Socio - Religious Reform Movements

 

ONE-LINER HISTORY NOTE FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMS

 

Socio - Religious Reform Movements

 

Rammohan Roy (1772 - 1883) and Brahmo Samaj  

1.       Raja Ram Mohan Roy is known as the father of Modern India, ‘Herald of New Age’, ‘Bridge between Past and Future. ‘First Modern Man in India’ Father of Indian Renaissance, Pathfinder of his Century etc.  

2.      Believed in monotheism and opposed idol worship.  

3.      Established the ‘Atmiya Sabha’ in Calcutta in 1815 inorder to propagate monotheism and to fight against the evil customs and practices in Hinduism.  

4.      He got legitimisation to his views from Upanishads.  

5.      In 1821 he started a paper called Samvat Kaumudi.  

6.      In 1822 he started Mirat-ul-Akbar, which was the first journal in Persian.  

7.      In the same year Rammohan and Dwarakanath Tagore jointly started a newspaper called

 

Bangadatta.

1.       In 1825 he started the Vedanta College at Calcutta.  

2.      In 1828, August he founded the BrahmaSabha Later in 1845 the name Brahmasamaj was given to it by Devendranath Tagore.  

3.      Against the Brahmasabha orthodox Hindus lead by Raja Radhakant Deb started

 

Dharmasabha.

1.       In 1829 December 4 Sati was abolished by governor general William Bentinck.  

2.      In 1831 he went to England to argue the case of Akbar II before the Board of Control.  

3.      The Mughal Emperor Akbarshah II gave Ram Mohan the title ‘Raja’.  

4.      After the death of Raja Ram Mohan Roy Brahmasamaj was divided into several sects.  

5.      Adi Brahmasamaj lead by Devendra Nath Tagore and Bharatiya Brahmasamaj led by Keshav Chandra Sen were started in 1866.  

6.      Sadharana Brahma Samaj was started by Anandmohan Bose in 1878.  

7.      Devendra Nath Tagore was the founder of Tatvabodhinisabha in Calcutta in 1839.  

8.      Keshav Chandrasen started a paper called Indian Mirror in 1861.  

9.      Brahmasamaj reached outside Bengal under Keshav Chandra Sen.  

10.    Keshav Chandra Sen was the first Indian who attempted to reform the society on an all India basis.  

11.      Surendra Nath Banerjee was the first Indian to took up his political activity on an all India basis.  

12.    ‘Precepts to Jesus’ is a book written by Rajaram Mohan Roy.  

13.    Thuhafath ul - muvahiddin or Gift to Monotheists is also a work of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

 

Prarthana Samaj

1.       Founded in 1867 in Bombay by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang (not by MG Ranade) as an offshoot of the Brahmasamaj.  

2.      It was later joined by M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar.

 

Arya samaj

1.       It was founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswathi in 1875.  

2.      He considered Vedas as eternal and infalliable and said ‘Go back to Vedas’  

3.      Dayanand Saraswati (1824 - 1883) was a Sanyasi from Gujarat. Raja Ram Mohan Roy

4.      He was the first to teach an aggressive, reformed and militant Hinduism.  

5.      Dayanand, was known in his early life as Mul Shankar.  

6.      He founded the Arya Samaj at Bombay in 1575.  

7.      He is known as Luther of Hinduism.  

8.      He was the first to use the terms - Swarajya Swabhasha and Swadharma.  

9.      He was the first to consider Hindi as a National Language.  

10.    He started the Suddhi Movement to re-convert to Hinduism those who were converted to other religions.  

11.      His book Satyartha Prakash is a commentary on Vedas.  

12.    He started Dayanand Anglo Vedic College in 1866.  

13.    Aryaprakash was the news paper started by Dayanand Saraswati.

 

Ramakrishna Mission

1.       Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa (1834 - 1886) was born in Kumarpukur village in the Hoogly village of Bengal.  

2.      His early name was Shuddirama Gadhadhar Chatterjee.  

3.      He was a priest in the Dakshineswar Kali temple. So he is called the Saint of Dakshineswar.  

4.      The most famous disciple of Ramakrishna was Vivekananda (1861 - 1903).  

5.      Vivekananda was born in a Kayastha family of Calcutta.  

6.      He attended the Parliament of Reigions at Chicago in 1893, September 11.  

7.      He was invited to the Congress of the History of Religions at Paris in 1900.  

8.      He founded the Ramakrishana Mission on Ist May 1897.  

9.      1899 the Matha or the centre of the mission was shifted to Belur.  

10.    He started two papers - the monthly Prabudha Barat in English and Udbodhana a Bengali fortnightly.  

11.      He is called the‘patriot saint of India’.  

12.    He was also described as a ‘‘Cyclonic Hindu’’.  

13.    In 1898 Sister Nivedita, (Margaret Elizebth Noble) an Irish lady was initiated to brahmacharya by Vivekananda.

 

Theosophical Society

1.       The Theosophical Society was founded by Madame Blavatsky and Col. H.S.Olcott in Newyork in 1875.  

2.      In 1882 it shifted its head quarters to Adayar near Madras.  

3.      Its philosophy was inspired by the Hindu Upanishads.  

4.      Dr.Annie Basant came to India in 1893, was its notable President.  

5.      In 1898 she started the Central Hindu School at Benaras, it later became Benaras Hindu University under Madan Mohan Malavya (1916).  

6.      She was the first woman to become the president of INC in 1917.  

7.      She started the Home Rule League with the Cooperation of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1916 with Dadabhai Naoroji as its President.

 

Young Bengal Movement

1.       Started by Henry Vivian Derozio, teacher in the Calcutta Hindu College.  

2.      His followers were known as the Derozians They attacked the old traditions and decadant customs.  

3.      In 1828 he started the Academic Association.

 

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar  

1.       Reformer from Maharashtra he advocated the power of human reason.  

2.     He founded the Deccan Education Society at Poona in 1884 with Tilak, V.K. Chiplunkar and N M Joshi.

 

Jyotiba Phule  

1.       Belonging to the low caste of Mali from Maharashtra, struggled against upper caste domination and Brahamincal supremacy through his Sathyashodhak Samaj founded in 1873.  

2.      He wrote Ghulam-giri in 1872 exposing the conditions of the backward castes.  

3.      He pioneered the Widow Remarriage Movement in Maharashtra and worked for the education of women.

 

Deva Samaj

1.       It was started in 1887 by Shiv Narayan Agnihotri at Lahore.  

2.      The religious text of this Samaj was Deva Shastra and the teaching Devadharma.

 

NM Joshi

1.       Initially a member of Ghoklale’s Servants of India Society.  

2.      He founded the Social Service League at Bombay in 1911.  

3.      He also founded the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920 at Bombay.  

4.      He left AITUC in 1929 and started the Indian Trades Union Federation.

 

HN Kunzru

1.       He founded the Seva Samiti at Allahabad in 1914 with the objective of organising social service during the natural calamities and promoting education sanitation, physical culture etc.

 

Shri Ram Gopal

2.      Founded the Seva Samiti Boys Scouts Association in 1914 at Bombay on the lines of worldwide Baden Powell organisation, which at that time banned Indians from Joining it.

 

Veerasalingam Pantulu

3.      Most prominent social reformer of South India in the second half of the 19th Century.  

4.      He founded the Rajmundri Social Reform Association in 1878 with the principal objective of promoting widow remarriage.

 

Muslim Reform Movements Aligarh Movement

1.       This movement was started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817 - 98)  

2.      Sir Syed’s journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq advocated a rational approach towards religion.  

3.      He founded the Muhammadan Literarary Society at Calcutta in 1863.  

4.      In 1875 he founded the Aligarh Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, (later Aligarh Muslim University)  

5.      Altaf Hussain Hali, Dr. Nazir Ahmad, Nawab Mutin Ul Mulk, Chirag Ali etc were the prominent leader of Aligarh Movement.  

6.      In 1866 Syed Ahmed Khan founded the Muslim Educational Conference.

 

Ahmadia Movement

1.       Founded by Mirza Ahmad at Quadiani in Punjab.

 

Sikh Reform Movements  

2.      In 1873 the Singh Sabha Movement was founded at Amritsar.  

3.      The Akali Movement was also started for Sikh reform  

4.      Kuka Movement was started with the aim of Sikh reform and restoration of Sikh sovereignty in Punjab by driving the British away.  

5.      Kuka movement was founded by Bagat Jawaharmal, popularly known as Sian Sahib in the 19th century.  

6.      Kukas recognised Guru Govind Singh as the only true Guru of the Sikhs.

 

Some other Reformers

1.      Prof. D.K. Karve who took the cause of widow remarriage started the Indian Women University at Bombay in 1916.

2.      B.M. Malabari started a Crusade against child marriage and his efforts were crowned by the enactment of the Age consent Act. 1891.  

3.      Ahrar Movement was founded in 1910 under the leadership of Maulana Mohamed Ali.