In
1864 AD, Keshavchandra Sen went to Bombay and wanted to
open a branch of Brahmo Samaj there. Due to his influence, Prarthana Samaj was
established in Bombay in 1867.
Its
founding president was Atmaram Pandurang, but the real inspiration behind it
was Mahadev Govind Ranade.
The
efforts made by the Brahmo-Samajis of Bengal to establish unity among all
religions, the aim of the Prarthana-Samajis was similar.
In
the prayers of the society too, mantras, Vedas, Upanishads, Quran, Zendavesta
and Bible were taken from all the religious texts and the members of the
society had equal faith in all the religions.
Their
main leader was M.G. Ranade, RG Bhandarkar and NG Chandavarkar.
Ranade
founded the Deccan Educational Society in 1884 and the Widow
Remarriage Association in 1891.
Prarthana
Samaj published a newspaper named Subodh Patrika and also established the Dalit
Uddhar Mission.
A
night school was opened to educate the working class.
Pandita
Rama Bai, a talented Marathi woman, contributed to the establishment of Arya
Mahila Samaj.
Objective
of Prarthana Samaj-
1.
Opposition to caste system
2.
Support for widow remarriage
3.
Promotion of women's education
4.
Barrier to child marriage
Caution
– The connection with the past should
not be broken and all relations with our society should not be broken.
Mahadev
Govind Ranade
Achievements
- Just as Raja Rammohan Roy was the first leader of Hindu revival in Bengal,
similarly, Mahadev Govind Ranade started this movement in Maharashtra. Ranade
was almost equal to Ram Mohan Roy in intellectual height.
Ranade
was a Chitpavan Brahmin. He was born in 1842 AD in Nashik district. He was a great scholar of
literature, politics and economics. He was in government service and,
eventually, he also became a High Court judge.
Many
institutions were born through his hands. He opened so many institutions in
Pune that Pune became a pilgrimage site for public workers.
Just
as Hindutva had given birth to Rammohan Roy in Bengal to protect itself from
the attacks of Christianity and European ideas, in the same way it gave birth
to Ranade in Maharashtra and like Rammohan Roy, Ranade also wanted to answer
Europe with European means. Were.
Weaknesses
- He was an ardent reformist and
wanted to present a pure form of Hindutva by erasing the stereotypes. But, his
time was only the time of birth of reforms and Hindu fundamentalism was not
ready to be suppressed by the reformers at that time.
Some
of the misfortune that had followed Keshavchandra in Bengal also remained with
him. The thing was that Ranade's first wife passed away and he married an
eleven year old virgin girl instead of a widow.
It
is said that he had to marry against his wishes and feelings due to his
father's stubbornness. But, he had to suffer the punishment for this and he
continued to silently listen to the taunts of his critics throughout his life.
Opposition
to Tilak
It
was also an irony of history that Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak had to oppose
the reforms that Ranade wanted to bring in the society. Ranade and Tilak
remained divided into two opposing camps throughout their lives and Tilak's
arrows kept raining down on Ranade throughout his life.
1.
‘Age
of Consent Bill’
When
the Age of Consent Bill was presented in the Imperial Council in 1891,
Tilak strongly opposed it. It seems that Tilakji was more practical and timely
than other reformers of his contemporaries. The Hindu people of the nineteenth
century were dreadfully fanatic. She was extremely cautious in matters of caste
and untouchability and was not ready to give even the slightest leeway to
anyone.
2.
Sharda-Sadan- 11 March 1889
The
second incident happened regarding an institution called Sharda-Sadan. This
institution was established by Pandita Rama Bai. Pandita Rama Bai was a Brahmin
and had extraordinary authority on Sanskrit knowledge. She married NonBrahmin,
and returned to America as a Christian. He opened Sharda Sadan for the
education of girls. But, due to his radical thoughts and behavior many people
turned against him. Ranade and Agarkar believed that there is no harm in Hindu
girls studying in Sharda Sadan. But, Tilakji said that this organization is
going to take Hindu girls on the path of Christianity. Therefore, it should be
boycotted.
Effect
of Tilak
On
top of that, the Hindu-Muslim riots that took place in Bombay and Pune in 1893-94
AD worsened the situation even further. After these riots, Tilakji started
Ganesh-puja and Shivaji-mahotsav in Maharashtra, due to which the sentiments of
Hindu nationalism rose strongly. In front of this flood of past-oriented
sentiments, the reformers were uprooted and the leadership of Maharashtra
passed into the hands of Tilakji.
Shri
D.S. Sharma has said that when Tilak ji's donation was given to Gandhiji, then
in a way, the burden of the bow of nationalism was left from Parashuram and
came into the hands of Ram.
Importance
of Prarthana-Samaj
1.
Although Ranade
did not enter politics, whatever he did on the cultural field gave enough
impetus to the nationalism of India.
2.
Prarthana Samaj
was opposed to the caste system, he wanted to break the practice of considering
one person as superior and the other inferior by birth and he wanted to promote
women's education and equality between men and women.
3.
It is true that
the people of this society were impersonalists; But, this society did not have
the condition of giving up idol worship and traditional rituals, like many
conditions were imposed by the Brahmo Samajists in Bengal.
4.
In Brahmo-Samaji
Bengal, only people from the rich and learned classes were involved, but Ranade
wanted that the uneducated people should also enter the prayer society,
although his wish was never fulfilled.
5.
Similar to the
Bhakti movement that arose in medieval Maharashtra, Ranade wanted to take the
prayer society everywhere and there was no fault in it. Gyandev, Eknath,
Tukaram, Ramdas and Janardan Pant, these saints were very generous. He
patronized the equality of human beings.
कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें