1. Background<\/p>\n\n\n\n
18th century: Indian society had orthodox practices like sati, child marriage, female infanticide, untouchability, caste rigidity, superstitions. 19th century: British rule brought Western education, liberal ideas, missionaries, and modern science. Reformers tried to revive ancient Indian values + remove social evils. Movements had two trends: Reformist movements \u2192 worked for modernization, rationalism, social change. Revivalist movements \u2192 glorified past, revival of Hindu\/Islamic traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Reformist Movements<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(A) Brahmo Samaj (1828)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1828), later led by Keshab Chandra Sen. Aims: Monotheism (belief in one God). Opposed idol worship, caste rigidity. Women upliftment: fought against sati, child marriage, supported widow remarriage. Legacy: Intellectual base for later reforms, influenced Bengal Renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(B) Prarthana Samaj (1867, Bombay)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded by Atmaram Pandurang, supported by M.G. Ranade. Aims: Social reform \u2192 women\u2019s education, widow remarriage, abolition of caste. Religious reform \u2192 prayers, spiritual uplift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(C) Arya Samaj (1875)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Aims: \u201cGo back to the Vedas\u201d (revival of Vedic purity). Opposed idol worship, caste system, untouchability. Started Shuddhi Movement (re-conversion of Hindus). Promoted women education. Impact: Spread in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh; prepared ground for nationalist thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(D) Aligarh Movement (1875)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Aims: Modern education for Muslims \u2192 established Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (Aligarh). Advocated scientific approach, rejected blind orthodoxy. Impact: Created modern Muslim intelligentsia, though later associated with separatist politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(E) Ramakrishna Mission (1897)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded by Swami Vivekananda, based on teachings of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Aims: Practical Vedanta \u2013 service to humanity is service to God. Social service: education, health, disaster relief. Impact: Promoted spiritual nationalism, cultural pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Revivalist Movements<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(A) Wahabi Movement (1820s\u201370s)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspired by Abdul Wahab of Arabia, spread in India by Syed Ahmed Barelvi. Aims: Purify Islam, remove innovations, oppose Western influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(B) Deoband Movement (1866)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi & Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. Aims: Religious education for Muslims, opposed British rule, but remained non-political initially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(C) Singh Sabha Movement (1873, Punjab)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aim: Reform Sikh religion, remove Hindu influences, promote education among Sikhs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(D) Parsis and Theosophical Society<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parsis: Social reforms, western education (Dadabhai Naoroji, Naoroji Furdonji). Theosophical Society (1875 in USA; 1879 in India) \u2192 Annie Besant popularised it in India; revival of Hindu and Buddhist philosophies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Social Reformers (Individual Efforts)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar: Widow remarriage, women education. Jyotiba Phule (Satyashodhak Samaj, 1873): Against caste oppression, women education. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (20th century): Upliftment of depressed classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Impact of Reform Movements<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spread of modern education & rational thinking. Improvement in women\u2019s status (abolition of sati, widow remarriage, education). Challenge to caste system. Foundation for national awakening & Indian Renaissance. Created new leaders who later joined freedom struggle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. Background 18th century: Indian society had orthodox practices like sati, child marriage, female infanticide, untouchability, caste rigidity, superstitions. 19th century: British rule brought Western education, liberal ideas, missionaries, and modern science. Reformers tried to revive ancient Indian values + remove social evils. Movements had two trends: Reformist movements \u2192 worked for modernization, rationalism, social…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mumkinhaiias.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}