Socio-religious Reform Movements: General Features

1.Factors Giving Rise to Desire for Reform

• Impact of British Rule and the 'Renaissance' LabelImportance 3/5
  Why is the 19th-century reawakening called a 'Renaissance' only with reservations? Understand how British conquest differed from earlier invasions, and what state Indian society was in compared with 18th-century Europe.
• Religious and Social IllsImportance 3/5
  Be clear about the religious evils that reformers attacked: superstition, the influence of priests, idolatry, polytheism and the priests' monopoly over scriptural knowledge.
• Depressing Position of WomenImportance 3/5
  Know the customs that degraded women at the start of the 19th century: infanticide, child marriage, polygamy, Kulinism in Bengal and sati. What did Raja Rammohan Roy say about sati? The legal disabilities of women are covered separately.
• The Caste ProblemImportance 3/5
  Understand how caste worked as a hierarchy of ritual status and why it blocked national unity and democracy. Was caste consciousness found only among Hindus? Be able to explain its effects on social mobility, individual initiative and human dignity.
• Opposition to Western CultureImportance 3/5
  How did the spread of colonial culture and ideology lead to an attempt to revive traditional institutions and culture? Remember Gandhi's well-known remark about the culture of all lands and his own house.
• New Awareness Among Enlightened IndiansImportance 4/5
  Understand how modern Western ideas and the sense of defeat led educated Indians to blame weaknesses within their own society. Remember the extreme reaction of some English-educated Bengali youth, and the factors that strengthened the resolve to reform in the late 19th century. In what sense was this regeneration occasioned by colonial rule but not created by it?

2.Social and Ideological Bases of Reform

• Middle-Class Base of ReformImportance 4/5
  Who formed the social base of reform, and which model did they follow? Understand the contrast between middle-class ideals and a mostly non-middle-class base. Where did this intelligentsia come from, and where did it not come from? Remember Nehru's remark on what the rising middle classes were looking for.
• RationalismImportance 4/5
  Remember how each reformer applied reason: Rammohan Roy, Akshay Kumar Dutt and Vivekananda. Know what the Brahmo Samaj, the Aligarh Movement and Syed Ahmed Khan said about religious authority and tenets. What role did reference to the past play in the reformers' thinking? Understand also their rational and secular outlook.
• Religious UniversalismImportance 3/5
  How did Rammohan Roy view the different religions, and which principles did he defend and attack? Remember what Syed Ahmed Khan said about prophets and 'din'. Understand why reformers used the universalist view in social and political life.
• Humanism and the Focus on Worldly LifeImportance 3/5
  Understand the humanist ideas in the reform movements: human progress, the individual's right to interpret scripture, and the attack on priestly domination. Why could social reform not avoid dealing with religion?
• Regenerating Indian Culture and InstitutionsImportance 3/5
  What were the two concerns of these movements about culture? Remember the fields in which they showed: traditional knowledge, vernacular languages, education, defence of religion, art and literature, dress and food, Indian medicine and pre-colonial technology.
• Two Streams: Reformist and Revivalist MovementsImportance 5/5
  Which movements are classed as reformist and which as revivalist? Remember the examples of each. Was the difference between the two streams one of aim or one of degree? Remember what Ranade said about reviving the past.

3.Direction of Social Reform

• Changing Character of Social ReformImportance 3/5
  Why was social reform tied to religious reform at first? How did its social base and approach change later?
• Agents, Media and Agenda of Social ReformImportance 3/5
  Remember the organisations and individuals that carried social reform, and who led it from the early 20th century. Which languages and media did reformers use to reach the masses, including one that came in the 1930s? What were the two points of the reform agenda?
• Status of Women and the Reformers' ApproachImportance 3/5
  How did Hindu and Muslim women differ on inheritance and divorce, and what did they share on polygamy? Understand why reformers thought women's status was vital. Remember the four forces that helped women's emancipation. What arguments and methods did reformers use?
• Abolition of SatiImportance 5/5
  Which Governor-General brought the law against sati, in which year, and under which regulation? Which reformer pushed for it? Remember how the law treated the practice and where it applied first. In which year was it extended to the other presidencies? Remember the earlier restrictions: the Portuguese ban in Goa and Akbar's order against compulsion.
• Measures Against Female InfanticideImportance 3/5
  Among which groups was female infanticide common? Remember the Bengal regulations against it and the later Act that required registration of births and checks on female children.
• Vidyasagar and the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856Importance 5/5
  Who led the effort for the Act, and what did the Brahmo Samaj do before him? Remember the two things the Act provided. What kind of texts did Vidyasagar use to argue for widow remarriage?
• Other Champions of Widow RemarriageImportance 3/5
  Learn who did what for widow remarriage: Vishnu Shastri Pandit, Karsandas Mulji, D.K. Karve and Veerasalingam Pantulu. What did Karve do in his own life and in Poona? Also know the other advocates, such as Malabari, Narmad, Ranade, Natarajan and the Phules.
• Laws on Child Marriage (1872 to 1978)Importance 5/5
  Remember the laws in order: the Native (Civil) Marriage Act of 1872, the Age of Consent Act of 1891, the Sarda Act and the 1978 amendment. What did each do, and why was the first one of limited effect? Did the 1891 Act set a minimum marriage age or an age of consent? Know who pushed for it, and who Harbilas Sarda was. Be clear about the marriage ages in the Sarda Act, the 1949 change and the 1978 amendment.
• The Rukhmabai CaseImportance 3/5UPSC 2020
  Remember the facts of Dadaji Bhikaji vs Rukhmabai: what Dadaji asked the Bombay High Court for, what Rukhmabai argued, and how the ruling changed on appeal. Who formed the Rukhmabai Defence Committee? How did the case help the push for the Age of Consent Act, and what did Rukhmabai go on to do?
• Early Initiatives in Women's Education in BengalImportance 4/5
  Learn the early institutions for girls in Bengal: the missionaries' Calcutta Female Juvenile Society and the Bethune School, with their founders and dates. What was Vidyasagar's part in girls' education?
• Promoters of Girls' Schools in Bombay (Shankarsheth, Bhau Daji)Importance 2/5
  What did Jagannath Shankarsheth do for girls' schools in Bombay? What was Bhau Daji Lad's position in the Students' Literary and Scientific Society, and what school was named after him?
• Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule's Schools for GirlsImportance 4/5
  Remember where and when the Phules opened their school for girls, and what inspired them. Who taught in it? Know about the night schools. Understand how the Phules' effort differed from the schools of the Students' Literary and Scientific Society in help received and in who led it.
• Parsi Girls' Education and Cornelia SorabjiImportance 2/5
  Which Parsi society was set up in 1863 for girls' education? Who was Cornelia Sorabji, and what did she achieve in 1887? Understand who mainly drove women's education in this period.
• Official Support and Later Institutions for Women's Education and HealthImportance 3/5
  What did Dalhousie say about female education, and what did Wood's Despatch of 1854 stress? Remember the later institutions: the Women's Medical Service, Karve's Indian Women's University, Lady Hardinge Medical College and the Dufferin hospitals, each with its date.
• Women in the National MovementImportance 3/5
  In which movements did women take part, before and after 1918? How did political participation change their lives? Remember Sarojini Naidu's two high offices. How did a women's movement of their own grow after 1920?
• Bharat Stree MahamandalImportance 3/5
  Who convened the first meeting of this organisation, and in which year and city? Remember its objectives. What did its founder say about men who worked for women's upliftment?
• Ladies Social Conference and Arya Mahila SamajImportance 3/5
  Who founded the Ladies Social Conference (also called Bharat Mahila Parishad), and who founded the Arya Mahila Samaj? Remember the year and city of the first, and its parent body. What did Pandita Ramabai's plea for women's medical education lead to? Who set up a branch in Bombay?
• National Council of Women in IndiaImportance 2/5
  In which year was the Council formed, which international body did it belong to, and what was Mehribai Tata's part in it? What criticism was made of the style of its women leaders?
• All India Women's ConferenceImportance 4/5
  Who founded the AIWC, in which year, and where was its first conference held? Remember its founding members. Understand its objectives, which were based on equality and social justice. Remember examples of laws it worked for, such as the Sarda Act, the Hindu Women's Right to Property Act (1937) and the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961).
• Caste Hierarchy and the Disabilities of UntouchablesImportance 2/5
  Why did the four-fold division break into many sub-castes? Understand what caste decided in a person's life: education, property, profession, marriage and dining, dress, water sources and temple entry. Why were untouchables hit hardest?
• How British Rule Undermined CasteImportance 3/5
  Did British rule weaken caste by design or as a side effect? Remember the economic changes, such as private property in land, the end of village self-sufficiency, commerce, towns and transport. Remember the legal and administrative changes, such as equality before law, the end of caste panchayats' judicial role, open services and secular education.
• Reform Movements and UntouchabilityImportance 3/5
  Remember the organisations that worked against caste disabilities, and what they did about education, temples and tanks. Why is their position seen as limited? Understand what they attacked, including the law of karma, and what the Arya Samaj aimed for.
• The National Movement and CasteImportance 3/5
  How did mass participation in the national movement weaken caste divisions? Remember what the Congress governments did after 1937 and which princely states opened their temples by proclamation.
• Gandhi's Campaign Against UntouchabilityImportance 4/5
  Understand the grounds on which Gandhi opposed untouchability and what he said about the Shastras. Remember the organisation he founded in 1932: its original name and the name it was later given. What did he say about untouchability and the future of Hinduism?
• Jyotiba Phule's Movement Against Brahminical DominationImportance 4/5
  What was Phule's caste background, in which region did he work, and which group did he oppose? What did he place first among his priorities?
• Gopal Baba Walangkar and Kisan Faguji BansodImportance 2/5
  For Walangkar, remember his district, how he extended Phule's theory of Aryan invasion, his organisation and his newspaper. What was Bansod's approach to Dalit uplift, and what did his press do?
• Ambedkar's Newspapers and OrganisationsImportance 5/5
  Remember each newspaper and organisation of Ambedkar with its year: Mooknayak, the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha and its motto, Bahishkrit Bharat, and the All India Scheduled Castes Federation. Who founded the All India Depressed Classes Association, and in which decade? Understand his call to end caste, and what the Government of India Act, 1935 gave the depressed classes. Remember his remark about a Voltaire among the brahmins.
• Non-Brahmin and Self-Respect MovementsImportance 4/5
  Who encouraged the non-brahmin movement, and which groups joined it in the south? Remember who led the Self-Respect Movement and in which decade. What else was being demanded about temples?
• Sri Narayana Guru and His SloganImportance 4/5
  Which slogan is linked to Sri Narayana Guru, and in which state did he work? How did his disciple Sahodaran Ayyappan change the slogan?
• Mahad Satyagraha and the Burning of the ManusmritiImportance 4/5
  Remember when and where the Mahad Satyagraha took place, who led it, and what it set out to challenge. How many people marched? Which three ideas did Ambedkar stress for self-elevation? What happened at the same place later in 1927?
• Constitutional Safeguards Against Caste Discrimination (Articles 15, 17 and 38)Importance 3/5
  Why could the fight against caste not fully succeed under British rule? Which Article covers each provision: untouchability, access to wells, tanks, hotels and similar places, and the Directive Principle on a just social order? Under the Article on untouchability, what is made an offence?

1. 1.

   Consider the following statements about the intellectual basis of 19th-century reform:
   1. Akshay Kumar Dutt declared that 'rationalism is our only preceptor'.
   2. The Brahmo Samaj repudiated the infallibility of the Vedas.
   3. Syed Ahmed Khan held that religious tenets were immutable.
   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   1. A2 and 3 only
   2. B1 and 3 only
   3. C1, 2 and 3
   4. D1 and 2 only
2. 2.

   The reform movements can be classified as reformist or revivalist. Consider the following pairs:

   Movement	Stream
   1. Brahmo Samaj	Reformist
   2. Arya Samaj	Revivalist
   3. Aligarh Movement	Revivalist
   4. Deobandi Movement	Reformist

   How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?

   1. AOnly one
   2. BOnly two
   3. COnly three
   4. DAll four
3. 3.

   Consider the following statements:
   Statement-I: The social reform movements of the 19th century were linked to religious reform.
   Statement-II: Nearly all social ills, such as untouchability and gender-based inequity, derived legitimacy from religion in one way or another.
   Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

   1. ABoth Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
   2. BBoth Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
   3. CStatement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect
   4. DStatement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct
4. 4.

   Consider the following statements about the abolition of sati:
   1. Regulation XVII of 1829 was issued under Governor-General William Bentinck.
   2. The regulation applied from the start to the Bengal, Madras and Bombay Presidencies alike.
   3. It made sati punishable by criminal courts as culpable homicide.
   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   1. A1 only
   2. B1 and 3 only
   3. C2 and 3 only
   4. D1, 2 and 3
5. 5.

   Match List I with List II:

   List I (Measure)	List II (Provision)
   A. Bengal Regulations of 1795 and 1804	1. Forbade the marriage of girls below 12
   B. Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856	2. Fixed the marriage age at 18 for boys and 14 for girls
   C. Age of Consent Act, 1891	3. Declared female infanticide illegal
   D. Sarda Act (Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929)	4. Legalised the marriage of widows

   Select the correct answer using the code given below:

   1. AA-3, B-4, C-1, D-2
   2. BA-4, B-3, C-1, D-2
   3. CA-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
   4. DA-3, B-4, C-2, D-1
6. 6.

   Consider the following statements about the widow remarriage movement:
   1. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta.
   2. Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded the Widow Remarriage Association in the 1850s.
   3. Karsandas Mulji started the Satya Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage.
   4. D.K. Karve himself married a widow in 1893.
   How many of the above statements are correct?

   1. AOnly one
   2. BOnly two
   3. COnly three
   4. DAll four
7. 7.

   Consider the following statements about the Rukhmabai case:
   1. The case of Dadaji Bhikaji vs Rukhmabai came up in 1884.
   2. In 1887, the appeal court upheld Justice Pinhey's decision in favour of Rukhmabai.
   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   1. A1 only
   2. B2 only
   3. CBoth 1 and 2
   4. DNeither 1 nor 2
8. 8.

   In 1848, Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule opened their first school for girls at

   1. AGirgaum, Bombay
   2. BAhmednagar
   3. CBhidewada, Pune
   4. DSatara
9. 9.

   Consider the following statements about women's education:
   1. Christian missionaries set up the Calcutta Female Juvenile Society in 1819.
   2. J.E.D. Bethune founded the Bethune School in 1849.
   3. D.K. Karve set up the Indian Women's University in 1916.
   4. Cornelia Sorabji was the first woman graduate of Calcutta University.
   How many of the above statements are correct?

   1. AOnly one
   2. BOnly two
   3. COnly three
   4. DAll four
10. 10.

    Match List I with List II:

    List I (Organisation)	List II (Founder)
    A. Bharat Stree Mahamandal	1. Margaret Cousins
    B. Ladies Social Conference (Bharat Mahila Parishad)	2. Pandita Ramabai Saraswati
    C. Arya Mahila Samaj	3. Ramabai Ranade
    D. All India Women's Conference	4. Sarla Devi Chaudhurani

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    1. AA-4, B-3, C-2, D-1
    2. BA-3, B-4, C-2, D-1
    3. CA-4, B-2, C-3, D-1
    4. DA-4, B-3, C-1, D-2
11. 11.

    Consider the following statements about B.R. Ambedkar:
    1. He started the fortnightly newspaper Mooknayak in 1920.
    2. He formed the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha in 1924 with the motto 'educate, agitate and organise'.
    3. He founded the All India Harijan Sangh in 1932.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    1. A1 only
    2. B2 and 3 only
    3. C1, 2 and 3
    4. D1 and 2 only
12. 12.

    Consider the following statements:
    Statement-I: In December 1927, Ambedkar and his colleagues burnt the Manusmriti at Mahad.
    Statement-II: In March 1927, Ambedkar led a procession at Mahad to draw water from the Chawdar tank, from which untouchables were barred.
    Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

    1. ABoth Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
    2. BBoth Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
    3. CStatement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect
    4. DStatement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct
13. 13.

    Consider the following statements:
    1. Gopal Baba Walangkar was the first Dalit to launch a newspaper, the Vital Vidhvasak.
    2. The Self-Respect Movement of the 1920s was led by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker.
    3. Sri Narayana Guru coined the slogan 'one religion, one caste, one God for mankind'.
    4. Sri Narayana Guru himself changed his slogan to 'no religion, no caste, no God for mankind'.
    How many of the above statements are correct?

    1. AOnly one
    2. BOnly two
    3. COnly three
    4. DAll four
14. 14.

    Consider the following statements about factors that weakened caste-based discrimination:
    1. Under British rule, the judicial functions of caste panchayats were taken away.
    2. The rulers of Travancore, Indore and Devas opened all state temples by proclamation.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    1. A1 only
    2. B2 only
    3. CBoth 1 and 2
    4. DNeither 1 nor 2
15. 15.

    Where was the first conference of the All India Women's Conference (founded 1927) held?

    1. ABethune College, Calcutta
    2. BElphinstone College, Bombay
    3. CPresidency College, Madras
    4. DFerguson College, Pune

1. 1.

   UPSC 2020

   In the context of Indian history, the Rakhmabai case of 1884 revolved around
   1. women’s right to gain education
   2. age of consent
   3. restitution of conjugal rights
   Select the correct answer using the code given below :

   1. A1 and 2 only
   2. B2 and 3 only
   3. C1 and 3 only
   4. D1, 2 and 3