Hindu Reform Movements

Background and Causes of the Reform Movement

• Indian Society in the 19th century was caught in a vicious web created by religious superstitions and dogmas. All religions in general and Hinduism in particular had become a compound of magic, animism, and superstitions. The abominable rites like animal sacrifice and physical torture had replaced the worship of God. The priests exercised an overwhelming and unhealthy influence on the mind of people. The faithful lived in submission, not only to God, the powerful and unseen, but even to the whims, fancies, and wishes of the priests.
• Social Conditions were equally depressing. The most distressing was the position of women. The birth of a girl was unwelcome, her marriage a burden and her widowhood inauspicious.
• Another debilitating factor was Caste. It sought to maintain a system of segregation, hierarchically ordained on the basis of ritual status, hampering social mobility and fostered social divisions. There were innumerable other practices marked by constraint, status, authority, bigotry and blind fatalism. Rejecting them as features of a decadent society, the reform movements sought to create a social climate for modernization.
• The conquest of India by the British during the 18th and 19th century exposed some serious weaknesses and drawbacks of Indian social institutions. The response, indeed, was varied but the need to reform social and religious life was a commonly shared conviction. It also brought in completely new sets of ideas and social world. The exposure to post-Enlightenment rationalism that came to signify modernity brought a change in the outlook of a select group of Indians.
• The introduction of western education and ideas had the far reaching impact on the Indian Society. Through the glasses of utility, reason, justice, and progress, a select group of individuals began to explore the nature of their own society. There was a gradual emergence of public opinion. The debates between the Orientalists, scholars of Eastern societies like India on one side, and the Utilitarians, Liberals and Missionaries on the other also enabled the penetration of ideas, at least amongst the upper section of society. The resultant cultural change led to introspection about Indian traditions, institution, and culture.
• The socio intellectual revolution that took place in the nineteenth century in the fields of philosophy, literature, science, politics and social reforms is often known as Indian Renaissance. An important part of this Renaissance was reforming Hinduism from within on the basis of Post Enlightenment rationalism. The Renaissance was especially focused in Bengal and is popularly known as the Bengal Renaissance. However, the use of ‘renaissance’ is slightly problematic as in European history it is used to refer to the “rebirth” or revival of Greco-Roman learning in the fifteen and sixteenth centuries after the long winter of the dark medieval period. But in Indian context, it implied rediscovering rationalism from within India’s past.

Social and Religious Reform Movement

• Social Reform Movement are linked with different ideas including presence of Colonial government, Economic and Social backwardness of society, influence of modern western ideas, rise of intellectual awakening in the middle class and poor position of women in society. British rule in India acted as a catalyst to deep seated social changes. Western culture also influenced the Indian Life and thought in several ways. The most important result of the impact of western culture was the replacement of blind faith in current traditions, beliefs, and conventions by a spirit of rationalism.
• The major social problems which came in the purview of the reforms movements were emancipation of women in which sati, infanticide, child marriage and widow re-marriage were taken up, casteism and untouchability, education for bringing about enlightenment in society. In the religious sphere main issues were idolatry, polytheism, religious superstitions, and exploitation by priest.

Important characteristics of Social Reform Movement included leadership by wide emerging Intellectual middle class. Reform movement started in different parts of India in different period but having considerable similarities. They were link with one region or one caste. It was clear to them that without religious reformation, there cannot be any social reformation. Two Intellectual criteria of social reform movement included-

• Rationality
• Religious Universalism 

Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Brahmo Samaj

• Ram Mohan Roy, the father of Indian Renaissance was versatile genius, who opposed the idolatry, denounced Sati, polygamy and abuses of the caste system, favoured remarriage of Hindu widows. He started the ‘AtmiyaSabha’ in 1815 and carried a consistent struggle against the religious and social malpractices. In first philosophical work “Tuhfat-ul-Muwahiddin” he analysed major religions of the world in light of reason and social comfort .
• As a reformist ideologue, Roy believed in modern scientific approach and principles of human dignity and social equality. He put his faith in monotheism. He wrote Gift to Monotheists and translated the Vedas and the five Upanishads into Bengali to prove his conviction that ancient Hindu texts support monotheism. In percepts of Jesus(1820), he tried to separate the moral and philosophical message of the New Testament, which he praised, from its miracle stories.
• Sambad Kaumudi (founded in 1921) was a Bengali weekly newspaper published from Kolkata in the first half of the 19th century by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Sambad Kaumudi regularly editorialised against Sati, denouncing it as barbaric and un-Hindu. It was the main vehicle of Ram Mohan Roy's campaign against Sati.
• In August 1828, Roy founded the BrahmoSabha which was later renamed ‘BrahmoSamaj’ (The society of God). Object of the BramhoSamaj was the worship and adoration of the eternal, unsearchable, Immutable God. It opposed idol worship and stayed away from practice of priesthood and sacrifice. The worship was performed through prayers, meditation, and readings from the Upanishads.
• Great emphasis was laid on “promotion of charity, morality, benevolence, and strengthening of the bonds of union between men of all religious persuasions and creeds”
• It should be clearly understood that Ram Mohan Roy never intended to establish a new religion. He only wanted to purge Hinduism of the evil practices that has crept into it. Roy remained a devout Hindu till the end of his life and always wore the sacred thread.
• From the beginning the appeal of BrahmoSamaj had remained limited to the intellectuals and educationally enlightened Bengalis living in the towns.
• The orthodox Hindu led by Raja Radhakant Deb organised the ‘Dharma Sabha’ with the object of countering the propaganda of BrahmoSamaj. The early death of Ram Mohan Roy in 1833 left the BrahmoSamaj without the guiding soul and a steady decline set in.
• Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore founded the TatvabodhiniSabha in 1839 to propagate Rammohun Roy’s ideas. The Tatvabodhini Sabha and its organ the Tatvabodhini Patrika promoted a systematic study of India’s past in Bengali language and helped spread rational outlook.
• Tagore was a product of the best in traditional Indian learning and western thought, and gave a new life to BrahmoSamaj and a definite form and shape to the theist movement, when he joined the samaj in 1842.He worked on two fronts:
• Within Hinduism, the BrahmoSamaj was a reformist movement; outside, it resolutely opposed the Christian Missionaries for their criticism of Hinduism and their attempt at conversion. Under his leadership branches of the Samaj were established in various towns and the Brahmo massage spread in the countryside of the Bengal.
• The BrahmoSamaj experienced another phase of energy and vigor when Keshub Chandra Sen was made the acharya by Debendranath Tagore soon after the former joined the Samaj in 1858. Keshub was instrumental in popularizing the movement, and branches of the samaj were opened outside Bengal in the United Provinces, Punjab, Bombay, Madras and other towns.
• Unfortunately, Debendranath did not like some of Sen’s ideas which he found too radical, such as cosmopolitanisation of the samaj’s meetings by inclusion of teaching from all religions and his strong views against the caste system, even open support to inter caste marriages. Thus by virtue of his position Debendranath Tagore dismissed Kesub Chandra sen from the office of Acharya in 1865.
• Keshubsen and his followers broke away from Brahmosamaj in 1866 and established what was called the ‘BrahmoSamaj of India’. Debendranath’s more orthodox group came to be known as the ‘AdiBrahmoSamaj’ . There was a second schism in the BrahmoSamaj on the issue of radical social reforms being preached by Keshab Chandra Sen. The schism, after the marriage of Keshub’s 13 year old daughter to the minor prince of Cooch Behar with all the orthodox Hindu rituals caused another split in Keshub’sBrahmosamaj of India, resulting in formation of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1878, organized on more democratic lines.

The role of the BrahmoSamaj as the ‘first intellectual movement which spread the ideas of rationalism and enlightenment in modern India’ cannot be over-emphasized. Its liberal approach to social and religious questions won the approbation of Europeans and Indians alike. Its educational and social reform activities instilled a new confidence which, in turn, contributed to the growth of national movement. A number of BrahmoSamajists were later prominent in the struggle of Independence.

Contribution of BrahmoSamaj

The overall contribution of BrahmoSamaj may be summed thus-
• It denounced polytheism and idol worship.
• It discarded faith in divine incarnations.
• It denied that any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending human reason and conscience.
• It took no definite stand on the doctrine of karma and transmigration of soul and left it to individual Brahmos to believe either way.
• It criticized the caste system. 

Young Bengal Movement and Henry Vivian Derozio

• During the late 1820s and early 1830s, there emerged a radical, intellectual trend among the youth in Bengal, which came to be known as the ‘Young Bengal Movement’. This trend was more modern than even Rammohun Roy’s. A young Anglo-Indian, Henry Vivian Derozio, who taught at the Hindu College from 1826 to 1831, was the leader and inspirer of this progressive trend. Drawing inspiration from the great French Revolution, Derozio inspired his pupils to think freely and rationally, question all authority, love liberty, equality, and freedom, and oppose decadent customs and traditions. The Derozians also supported women’s rights and education. Also, Derozio was perhaps the first nationalist poet of Modern India.
• The Derozians, however, failed to have a long term impact. Derozio was removed from the Hindu College in 1831 because of his radicalism. The main reason for their limited success was the prevailing social condition at that time, which was not ripe for the adoption of radical ideas. Further, support from any other social group or class was absent. The Derozians lacked any real link with the masses; for instance, they failed to take up the peasants’ cause. In fact their radicalism was bookish in character. But, despite their limitations, the Derozians carried forward Roy’s tradition of public education on social, economic, and political questions.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

• The great scholar and reformer, Vidyasagar’s ideas were a happy blend of Indian and western thought. He believed in high Moral values, was a deep humanist, and was generous to the poor. In 1850, he became the principal of Sanskrit College.
• He was determined to break the priestly monopoly of scriptural knowledge, and for this he opened the Sanskrit College to break the self-imposed isolation of Sanskritic learning. Also, as an academician, he evolved a new methodology to teach Sanskrit.
• Vidyasagar started a movement in support of widow remarriage which resulted in legislation of widow remarriage. He was also a crusade against child marriage and polygamy. He did much for the cause of Women’s education. As government inspector of schools, he helped organize thrity-five girls’ schools many of which he ran at his own expense.
• As secretary of Bethune School (established in 1849), he was one of the pioneers of higher education for the women in India. The first lawful Hindu widow remarriage was celebrated in Calcutta in 1856 under the inspiration and supervision of Vidyasagar.

Dayanand Saraswati and Arya Samaj

• AryaSamaj ("Noble Society") is a Hindu reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 7 April 1875. He was a sannyasi who promoted the Vedas. Dayananda emphasized the ideals of brahmacharya (chastity). Swami Dayananda wandered as an ascetic for fifteen years (1845-60) in search of truth. The first AryaSamaj Unit was formally set up by him at Bombay in 1875 and later the headquarters of the samaj were established at Lahore. Swami Dayanand gave the mantra, “Go back to Vedas” as he believed that priestly class and Puranas had perverted Hindu religion.
• He wrote a book SatyarthPrakash which contains his philosophical and religious ideas. He believed that every person had the right to have direct access to God. It started the Shuddhi Movement to bring back those Hindus who had converted to Islam and Christianity.Today, temples set up by AryaSamaj are found all over India.
• The organization also has played an important role in spread of education through its network of schools known by name of Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) schools in India.
• In bringing about a national awakening in the country,the samaj played a dual role at once progressive and retrogressive. Thus in attacking religious superstition, propagating mass education, inculcating equality of man to man as well as between man and woman, it acted as a catalyst for progressive reform. Yet in proclaiming the Vedas to be infallible, it denied the individual the exercise of his own independent judgement and substituted one supremacy, that of the Brahmins, by another.
• Unlike the BrahmoSamaj, the PrathanaSamaj and several other 19th century reformist movements, the AryaSamaj never cut itself aloof from the mainstream of Hindu thought. In its formative phase the samaj made a signal contribution to the nationalist upsurge, yet after the twenties it contributed, however, unwillingly, to the growth of communal political consciousness. 

Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda

Ramakrishna Paramhansa was a mystic who sought religious salvation in the traditional ways of renunciation, meditation and devotion. He was saintly person who recognized the fundamental oneness of all religions and emphasized that there were many roads to God and salvation and the service of man is the service of God. The teaching of Ramakrishna Paramhansa formed the basis of the Ramakrishna Movement.
The two objectives of the movements were:
• To bring into existence a band of monks dedicated to a life of renunciation and practical spirituality, from among whom teachers and workers would be sent out to spread the Universal message of Vedanta as illustrated in the life of Ramakrishna.
• In conjunction with lay disciples to carry on preaching, philanthropic and charitable works, looking upon all men, women and children, irrespective of caste, creed or color, as veritable manifestations of the Divine.

NarendranathDatta (1862-1902), who later came to be known as Swami Vivekananda spread Ramakrishna’s message and tried to reconcile it to the needs of contemporary Indian Society. He emerged as the preacher of neo-Hinduism.

• Certain spiritual experiences of Ramakrishna, the teaching of the Upanishads and the Gita and the examples of the Buddha and Jesus are the basis of Vivekananda’s message to the World about human values.
• He subscribed to the Vedanta, which he considered a fully rational system with a superior approach. His mission was to bridge the gulf between paramartha (service) and vyavahara (behavior), and between spirituality and day-to-day life.
• Vivekananda was a great humanist. He believed in the fundamental oneness of God and said,” For our own motherland a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam, is the only hope.” Emphasizing social action, he declared that knowledge without action is useless. He lamented the isolationist tendencies and the touch –me-not attitude of Hindus in religious matters. He frowned at religion’s tacit approval of the oppression of the poor by the rich.
• Vivekananda founded Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, headquarters of which is at Belur near Kolkata. He used Ramakrishna Mission for humanitarian relief and social work. The mission stands for religious and social reform. Vivekananda advocated the doctrine of service- the service of all beings. The service of jiva( living objects) is the worship of Shiva. Life itself is religion. By service, the Divine exists within man.
• Vivekananda was for using technology and modern science in the service of mankind. Ever since its inception, the Mission has been running a number of schools, hospitals and dispensaries. It offers help to the afflicted in times of natural calamities like famines, floods and epidemics.
• The Mission has developed into a worldwide organization. It is a deeply religious body, but it is not a proselytizing body.
• It does not consider itself to be a sect of Hinduism. In fact, this is one of the strong reasons for the success of the Mission.
• Unlike the AryaSamaj, the Mission recognizes the utility and value of image worship in developing spiritual fervor and worship of the eternal omnipotent God, albeit it emphasizes the essential spirit and not the symbols or rituals. It believes that the philosophy of Vedanta will make a Christian a better Christian, and a Hindu a better Hindu.
• At the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda made a great impression on people by his learned interpretations. The keynote of his opening address was the need for a healthy balance between spiritualism and materialism. Envisaging a new culture for the whole world, he called for a blend of the materialism of the west and the spiritualism of the East in to a new harmony to produce happiness for mankind.

Theosophical Society

• The Theosophical society was founded in the United States by Madam H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel H.S. Olcott in 1875. The two theosophist leaders reached India in 1882 and set up their Headquarters at Bombay before moving to Adyar, in Madras. By 1884, the society had 100 branches in India, apart from several in Europe and America. The movement was revived and revitalized by Annie Besant who came out to India in 1893, after the death of Madame Blavatsky.
• She succeeded Olcott as the president of society in 1907 and endeared herself to large numbers of People by preaching the wisdom of Krishna and Gita, thus turning theosophy ‘into something specifically Hindu’. In fact, that would largely explain the uniqueness of this movement- it was inaugurated by a non-indian who was a great admirer of Hindusim.
• Theosophical Movement won great popularity for its work in the education of youth. Mrs Besant’s established the Central Hindu School at Benaras later developed by Madan Mohan Malaviya into the Benaras Hindu University. The society opened schools for boys, for women, for the depressed classes and took part in the Boy scouts movements.

M G Ranade and PrarthanaSamaj

• Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842 –1901) was a distinguished Indian scholar, social reformer and author. He was a founding member of the Indian National Congress and owned several designations as member of the Bombay legislative council, member of the finance committee at the centre, and the judge of Bombay High Court. A well-known public figure, his personality as a calm and patient optimist would influence his attitude towards dealings with Britain as well as reform in India.
• During his life he helped establish the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the Prarthana Samaj, and would edit a Bombay Anglo Marathi daily paper, the Induprakash, founded on his ideology of social and religious reform. A man of varied interest, an economist, politician, historian, and social reformer, Ranade did not let his official work interfere with his duty to the country and its people. He sketched out a policy that would make India progress economically.
• He published books on Indian economics and on Maratha history. He saw the need for heavy industry for economic progress and believed in Western education as a vital element to the foundation of an Indian nation. He felt that by understanding the mutual problems of India and Britain both reform and independence could be achieved to the benefit of all and insisted that an independent India could only be stable after such reforms were made.
• With his friends Dr. Atmaram Pandurang, Bal Mangesh Wagle and Vaman Abaji Modak, Ranade founded the PrarthanaSamaj, a Hindu movement inspired by the BrahmoSamaj, espousing principles of enlightened theism based on the ancient Vedas.
• Prarthana Samaj was started with inspiration from Keshav Chandra Sen, a staunch Brahma Samajist, with the objective of carrying out religious reforms in Maharashtra.

The four point social agenda of Prathana Samaj were

• Disapproval of caste system
• Women education
• Widow remarriage
• Raising the age of marriage for both males and females

The Main difference between the Prathana Samaj and Brahma Samaj was that the members of the Prathana samaj remained Hindus and started progressive reforms within Hinduism as Hindus whereas the Brahma Samaj assailed Hinduism by forming an organization more or less outside the Hindu orbit. They were much attracted to the ideals of the modern west, and proceeded to imitate Western methods of education.

• Ranade founded the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and later was one of the originators of the Indian National Congress. He has been portrayed as an early adversary of the politics of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and a mentor to Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
• Ranade was a founder of the Social Conference movement, which he supported till his death, directing his social reform efforts against child marriage, the shaving of widows' heads, the heavy cost of marriages and other social functions, and the caste restrictions on traveling abroad, and he strenuously advocated widow remarriage and female education.
• He was one of the founders of the Widow Marriage Association in 1861.Ranade attempted to work with the structure of weakened traditions, reforming, but not destroying the social atmosphere that was India’s heritage.

Satyashodhak Samaj

Jyotiba Phule belonged to the Mali (gardener) community and organized a powerful movement against upper caste domination and brahminical supremacy. Phule founded the Satya shodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers’ Society) in 1873, with the leadership of the samaj coming from the backward classes, Malis, Telis, Kunbis, Saris, and Dhangars.
The main aims of the movement were

• Social service
• Spread of education among women and lower caste people Phule’s works, Sarvajanik Satyadharma and Ghulamgin, became source of inspiration for the common masses. Phule used the symbol of Rajah Bali as opposed to the brahmins’ symbol of Rama. Phule aimed at the complete abolition of caste system and socio-economic inequalities. This movement gave a sense of identity to the depressed communities as a class against the Brahmins, who were seen as the exploiters.