Explanation:

Explanation: Religious reforms began in Bombay in 1840 by the Paramahansa Mandali, which aimed at fighting idolatry and the caste system. Perhaps the earliest religious reformer in western India was Gopal Hari Deshmukh, known popularly as „Lokahitwadi?, who wrote in Marathi, made powerful rationalist attacks on Hindu orthodoxy, and preached religious and social equality. He also said that if religion did not sanction social reforms, then religion should be changed, for after all, religion was made by the human beings, and scriptures, written long ago, might not remain relevant to the later times. Later, the Prarthana Samaj was started with the aim of reforming the Hindu religious thought and practice in the light of modern knowledge. It preached the worship of =One God‘ and tried to free religion of caste orthodoxy and priestly domination. Two of its great leaders were R.G. Bhandarkar, the famous Sanskrit scholar and historian, and Mahadev Govind Ranade. It was powerfully influenced by the Brahmo Samaj. Its activities also spread to south India as a result of the efforts of the Telugu reformer, Viresalingam. One of the greatest rationalist thinkers of modern India, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, also lived and worked in Maharashtra at that time. Agarkar was an advocate of the power of human reason. He sharply criticised any blind dependence on tradition or the false glorification of India‘s past.