Socio and Religious Reform: Hindu Reform Movements

Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which was later renamed Brahmo Samaj.
Its chief aim was the worship of the eternal God.
It was against priesthood, rituals, and sacrifices.
It focused on prayers, meditation, and reading of the scriptures.
It believed in the unity of all religions.
It was the first intellectual reform movement in modern India.
It led to the emergence of rationalism and enlightenment in India which indirectly contributed to the nationalist movement.
It was the forerunner of all social, religious, and political movements of modern India.
It split into two in 1866, namely Brahmo Samaj of India led by Keshab Chandra Sen, and Adi Brahmo Samaj led by Debendranath Tagore.
Prominent Leaders: Debendranath Tagore, Keshab Chandra Sen, Pt. Sivnath Shastri, and Rabindranath Tagore.

The Prarthana Samaj was established in Bombay by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang in 1876.
Objective – Rational worship and social reforms.
Focus on monotheism.
The two great members of this Samaj were R.C. Bhandarkar and Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade.
The four-point social agenda of Prarthana Samaj were
- Disapproval of the caste system
- Women’s education
- Widow remarriage
- Raising the age of marriage for both males and females.

The monotheistic Hindu reform movement is based on the values of the authority of Vedas.
Founded by Dayananda Saraswati in 1875.
Features
- Opposed idol worship.
- Upheld the infallibility of Vedas and the doctrine of karma.
- Promoted female education and intercaste marriage.
Started the Shuddhi movement to reconvert to the Hindu fold those who got converted to Christianity and Islam.
Literature Work – Satyard Prakash
Motto – Go back to Vedas.
Start of Gau Rakshak movement.
Started Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School at Lahore in 1886 by Lal Hansaj.
Split into two based on vegetarianism
- Vegetarian – Mahatma group.
- Nonvegetarian – Cultural Group.

Paramahansa Mandali was founded by Durgaram Mehtaji, and Dadoba Pandurang in 1849 in Bombay, Maharashtra.
It is closely related to Manav Dharma Sabha which was founded in 1844 in Surat.
Believed in one god and said real religion is based on love and moral conduct.

The Young Bengal movement was a group of radical Bengali free thinkers emerging from the Hindu College of Calcutta.
They were also known as Derozians, after their firebrand teacher at Hindu College, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.
The movement was inspired by the French Revolution.
Objectives
- They wanted to promote radical ideas through teachings and by organizing debates and discussions on Literature, History, Philosophy, and Science.
- The basic motto of Derozio was to spread intellectual revolution among young students. He was a great propounder of liberal thinking.
- Curbing social evils like child marriage, child labour, sati, etc., and promoting women’s education.
- Spreading ideas of the French Revolution like liberty, fraternity, and equality.
- They wanted to promote value-based and rational thinking through scientific-based knowledge rather than rote learning.

Founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873.
It was a reformational society that promoted education, and increased social rights, justice, and political access in the deprived sections.
Objectives
- To liberate the Shudras and ati Shudras from Brahmins’ exploitative policies.
- Convincing and persuading each individual that he or she is a child of one god and that God is thus their father.
- There is no need for a medium to contact or communicate with God. They argued that God can hear the voice and subject of prayer before it enters the outer world via voice.
- The main target that they wanted to eliminate was the aristocratic bureaucracy, as well as the social status of Brahmins.
- The society referred to God as their father and thus asked each individual to live in a spirit of fraternity and brotherhood.

Servants of India Society was founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1905.
Headquarters – Poona, Maharashtra
It was the first secular organisation in the country dedicated to underprivileged, rural, and tribal people, and to emergency relief, literacy, and other social causes.
The society created numerous campaigns to support education, hygiene, and health care, protect women from domestic abuse, and combat social evils, including untouchability, discrimination, alcoholism, poverty, and the subjugation of women.

Narayan Malhar Joshi, a leading member of the Servants of India Society, founded the Social Service League in 1911.
Objective: “To collect and study social facts and discuss social problems to form public opinion on questions of social service” and to secure for the masses a better quality of life and work.
The league opened several day and night schools, libraries, and dispensaries and started boys’ clubs and scouts corps.

It was initiated by Swami Vivekananda to spread the universal message of Vedanta in the light of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (He was a teacher of swami Vivekanand).
The main motto of this initiative is to work for the alleviating of the poor and the downtrodden with the motto ‘for one’s liberation and the good of the world’.
With this aim, Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.
The Ramakrishna Mission was formed in May 1897 with a spiritual and humanitarian nature.

Launched by Behramji M. Malabari in 1885.
The Seva Sadan specialised in the care of socially discarded and exploited women of all castes, providing education, welfare, and medical services

Deva Samaj was founded in 1887 in Lahore by Shiv Narain Agnihotri.
The teachings of the Samaj were compiled in a book form in Deva Shastra.
The teachings of the Deva Samaj emphasise the Supreme Being, the eternity of the soul, the supremacy of the Guru, and the need for good action.

The Self Respect Movement was founded in 1925 by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (also known as Periyar), a Balija Naidu.
The movement’s goal was to reject the Brahmanical religion and culture, which Naicker saw as the primary tool for the exploitation of the lower castes.
The objectives of the Self-Respect Movement have been outlined and stated in two pamphlets “Namathu Kurikkol” and “Tiravitakkalaka Lateiyam”.

Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) was a movement in Travancore (modern-day Kerala) for temple entry of the depressed classes.
The protest was against the caste-based discrimination prevalent in Kerala and the rest of India, where lower-caste Hindus were not allowed to enter temples, and roads leading to temples were banned for them.
Leaders – K. Kelappan, T K Madhavan, Velayudha Menon, K Neelakantan Namboothiri, and T R Krishnaswami Iyer.