SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS

In the history of modern India, the socio-religious reforms
occupy a significant place. Social reformars like Raja Rammohan
Roy, Swami Dayanand Sarawathi and Swami Vivekananda were
responsible for the social and cultural awakening in India. The spread
of liberal ideas of the west provided further stimulus for the emergence
of reform movements. These movements introduced important
changes in social and religious life of the people
of India.
Raja Rammohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj
Raja Rammohan Roy established the
Brahmo Samaj at Calcutta in 1828 in order to
purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism. He
is considered as the first ‘modern man of India’.
He was a pioneer of socio-religious reform
movements in modern India.
LESSON 13
SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS
Learning Objectives
Students will come to know
1. The Brahmo Samaj and its services.
2. The reforms of Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission and similar
organizations.
3. The services rendered by social reformers like Raja
Rammohan Roy, Swami Dayanand Saraswathi and
Vivekananda.
4. Reform Movements among the Muslims in India.
5. Sikh and Parsi reform movements.
6. Socio-religious reforms in Tamil Nadu led by Saint
Ramalinga and Vaikunda swamigal.
RAMMOHAN ROY
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Born in 1772 in the Hooghly district of Bengal, he inculcated a
brilliant freedom of thought and rationality. He studied the Bible as
well as Hindu and Muslim religious texts. He had excellent command
over many languages including English, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic,
French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
In 1815, he established the Atmiya Sabha. Later, it was
developed into the Brahmo Sabha in August 1828. Through this
organisation, he preached that there is only one God. He combined
the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bible and the Koran in
developing unity among the people of different religions. The work
of the Atmiya Sabha was carried on by Maharishi Debendranath
Tagore (father of Rabindranath Tagore), who renamed it as Brahmo
Samaj. He turned the Brahmo Samaj into a leading social organisation
of India.
Raj Rammohan Roy is most remembered for helping Lord
William Bentinck to declare the practice of Sati a punishable offence
in 1829. He also protested against the child marriage and female
infanticide. He favored the remarriage of widows, female education
and women’s right to property. He felt that the caste system was the
greatest hurdle to Indian unity. He believed in the equality of mankind.
He did not believe in the supremacy of the Brahmin priests. He
favoured inter-caste marriages. He himself adopted a Muslim boy.
In 1817, he founded the Hindu College (now Presidency College,
Calcutta) along with David Hare, a missionary. He also set up schools
for girls.
Rammohan Roy started the first Bengali weekly Samvad
Kaumudi and edited a Persian weekly Mirat-ul-akhbar. He stood
for the freedom of the press. Rammohan died in Bristol in England in
1833.
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Henry Vivian Derozio and the Young Bengal Movement
Henry Vivian Derozio was the founder of the Young Bengal
Movement. He was born in Calcutta in 1809 and
taught in the Hindu College, Calcutta. He died of
cholera in 1833. His followers were known as the
Derozians and their movement the Young Bengal
Movement. They attacked old traditions and
decadent customs. They also advocated women’s
rights and their education. They founded
associations and organized debates against idol worship, casteism
and superstitions.
Swami Dayanand Saraswathi and the Arya Samaj
The Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayanand
Saraswathi at Bombay in 1875. Born in
Kathiawar in Gujarat, Swami Dayanand
(1824-83) was a scholar, a patriot, a social
reformer and a revivalist. He believed the
Vedas were the source of true knowledge.
His motto was “Back to the Vedas”. He was
against idol worship, child marriage and caste
system based on birth. He encouraged intercaste marriages and widow remarriage. He
started the Suddhi movement to bring back those Hindus who had
converted to other religions to its fold. He wrote the book Satyartha
Prakash which contains his ideas.
The Arya Samaj, though founded in Bombay, became very
powerful in Punjab and spread its influence to other parts of India. It
has contributed very much to the spread of education. The first
Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) School was founded in 1886 at Lahore.
Many more schools came up in other parts of India in later years.
The Arya Samaj had also spread nationalism. Hundreds of Arya
V IV IA N D E R O Z IO
Swami Dayanand
Saraswathi
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Samaj patriots, including Lala Lajpat Rai, took part in the Indian
freedom struggle.
Prarthana Samaj
The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867
in Bombay by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang. It was
an off-shoot of Brahmo Samaj. It was a reform
movement within Hinduism and concentrated on
social reforms like inter-dining, inter-marriage,
widow remarriage and uplift of women and
depressed classes. Justice M.G. Ranade and
R.G. Bhandarkar joined it in 1870 and infused
new strength to it. Justice Ranade promoted the
Deccan Education Society.
Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Mission
The original name of Swami Vivekananda was Narendranath
Dutta (1863-1902) and he became the most
famous disciple of Shri Ramkrishna
Paramahamsa. He was born in a prosperous
Bengali family of Calcutta and educated in
Scottish Church College. In 1886 Narendranath
took the vow of Sanyasa and was given the name,
Vivekananda. He preached Vedantic Philosophy.
He condemned the caste system and the current
Hindu emphasis on rituals and ceremonies.
Swami Vivekananda participated at the
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago (USA) in September 1893
and raised the prestige of India and Hinduism very high.
Vivekananda preached the message of strength and selfreliance. He asked the people to improve the lives of the poor and
depressed classes. He believed that service to mankind is service to
M.G. RANADE
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
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God. He founded the Ramkrishna Mission at Belur in Howrah in
1897. It is a social service and charitable society. The objectives of
this Mission are providing humanitarian relief and social work through
the establishment of schools, colleges, hospitals and orphanages.
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society was founded in New York (USA) in
1875 by Madam H.P. Blavatsky, a Russian lady, and Henry Steel
Olcott, an American colonel. Their main objectives
were to form a universal brotherhood of man without
any distinction of race, colour or creed and to promote
the study of ancient religions and philosophies. They
arrived in India and established their headquarters at
Adyar in Madras in 1882. Later in 1893, Mrs. Annie
Besant arrived in India and took over the leadership
of the Society after the death of Olcott. Mrs. Annie
Besant founded the Central Hindu School along with
Madan Mohan Malaviya at Benaras which later developed into the
Banaras Hindu University.
Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Pandit Ishwar Chandra was a great
educator, humanist and social reformer.
He was born in 1820 in a village in
Midnapur, Bengal. He rose to be the Head
Pandit of the Bengali Department of Fort
William College. He firmly believed that
reform in Indian society could only come
about through education. Vidyasagar
founded many schools for girls. He
helped J.D. Bethune to establish the
Bethune School. He founded the Metropolitan Institution in Calcutta.
He protested against child marriage and favoured widow
MADAM BLAVATSKY
PANDIT VIDYASAGAR
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remarriage which was legalised by the Widow Remarriage Act (1856).
It was due to his great support for the spread of education that he
was given the title of Vidyasagar.
Jyotiba Phule
Jyotiba Phule belonged to a low caste family in Maharashtra.
He waged a life-long struggle against upper caste domination and
Brahmanical supremacy. In 1873 he founded the Satyashodak Samaj
to fight against the caste system. He pioneered the widow remarriage
movement in Maharashtra and worked for the education for women.
Jyotiba Phule and his wife established the first girls’ school at Poona
in 1851.
Muslim Reform Movements
The Muslim reform movements started a little later because
they had avoided western education in the beginning. The first effort
was in 1863 when the Muhammad Literary Society was set up in
Calcutta. Its aim was to popularise the study of English and western
sciences. It established a number of schools in Bengal.
Aligarh Movement
The Aligarh Movement was started by Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan (1817-98) for the social and educational advancement of the
Muslims in India. He fought against the medieval backwardness and
advocated a rational approach towards religion.
In 1866, he started the Mohammadan Educational
Conference as a general forum for spreading liberal
ideas among the Muslims. In 1875, he founded a
modern school at Aligarh to promote English
education among the Muslims. This had later
grown into the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental
College and then into the Aligarh Muslim
University.
SYED AHMAD KHAN
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The Deoband School
The orthodox section among the Muslim ulema organised the
Deoband Moovement. It was a revivalist movement whose twin
objectives were : (i) to propagate among the Muslims the pure
teachings of the Koran and the Hadis and (ii) to keep alive the spirit
of jihad aganist the foreign rulers. The new Deoband leader
Mahmud-ul-Hasan (1851-1920) sought to impart a political and
intellectual content to the religious ideas of the school. The liberal
interpretation of Islam created a political awakening among its
followers.
Sikh Reform Movement
Punjab also came under the spell of reforms. Baba Dayal Das
founded the Nirankari Movement. He insisted the worship of God
as nirankar (formless). The Namdhari Movement was founded by
Baba Ram Singh. His followers wore white clothes and gave up meat
eating. The Singh Sabhas started in Lahore and Amritsar in 1870
were aimed at reforming the Sikh society. They helped to set up the
Khalsa College at Amritsar in 1892.They also encouraged Gurmukhi
and Punjabi literature. In 1920, the Akalis started a movement to
remove the corrupt Mahants (priests) from the Sikh gurudwaras.
The British government was forced to make laws on this matter.
Later, the Akalis organised themselves into a political party.
Parsi Reform Movement
The Parsi Religious Reform Association was founded at
Bombay by Furdunji Naoroji and S.S. Bengalee in 1851. They
advocated the spread of women’s education. They also wanted to
reform their marriage customs. Naoroji published a monthly journal,
Jagat Mithra. The momentum gathered through these reform
movements and went a long way in uplifting the entire community.
By the middle of the twentieth century most of them were highly
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Centres of Religious and
Social Movements

Deoband School
(Ahmediya Movement)

I N D I A
Belur
(Brahma Samaj), Young Bengal Movement)
Bombay
(Prarthana Samaji,
Satyashodhak Samaj) Pune
(Sarvajanik Sabha)
Rajahmundry Association
Madras
(Theosophical Society,
Veda Samaj)
Sivagiri Varkaka
(Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalan Yogam)
INDIAN OCEAN
Lakshadweep
(INDIA)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
(INDIAN)
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placed in various capacities and have made a significant contribution
to India’s development.
Saint Ramalinga
Saint Ramalinga was one of the foremost saints
of Tamil Nadu in the nineteenth century. He was
born on October 5, 1823 at Marudhur, near
Chidambaram. He was the last son of his father,
Ramayya Pillai and mother, Chinnammayar.
Developing a deep interest in spiritual
life, Ramalinga moved to Karunguli in 1858, a place
near Vadalur where the Saint later settled down. His
divine powers came to be recognised at the early age of eleven. In
1865 he founded the Samarasa Suddha Sanmargha Sangha for the
promotion of his ideals of establishing a casteless society. He preached
love and compassion to the people. He composed Tiru Arutpa. His
other literay works include Manu Murai Kanda Vasagam and Jeeva
Karunyam. His language was so simple as to enable the illiterate
people to understand his teachings. In 1870 he moved to Mettukuppam,
a place three miles away from Vadalur. There he started constructing
the Satya Gnana Sabai in 1872. He introduced the principle that
God could be worshipped in the form of Light.
Sri Vaikunda Swamigal
Sri Vaikunda Swamigal was born in 1809 at Swamithoppu in
the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. His original name was
Mudichoodum Perumal but he was called Muthukkutty. He preached
against the caste system and untouchability. He also condemned
religious ceremonies. Many came to his place to worship him and
slowly his teachings came to be known as Ayyavazhi. By the midnineteenth century, Ayyavazhi came to be recognized as a separate
religion and spread in the regions of South Travancore and South
SAINT RAMALINGA
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Tirunelveli. After his death, the religion was spread on the basis of
his teachings and the religious books Akilattirattu Ammanai and Arul
Nool. Hundreds of Nizhal Thangals (places of worship) were built
across the country.
Ramakrishna Mission
Swami Vivekananda
Thesophical Society
Madam H.P. Blavatsky
Col. H.S.Olcott
Prarthana Samaj
Dr. Atmaram
Pandurang
Arya Samaj
Swami Dayanand
Saraswathi
Brahmo Samaj
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
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Self-Respect Movement and Periyar E.V.R.
Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy was a great social reformer. In 1921,
during the anti-liquor campaign he cut down 1000 coconut trees in
his own farm. In 1924, he took an active part in the
Vaikam Satyagraha. The objective of the Satyagraha
was to secure for untouchables the right to use a
road near a temple at Vaikom in Kerala. E.V.R.
opposed the Varnashrama policy followed in the
V.V.S. Iyer’s Seranmadevi Gurugulam. During 1920-
1925 being in the Congrees Party he stressed that
Congress should accept communal representation.
Subsequently in 1925, he started the “Self-Respect Movement”. The
aims of the ‘Self -Respect Movement’ were to uplift the
Dravidians and to expose the Brahminical tyrany and deceptive
methods by which they controlled all spheres of Hindu life. He
denounced the caste system, child marriage and enforced widowhood.
He encouraged inter-caste marriages. He himself conducted many
marriages without any rituals. Such a marriage was known as “SelfRespect Marriage.” He gave secular names to new born babies.
He attacked the laws of Manu, which he called the basis
of the entire Hindu social fabric of caste. He founded the Tamil
journals Kudiarasu, Puratchi and Viduthalai to propagate his ideals.
In 1938 at Tamil Nadu Women’s Conference appreciatin the
noble service rendered by E.V.R. he was given the title “Periyar”.
On 27th June 1970 by the UNESCO organisation praised and adorned
with the title “Socrates of South Asia”.
PERIYAR E.V.R.
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Learning Outcome
After studying this lesson students would acquire knowledge about
1. Raja Rammohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj.
2. Swami Dayanand and the services of Arya Samaj.
3. Swami Vivekananda’s life and ideals and also the social
services rendered by the Ramakrishna Mission
4. The Muslim Reform movements such as the Deoband School,
the Aligarh Movement.
5. The Nirankari and Namdari movements among the Sikhs
and the Parsi reform movement.
6. St. Ramalinga’s Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga,
Vaikuntaswami’s Ayyavazhi.
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MODEL QUESTIONS
I. Choose the correct answer.
1. The Brahmo Samaj was established in the year
(a) 1827 (b) 1828
(c) 1829 (d) 1838
2. Who among the following started the Aligarh Movement?
(a) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (b) Salimullah Khan
(c) Muhammad Ali Jinnah (d) Muhammad al Hasan

1. …… was the Bengali Weekly started by Raj Rammohan Roy.
2. Swami Dayanadha Saraswathi was the author of ……..
3. The Satya Shodak Samaj was founded by ……
III. Match the following.
1. Atmiya Sabha a. Olcott
2. Young Bengal Movement b. Raja Rammohan Roy
3. Prarthana Samaj c. Baba Dayal
4. Nirankari Movement d. Henry Vivian Derozio
5. Thesopical Society e. Atmaram Pandurang
IV. Find out the correct statement. One statement alone is
right.
a) In 1815 Dayanand Saraswathi established the Atmiya Sabha.
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b) Rammohan Roy started the first Bengali weekly Samvad
Kaumudi.
c) Rabindranath Tagore was the founder of the Young Bengal
Movement.
d) The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 in Bombay
V. State whether the following statements are True or False.
1. The motto of Swami Dayanand Saraswathi was ‘Back to the
Vedas’.
2. The original name of Shri Ramakrishna was Narendranath
Dutta.
3. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagara opposed the widow remarriage.
4. Saint Ramalinga composed Thiru Arutpa.
VI. Write short notes (Any three points).
1. Arya Samaj
2. Swami Vivekananda
3. Jyotiba Phule
4. Sri Vaikunta Swamigal
VII. Answer briefly (100 words).
1. Discuss the principles of Saint Ramalinga.
2. Examine the Islamic Reform movements.
VIII. Answer in detail (200 words).
1. “Raja Rammohan Roy was the father of Indian Renaissance”
– Discuss.
2. Examine the importance of the socio-religious reform
movements of 19th century India.