In
the 19th century Indian society was plagued by various social
problems. Religious superstitions were prevalent and the priests exercised
excessive and unhealthy influence on the people. Women were subject to control
and hardly had any rights. Practices like sati, child infanticide, child
marriage and ban on remarriage of widows compounded their problems. Persons
from the lower castes were another harassed lot facing untouchability and
discrimination in all spheres of life. It was in these social conditions that
the colonial rule introduced modern education and western culture to Indian
people. Advent of an alien culture necessitated an introspection of Indian
social conditions as well as a comparison of Indian and Western societies and
cultures. This was facilitated by the emergence of an educated middle class which
was different from the traditional landed aristocracy and comprised of
merchants, traders, industrialists and professional groups like teachers,
lawyers, journalists and doctors. This class had received modern education and
in its mindset was progressive and not so much bound to tradition.
Thus, various socio-religious reform
movements which came up in the nineteenth century were the immediate response
of the section of Indian society to western ideas and culture. Intellectuals of
the period did carry out an introspection of Indian society. While comparing
the Indian society with the West they perceived many of the beliefs to be
decadent and regressive and wanted the Indian society to be cleansed of such
beliefs and practices. This started the demand for reforms. As religion held
the most important place in Indian society, the reforms were also concentrated
on religion but the approach of the reformers was not entirely religious. The
approach was rather humanist and objective was to improve the condition of the
people. The reformers worked for improving the condition of women by raising
their voices for abolition of sati practice, allowing widow remarriage and stopping
female infanticide. Caste discrimination was another aspect of the society
which attracted attention of the reformers particularly those coming from these
castes. Finally, all the social
reformers laid great stress on spread of education.
Rationalism and Universalism were
two important ideas on which these reformers based their thinking. The reformers tried to develop a rational view
of all socio-religious issues. At certain times some reformers did refer to
scriptures for seeking religious sanctions. Raja Ram Mohan Roy went to
scriptures for demonstrating that sati had no religious sanction and Ishwar
Chandra Vidyasagar invoked religious sanction for widow remarriage. However, in
all such cases rationality was not compromised and religion was only invoked
when it served the humanist purpose.
Some others like ‘Derozoins’ and ‘Young Bengal’ held a particularly
highly rational attitude towards various issues. They rejected all authority
and held the position that all things should be rationally analyzed. Akshay
Kumar Dutt developed a rationalist critique of Indian philosophies and his
influence resulted in Brahmo Samaj accepting the view that the Vedas are not infallible.
Reformers from Maharashtra were less dependent on religion and Gopal Hari
Deshmukh (Lokhitwadi) did not consider religious sanction necessary for social
reforms. He held that if religion did not sanction reforms then religion has to
be changed.
Universalism was another aspect of
the reform movements. Although reformers worked to bring social reforms in
their particular sects or groups, their religious perspective was
universalistic. Brahmo Samaj founded by
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was intended to be a Universalist creed. Ram Mohan Roy was a
strong believer in monotheism. Keshab Chandra Sen was clearer when he said,
“Our position is not that truths are to be found in all religions, but all
established religions of the world are true.” Shree Narayan Guru, the reformer
from Kerala who did most of his work among the backward classes of Kerala said,
“One Caste, One religion and One God for all”.
Methods
of Reform
These movements adopted various
methods for bringing changes in the society. First was the creation of
awareness among people by publishing articles, journals and books as well as
organizing debates and discussions on various issues. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a pioneer in this
field. In 1818 and 1819 he published his famous pamphlets on sati which
received widespread public attention. Originally written in Bengali, these were
later translated into English under the title, “A Conference Between An
Advocate For and An Opponent of, The Practice Of Burning Widows Alive” and “A
Second Conference Between An Advocate For and An Opponent Of, the Practice of
Burning Widows Alive”. “Sambad Kaumudi” was one of his notable journal. Similarly, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar also
published pamphlets on widow remarriage which had profound impact on the Indian
society.
Second method was by seeking
legislative intervention against prevalent social evils. Reformers like Keshab
Chandra Sen in Bengal, Mahadev Govind Ranade in Maharashtra and Veersalingam in
Andhra Pradesh believed that social reforms could be taken up only with the
support of the state. These reformers appealed to the colonial rulers for enacting
suitable legislations. Although they were successful in some cases and
legislation banning sati and allowing widow remarriage were passed, these
reformers failed to understand that primary intention of the British in India
was not to reform or enlighten Indian society but to govern it for their own
benefit and hence their support was likely to come only when it suited their
own interests.
Third method was that of
representing themselves as symbols of change through non-conformist individual
activity and an uncompromising attitude towards social evils. However, this
group was limited only to ‘Derozions’ or ‘Young Bengal’. They were highly
influenced by the West and stood for rejection of all tradition. One of them,
Ram Gopal Ghose, while taking about rationality said, “He who will not reason
is a bigot, he who cannot is a fool and he who does not is a slave.” However,
their uncompromising attitude failed to impress people. Last method adopted by some of the reformers
was through social service. Ishwar
Chandra Vidyasagar was one such reformist who did not feel contended by writing
pamphlets and creating awareness. He devoted his entire life for the cause of
widow remarriage. Arya Samaj and Ramakrishna Mission also tried to propagate
ideas of social reform through social service.
Significance
These reformers made significant
contribution in evolution of modern India. These were the people who took the
first step towards the formation of a modern society. They championed the cause
of equality, criticized the social divisions of castes, tried to improve the
conditions of women, worked against superstitions and also worked for the
development of a modern and rational outlook. Efforts from these people
resulted in the colonial Government bringing in a number of legislations which
helped social reforms. In case of women, these movements led to passing of Bengal
Sati Regulation Act of 1829, Hindu Widows Remarriage Act of 1856 and increasing
the age of marriage of girls from 10 to 12 years in the year 1891. Later, Child
Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929 in which the marriageable age was
increased to 14 and by an amendment in 1940 to 15 years. Another important subject of reforms was the
caste system. All the reformers condemned caste system but biggest difference
was made reformers coming from these communities like Jyotiba Phule in
Maharashtra and Shree Narayan Guru in Kerala.
These movements made the lower classes conscious of their rights as
human beings and citizens. Reforms
during the period are also important in the sense that these provided a
platform on which the country could move forward for developing an egalitarian society
in later years.
Limitations
Despite significant contribution to
the Indian society, these reformers suffered from some limitations. First and
foremost was that the reformers failed to realise the true nature of colonial
rule. They felt that colonial rule was beneficial for the country and new ideas
from the West would regenerate Indian society. They failed to realise that
British rule was essentially exploitative in nature and the colonial rule would
support that social structure which it would consider beneficial for itself.
Second limitation was that most of the reforms were essentially an educated
urban middle class phenomenon. Except
movements of Jyotiba Phule and Shree Narayan Guru and to a certain extent Arya
Samaj, the reform movements were limited to the upper class of the society.
This restricted the effectiveness of these movements.
No comments:
Post a Comment