# Religious & Social Reform Movements (Part 2): Arya Samaj, Vivekananda, Aligarh, the Self-Respect Movement & Ambedkar Source: https://tracknation.in/story/religious-social-reform-movements-part-2-arya-samaj-vivekananda-aligarh-the-self-respect-movement-ambedkar (TrackNation β€” free UPSC notes with PYQs) > Beyond the Bengal renaissance: the Arya Samaj (Dayananda, 1875) and Prarthana Samaj, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda (Ramakrishna Mission 1897), reform among Muslims (Aligarh, Deoband), Sikhs (Singh Sabha) and the Theosophical Society, and the ## The Hindu Reform Movements: Arya Samaj & Prarthana Samaj 🎯 **Exam priority: High-yield.** *Tier 1 β€” UPSC's bread-and-butter here; study this deepest and revise it most.* **Why this topic matters for UPSC.** The second reform chapter covers figures UPSC matches constantly, and the subaltern/anti-caste reformers here are a clearly rising Mains theme. - Arya Samaj (Dayananda), Aligarh (Sayyid Ahmad Khan), Vivekananda and the Self-Respect Movement are frequent matches. - 2025's Jyotirao Phule question signals UPSC's interest in anti-caste/subaltern reform (Periyar, Ambedkar). - Mains: the role of social and religious reform in the making of modern India. The Bengal renaissance was only the beginning. From the 1860s a wave of reform swept the rest of India β€” some movements looking forward to reason and reform, others "back to the Vedas", but all stirred by the same colonial challenge. ## The Hindu Reform Movements: Arya Samaj & Prarthana Samaj - The **Arya Samaj** was founded by **Swami Dayananda Saraswati in 1875** at Bombay. His slogan was **"Back to the Vedas"** β€” he held the Vedas infallible and rejected later idol-worship, priestcraft, caste by birth and untouchability. His book was the **Satyarth Prakash**. The Samaj promoted **widow remarriage, women's education and inter-caste mixing**, ran a network of **D.A.V. (Dayanand Anglo-Vedic) schools**, and began **shuddhi** (reconversion of those who had left Hinduism) β€” making it both reformist and revivalist. - In western India the **Prarthana Samaj** (Bombay, **1867**) β€” led by **M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar** β€” grew out of the Brahmo tradition and worked quietly for **widow remarriage, women's education, the raising of the age of marriage and the removal of caste**. ## Ramakrishna and Vivekananda Alongside reform by argument came reform by spiritual example β€” and a message that fused Indian spirituality with national pride and social service. ## Ramakrishna and Vivekananda - **Ramakrishna Paramhansa**, the saint of Dakshineswar, taught that **all religions are different paths to the same God** and that the service of humanity is the worship of God. - His disciple **Swami Vivekananda** carried that message to the world: he electrified the **Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893**, founded the **Ramakrishna Mission in 1897** (with its centre at Belur Math), and preached a **practical Vedanta** β€” "service to man is service to God". He attacked social evils and untouchability, roused national self-confidence, and called on India's youth to be strong and fearless. ## Reform among Muslims, Sikhs & the Theosophists The reforming impulse was not confined to Hindus. Muslims, Sikhs and Parsis each produced movements to modernise β€” or to defend β€” their communities. ## Reform among Muslims, Sikhs & the Theosophists - The **Aligarh Movement** of **Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan** urged Muslims to embrace **modern, western education**: he founded the **Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh in 1875** (which grew into the **Aligarh Muslim University**). He gave a rational interpretation of Islam β€” though his loyalism kept the movement aloof from the Congress. In contrast, the **Deoband school (Darul Uloom Deoband, 1866)** was orthodox and revivalist, and many of its scholars later supported the national movement. - Among the Sikhs, the **Singh Sabha (1873)** and the later **Akali movement (1920s)** worked to reform Sikh practice and free the gurdwaras from corrupt control. The **Theosophical Society** β€” founded in 1875 by **Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott**, with its Indian headquarters at **Adyar (Madras)** and later led by **Annie Besant** β€” revived pride in ancient Indian religion and philosophy. ## The Anti-Caste & Social-Justice Movements The most radical reform of all turned the movement's gaze on caste itself β€” and gave a voice to those the old order had silenced. ## The Anti-Caste & Social-Justice Movements - **Jyotiba Phule** founded the **Satyashodhak Samaj (1873)** to fight Brahmanical domination and uplift the lower castes; in Kerala, **Narayana Guru** preached "**one caste, one religion, one God for all mankind**" and inspired the Ezhava upliftment (the SNDP Yogam). - In the 20th century, **Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Naicker** launched the **Self-Respect Movement (1925)** in the Tamil country β€” a powerful campaign for **rationalism, the annihilation of caste, and the dignity and rights of women and non-Brahmins**. Above all, **Dr B.R. Ambedkar** organised the Depressed Classes: he founded the **Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (1924)**, led the **Mahad Satyagraha (1927)** for the right to draw water from a public tank, and fought for temple entry and political safeguards β€” work that flowered in his role as the architect of India's Constitution. ## Why This Matters for UPSC - **Prelims:** Arya Samaj (**Dayananda, 1875, "Back to the Vedas", Satyarth Prakash, shuddhi**); Prarthana Samaj (Ranade); Ramakrishna Mission (**Vivekananda, 1897, Chicago 1893**); Aligarh (**Sayyid Ahmad Khan, MAO College 1875**) & Deoband (1866); Theosophical Society (Blavatsky & Olcott, Adyar); **Self-Respect Movement (Periyar, 1925)**; Ambedkar (Mahad 1927). - **Mains:** compare the reformist and revivalist strands of the socio-religious movements, and assess the anti-caste movements' contribution to social justice. ## Further Reading - Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on modern Indian history (any UPSC reading list). ## The Emancipation of Women One historian notes the reformers' two great social causes were the **emancipation of women** and the **removal of caste injustice**. Nineteenth-century women faced **child marriage, enforced widowhood, purdah, and the denial of education and property** β€” and, earlier, the horror of **sati**. ## The Emancipation of Women - Building on the early landmarks β€” **sati abolished in 1829** (Ram Mohan Roy & Bentinck) and the **Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856** (Vidyasagar) β€” the later movement turned to **legislation against child marriage**. The **Age of Consent Act, 1891**, pushed by the Parsi reformer **Behramji Malabari**, raised the age of consent for girls **from 10 to 12** (amid heated public debate); and the **Sarda Act (Child Marriage Restraint Act), 1929**, sponsored by **Harbilas Sarda**, fixed a **minimum marriage age of 14 for girls and 18 for boys**. - **Women's education and organisation** advanced alongside: from the **Bethune School (1849)** to women's bodies such as the **All India Women's Conference (1927)**. Reformers built lasting institutions for women β€” **Pandita Ramabai** founded the **Arya Mahila Samaj (1882)** and the **Sharada Sadan (1889)** for high-caste widows, while **D.K. (Dhondo Keshav) Karve** ran a Widow Remarriage Association and a Widows' Home at Poona and founded India's first women's university (the **SNDT Women's University, 1916**). - Increasingly women themselves led the cause and joined the national movement β€” figures like **Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde** (author of the early feminist tract *Stri Purush Tulana*) and others β€” so that the awakening of Indian women became inseparable from the awakening of the nation. ## Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs Test how well you can place the religious and social reform movements beyond Bengal. Decide your answer, then open Show answer. ## Practice Questions **Q1.** The Arya Samaj was founded in 1875 by: - (a) Raja Ram Mohan Roy - (b) Keshab Chandra Sen - (c) Swami Vivekananda - (d) Swami Dayananda Saraswati **Answer: (d)** β€” Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj at Bombay in 1875 with the call 'Back to the Vedas'. **Q2.** The famous book of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, setting out the Arya Samaj's ideas, was: - (a) Gitanjali - (b) Precepts of Jesus - (c) Satyarth Prakash - (d) Anandamath **Answer: (c)** β€” The Satyarth Prakash ('Light of Truth') is Dayananda's principal work. **Q3.** The practice of 'shuddhi', associated with the Arya Samaj, meant: - (a) idol worship - (b) widow remarriage - (c) monastic renunciation - (d) the reconversion to Hinduism of those who had left it **Answer: (d)** β€” Shuddhi was a purification/reconversion movement to bring back those who had converted away from Hinduism. **Q4.** The Ramakrishna Mission was founded in 1897 by: - (a) Swami Vivekananda - (b) M.G. Ranade - (c) Dayananda Saraswati - (d) Ramakrishna Paramhansa **Answer: (a)** β€” Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission (centre at Belur Math) in 1897, named after his guru. **Q5.** Swami Vivekananda became world-famous through his address at the: - (a) Theosophical Society at Adyar - (b) Lucknow session of the Congress - (c) Parliament of Religions at Chicago (1893) - (d) Round Table Conference **Answer: (c)** β€” His 1893 address at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago introduced Vedanta to the West. **Q6.** The Aligarh Movement, urging modern education for Muslims, was led by: - (a) Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan - (b) Maulana Azad - (c) Badruddin Tyabji - (d) Maulana Mohammad Ali **Answer: (a)** β€” Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh in 1875, later Aligarh Muslim University. **Q7.** The Prarthana Samaj of western India was associated with: - (a) Sayyid Ahmad Khan - (b) Narayana Guru - (c) Dayananda Saraswati - (d) M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar **Answer: (d)** β€” The Prarthana Samaj (Bombay, 1867), led by Ranade and Bhandarkar, grew out of the Brahmo tradition. **Q8.** The slogan 'One caste, one religion, one God for all mankind' is associated with: - (a) Jyotiba Phule - (b) Periyar - (c) B.R. Ambedkar - (d) Narayana Guru **Answer: (d)** β€” Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala preached this message and inspired the upliftment of the Ezhavas (SNDP Yogam). **Q9.** Dr B.R. Ambedkar led the Mahad Satyagraha (1927) to secure for the Depressed Classes the right to: - (a) join the army - (b) own land - (c) enter the legislature - (d) draw water from a public tank **Answer: (d)** β€” The Mahad Satyagraha (1927) asserted the right of untouchables to take water from the public Chavdar tank at Mahad. **Q10.** India's first women's university (SNDT, 1916) and a pioneering Widows' Home at Poona were founded by: - (a) D.K. Karve - (b) Behramji Malabari - (c) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar - (d) Pandita Ramabai **Answer: (a)** β€” Dhondo Keshav (D.K.) Karve founded the SNDT Women's University (1916) and ran a Widows' Home at Poona; Pandita Ramabai founded the Sharada Sadan (1889) for widows. ### UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs) *Socio-religious reform is a steady Prelims theme (the question below is a real UPSC PYQ, CSE 2025) and a Mains favourite on the reformist vs revivalist debate and the anti-caste movements.* **Q1.** Who among the following was the founder of the 'Self-Respect Movement'? (UPSC CSE 2025) - (a) Bhaskarrao Jadhav - (b) Dr B.R. Ambedkar - (c) Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Naicker - (d) Dinkarrao Javalkar **Answer: (c)** β€” Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Naicker founded the Self-Respect Movement (1925) in the Tamil country to fight caste discrimination and promote rationalism and social equality. So option (c) is correct. ### Mains Practice Questions Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly β€” they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover. - β€œThe Arya Samaj was reformist in content but revivalist in form.” Examine. - Assess the contribution of Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Mission to the national awakening. - Compare the Aligarh and Deoband movements among Indian Muslims. - Discuss the role of the anti-caste movements (Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar) in the struggle for social justice.