Cultural Movements in 19th Century

CULTURAL ENCOUNTER & SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE SECOND HALF OF 19TH CENTURY –II

1. ARYA SAMAJ:-

• Started by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in 1875

• Invoked the authority of the Vedas

• He projected Hinduism as a ‘religion of Book’

• He claimed that the Vedas alone contained ‘scientific truths’ & therefore the religion based on these texts was superior to Christianity & Islam

• Condemned idolatry, polytheism, ritualistic religion dominated by Brahman priests & child marriages
• Stood for widow remarriages, inter-caste marriages & female education

• Denounced untouchability & repudiated caste system but upheld fourfold Varna system

• His reforms received warm acceptance in Punjab & North-western India

• At the time of his death in 1883 there were Arya Samaj branches all over this region

• His moderate disciples focused on education & community work. A network of schools & colleges established

• The Dayananda Anglo-Vedic School of Lahore set pattern for such institutions

• Other disciples wanted to maintain the original spirit of education. Started Gurukul at Haridwar. They were gradually marginalized after 1893

• Militant group under Pandit Guru Dutt & Pandit Lekh Ram launched a militant campaign for preaching religion of Vedas & initiated Suddhi or reconversion
• It 1890s became intensely involved in cow protection movement thus moving decisively from reformism to revivalism

{ PRARTHANA SAMAJ:-

• Members: MG Ranade; RG Bhandarkar; KT Telang

• The Social Science League, started in 1911 in Bombay by Chandavarkar, active to this day, was pioneered out of its concern for working classes by initiating night schools, technical schools, libraries, recreational facilities & co-operative credit societies

• The Seva Sadan on other hand established by Malabari specialized in care of women of all cstes, providing educational welfare & medical servies
• Maharshi karve put crown on his work for women’s uplift by inaugurating Women’s University

• Servants’ of India Society founded by GK Gokhale in 1915 was a society for an elite of dedicated individuals who were rigorously trained & paid a subsistence salary

PHULE:-

• Jotiba Govind Phule (1827-90) took up fight against Brahmanical oppression in his voluminous prose & poetic work
• Founded Satyashodhak Samaj; also founded home for Widow’s children

• Started schools for girls & untouchables }

2. RAMKRISHNA & VIVEKANANDA:-

• Ramkrishna Parmhansa (1836-86), a priest at a temple in Dakshineshwar near Calcutta emphasized that there were many roads to God & salvation & that service to man was service to God, for man was embodiement of God
• Vivekananda (1863-1902) popularized his religious message. He called for social action to remove squalor & poverty. In 1896 he founded Ramkrishna Mission to carry on humanitarian relief & social work. He urged the people to imbibe the spirit of liberty, equality & free thinking

3. THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY:-

• The society was founded in US by Madame HP Blavatsky & Colonel HS Alcott, who later came to India & founded the headquarters at Adyar in Madras in 1882

• Under the leadership of Annie Besant (in 1893) the movement grew in India

• As a religious revivalists the Theosophists were not very successful but as a movement led by westerners who glorified Indian religious & philosophical tradition, it helped Indians recover their self confidence

• Mrs. Besant established Central Hindu College at Banaras which was later developed by Madan Mohan Malaviya into Banaras Hindu University

4. SAYYID AHMED KHAN & ALIGARH SCHOOL:-

• In 1863, Nawab Abdul Latif founded Muhammadan Literary Society at Calcutta to encourage upper & middle class Muslims to take western education

• Most important reformers among Muslims was Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan (1817-98)

• He appealed to his people to return to original Islamic principle of purity & simplicity

• He started building new schools & founded an association called the Scientific Society in 1864

• Society published Urdu translation of English books on scientific & other subjects 7 an English-Urdu journal for spreading liberal ideas on social reform

• Founded Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh (later Aligarh Muslim University) in 1875
• He opposed the participation of Muslims in activities of INC. He wanted more time for Indian Muslims to organize & consolidate their position & this, he thought could be best done through maintaining good relations with British rulers

• Though he opposed INC he emphasized the unity between Hindus & Muslims

  

5. BRITISH LEGAL INTERVENTION IN SOCIO-CULTURAL FIELD:-

• British moved cautiously on issues of reform

• Indians were left to be governed by what came to be known as the personal laws in domain of family

• With few exceptions they adhered to the principle of no interference
• Earliest legal intervention came in the form of regulations prohibiting female infanticide passed between 1795& 1802

• However they were strongly enforced only by Bentinck & Harding (1844-48)

• Next was abolition of Sati in 1829

• Another law was Widow Remarriage Act of 1856. It introduced a punitive clause, in that the widow remarried lost her claims to be the limited right to property of her first husband

• Act three of 1874 introduced civil marriage into India. This was merely an ‘enabling’ law intended to legalize marriages between various communities among the Brahmos, the reformist group of Bengal 

• Age of Consent Act of 1891

• The Sharda Act of 1929, which proposed to fix the minimum age of marriage for females at 14 & males at 18

• Many women leaders emerged during the National Movement Hansa Mehta, Mithuben Petit, Avantikabai Gokhale & Premabai Kantak (Western India); Swarup Rani Nehru, Rarvati Devi, ldo Rani Zutshi (& her 3 daughters Manmohini, Shyama & Janaki), Satyavati Devi (Northern India); S. Ambujammal, Rukmani Kakshmipathy, Durgabai (Southern India); Basanti Devi, Urmila Devi, Sarla Devi & Malati Chaudhari (Eastern India). Women were active in princely states too

6. WOMEN’S ORGANISATION:-

• From the first two decades of 20th century, the articulation of women’s issue was based on liberal principles of equality

• In this context, three major women’s organization Women’s India Association (WIA), National Council for Women in India (NCWI), & the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) played a major role in articulating women’s issues
• The WIA (1717) represented women of all races, culture & religion. Their primary focus was education & the branches were encouraged to set up adult classes for literacy, sewing & first aid. Stri Dharma was its monthly English journal
• NCWI (1925), a national branch of the International Council or Women, was limited to collection of information on women, preparing memoranda & presenting them to the proper authorities. Council kept its distance from struggle for independence. Herabai Tata, dowager Begum Saheb of Bhopal, Maharaja of Baroda, Cornelia Sorabji, Mithan Tata Lam & Tarabai Premchand were its members
• All India Women’s Conference (1927), declared that women’s education was foremost on its agenda Nurtured by Women like Margaret Cousins & Maharani Chimnabai Gaekwad, it enlarged its scope to cover issues pertaining to the progress of women & children, social reforms & a united India. It published Roshni, a monthly in Hindi & English
• These three women’s organizations produced a joint memorandum objecting to schemes of separate electorates & reservation of seats after 1932 & to reiterate their demand for adult franchise

• Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910) – Allahabad – Sarla Devi Chaudhurani

• Bangiya Nari Samaj (1920s) – Bengal – started campaigning for women’s voting rights
• All Bengal Women’s Union – campaigned for a legislation against illicit trafficking of women

• All India delegation of prominent women led by Sarojini Naidu met with Edwin Montague, Secretary of State for India in December 1917 to demand the right to vote for women

• Dr. Muthulaxmi Reddi became first women legislator when she was appointed to Madras Legislative Council in1927

• Annie Besant became president of INC in 1917 followed by Sarojini Naidu (1925) & Nellie Sengupta (1933)
• The govt. of India Act of 1919 lay down that the provinces could settle the question of franchise. Bombay & Madras were the first provinces to grant franchise to women in 1921, followed by UP (1923), Punjab & Bengal (1926) & Assam, the CP, Bihar & Orissa in 1930

• British govt. invited Begum Shah Nawab & Radhabai Subbarayan for Round Table Conference in 1930

• Margaret Cousins & Muthulaxmi Reddi (from WIA), Mrs. Hamid Ali & Rani Rajwade (from AIWC) & Tarabai Premchand (from NCWI) together with Sarojini Naidu issued a joint memorandum in favor of universal adult franchise
• Sarojini Naidu represented the women’s organization at Second RTC in 1931 where Gandhi represented INC. Begum Shah Nawaz & Radhabai Subbarayan were nominated by British
• The Franchise Committee under Lord Lothian was appointed by the govt. to work out details. The Lothian Committee rejected adult franchise because of size of country, its high population & adult literacy. However it recommended increasing the ratio of female –male voters from 1:20 to 1:5
• Govt. of India Act of 1935 extended franchise to 6 million women
• In 1937 elections 10 women were elected from general constituencies, 41 from reserved constituencies & 5 were nominated to Provincial Legislative Councils

• Vijayalaxmi Pandit became Minister for self govt. & public health in UP

• Anusuyabai Kale of CP occupied position of Deputy Speakers

• Hansa Mehta became Parliamentary Secretary in Bombay
• National Planning Committee set up in 1938 & sub-committee composed of women to submit proposals regarding women’s place in planned economy. Chaired by Laxmibai Rajwade, the committee included Sarojini Naidu, Smt. Hamid Ali, Amrit Kaur, Vijayalaxmi Pandit, Begum Shah Nawaz & Sarla Devi. Mrudula Sarabhai was the secretary

{Some who voiced concern for women in 19th century:

Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar – campaigned for widows remarriage in Bengal with support of Sanskrit texts

Durgaram Mehtaji in Gujarat – felt like Vidyasagar that the education to women was responsible for many of social problems

D.K. Karve – women’s education

Behramji Malabari – crusader against sufferings of child widows & raise the age of Consent

M.G. Ranade, Gopal Hari Deshmukh & Karsander Mulji contributed to betterment of women’s status

Among Muslims, Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali & Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah, propagated importance of girls’ education

R.Venkata Raman Naidu opposed devdasi system & kandukuri Virasalingam Pantulu worked for marriage reforms

Jotiba Phule – raised his voice against the tyranny of Brahmanical traditions & worked for education of oppressed classes & women

G.G. Agarkar – rights of women on the ground of equality

Pandita Ramabai – took up issue of conjugal rights