TEMPLE ENTRY MOVEMENT
Significant work in this
direction had already been done by reformers
and intellectuals like
Sri Narayana Guru, N. Kumaran Asan, T.K. Madhavan
etc. In 1924, Vaikom
Satyagraha led by K.P. Kesava, was launched in
Kerala demanding the
throwing open of Hindu temples and roads to the
untouchables. The
satyagraha was reinforced by jathas from Punjab and
Madurai. Gandhi undertook
a tour of Kerala in support of the movement.
Again in 1931 when the
Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended, temple
entry movement was
organized in Kerala. Inspired by K. Kelappan, poet
Subramaniyam Tirurnambu
(the 'singing sword of Kerala') led a group of
sixteen volunteers to
Guruvayur. Leaders like P. Krishna Pillai and A.K.
Gopalan were among the
satyagrahis. Finally, in 1936 the Maharaja of
Travancore issued a
proclamation throwing open all government-controlled
temples to all Hindus. A
similar step was taken by the C.
Rajagopalachari
administration in Madras in 1938.
Indian Sr :al Conference
Founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao, the
conference met annually
from its first session in Madras in 1887 at the
same time and venue as
the Indian National Congress. It focussed
attention on the social
issues of importance; it could be called the
social reform cell of the
Indian National Congress, in fact. The
conference advocated
inter-caste marriages, opposed polygamy and
kulinism. It launched the
"Pledge Movement" to inspire people to take a
pledge against child
marriage.
Wahabi/Walliullah
Movement Shah Walliullah (1702-62) inspired this
essentially revivalist
response to western influences and the
degeneration which had
set in among Indian Muslims. He was the first
Indian Muslim leader of
the 18th century to organize Muslims around the
two-fold ideals of this
movement: (i) desirability of harmony among the
four schools of Muslim
jurisprudence which had divided the Indian
Muslims (he sought to
integrate the best elements of the four schools);
(ii) recognition of the
role of individual conscience in religion
46 A Brief History of
Modern India
where conflicting
interpretations were derived from the Quran and the
Hadis.
The teachings of
Walliullah were further popularised by Shah Abdul Aziz
and Syed Ahmed Barelvi
who also gave them a political perspective. India
was considered to be
dar-ul-Harb (land of the kafirs) and it needed to
be converted to
dar-ulIslam (land of Islam). Initially the movement was
directed at Sikhs in
Punjab but after the British annexation of Punjab
(1849), the movement was
directed against the British. The movement
fizzled out in the face
of British military might in the 1870s.
TITU MIR'S MOVEMENT
Mir Nithar Ali, popularly
known as Titu Mir, was a disciple of Sayyid
Ahmed Raebarelvi, the
founder of the Wahabi Movement. Titu Mir organized
the Muslim peasants of
Bengal against the Hindu landlords and the
British indigo planters.
The movement was not as militant as the British
records made it out to
be; only in the last year of Titu's life was
there a confrontation
between him and the British police. He was killed
in action in 1831.
FARAIZI MOVEMENT
The movement, also called
the Fara'idi Movement because of its emphasis
on the Islamic pillars of
faith, was founded by Haji Shariat-Allah. Its
scene of action was East
Bengal, and it aimed at the eradication of
social innovations
current among the Muslims of the region. Under the
leadership of Haji's son,
Dudu Mian, the movement became revolutionary
from 1840 onwards. He
gave the movement an organisational system from
the village to the
provincial level with a khalifa or authorised deputy
at every level. The
Fara'idis organized a paramilitary forces armed with
clubs to fight the Hindu
landlords and even the police. Dudu Mian was
arrested several times,
and his arrest in 1847 finally weakened the
movement. The movement
survived merely as a religious movement without
political overtones after
the death of Dudu Mian in 1862.
Ahmadiya Movement
This movement was founded
by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed in 1889. It was based on
liberal
Religious and Social
Reform Movements 47
principles. It described
itself as the standard-bearer of Mohammedan
Renaissance, and based
itself, like the Brahmo Samaj, on the principles
of universal religion of
all humanity, opposing jihad (sacred war
against non-Muslims). The
movement spread western liberal education
among the Indian Muslims.
However, the Ahmadiya Movement, like Baha'ism
which flourished in the
West Asian countries, suffered from mysticism.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and
the Aligarh Movement
The official view on the
revolt of 1857 held the Muslims to be the main
conspirators. This view
was further strengthened by the activities of
the Wahabis. But later,
an opinion got currency among the rulers that
the Muslims could be used
as allies against a rising tide of nationalist
political activity
represented, among others, by the foundation of the
Indian National Congress.
This was to be achieved through offers of
thoughtful concessions to
the Muslims. A section of Muslims led by Syed
Ahmed Khan was ready to
allow the official patronage to stimulate a
process of growth among
Indian Muslims through better education and
employment opportunities.
Syed Ahmed Khan, born in
1817 in a respectable Muslim family, was a
loyalist member of the
judicial service of the Government. After
retirement in 1876, he
became a member of the Imperial Legislative
Council in 1878. His
loyalty earned him a knighthood in 1888. He wanted
to reconcile western
scientific education with the teachings of the
Quran to be interpreted
in the light of contemporary rationalism and
science even though he
also held the Quran to be the ultimate. He said
that religion, should be
adaptable with time or else it would become
fossilised, and that
religious tenets were not immutable. He advocated a
critical approach and
freedom of thought and no dependence on tradition
or custom. He was also a
zealous educationist—as an official, he opened
schools in towns, got
books translated into Urdu and started the
Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental
College at Aligarh in 1875. He also struggled
to bring about an
improvement in the position of women through better
education by
48 A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA
opposing purdah and
polygamy, advocating easy divorce, and condemning
the system of piri and
muridi. He believed in the fundamental underlying
unity of religions or
'practical morality'. He also preached the basic
commonality of. Hindu and
Muslim interests.
He argued that Muslims
should first concentrate on education and jobs
and try to catch up with
their Hindu counterparts who had gained the
advantage of an early
start. Active participation in politics at that
point, he felt, would
invite hostility of the Government towards the
Muslim masses. Therefore,
he opposed political activity by the Muslims.
Unfortunately, in his
enthusiasm to promote the educational and
employment interests of
the Muslims, he allowed himself to be used by
the colonial government
in its obnoxious policy of divide and rule and,
in later years, started
propagating divergence of interests of Hindus
and Muslims.
Syed's progressive social
ideas were propagated through his magazine
Tandhib-ul-Akhlaq
(Improvement of Manners and Morals).
The Aligarh Movement
emerged as a liberal, modern trend among the Muslim
intelligentsia based in
Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh. It
aimed at spreading (i)
modern education among Indian Muslims without
weakening their
allegiance to Islam; (ii) social reforms among Muslims
relating to purdah,
polygamy, widow remarriage, women's education,
slavery, divorce, etc. The
ideology of the followers of the movement was
based on a liberal
interpretation of the Quran and they sought to
harmonise Islam with
modern liberal culture. They wanted to impart a
distinct socio-cultural
identity to Muslims on modern lines. Soon,
Aligarh became the centre
of religious and cultural revival of the.
Muslim community.
The Deoband School
The Deoband Movement was
organized by the orthodox section among the
Muslim ulema as a
revivalist movement with the twin objectives of
propagating pure teachings
of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and
keeping alive the spirit
of jiliad against the foreign rulers.
Religious and Social
Reform MoveMents 49
The Deoband Movement was
established in Deoband in Saharanpur district
(United Provinces) in
1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and
Rashid Ahmed,cangohi
(18281905) to train religious leaciers tor tne
iviusum conununuy.
contrast to> the
Ahgarn ivievemenr, 4 L al of Muslim& through western
education and support of
the British Government, the aim of the Deoband
Movement was moral and
religious regeneration of the Muslim community.
The instruction imparted
at Deoband was in original Islamic religion.
On the political front,
the Deoband school welcomed the formation of the
Indian National Congress
and in 1888 issued a fatwa (religious decree)
against Syed Ahmed Khan's
organisations, The United Patriotic
Association and the
1V1ohammaden Anglo-Oriental Association. Some
critics attribute
Deoband's support to the nationalists more to its
determined opposition to
Syed Ahmed Khan than to any positive political
philosophy.
Mahmud-ul-,Flasan, the
new Deoband leader, gave a political and
intellectual content to
the religious ideas of the school. He worked'
'out a synthesis of
Islamic principles and nationalist aspirations. The
Jamiat-ul-Ulema gave a
concrete shape to Hasan's ideas of protection of
the religious and
political rights of the Muslims in the overall context
of Indian unity and
national objectives.
Shibli Numani, a
supporter of the Deoband, school, favoured the
inclusion of English
language and European sciences in the system of
education. He founded the
Nadwatal Ulama and DarI hum in Lucknow in
1894-96. He believed in
the idealism of the Congress and cooperation
between the Muslims
Hindus of Iriaia to create a state in which both
could live amicably.
Parsi Reform Movements
The Rahnumai Mazdayasnan
Sabha (Religious Reform Association) was founded
in 1851 by a, group of
English-educated Parsis for the "regeneration of
the social conditions of
the Parsis and the restoration of the
Zoroastrian religion to
its pristine purity". The movement had
50 A Brief History of
Modern India
Religious and Social
Reform Movements 51
Naoroji Furdonji,
Dadabhai Naoroji, K.R. Carna and S.S. Bengalee as its
leaders. The message of reform
was spread by the newspaper Rast Goftar
(Truth-Teller). Parsi
religious rituals and practices were reformed and
the Parsi creed
redefined. In the social sphere, attempts were made to
uplift the status of
Parsi women through removal of the purdah system,
raising the age of
marriage and education. Gradually, the Parsis emerged
as the most westernised
section of the Indian society.
Sikh Reform Movements
The Sikh community could
not remain untouched by the rising tide of
rationalist and
progressive ideas of the nineteenth century. The Singh
Sabha Movement was
founded at Amritsar in 1873 with a two-fold
objective—-(i) to make
available modern western education to the Sikhs,
and (ii) to counter the
proselytising activities of Christian
missionaries as well as
Hindu revivalists. For the first objective, a
network of Khalsa schools
was established by the Sabha throughout
Punjab. The Akali
movement was an offshoot of the Singh Sabha Movement.
It aimed at liberating
the Sikh gurudwaras from the control of corrupt
Udasi Mahants who were a
loyalist and reactionary lot, enjoying
government patronage. The
Government tried its repressive policies
against the non-violent
non-cooperation satyagraha launched by the
Akalis in 1921, but had
to bow before popular demands and passed the
Sikh Gurudwaras Act in
1922 (amended in 1925) which gave the control of
gurudwaras to the Sikh
masses to be administered through Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak
Committee (SGPC) as the apex body.
The Akali Movement was a
regional movement but not a communal one The
Akali leaders played a
notable role in the national liberation struggle
though some dissenting
voices were heard occasionally.
The Theosophical Movement
A group of westerners led
by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) and
Colonel M.S. who were
inspired by Indian thought and culture, founded
the Theosophical Society
in United States in 1875.
In 1882, they shifted
their headquarters to Adayar, on the outskirts of
Madras. The society
believed that a special relationship could be
established between a
person's soul and Gay contemplation, Ri-ayer,
revelation, etc. It
accepted the Hindu beliefs in reincarnation and
karma, and drew
inspiration from the philosophy of the Upanishads and
samkhya, yoga and Vedanta
schools of thought. It aimed to work for
universal brotherhood of
humanity without distinction of race, creed,
sex, caste or colour. The
society also sought to investigate the
unexplained laws of
nature and the powers latent in man. The
Theosophical Movement
came to be allied with the Hindu renaissance. In
India, the movement
became somewhat popular with the election of Annie
Besant (1847-1933) as its
president after the death of Olcott in 1907.
Annie Besant had come to
India in 1893. She laid the foundation of the
Central Hindu College in
Benaras in 1898 where both Hindu religion and
western scientific
subjects were taught. The college became the nucleus
for the formation of
Benaras Hindu University in 1916. Annie Besant also
did much for the cause of
the education of women.
The Theosophical Society
provided a common denominator for the various
sects and fulfilled the
urge of educated Hindus. However, to an average
Indian the Theosophist
philosophy seemed to be vague and lacking a
positive programme; to
that extent its impact was limited to a small
segment of the
westernised class. As religious revivalists, the
Theosophists did not
attain much success, but as a movement of
westerners glorifying
Indian religious and philosophical traditions they
gave much needed
self-respect to the Indians fighting British colonial
rule. Viewed from another
angle, the Theosophists also had the effect of
giving a false sense of
pride to the Indians in their outdated and
sometimes backwardlooking
traditions and philosophy.
POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
OF REFORM MOVEMENTS
The
orthodox sections of society could not accept
the scientific
ideological onslaught of the socio-religious rebels. As a
result
52 A Brief History of
Modern India
of this, the reformers
were subjected to abuse, persecution, issuing of
fatwas and evert assassination
attempts by the reactionaries.
However, in spite of
opposition, these movements contributed towards
liberation of the
individual from the conformity born out of fear and
from uncritical
submission to exploitation by the priests. The
translation of religious
texts into vernacular languages, emphasis on an
individual's right to
interpret, the scriptiffes aria—simplification of
rituals experience. The
move-Me-as emphasised the human intellect's
capacity to think and
reason. wTedinout corrupt elements, religious
leaders and pr-a-crices,
the reformers enabled
their followers to meet the official taunt that
their
religiisA,&sqw2E5ent andinfei:Kii. It gave the rising middle
classes the much needed
to cling to, and served the purpose of reducing
the sense of humiliation
which the conquest by a foreign power had
produced.
A realisation of the
special needs of modern times, especially in terms
of scientific knowledge,
and thus promoting a modern, this-worldly,
secular and rational
outlook was a major contribution of these reform
movements. Socially, this
attitude reflected in a basic change in the
notions of 'pollution and
purity'. Although traditional values and
customs were a prominent
target of attack from the reformers, yet the
reformers aimed at modernisation
rather than outright westernisation
based on blind imitation
of alien western cultural values. In fact, the
reform movements sought
to create a favourable social climate for
modernisation. To that
extent, these movements ended India's cultural
and intellectual
isolation from the rest of the world. The reformers
argued that modern ideas
and culture could be best imbibed by
integrating them into
Indian cultural streams.
The underlying concern of
these reformist efforts was revival of the
native cultural
personality which had got distorted by colonial
domination. This cultural
ideological struggle was to prove to be an
important instrument of
Religious and Social
Reform Movements 53
evolution of national
consciousness and a part of Indian national
resolve to resist
colonial cultural and ideological hegemony. However,
not all these
progressive, nationalist tendencies were able to outgrow
the sectarian and
obscurantist outlook. This was,possibly due to
divergent duality of
cultural and political struggles, resulting in
cultural backwardness
despite political advancement.
NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF REFORM MOVEMENTS
Qne of the major
limitations of these religious reform movements was
that they had a narrow
social base, namely the educated and urban
middle classes, while the
needs of vast masses of peasantry and the
urban poor were ignored.
The tendency of reformers
to appeal to the greatness of the past and, to
rely on scriptural
authority encouraged mysticism m new garbs and
fostered
pseudo-scientific thinking while exercising a check on hill
acceptance of the need
for a modern scientific outlook. But, above all,
these tendencies
contributed, at least to some extent, in
compartmentalising
Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Parsis, as also alienating
high caste Hindus from low
caste Hindus.
An overemphasis on
religious and philosophical ,as aspects of
heritage,got somewhat
magnified by insufficient emphasis on other
aspects of culture—art,
architecture, literature, music, science and
technology. To make
matters worse, the Hindu reformers co their praise
of the indian past to its
ancient period and looked upon the medieval
period of Indian history
essentially as an era of decadence. This teride—
to create a notion of two
separate peoples, on the one hand; on the
other, an uncritical
praise of the past was not acceptable to the low
caste sections of society
which had suffered under religiously
sanctioned exploitation
precisely during the ancient period. Moreover,
the past itself tended to
be placed into compartments on a partisan
basis. Many in the Muslim
middle classes went to the extent of turning
to, the history of West
Asia for their traditions and moments of pride.
54 A Brief History of
Modern India
The process of evolution
of a composite culture which was evident
throughout Indian history
showed signs of being arrested with the rise
of another form of
consciousness— communal consciousness—along with
national consciousness
among the middle classes.
Many other factors were
certainly responsible for the birth of
communalism in modern
times, but undoubtedly the nature of religious
reform movements also
contributed to it. On the whole, however, whatever
the net outcome of these
reform movements, it was out of this struggle
that a new society
evolved in India.
Views
I regret to say that, the
present system of religion adhered by the
Hindus is not well
calculated to promote their political interests. it
is, I think, necessary
that some change should' take place in their
religion at least for the
sake of their political advantage and social
comfort, Raja Rammohan
Roy.
No other religion
preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty
strain as Hinduism and no
other religion on earth treads upon the poor
and the low in such a
fashion as Hinduism, Swami Vivekananda.
A country where millions
have nothing to eat and where few thousand holy
men and brahmins suck the
blood of the poor and do nothing at -all for
them, is not a country
but a living hell. Is this religion or a dance of
death? Swami
Viveicananda.
Nationalist power to stir
up discontent would be immensely increased if
every cultivator could
read, Bombay Governor, in a private letter to
the Viceroy (1911).
The rising middle clasres
were politically inclined and were not so much
in search of a religion;
but they wanted some cultural roots to cling on
to, that would reduce the
sense of frustration and humiliation that
foreign conquest and rule
had produced, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Religious and Social
Reform Movements 55
The dead and the buried
are aead, buried and burnt once for all and the
dead past cannot,
therefore, be revived except by a reformation df the
old materials into new
organized forms. Mahadeo Govind Ranade
Unfortunately, no brahmin
scholar has so far come forward to play the
part of a Voltaire who
had the intellectual honesty to rise against the
doctrines of the Catholic
church on which he was brought up. A Voltaire
among the brahmins would
be a positive danger to the maintenance of a
civilisation which is
contrived to maintain brahminic supremacy. B.R.
Ambedkar
Untouchability question
is one of life and death for Hinduism, if
untouchability lives,
Hinduism perishes, and even India perishes; but if
untouchability is
eradicated from the Hindu heart, root and branch, then
Hinduism has a definite
message for the world. M.K. Gandhi
Whoever worships the True
God daily must learn to recognise all his
fellow countrymen as
brethren. Keshub Chandra Sen
Forget not that the lower
classes, the ignorant, the poor, the
illiterate, the cobbler,
the sweeper are thy flesh and blood, thy
brothers. Swami
Vivekananda
I want the culture of all
lands to be blown about 'my house as freely as
possible. But I refuse to
be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live
in other people's houses
as an interloper, a beggar or a slave. M.K.
Gandhi
Summary
FACTORS WHICH GAVE RISE TO REFORM
MOVEMENTS
Presence of colonial
government on Indian soil.
Various ills plaguing
Indian society—obscurantism, superstition,
polytheism, idolatry,
degraded position of women, exploitative caste
hierarchy.
Spread of education and
increased awareness of the world.
Impact of modern western
culture and consciousness of defeat by a
foreign power.
56 A Brief History of
Modern India
Religious and Social
Reform Movements 57
Summary
Rising :tide of
nationalism and democracy during the late 19th century.
SOCIAL BASE
Emerging middle class and
western-educated intellectuals.
IDEOLOGICAL BASE
Rationalism, religious
universalism, humanism, secularism.
SOCIAL REFORM COMPONENTS
Betterment of Position of
Women
Degraded position due to
Purdah system Early marriage Lack of education
Unequal rights in
marriage, divorce, inheritance
Polygamy
Female infanticide
Restrictions on widow
remarriage
Sati
Major Contributors to
Reforms
Social reform movements,
freedom struggle,
movements led by
enlightened women,
free India's
Constitution.
Legislative Measures for
Women
Bengal Regulation (1829)
banning sati
Bengal Regulations (1795,
1804)—declaring infanticide illegal.
Hindu Widows' Remarriage
Act, 1856.
Age of Consent Act, 1891
Sarda Act, 1930
Special Marriage Act, 1954
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Hindu Succession Act,
1956
Hindu Adoption and
Maintenance Act Maternity Benefits Act, 1961
Equal Remuneration Act,
1976
Child Marriage Restraint
(Amendment) Act, 1978
Suppression of Immoral
Traffic Act in Women and Girls, 1956 (amended in
1986)
Dowry Prohibition Act,
1961 (amended in 1986)
STRUGGLE AGAINST
CASTE-BASED EXPLOITATION
Factors Undermining Caste
Rigidities
Forces unleashed by
colonial administration
Social reform movements
National movement
Gandhi's campaign against
untouchability
Stirrings among lower
castes due to better education and employment
Free India's Constitution
REFORM MOVEMENTS: AMONG
HINDUS Bengal Raja Ram-mohan Roy and Brahmo
Samaj
Debendranath Tagore and
Tattvabodhini Sabha
Keshub Chandra Sen and
Brahmo Samaj of India Prarthana Samaj
Derozio and Young Bengal
Movement Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Western
India Bal Shastri
Jambekar Students' Literary and Scientific Societies
Pararnhansa Mandalis
Jyotiba Phule and
Satyashodhak Samaj Gopalhari Deshmukh Lokahitawadi'
Gopal Ganesh Agarkar
Servants of India Society Southern India Sri
Narayana Dharma
Paripalana Movement Vokkaliga Sangha Justice Movement
Self-respect Movement
Temple Entry Movement All India
Ramakrishna Movement and
Vivekananda
Dayanand Saraswati and Arya
Samaj
Theosophical Movement
58 A Brief History of
Modern India
Summary
• AMONG MUSLIMS
Wahabi/Walliullah
Movement Ahmadiya Movement Syed Ahmed Khan and
Aligarh Movement Deoband
Movement
AMONG PARSIS
Rahnumai Mazdayasnan
Sabha
AMONG SIKHS
Singh Sabha Movement
Akali Movement
POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
Liberation of individual
from conformity out of fear psychosis. Worship
made a more personal
affair Cultural roots to the middle classes—thus
mitigating the sense of
humiliation; much needed self-respect gained
Fostered secular outlook
Encouraged social climate for modernisation
Ended India's cultural,
intellectual isolation from rest of the world
Evolution of national
consciousness
NEGATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
Narrow social base
Indirectly encouraged mysticism Overemphasis on
religious, philosophical
aspects of culture while underemphasising
secular and moral aspects
Hindus confined their praise to ancient Indian
history and Muslims to
medieval history—created a notion of two separate
peoples and increased
communal consciousness Historical process of
evolution of composite
culture arrested to some extent.
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