Socio-Religious Reform Movements and Social Reform Laws

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Why reform began

Western education, the printing press, missionary criticism and the work of Orientalist scholars led educated Indians in the 19th century to re-examine their society. Reformers attacked sati, child marriage, the ban on widow remarriage, purdah, caste rigidity and idolatry, appealing both to reason and to the authority of the Vedas and Upanishads. Reform began in Bengal, spread to Bombay, Punjab and the south, and built the self-confidence on which political nationalism later grew.

Rammohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj

Raja Rammohan Roy, often called the father of the Indian Renaissance, founded the Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta and then the Brahmo Sabha on 20 August 1828, later renamed the Brahmo Samaj. It preached monotheism and opposed idol worship, sati, polygamy and caste rigidity, and supported women's property rights and English education; Rammohan also set up the Vedanta College in Calcutta. His campaign helped Governor-General William Bentinck ban sati by Regulation XVII of 1829. The Mughal emperor Akbar II gave him the title Raja and sent him to England, where he died at Bristol in 1833. Debendranath Tagore, founder of the Tattvabodhini Sabha (1839), revived the Samaj and Keshab Chandra Sen spread it, but it split in 1866 into the Adi Brahmo Samaj of Debendranath and Keshab's Brahmo Samaj of India. When Keshab married his under-age daughter into the Cooch Behar royal family, his followers formed the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj (1878).

Young Bengal and Vidyasagar

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, a teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta, inspired the radical Young Bengal movement; influenced by the French Revolution, his students questioned all authority and custom. Derozio was dismissed in 1831 and died the same year, aged 22. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta, used the shastras to argue for widow remarriage; his campaign produced the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act (Act XV of 1856), passed under Canning. He also worked for girls' schools and against child marriage and polygamy.

Reform in western India

The Prarthana Samaj was founded in Bombay in 1867 by Atmaram Pandurang, inspired by Keshab Chandra Sen; M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar gave it strength. It worked for inter-caste dining and marriage, widow remarriage and the education of women and the depressed classes, and Ranade later founded the Indian National Social Conference (1887). Jyotiba Phule challenged Brahmin dominance itself: with his wife Savitribai he opened a school for girls in Pune in 1848, and on 24 September 1873 he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth Seekers) for the rights of lower castes. His book Gulamgiri (1873) compared their condition to slavery.

Arya Samaj

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, born Mool Shankar at Tankara in Gujarat, founded the Arya Samaj at Bombay in 1875; its centre later moved to Lahore. With the call Go back to the Vedas, he held the Vedas infallible but rejected idolatry, ritualism, caste by birth and child marriage, and supported widow remarriage and women's education; his Satyarth Prakash sets out these ideas. The shuddhi movement brought converts back to Hinduism. After his death in 1883 the Samaj divided: Lala Hansraj and Lala Lajpat Rai ran the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) schools, starting at Lahore in 1886, while Swami Shraddhanand founded the Gurukul at Kangri near Haridwar in 1902.

Ramakrishna Mission and the Theosophists

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a priest at the Dakshineswar Kali temple, taught that all religions lead to the same God. His disciple Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta) spoke at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and founded the Ramakrishna Mission on 1 May 1897, with its headquarters at Belur Math; it joined spiritual teaching with social service, and his birthday, 12 January, is observed as National Youth Day. The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875 by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel H.S. Olcott and moved its headquarters to Adyar, Madras, in 1882. Annie Besant, its leader in India, founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras (1898), the nucleus of Banaras Hindu University (1916).

Muslim reform

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan believed Muslims had to take up modern Western education to progress. He wrote on the causes of the revolt (Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind), set up the Scientific Society (1864) to translate Western works, and founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, which became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920; his journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq spread his ideas, and he advised Muslims to keep away from the Congress. The orthodox Deoband school (1866) of Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi took the opposite political line and welcomed the Congress.

Laws that followed reform

Regulation XVII of 1829 made sati illegal in the Bengal Presidency, and it was extended to Madras and Bombay in 1830. The Widow Remarriage Act came in 1856. The Native Marriage Act of 1872, pressed by Keshab Chandra Sen, legalised inter-caste civil marriages. The Age of Consent Act of 1891, after Behramji Malabari's campaign, raised the age of consent for girls to 12, and the Child Marriage Restraint Act (Sarda Act) of 1929 fixed the minimum age of marriage at 14 for girls and 18 for boys.

Key facts

Brahmo Samaj, 20 August 1828, Calcutta - Raja Rammohan Roy; split 1866 (Adi Brahmo Samaj and Brahmo Samaj of India); Sadharan Brahmo Samaj 1878.
Sati banned by Bentinck's Regulation XVII of 1829 after Rammohan Roy's campaign; widow remarriage legalised by Act XV of 1856 after Vidyasagar's campaign.
Young Bengal: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta; dismissed and died in 1831.
Prarthana Samaj, Bombay, 1867 - Atmaram Pandurang, with M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar.
Satyashodhak Samaj, 24 September 1873, Pune - Jyotiba Phule; book Gulamgiri; girls' school with Savitribai Phule in 1848.
Arya Samaj, Bombay, 1875 - Dayananda Saraswati; Go back to the Vedas; Satyarth Prakash; shuddhi; DAV school Lahore 1886; Gurukul Kangri 1902.
Ramakrishna Mission, 1 May 1897 - Swami Vivekananda; Belur Math; Chicago Parliament of Religions 1893; 12 January is National Youth Day.
Theosophical Society: New York 1875 (Blavatsky and Olcott), Adyar 1882; Annie Besant's Central Hindu College, Banaras, 1898.
Aligarh movement: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College 1875, Aligarh Muslim University 1920; journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq.
Age of Consent Act 1891 (Behramji Malabari) and the Sarda Act 1929 (girls 14, boys 18) carried social reform into law.

Quick revision

Brahmo Samaj 1828 (Rammohan Roy); sati banned 1829 (Bentinck); Young Bengal (Derozio); Tattvabodhini Sabha 1839; Widow Remarriage Act 1856 (Vidyasagar); Prarthana Samaj 1867; Satyashodhak Samaj 1873 (Phule); Arya Samaj 1875 (Dayananda); Theosophical Society 1875, Adyar 1882; MAO College Aligarh 1875 (Sir Syed); Deoband 1866; Ramakrishna Mission 1897 (Vivekananda); Age of Consent Act 1891; Sarda Act 1929

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