure. The immediate effects of this act were negligible.
All these officials reforms touched no more than the fringes of the Indian social system and did not affect the life of the vast majority of the people. It was perhaps not possible for a foreign government to do more. Rammohan Roy was a great thinker. He organised groups of life-minded people to keep a strict check on such performance and to prevent any attempt to force the widows to become sati. When the orthodox Hindus petitioned to Parliament to withhold its approval of Bentinck's action of banning the rite of sati, he organised a counter-petition of a englightened Hindus in favour of Bentinck's action. He was a stout champion of women's rights. He condemned the subjugation of women and opposed the prevailing idea that women were inferiror to men in intellect or in a moral sense. He attacked polygamy and the degarded state to which widows were often reduced. To raise the status of women he demanded that they be given the right of inheritance and property. In 1843 Debendranath Tagore reorganised the Brahmo Samja and put new life into it. The Samaj actively supported the movement for widow remarriage, abolition of polygamy, women's ecuation, improvement of the ryot's condition and temperance.
The next towering personality to appear on the Indian scene was Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the great scholar and reformer. Vidyasagar dedicated his entire life to the cause of social reform. He waged a long struggle in favour of widow remarriage. His humanism was aroused to the full by the sufferings of the Hindus widows. To improve their lot he gave his all and virtually ruined himself. In 1855, he raised his powerful voice, backed by the weight of immense traditional learning in favour of widow remarriage. Soon a powerful movement in favour of widow remarriage was started which continues till this day. Later in the year 1855, a large number of petitions from Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Nagpur and other cities of India were presented to the Government asking it to pass an act legalising the remarriage of widows. This agitation was successful and such a law was enacted. The first lawful Hindu widow remarriage among the upper castes in our country was celebrated in Calcutta on 7 December 1856 under the inspiration and supervision of Vidyasagar.
In 1850, Vidyasagar protested against child-marriage. All his life he campaigned against polygamy. He was also deeply interested in the education of women. As a Government Inspector of Schools, he organised thrity-five 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. The first steps in giving a modern education to girls were taken by he missionaries in 1821, but these efforts were marred by the emphasis on Christain religious education. in 1849, the Paramahansa Mandali was founded in Maharashtra. Its founders believed in one God and were primarily interested in breaking caste rules. At its meetings, members took food cooked by law-caste people. They also believed in permitting widow remarriage and in the education of women. Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded the widow Remarriage Association in the 1850s. Another prominent worker in this field was Karsondas Mulji who started the Satya Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage.
Question : The Arya Samaj 'did not, however, succeed in capturing the imagination of modern India as a whole'.
(1998)
The Arya Samaj undertook the task of reforming Hindu relgion in north India. It was foudned in 1875 by Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-83). Swami Dayanand believed that selfish and ignorant priests had perverted Hindu religion with he aid of the Puranas which, he said, were full of false teachings. For his own inspiration Swami Dayanand went to the Vedas which he regarded as infallible being the inspired word of God, and as the fount of all knowledge. He rejected such later religious thought as conflicted with the vedas. This total dependence on the Vedas and their infallibility gave his teaching an orthodox colouring, for infallibility meant that human reasons was not to be the final deciding factor. However, his approach had a rationally aspect, beacuase the Vedas, though revealed, were to be rationaist interpreted by himself and others, who were human beings. Thus individual reason was the decisive factor.
The Arya Samajists were vigorous advocates of social reform and worked actively to improve the conditon of women, and to spread education among them. They fought untoucability and the rigidities of the hereditary caste system. They were thus advocates of social equality and promoted social solidarity and consolidation. they also inclucated a spirit of self-respect and self-reliance among the people. This promoted nationalism. At the same time, one of the Arya Samaj's objectives was to prevent the conversion of Hindus to other religions. This led it to start a crusade against other religions. This crusade became a contributory factor in the growth of communalism in India in the 20th century. While the Arya Samaj's reformist work tended to remove social ills and to unite people,. its religious work tended, though perhaps unconsciously, to divide the growing national unity among Hindus, Muslims, Paris, Sikhs and Christians. It was not seen cleary that in India national unity had to be secular and above religion so that it would embrace the people of all religions.
Question : The 19th century India renaissance was both an acceptance and rejection of western values. Do you agree?
(1997)
Answer : Immence intellectual and cultural stirrings characterised 19th century India. The impact of modern Western culture and consciousness of defeat by a foreign power gave birth to a new awakening. There was an awareness that a vast country like India had been colonised by a handful of foreigners because of internal weaknesses of Indian social structure and culture. Thoughtful Indians began to look for the strengths and weaknesses of their society and for ways and means of removing the weakness. While a large number of Indians refused to come to terms with the West and still put their faith in traditional Indian ideas and institutions, others gradually came to hold that elements of modern western thought had to be imbibed for the regenerations of their society. They were impressed in particular by Modern science and the doctrines of reason and humanism. While differing on the nature and extent of reforms, nearly all 19th century intellectuals shared the conviction that social and religious reform was urgently needed.
The central figure in this awakening was Rammohan Roy, who is rightly regarded as the first great leader of modern India. Rammohan Roy was moved by deep love for his people and country and worked hard all his life for their social, religious, intellectual and political regeneration. He was pained by the stagnation and corruption of contemporary Indian society which was at that time dominated by caste and convention. Popular religion was full of superstitions and was exploited by ignorant and corrupt priests. The upper classes were selfish and often sacrificed social interest to their own narrow interest. Rammohan Roy possessed great love and respect for the traditional Philosophic system of the East; but, at the same time, he believed that modern culture alone would help regenerate Indian society. In particular, he wanted his countrymen to accept the rational and scientific approach and the principle of human dignity and social equality of all men and women. He also wanted the introduction of modern capitalism and industry in the country.
The Arya Samaj movement was an outcome of reaction to western ifluences. It was revialist in form though not in content. The founder, Swami Dayanand rejected western ideas and sought to revive the ancient religion of the Aryans. The Arya Samaj movement gave proud self-confidence and self reliance to the Hindus and under mined the belief in the superiority of the white Races and western culture. While the Brahma Samaj and the Theosophical Society appealed to English educated elite only Dayanand's message was for the masses of India also. The didactic rationalism of the Brahmo Samaj appealed to the intellectual elite in Bengal, while the average Bengali found more emotional satisfaction in the cult of Bhakti and Yoga. The teachings of Ramkrishna Mission are the based on ancient and traditional concepts amidst increasing westernization and modernisation. The Ramakrishna mission was esternization and modernisation. The Ramakrishna mission was westernization and modernisation. The Ramakrishna mission was conceived and founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897, eleven years after the death of Ramakrishna.
The Theosophical Society was founded by Westerners who drew inspiration from Indian thought and culture. Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) of Russo-German birth laid the foundation of the movement in the United States in 1875. Later Colonel M.S. Olcott (1832-1907) of the US Army joined her. The members of this society believe that a special relationship can be established between a person's soul and God by contemplation, prayer revelation etc. The Society accepts the Hindu beliefs in reincarnations, Karma and draws inspiration from the philosoph of the Upanishads and Somkhya Yoga, Vedanta School of thought. It aime to work for universal brotherhoodof humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.
The Society also seeks to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man. The theosophical movement came to be allied with Hindu Renaissance. The Western educated progressive Parsis like Dadabhai Noroji, J.B. Wacha, S.S. Bengali and Noroji Furdonji founded Rahnumai Mazadayasnan Sabha (Religions Reform Association) in 1851. The association had for its object. 'The regeneration of social condition of the Parsis and the restoration of the Zoroastrian religious to its pristine purity'. Rast Goftar (Voice of Truth) was its weekly organ.
In defence of orthodox Hindusim and against the teachings of the Arya Samaj the Ramakrishna Mission etc. orthodox educated Hindus organised themselves. In 1890s various organisations were founded in different parts of the country in defend orthodox Hinduism. Among these were the Dahrma Maha Parishad in South India and the Dharma Maha Mandali in Bengal etc.
If Hindu minds had responded to Western influence with a desire to learn, the first reaction of the Muslim community was to shut themselvs in a shell and resist western impact. The earliest organised Muslim response of Western influences appeared in from of the Wahabi movement (which may be more aptly be called the Walliulsah movement). It was essentially a revivalist movement. A legacy of the Revolt of 1857 was the official impression that the Muslims were the arch conspirators in 1857-58. The Wahabi political activities of 1860 and 1870 confirmed such suspicious. A section of Muslim community led by Syed Ahamad Khan was prepared to accept this stance of official patronage. These Muslims felt that Muslims community would forgo its rightful share in the administrative service if they shut themselves in a shell and resist modern ideas.
Question : The religious reform movements of the 19th century were 'endeavours to recast the old religion (Hinduism) into a new form suited to meet the needs of the new society'.
(1996)
Answer : the religious reform movements fall in two broad categories: one, reformist movements like the Brahma Samaj, the Prathna Samaj and the Aligarh movements, two revivalist movements like the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission and the Deoband Movement. Both the reformist and revivalist movement depended on a varying degree on an appeal to the lost purity of thye religion they sought of reform. The only difference between one reform movement and the other lay in the degree to which it relied on tradition or in reason and conscience. Another significant aspect of all the reform movements was their emphasis on both religious and social reform. This link was primarily due to two main reasons.
Question : Trace the course and comment on the character of caste movements in South India in the 20th century. How far were their object achieved?
(1995)
Answer : The growth of the national movement played a significant role in weakening the caste system. The national movement was opposed to all those institutions which tended to divide Indian people. Common participation in Public demonstrations giant public meetings, and satyagraha struggles weakened caste consciousness. In any case those who were fighting for freedom from foreign rule in the name of liberty and equality could hardly support the caste system which was totally opposed to these principles.
Since the middle of the 19th century, numerous individuals and organisations worked to spread education among the untouchables (or depressed classes and scheduled castes as they came to be called later), to open the doors of schools and temples to them, to enable them to use public wells and tanks, and to remove other social disabilities and distinctions from which they suffered.
As education and awakening spread, the lower castes themselves began to stir. They became conscious of their basic human rights and began to rise in defence of these rights. They gradually built up a powerful movement against the traditional oppression by the higher castes. In Maharashtra, in the second half of the 19th century, Jyotiba Phule, born in a lower caste family, led a life long movement against Brahmanical religious authority as part of his struggle against upper caste domination. He regarded modern education as the most important weapon for the liberation of the lower castes. He was the first to open several schools for girls of the lower castes.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who belonged to one of the scheduled castes, devoted his entire life to fighting against caste tyranny. He organised the All India Scheduled Castes Federation for the purpose. Several other scheduled caste leaders founded the All India Depressed classes Association. In Kerala, Sri Narayan Guru organised a life long struggle against the caste system. He coined the famous slogan : 'One religion, one caste and one God for mankind'. In South India, the non-brahmins organised during the 1920s the Self-Respect Movement to fight the disabilities which brahmins had imposed upon them. Numerous satyagraha movements were organised all over India jointly by the upper and depressed castes agianst the ban the latter's entry into temples and other such restrictions.
Justice Movement (1915-16) : It was started by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagraja Chetti in Madras. It was against the predominance of Brahmins in education, government services and politices. It remained loyal to the British rule in the hope of getting government jobs and representation.
Self Respect Movement (1925) : It was started by E.V. Ramaswami Naicker, popularly known as Periyar. It was against the dominance of Brahmines. Periyar waged movement for forcible temple entry, turning of Manusmirit and wedding without Brahmin priest. He started his journal 'Kudi Arasu' in Tamil in 1923 to propagate his ideas.
Ezhava Movement : Sri Narayan Guru started the movement of untouchable Ezhava against the Brahmin dominance in Kerala. He rejected the caste system and developed the concept of one caste one relgiion and one god for mankind.
Nair Movement : In Kerala, the Nairs started movement against, the dominance of the Nambudari Brahman, C.V. Raman Pillai organised the 'Malyali Memorial' in 1891. He wrote a novel 'Maratanda Verma' to show the military glory of Nairs. Padmanabha Pillai founded 'Nair Service Society' in 1914.
Satya-Sodhak Movement (1873) : It was started by Jotiba Phule in Maharashtra to save the lower castes from the Brahmins. He wrote 'Gulamgiri' and 'Savajanik Satyadharma Pustak'. His theory of exploitation of lower castes was focused on cultural and ethnic factor rather than on political and economic one.
Mahar Movement : Mahars were organised by Gopal Baba Walangkar in late 19th century against Brahmins in Maharashtra. B.R. Ambedkar became their leader in the 20th century. Under his leadership, the Maharas started burning the Manusmiriti and tried to break with the Hinduism.
