HISTORY PROJECTTOPIC : SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORMS

SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORMS

Indian society of the nineteenth century was in the grip of several social and religious evils. The caste system was prevalent and it was the cause of much misery for the lower caste sections of the society.

CONDITION OF WOMEN

The position of women in the society was pitiable. They were the victims of a number of social evils like sati, infanticide, purdah, devadasi system, polygamy, child marriage and illiteracy. Women had to follow the customs of the husband’s household. After her husband’s death, she was forced to live in a difficult situation as a widow or become a sati, immolating herself at the funeral fire of her husband.

SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORMS

•BENGAL Raja Rammohan Roy’s name is usually listed first

among the nineteenth century reformers concerned with the upliftment of women’s status. Historians have often called him the ‘Father of modern India’ and ‘a champion of women’s rights’. He established the Brahmo Samaj to work for social welfare. The Brahmo Samaj campaigned against sati, child marriage, polygamy, caste distinctions and untouchability.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar championed the cause of female education. As an inspector of schools he set up as many as 35 schools for girls, many of which were run at his own expense. Ishwar Chandra was instrumental in the setting up of the first Indian school for girls in Calcutta in 1849. The widow remarriage was passed in 1856. The marriage of a widow and the first one, from the upper caste was celebrated in Calcutta on 7 December, 1856 under the supervision of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. Vidyasagar personified the best of nineteenth century reformers and demonstrated an ‘untiring will for positive social action.’

Swami Vivekananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta, gave further impetus to the cause emancipation of women by emphasizing on spiritualism.

• MaharashtraIn Maharashtra, the Prathana Samaj founded in 1867 did the same as was done in Bengal by the Brahmo Samaj and got the active support of eminent persons like Mahadev Govind Ranade and R G Bhandarker. Ranade founded national social conference to focus attention on social reforms. Another important reformer in Maharashtra was Jyotiba Phule. He and his wife started a girl’s school at Poona. He also actively campaigned for the remarriage of widows. He actively campaigned for social reformers like Jagannath Shankar Seth. And Bhau Daji.

• North India

In north India Swami Dayanand, the founder of the Arya Samaj, carried the work of women’s reform further. He encouraged female education and to further the cause of the Arya samaj, established kanya-gurukuls for the education of women.Khwaja Altaf Hussain Hali and Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah introduced education for girls.

• South India

R Venkata Ratnam Naidu fought against the devadasi system while Veerasalingam Pantulu worked for widow remarriage. Both tried to increase the opportunities for female education.

•Women ReformersPandita Ramabai was one such pioneer in the field of women’s reform. She was a woman educated in the sacred Sanskrit texts by her father and had become a widow at a young age. Her own experience as a widow led her to work for the welfare of widows.Ramabai began her social work with Arya Mahila Samaj in Poona. Later she established the Sharda sadan, a school for Indian widows, in Bombay. Ramabai’s greatest contribution was her effort to educate the widows and she left behind her pupils to carry her work forward. Sarojini Naidu was another well-known social worker. She fought for women’s right and was associated with the All India Women’s Conference in 1927. The movement for the liberation of women also got stimulus from the rise of nationalism in the twentieth century. Their participation in agitation against the partition of Bengal, the Home rule movement, the Swadeshi movement and the movements led by M K Gandhi like Non-cooperation, Civil disobedience, etc. contributed to their liberation.

Group Members-1.Aryan Kar2.Deep Chanda

3.Prince Prasad

4.Priyanka Mandal

5.Kamakhya Saha

6.Subham Kr. Roy