The Indian society in the first half of the 19th century was full of social evils; caste ridden,

decadent and rigid. It followed certain inhuman practices in the name of religion. The Social
Reform Movements in India in the 19th Century witnessed the emergence of major social-cum-
religious reform movements in Indian society. Some of the most important were the Brahmo
Reform Movement, the Prarthana Samaj, the Arya Samajist movement, the Ramkrishna-
Vivekananda movement and the Draft reform movement led by Jyotiba Phule. The major
reason behind these social reforms and religious movements were the rising of national
consciousness and spread of the liberal ideas of the west among the Indian people. The study of
ancient India’s history, philosophy, science, religions and literature in the 19th century also
played a major role. This growing knowledge of India’s past glory provided to the Indian people
a sense of pride in their civilization. Making it the base, the reformers in their work of religious
and social reform challenged all type of inhuman practices, superstitions etc. They stood for
abolition of castes and untouchability, purdah system, sati, child marriage, social inequalities and
illiteracy.
The new awakening in Bengal in the nineteenth century, made possible by the impact of western
education, led to new enlightenment in the field of religion. As the people of Bengal laid great
emphasis on rituals and ceremonies in worship, It naturally resulted in the establishment of an
undue influence of the priesthood on society and encouraged various superstitious rites in the
name of religion. Three distinct patterns of reaction against it in Bengali Hindu Society can
be seen. First were those who could be described as Hindu conservatives, who sought to
consolidate their position by accepting certain reforms particularly in the field of education. The
second were those who wanted to meet the western challenge not by rejecting Hinduism but by
giving it a new look. And the third were the section of young Hindus, mostly educated at the
Hindu College, who were radicals and rejected Hinduism in the light of the rationalist criticism
of the age.
Foremost amongst the Hindu leaders were Radhakanta Deb who belonged to a family which
came into prominence after the establishment of English power in Bengal. At a time when
female education was neglected because of social apathy and prejudice, he advocated the
education of girls and had actually published, in collaboration with an orthodox Hindu Pandit,
Gourmohon Vidyalanker, a pamphlet in Bengali, called Stri Siksha Vidhayaka advocating
female education.
However, the reform movement in Hindu society which began in early nineteenth century is
uniquely associated with the name of Rammohun Roy. The most important years of his
reforming activity started when he settled down in Calcutta in 1816, where he started a society,
called the Atmiya Sabha. In his Atmiya Sabha not only religious principles, but all the social
evils such as the absurdities, puerilities of the various Hindu social and other customs, connected
with polytheism or idolatiy, were discussed and condemned. He advocated the social,
educational, political and economic changes in the early British rule. His greatest achievement in
the field of religious reform was the setting up of Brahmo Samaj in 1828. The Brahmo Samaj
was an important organization of religious reforms which forbade idol-worship and condenmed
meaningless rites and rituals. Crusade against Sati came to the notice of Rammohun roy. Then,
he started working as a stout champion of women’s rights and worked very hard to stop the
practice of Sati. Finally, he achieved it with the abolition of Sati in 1929.
The Brahmo Reform movement in Bengal, started declining when in 1830, Rammohun Roy left
for England. To fulfill the need to bring people under a movement, the Tattvabodhini Sabha
was established in Calcutta in 1839 under the leadership of Devendranath. It was headed by
Akshoy Kumar Dutta. The sabha discarded the infallibility of the Upanishadas and henceforth
the religion was known as Brahma Dharma or Brahmoism. Devendranath obtained success to
some extent in checking the spread of Christian proselytism and bringing back the English
educated youth blindly associated the western ways and manners with a tradition. Keshab
Chandra Sen joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1858. He argued that “true religion is, neither
unscientific nor irrational in its character”. Keshab emphasised on the importance of female
education and believed, if both the males and females were educated, they would jointly try to
eradicate all the social evils.
Born as Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya (l836-86) Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a poor Brahmin
priest. He had no formal knowledge of the Shastras but he dedicated his life to God. Narendra
Nath Datta (l863-1902) later known as Swami Vivekananda was the disciple of Ramakrishna
Paramahansa. He carried the message of his Guru Ramakrishna all over the world. He
condemned the caste system, rigid rituals, century old superstitions and advocated liberty, free
thinking and equality. He laid stress on Ramakrishna’s teaching on the essential oneness of all
religions. He promoted the Vedanta philosophy which according to him was the most rational
system. For him, service to the poor and downtrodden was the highest religion. To organise such
service, he founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897. This Mission even today plays an
important role in providing social service in times of national distress like famine, floods, and
epidemic.
Reforms were taking place among Muslims also. The most notable of the Muslim reformers was
Sayyid Ahmed belonging to Rai Bareilly, in Uttar Pradesh who led Aligarh movement. He
felt the need of the Muslims to get adapted to the changed circumstances of British rule, for
getting all new opportunities for status and prosperity. He interpreted the Quran in the light of
rationalism and science and urged the people to develop a critical approach and freedom of
thought. The Aligarh Movement was largely responsible for the Muslim revival as it provided a
focal point for the scattered Muslim population in different parts of the country. It provided them
a common fund of ideas and a common language (Urdu). Later, a Muslim press was developed
for compiling works in Urdu.
The reform movements in Bengal were declining after the 1870s, with the Brahmos torn by
internal conflicts and influences. After Bengal, the most important region where the
movement for reforms spread was western India.
Mool Shanker from Gujarat popularly known as Dayanand Saraswati (l824-1883) founded
the Arya Samaj in 1875 in Bombay. He argued that the Vedas contained all the knowledge
imparted to man by God and includes all the essentials of modern science. He was against the
idolatry, ritual and priesthood, particularly to the prevalent caste practices and popular
Hinduism as preached by the Brahmins. He encouraged the study of western science and tried
to inculcate the spirit of self-respect and self-reliance among the people of India. This promoted
nationalism. At the same time one of its main objectives was to check the conversion of Hindus
to other religions. It also started a purificatory ceremony calld suddhi for those Hindus who
had been converted to other religions like Islam and Christianity for restoring their purity.
On 16 February 1887 Pandit Shiv Narayan Agnihotri founded the Dev Samaj (Divine
Society). Agnihotri rejected Brahmo rationalism and demanded its members to abandon all
caste restraints. His followers were expected to practise intercaste dining and intercaste
marriage.
The Prarthana Samaj was established in Bombay by Dr. Atma Ram Pandurang (1825-
1898) in 1876 with the objective of rational worship and social reform. The two prominent
members of this Samaj were Shri R.C. Bhandarkar and Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade.
They devoted their entire life to the work of social reform such as inter-caste dining, intercaste
marriage, widow remarriage and improvement of the women and depressed classes. He founded
Widow Remarriage Association (1861) and the Deccan Education Society. He also
established the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha. He also felt that “if religious ideas were rigid there
would be no success in social, economic and political spheres”.
Among those reformers who showed a concern for the down trodden masses and worked for
them was Jyotirao Phule. He held the Brahmins responsible for the sorrowful condition of the
lower castes and attacked them. According to him, the Prarthana Samaj was a class
organisation of the higher castes, specially founded to maintain Brahmin supremacy. He
therefore established the Satyasodhak Samaj in 1873. However, we need to keep in mind that
the forces of conservatism were so strong in Maharastra that Phule’s ideal of equality did not
assert itself for long even in the Satyashodhak Samaj.
In the southern parts of the country, Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1848-1919) came forward
to organise the movement in support of widow remarriage and girls education in Andhra.
Veda Samaj founded in Madras in 1864 worked for discarding of caste distinctions and
promotion of widow remarriage and womens education. It condemned various social evils such
as superstitions and rituals of orthodox Hinduism and propagated belief in one supreme God. He
also translated books of the Veda Samaj in Tamil and Telugu.
An important movement for the emancipation of the backward and oppressed sections of Indian
society was started by Shree Narayana Guru (1854-1928) in Kerala. In 1903 he founded the
Shree narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) for work of social reform. Shree
Narayana Guru thought differences based on caste and religion are meaningless and advocated
what he called “One Caste, one Religion and one God for all”.
Theosophical society played a major role in the history of the religion, society and culture of
modern India. The society was founded in the USA in 1875 by a Russian spiritualist
Madame H.P. Blavatsky and an American Col. H.S. Olcott. Its main objective was to
promote studies in ancient religions, philosophies and science. It was introduced to India in 1879
and its headquarters were set up at Adyar near Madras in 1886.
In Punjab, Baba Dayal Das (1783—1855) founded the Nirankaris, a movement of purification
and return. Around 1840s, he called for the return of Sikhism to its origins and emphasized the
worship of God as nirankar (formless). This approach meant a rejection of idols, rituals
associated with idolatry, and the Brahman priests. A small group of prominent Sikhs formed the
Singh Sabha of Amritsar, which held its first meeting on 1 October 1873. It represented the
leaders of the Sikh community and later played a major role in establishment of Khalsa college
in Amritsar.
Within Pujabi Muslism, the Ahmadiyahs began with the career of one man, the messianic
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908). He was born in the village of Qadiyan on 13 February
1835. He described his basic ideas, his claims to special authority. He described his programme
for rejuvenating Islam in Bardhin as well. He emphasised the fundamental principles of Islam
and the duties of all Muslims.
Religious reform among the Sikhs was started at the end of the 19th Century with the
establishment of Khalsa college at Amritsar. With the efforts of the Singh Sabhas (1870) and
Brithish, the Khalsa College was founded at Amritsar in 1892. It promoted Gurumukhi, Sikh
learning and Punjabi literature as a whole. After 1920, the Sikh movement gained momentum
when the Akali Movement rose in Punjab. The main objective of the Akalis was to improve
the management of the Gurudwaras or Sikh Shrines under the control of priests or Mahants who
took them as their private property. In 1925, a law was passed which gave the right of
managing Gurudwaras to the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.
To conclude, In 19th century India, many reformers came forward to bring reforms in our
society. According to them society and religion were interlinked and both needed to be reformed
to achieve positive growth of the country. Most of the social superstitious practices were done in
the name of religion. Hence, social reform was meaningless without religious reform. All socio-
religious reformers whether Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs emphasised on spreading modern
education. They had faith that education was the most effective tool to awaken and modernize
our society. Finally, The reform movements of India were able to create socio-religious
consciousness among the Indians during the 19th century. All these movements stressed on
rational understanding of social and religious ideas and encouraged a scientific and humanitarian
outlook. All these movements worked to improve women’s status and condition and criticized
the caste system especially the practice of untouchability. However, these reform movements
were not free from limitations. It was limited to a very small percentage of the population,
mostly the educated class. It could not reach the vast masses of the peasantry and urban poor
who continued to live in the same conditions.