1. Reform movements
•Impact of British rule in India led to social &
religious reform movements
•Had scientific outlook & rationality in comparison to
Indian static , decadent, superstitious society
•Indian society suffered from many ills like position
of women, caste system, hierarchical societal system
illiteracy , poverty etc.
•What made handful of the foreigner to rule India
•Western educated middle class intellectual started
many reforms on the basis of reason, logic

2. Woman emancipation
•Abolition of “Sati” through regulation of 1829 ……
Raja Rammohan Roy
•Widow Remarriage
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar principle Sanskrit
college Calcutta … Hindu widow remarriage act 1856
Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded widow remarriage
association1850
D.K Karve in western India ,opened widows home
in poona, set up women university in Bombay in
1916, himself married widow
 Veerasalingam Pantulu in madras made effort in
this direction
Others were Malabari, Ranade

3. Child marriage
•“Native marriage act 1872” prohibited child
marriage
•Parsi reformer Malabari made effort for
“Age of Consent Act 1891” min. age of girl 12
•“Sarda act 1930” marriageable age boy
18, girl 14
•“Child marriage (restraint ) act 1978” boys
21,girls 18

4. Woman education
•1819 Calcutta female juvenile society set
up by Christian society
•1849 Bethume school Calcutta by
Bethume 1st fruit of the movement for
woman education
• 1854 Wood’s Dispatch on education laid
emphasis on woman education
•1916 Woman university Bombay …. Karve
•1916 Lady Hardinge Medical college Delhi

5. Lord Hardinge II (1910-1916)
•1911 …Creation of Bengal presidency like
Bombay & Madras
•1911 …..Transfer of capital from Calcutta to
Delhi
•1911 … Coronation durbar of King George V
in Delhi
•1915 ….”Hindu Mahasabha” by Madan
Mohan Malviya

6. Role of Women later
•Participated in Indian freedom movement
•Swadeshi & boycott at the time of Bengal
partition 1905 played great role
•Home rule movement of Annie Besant &
Tilak
•Sarojini Naidu became president of Indian
national congress in 1925 later governor of
United Province (1947-49)

8. Caste based exploitation
•Brahmo samaj, prathna samaj , Arya
samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Theosophist worked
against it …. Though defended chaturvarna
system
•Principle of liberty & equality basis for freedom
movt. to unify the society
•INC govt. in 1937 did useful work for upliftment
of depressed
•Gandhiji in 1932 founded All India Harijan Sangh

9. Caste based exploitation
•Jyotiba Phule movement against Brahminical
domination of Hindu society
•Babasaheb Ambedakar organized All India
Scheduled Caste Federation
•1900’s Maharaja of Kolhapur encouraged
Non- brahminical movement
•1920’s south India Self Respect Movement
by E.V. Ramaswamy
•Sri Narayan guru in Kerala against upper class
domination “ One religion, one caste , one
God for mankind’

10. Raja Rammohan Roy
•Father of Indian Renaissance
•Set up Brahmo Samaj 1828 earliest reform movement
•Wrote Gift to Monothesis , preached monotheism
•Translated to Bengali the Vedas & five Upanishads
•1814.. Set up Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta
•Focused on rationality & reasons in Vedanta
•1820 wrote Precepts of Jesus
•Sati was declared crime through Govt regulations
•Supported David Hare to set up Hindu college 1817
•1825 set up Vedanta college
•Opposed Higher taxes , export duty on Indian export, East India
Company’s trading rights
•Supported Indianisation of Superior services, separation of
executives from judiciary
•Radhakant Deb organized Dharma sabha opposed Roy

11. Brahmo Samaj
•Followers of Brahmo samaj were Keshab
Chandra sen ,Debendra nath tagore, Ishwar
Chandra Vidyasagar, Ashwani Kumar
datta, Derozians
•It denounced polytheism& idol worshipping
•Criticized caste system

12. Prarthana Samaj
•Keshab Chandra Sen founded it in 1863 in
Bombay
•Other leaders included Mahadeo Gobind
Ranade, R.G. Bhandarkar

13. Henry Vivian Derozian
•Led Young Bengal Movement
•Teacher in Hindu college Calcutta 1826-
31
•Inspired by French revolution
•Had radical thoughts of liberty & freedom

14. Jyotiba Phule
•Was against upper class Brahminical
domination
•In 1873 founded Satya Shodhak samaj
•Wrote Gulamgiri & Sarvajanic Satyadharma

15. Others
•Gopalhari Deshmukh ‘Lokhitwadi’ advocated
reorganization of the Indian society on
rational principles…. “If religion does not
sanction social reform , then change the
religion”
•Gopal Krishan Gokhale set up Servant of
India Society in 1905 with aim of training
missionaries for national service
•Narayan Malhar Joshi founded Social service
league in Bombay

16. •1885 Seva Sadan was started by Behramji
Malabari to take care of discarded & exploited
women
•1830 Dharma Sabha started by Radhakant Deb
opposing abolition of Sati & maintaining status
quo in the socio religious matters
•Bharat Dharma Mahamandal stood against
Arya Samaj, Theosophical Society, Ramkrishna
Mission , Head quarter at Varanasi Madan
Mohan Malviya was leader of it

17. Ramkrishna movement
•Ramkrishan Parmahansa priest at Kali temple
Dakshineshwar Calcutta
•Spread the message of Vedanta
•Narendranath Datta (Swami Vivekananda) disciple of
Parmahansa founded Ramkrishna Mission in 1897 at
Belur near Calcutta for religious & social reforms
•“Service of man is service of God”
•Followed teachings in Upanishads & Gita
•He represented India in world parliament of religion
in 1893 held at Chicago , preached healthy balance of
materialism of west with spiritualism of east.

18. Dayanand Saraswati
•Founded Arya Samaj as a reaction to western influence in 1875 at
Bombay, later headquarter at Lahore
•Mulshankar (Dayanand saraswati) born in old Morvi state of Gujrat in
Brahmin family
•Wrote “Satyarth Prakash”
•Preached supremacy of Vedas “ go back to Vedas.
•Was disciple of blind teacher Swami Virjananda of Mathura who
taught him Vedanta
•Criticized later hindu scriptures as Puranas
•Preached Vedic notion of chaturvarna as per occupation & not by birth
•Samaj fixed min marriageable age at 25 for boys & 16 for girls
•1st DAV school at Lahore in 1886 emphasized the importance of
western education
•Swami Shradhanand started Gurukul at Hardwar in 1902 to provide
traditional education
•Started Shuddhi movement to reconvert the hindu from other religions
it led to the communal politics later

19. Aligarh Movement
•After 1857 British played divide & rule policy
•1885 INC formed Indian Muslim were led by some leaders to
preach loyalty towards British to take care of their interests
•Syed Ahmad Khan wanted Indian Muslims to develop & get
educated in western education
•Loyalty to British earned him knighthood in 1888 , he wanted to
reconcile western scientific education with the teachings of Quaran,
but believed in adaptability of religion on basis of rationality
•Started Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, to
impart modern education among Muslims, & prevent them from
participating in politics
•Deoband School preached orthodox tenets of religions & jihad
against foreign rulers, set up in Saharanpur district of UP in 1866 by
Mohd. Qasim Nanotavi & Rashid Ahmed Gangohi, it supported INC
& issued fatwa against Sayed Ahmad Khan’s organization

20. Sikh Movement
•Singh Sabha movement started in Amritsar in
1873 to impart western education to Sikhs &
to protect Sikh religion from conversions
•Akali movt. Was its offshoot & founded to
protect the gurudwaras from corrupt mahants
enjoying government patronage
•Sikh Gurudwara act 1922 gave control of
Gurudwaras to masses to be administrated by
apex body SGPC

21. Theosophical Movement
•Madame Blavatsky & colonel Olcott inspired by
Indian thoughts & culture founded it in USA in
1875, shifted HQ to Adyar in India in 1882
•Believed in Hindu philosophy of reincarnation
& karmas , Upanishads, Yoga , & became part of
Hindu renaissance
•Annie Besant became it’s president after Olcott
in 1907. She had come to India in 1893, founded
central Hindu college in Benaras in 1898 later
became BHU in 1916
•This gave self respect & sense of pride to
Hindu’s fighting against British