The religious and social
renaissance of the 19th century is an important event in
modern Indian history. This forced Indians to introspect. At this time the
Indian society was in a passive and powerless state. The lower class of the
society had started accepting Christianity for social respect and economic
facilities. Therefore, there was a need for reform to protect religion and
society. Along with these reforms, the project of new nation was also being
run. The reasons for this were the following-
1.
Renaissance in India
under the influence of the Western Enlightenment
The western class in India was greatly influenced by
rationalism, scientism and humanism. Thus a new trend of 'secularism' was born.
According to this religion began to be measured by the reason and any
inconsistencies in private religion were discarded and efforts were made to
either replace the traditional beliefs or find a rational reason for them. Thus
the idea of untouchability, which was an integral part of Hinduism, was
abandoned. Similarly, there were changes in the daily rituals of the society.
2.
Judicious Review of
Religion and Society
The attention of the
early thinkers of modern India went towards the social and religious issues of
India. For example, Raja Ram Mohan Roy in his first published work Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin
(A Gift to Monotheists) made a judicious review of the then religious system in
general and the vested interests associated with it. In his later works, he
also criticized the religious beliefs of Hinduism, hypocrisy and social evils
like Sati Pratha, child marriage. In his opinion, religious reforms were
necessary for both social reform and modernization.
3.
Urbanization and
Modernization
Urbanization and
modernization and the introduction of railways influenced people's ideas about
eating, drinking, untouchability, etc. The turbulence of these new ideas
technology created a sense of diffusion in Indian culture. Due to the study of
Sanskrit and the expansion of printing press, people started reading books
which their ancestors had never read before. Due to the expansion of this
knowledge, there was a spirit of renaissance in India. As a result of all this,
some religious and social reform movements started in the Indian society, which
not only changed the form of Indian society but also contributed very
significantly in the modernization of India.
4.
Expression of Nationalism
Many social and religious
reform movements took place in India during the British rule. All these were
manifestations of the emerging national consciousness and the spread of western
liberal ideas among the Indian people. These movements continued to take a
national form and at the same time, they implemented the program of reconstruction
in the social and religious field. There were many movements in the social
circle like caste reform or caste abolition, equal rights for women, campaign
against child marriage, ban on widow remarriage, struggle against legal and
social inequalities
5.
Democratic aspiration of
Nationalism
Indian nationalism felt a
democratic desire from its birth. Social reform and religious reform movements
incorporated these desires within themselves. These movements at different
levels tried to eliminate privileges from the religious and political spheres
that were hindering the unity of the nation, democratize the social and
religious institutions of the country, reform or abolish the caste system. He
tried to establish social rights for all Indian people without discrimination
of caste or gender. The reformers argued that such a democratization of
institutions and social relations was essential to building a strong national
unity.
6.
Arguments for the
legitimacy of the demand for self-government
The religious problems
and social evils of India provided the reason for the continuation of their
colonial rule to the British authority. The problems of women and Dalits
created disabilities for the Indians for self-government. Dalits resisted
mainstream nationalism for their inferiority. He gave priority to the question
of his liberation over the independence of the nation and the self-government
of India. It was therefore necessary for the mainstream nationalists to address
their questions. Thus the social and religious reform movements provided
arguments for the legitimacy of the Indian demand for self -government and
independence.
7.
Consciousness of change
In India, the consciousness
of reform was awakened among the English educated Indian people. People like
Raja Rammohan Roy, Akshay Kumar Dutt, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Devendra Nath
Tagore, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Girish Chandra Ghosh, Harishchandra Mukherjee
are famous for their outstanding work in fighting against injustice and
superstition in the name of Hinduism in Bengal. The desire for change awakened
in other parts of the country as well. Movements led by Gopal Hari Deshmukh,
Mahadev Govind Ranade and Jyotiba Phule in the west, Narayan Guru Swami in the
south besides prominent reformers like Dayanand Saraswati and Syed Ahmed Khan
raised consciousness in the Indian society.
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