Historical story

Chapter-46 - Social-Reform Movements of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (A)

I am proud to belong to a religion that has taught the world the lessons of tolerance and universal acceptance. We do not only believe in universal tolerance but, we accept all religions as truth.

– Swami Vivekananda, Chicago Conference.

The development of Indian civilization, society and culture was completely separate and independent from other cultures of the world. It was the world's oldest culture which was developed on the principle of welfare of human beings and religion, artha, kama and moksha were considered as important and equal parts of life but in medieval period the political power of the country went to Muslim hands. Due to which Indian culture and society has locked itself in the strong walls of religion and devotion to save itself from destruction.

During this period, the social traditions and customs of the Hindus were considered sacred like religious rituals, in which there was no room for new thinking. Therefore the Vaishnava-devotees of medieval times showed the Hindus the way of living a life based on generosity, tolerance and love on the one hand and on the other hand gave self-strength to fight against the tyrants to stick to their religion.

In the seventeenth-eighteenth century, the political power of the country went into the hands of the European nations and after the Allahabad Treaty of AD 1765, the British became the masters of this country.

By the beginning of the 19th century, Indian civilization was completely influenced by Western civilization. The educated class of India was starting to consider western civilization and knowledge as superior and their faith in the superiority of their civilization and culture was getting lost. Christian missionaries were promoting Hinduism as a religion of uncivilized people by targeting the weaknesses of Hindu religion.

Influenced by his propaganda, some educated Hindus converted to Christianity. Many people like Madhusudan Dutt, Neelkanth Shastri and Ramabai became Christians. This hurt the Indian intelligentsia. Therefore, the thinking youth of the country came forward to awaken self-respect in the society again and to inculcate a sense of pride in Indians for their religion, culture and nation.

Meaning of Renaissance

After the revolution of 1857, that is, in the second half of the 19th century, the consciousness that emerged among Indians to rectify the state of despair arising out of their defeat, is called Indian Renaissance. During this period, Indians tried to adopt the new knowledge and thinking being received from Western civilization, despite being attached to their ancient history, traditions and culture. And started the process of reforms in the religious, social and political field.

The root cause of the social and cultural decline seen in India in the 18th century is the evils and distortions of religious and social life, the result of political subjugation or decline. Therefore, this work of renaissance started from the religious and social sphere and later it gave rise to political awakening.

Hence the Indian Renaissance is called 'Religious and Social Renaissance' has been named. India's renaissance was mainly spiritual and it initiated a social and religious movement before taking the form of a national movement. Ramdhari Singh Dinkar has given two main features of religious and social renaissance - (1) a sense of pride in the past and (2) tendencyism.

The first sign of renaissance in India was also to develop pride in its past. Indian intellectuals realized that we have nothing to learn from the West except science because India's cultural heritage is one of the most important and proud in the world. The main reason for the origin of this belief in the minds of Indians was the knowledge of Vedanta available with Indians for centuries.

The second feature of the Renaissance was the adoption of tendencyism, that is, the abandonment of retrenchment. From the time of Mahatma Buddha, the spirit of retirementism was ingrained in Indians, in which instead of material achievements, attention was being given to spiritual progress and purity of personal conduct. Indian intellectuals were able to fully understand the features and achievements of the individualistic approach of Europe.

They realized that Europe's superiority was not because they had more intelligence than Indians, or more science than Indians, or had terrible weapons of war, but that Europe's superiority was due to the tendency of Europeans to view life. . They have made themselves powerful through the strengthening of the social configuration and the achievements of material resources. Indians also have to think about caste pride, nationalism and material achievements.

Reasons for Indian Renaissance

In the beginning, Indian Renaissance was an intellectual movement which influenced our literature, education and ideology. In the second phase it turned into social and religious movements. In the third and final phase, this movement took the form of a political movement, as a result of which we got political independence. There were many reasons for this renaissance of the 19th century-

(1.) Public awareness in Asian countries: In the 19th century, there was a wave of public awareness in the whole of Asia. Many secret committees had been formed against the domination of foreigners in China, which gave rise to insurgent activities in China and Sanyatsen took the responsibility of creating awareness in the country.

Similarly in Japan, 'Honor the emperor, drive away the foreigners. The slogan began to resonate and Mutsohito tried to create an awakening in Japan. A wave of nationalism was also rising in Turkey, which wanted to overthrow the autocratic rule of the Sultan. Although the spirit of public awareness existed in India for a long time, the awakening of other countries gave strength to the wave of Indian awakening. In fact, Asian countries were moving ahead by taking inspiration from each other.

(2.) Development of the new middle class: In the 19th century, a new middle class developed in India which challenged the traditional social organizations i.e. caste system, and matrimonial customs. The educated middle class included people of all castes. When occupational equality began to be established among different classes, then the feeling of ending discrimination based on caste also started to prevail and voices were raised against inter-caste restrictions.

The middle class of this period was influenced by the social configuration of western civilization and wanted to make Indian social life in line with the social life of the British. Therefore, the social reform movements of the 19th century were made to bring changes in the way of life. Among these reforms were prominent such as women's education, ending the purdah system, breaking the restrictions of inter-caste marriage, stopping child marriage, abolishing the restrictions of widow-marriage etc.

(3.) Economic exploitation by the British: The British adopted the policy of economic exploitation in India. The Hindu farmers had become poor since the time of the Muslims, but now the British exploited the Muslims also economically and forced the farmers, craftsmen etc. to find other means of subsistence. The economic and political exploitation of the subjects activated the powers of India, who wished to restore the ancient glory of India.

Due to the commercialization of agriculture, the production of farms increased, the means of marketing increased, but out of this growth, the farmer got very little share. All the cream used to rob the British power. Due to industrialization, the farmers' boys left their villages and started migrating to the cities. In this new environment, he started thinking in a new way.

They were getting inundated with the ideas of changing fate on the basis of hard work, leaving the fatalism and status quo and moving towards Prativism leaving the spirit of retirementism. People's aspirations and expectations from life were increasing.

(4.) Influence of Western Education:In AD 1835, English was accepted as the medium of instruction. Due to this many Indian youth were able to go to England for education. He traveled to other European countries and saw civilian life there. Middle-class educated Indian youth got knowledge of the civilization and literature of western countries and generated enthusiasm for the upliftment of their country and society.

Like the Europeans, they also started hating slavery, which was creating all kinds of discrepancies and imbalances in the life of the people. He became aware of the appalling condition of the hollowness of the orthodox Indian society. In this way, the voice of social reform was first raised in the English-educated class, but the real success in this work came to those youth who had knowledge of ancient Indian culture and its pride along with English education.

If it was not so, then the educated Indian youth would have become a hater of Indian culture and a follower of English culture. Instead of uplifting the country, such an awakening would have caused more degeneration.

(5.) Criticism of Christian missionaries: Christian missionaries ridiculed Indian religion and criticized the Indian social structure. He used abusive words for Hindu society and propagated the superiority of Christianity. From Governor-General Cornwallis to Kenning and thereafter, many Governor-Generals had contemptuous views of Indians.

British officials like Bentinck, Metcalf, Macaulay etc. wanted to remove various social evils and superstitions prevalent in India, but in their mind there was a feeling of hatred and disdain for Indian society and culture.

Because of this his reformist approach was limited to teaching Indians the lessons of the superiority of western culture. In such a situation, it was natural for Indians to understand that only Indians can bring real reforms in the country and that Indianism can also be the medium.

(6.) Indian Newspapers and Literature: Indian newspapers, magazines, literature etc. contributed significantly to the Indian Renaissance. The establishment of the press facilitated the rapid dissemination of ideas. Some such newspapers and magazines were published in which news of abuse, racial discrimination and exploitation by the British were published.

Along with this, suggestive articles and poems of Indian nationalists were also published. Due to this the educated society became successful in developing the mental rapidly. The expansion of railways also gave an opportunity to the citizens of different parts of the country to know each other's views.

(7.) Role of non-official British: Many non-official Englishmen came to India in the early nineteenth century. These British were influenced by the progressive ideology of the industrial bourgeoisie of Britain. These people came to India as lawyers, teachers, journalists etc. Company government officials used to call him inter-loafer (unauthorized entrant) out of contempt.

These Britishers used to argue with the officers of the company on many matters. These people, along with some prominent Indians, established influential organizations like the Land Holders Society (E.1838), British India Society (E.1839) and Bengal British India Society (E.1843) to run the movement against the rule of the East India Company. Had done The movements run by these organizations led to the development of a new vision among Indians.

(8.) Appreciation of Indian culture by European scholars: European scholars such as Max Muller, Monier Williams, Routh, Sassoon, Bunferf etc., by researching in relation to ancient Indian literature, religion and culture, presented a rich picture of the political, cultural and social history of Indians to the world. As a result of these researches, the signs of India's ancient spiritual superiority and radiant civilization came before the Indians. This increased the self-confidence and self-respect of the Indians and the feeling of patriotism got stronger in them.

Due to all these reasons a wonderful wave of renaissance arose in India. The wave of innovation that emerged in India affected all the fields of education, social, religious and political.

Form of Indian Renaissance

The social reforms that began in India as a result of the 19th century renaissance were in fact a peaceful revolt against the ancient systems. These rebellious persons are sarcastically 'reformer' Used to say The aim of these reformers was not to change the prevailing social structure, but to incorporate a new system of living in it. The tradition of social reform was not new in India.

From the 16th to the 18th century, this work was done by saints and ascetics, which is called Bhakti-movement. In the 19th century, the contribution of householders was more in this work. इस सामाजिक आन्दोलन के तीन चरण थे-

(1.) ई.1877 से पहले समाज-सुधार के प्रयास व्यक्तिगत स्तर पर किए गए।

(2.) ई.1877 से ई.1919 के बीच समाज सुधार के संगठित प्रयास किए गए।

(3.) ई.1919 के बाद समाज सुधारों की दिशा राजनीतिक चेतना की ओर मोड़ दी गई।