36 Socio-Religious Movements up to 1905

D. Subramanyam Reddy

1. Introduction:

A large number of socio-religious reform movements, both Hindu and Muslim, broke out in India during nineteenth century. They brought radical change in the thinking of the people and also caused organization of a variety of social service activities. Among them include the Brahmo Samaj, its Splinter Samajas, and the Arya Samaj, the Theosophical Society, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Wahabi Movement, the Faraizi Movement and others.

2. Brahmo Samaj:

The Brahmo Samaj was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) in Calcutta on August 20, 1828. He received traditional education in his early life. Later, he learnt Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, and still later English, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. He had even studied Islamic theology. This had shaken his faith in the idolatrous forms of Hindu worship. His reading of the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Gita convinced him that the concept of the unity of Godhead constituted the essence of Hinduism. He came to have respect for the moral precepts of Jesus Christ.

Rammohan noticed challenge from western civilization. He left strongly the need of a new philosophy, which would, without sacrificing the genuine spiritual heritage of India, absorb and assimilate the modernism coming from the west. He was for the introduction of western science and technology into the educational curriculum of India. In fact, he became a pioneer of English education and enlightened journalism in the country. He laid the foundation of political agitation in India and championed the cause of the exploited Indian peasantry. He considered religion not as a narrow personal creed. He considered it as an all-comprehensive elevating principle operating in every sphere of individual, social and national life. Brahmo Samaj believed in universal theism based on strictly monotheistic principles. It could be worshipped by any one irrespective of his religious affiliation. Rammohan, however, gave Hindu character to the Brahmo form of worship. It c onsisted of readings from the Vedas and the Upanishads, a sermon and devotional music.

The Samaj received solid organizational machinery from Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905). He established, in 1839, the Tathvabodhini Sabha. Its objective was “the extensive propagation of Brahmo Dharma”. Rituals and ceremonies of the Samaj were now drawn up.

The prominent among them was the system of initiation and the form of divine service. Upto 1866, Devendra was the accredited leader of the Calcutta Brahmo Samaj. A change in Brahmoism of this period was the abandonment of the belief in the infallibility of scriptures. Debendra emphasized on Bhakti and monoism (visista-dvaitavada). There were also many Brahmos who had different opinion on Bhedabhedavada or Dvaitadvaitavada. Under Debendranath the Samaj promoted social reforms such a widow remarriage, spreading education, developing Bengali literature through its organ the Tathvabodhini Patrika and opposed the efforts of Christian missionaries to convert Hindus into Christianity.

The next phase of the Brahmo movement was dominated by Kesab Chandra Sen (1834-84). He joined the Samaj in 1857. But, differences cropped up between him and Devendranath. Debendra’s, as a reformer, was for a slow and cautions move. Kesab, having imbibed more of western culture and Christian influence advocated a much more aggressive programme. Kesab, therefore, formed a new organization.

2.1 Kesab’s Brahma Samaj of India:

In 1865, the progressives led by Kesab withdrew from the parent body and on November11, 1866 established the Brahmo Samaj of India. The parent body henceforth came to be known as the Adi Brahmo Samj. Kesab tours in 1864 and 1868 had promoted the sense of spiritual and national unity among Indians. His visit to England in 1869 carried the message of the Brahmo Samaj to the west. His Samj desired complete abolition of caste distinction. It gave strong support to female education and female emancipation. Its activities led to the formation of the Indian Reform Association in 1870 and enactment of the Native Marriage Act of 1872. The Samaj emphasized on the sense of sin, the spirit of repentance, and the efficiency of prayer. Kesab emphasized on universality of the theism. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism were studied with great respect. Kesab infused Bhakti or devotional fervor into Brahmoism. He wanted synthesis of religions. He proclaimed this under the title of “New Dispensation” (Nava Vidhan) on January 25, 1880. This synthesis he explained as “Faith in a Living God”.

2.2 Sadharan Brahmo Samaj:

On May 15, 1878 a group of Kesab’s followers left him and founded the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. The reasons for this were:

• Refusal of their demand for the introduction of a democratic constitution in the Samaj,
• Strong difference with their leader on the question of adesa or Divine Command, and
• Marriage of Kesab’s daughter to the Prince of Cooch Behar, allegedly in violation of the provisions of the Native Marriage Act of 1872, which he himself had done so much to get passed.

The founders of the new body framed a new constitution based on universal adult franchise. It was declared, in the Bengali organ of the Samaj in 1882, that the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was about to establish a “world wide republic”. This had become a special attraction of the Samaj. This new body still exists as the most powerful and active branch of the Brahmo Samaj in the country.

3 Prarthana Samaj:

The Prarthana Samaj was also an offshoot of the Brahmo Samaj. It was founded in Bombay in 1867. Unlike the Brahmos in Bengal, its followers never looked upon themselves “as adherents of a new religion…but as a movement within Hinduism. They concentrated on social reform, upon “works” rather than “faith”. They were staunch theists in the Vaishnavite tradition of Mahasashtra, made famous by saints like Namadeva, Tukarama and Ramadasa. They concentrated mainly on social reform; inter-dining, inter-marriage, remarriage of widows, and improvement of the lot of women and the depressed classes. They established night schools for the poor, a widows home, a ‘Depressed Classes Mission’, and others of this kind. This way, this Samaj became the centre of many social reform activities in western India.

4. Arya Samaj:

The Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayanand saraswati (1824-83). He was born in a small town in Gujarat. Even as a boy he doubted the divinity of the Hindu idols. The death of a younger sister made him to think of the problems of life and death. Under Virijananda he studied the Vedanta. In 1863, he started preaching his doctrines. After twelve years he established the Arya Samaj in Bombay.

Dayananda regarded the Vedas as eternal and infallible and laid down his own interpretation of them in his book Satyartha Prakasa. He rejected the later scriptures like the Puranas. He considered Ramayana and Mahabharata as literary treasures and nothing more. He condemned idolatry. He rejected caste system. He opposed the authority or superiority of the Brahmanas. He denounced untouchability. He felt that the study of the Vedas and other scriptures should be open to all. Caste was given an ethical and occupational interpretation like the Buddha. Animal sacrifices, long pilgrimages and ablutions were rejected.

Arya Samaj fought against child marriage and fixed the minimum marriageable age for boys and girls at 25 and 16 respectively. It condemned inequality between men and women. It encouraged inter-caste marriages, and widow remarriages. It had done commendable work during natural calamities like earthquakes, famines and floods . It organized orphanages and widows homes for the distressed. It gave importance to education. But, one group of the Samaj differed on this and established an institution at Hardwar and trained boys on the lines of the Hindu codes. The other group gave importance to English education and spread a network of Dayanand Anglo-Vedic schools and colleges both for boys and girls throughout the country. The Arya Samaj had also taken up the programme of reconversion of those Hindus who had been willingly or forcibly converted to Islam or Christianity. This Samaj spread to Punjab and the whole of northern India. After Dayanand’s death in 1883 his work was continued by a group of his followers. Even today the spirit of the Samaj is active both in towns and villages.

5. Ramakrishna Mission:

The Ramakrishna Mission was inaugurated by Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) in May 1897. Its objectives were:

1.    To create a group of monks dedicated to a life of renunciation and practical spirituality for the spread of the universal message of Vedanta as preached by Ramakrishna and

2.    To carry on preaching, philanthropic and charitable works, treating all human beings as manifestations of the Divine.

The first one finds its embodiment in Ramakrishna Math initiated by Ramakrishna himself. The second one finds expression in the Ramakrishna Mission started by Vivekananda eleven years after Ramakrishna passed away.

The headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission are at Belur, a small town on the right bank of the Ganga, about five miles from Calcutta. This centre was established in 1898 by Vivekananda after his return from the west. The Math is a registered religious trust dedicated to the nursing of the inner spiritual life of the monastic members of the movement. The Mission is a charitable society registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 and dedicated to the expression of the inner spiritual life in outward collective action in the service of man. The basic principles of the Mission are taken from the spiritual experience of Ramakrishna teachings of the Upanishads and the Gita and also of the Buddha and Jesus. Vivekananda’s early problem was how to make the Vedanta practical, how to bridge the gulf between Paramartha and Vyavahara, between the claims of spirituality and the practical work–a-day life of the world. Finally, he formulated the scheme of practical Vedanta through his Doctrine of service — the service of all beings, looking upon them as the Divine. He found it in Ramakrishna’s words: “The service of jiva is the worship of Siva”. This attitude at once removes all distinctions. Work is worship; life itself is religion.

The Ramakrishna Mission has been in existence for over 75 years. It has developed into a world-wide organization. Its work abroad is simply the propagation of the universal principles of Vedanta. It believes that the philosophy of Vedanta will make a Christian a better Christian and a Hindu a better Hindu.

The Mission is a pioneer in organizing voluntary social service activities. Its famine relief works in Murshidabad in 1897 and the relief organized during the first outbreak of plague in Calcutta in 1898-99 form great landmarks. These were followed by innumerable relief activities, every year, during famines, floods, earthquakes, fire, etc.

There were over 138 branches of the Mission in1961. Of these, 102 were in India. The rest were in countries like Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, Singapore, Fiji, Argentina, USA, England and France. The centers in India, Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore run educational, cultural and philanthropic institutions. In 1961, it maintained 12 indoor hospitals with 1,013 beds, and 68 outdoor dispensaries, treating annually 27,816 and 37,02,969 patients respectively. About 43,402 boys and 18,129 girls studied in the Mission’s schools and colleges. The Math and the Mission have brought out a large number of publications on Vedanta and the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda thought in English and in different Indian languages. They publish three monthlies in English and five in Indian languages from India and one English monthly each from England and America. For its finances the Mission depends mainly on voluntary contributions from the public, supplemented by State grants in India, Ceylon, Burma, Singapore and Fiji.

6. Theosophical Society:

In 1875, the Theosophical Society was founded in Newyork by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831-91), a Russian Lady, and an American Colonel named H.S. Olcott (1832-1907). The Society had three main objects:

1.    To establish a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity,

2.    To promote the study of comparative religion and philosophy, and

3.    To make a systematic investigation into the mystic potencies of life and matter, which is usually called occultism.

In 1879, Blavatsky and Olcott came to India. In 1882, they established their headquarters at Adayar, a suburb of Madras. Here, they came into contact with Buddhis m and Hinduism. Olcott was the President of the Society till his death in 1907. He was succeeded by Mrs. Annie Besant. She was the first theosophist who preached the wisdom of Srikrishna and the Gita. She believed that a revival and reintroduction of India’s ancient ideals and institutions could solve most of her problems. To provide Hindu religious instruction, she founded the Central Hindu School at Varanasi in 1898. Later, it developed into the Benaras Hindu University. She rose to fame as the founder of the Home Rule League in 1916 and organizer of the Home Rule Movement. She was elected President of the Indian National Congress.

7.  Beginnings of Muslim Socio-Religious Movement:

The Mulim religious movements may be divided into:

1.    Movements that were religious in form but political in content,

2.    Movements with emphasis on educational programmes,

3.    Movements organized to combat Christian missionary activities,

4.    Movements concerned mainly with theological controversies within the fold of Islam,

5.    Movements for reorientation of religious thought under the impact of western ideas, and

6.    Movements for purely moral and spiritual uplift.

Before discussing these, reference may be made to Shah Waliullah of Delhi (1703-63) who felt the need of reinterpreting Islamic thought in the light of reason. He translated the Quran into Persian and made it available the Persian speaking public. His two sons, Shah Abdul Qadir and Shah Rafi ud-din translated it into Hinduvi and made the main source of Muslim religion available to all the people of India. Both, he and his sons encouraged the study of the traditions of the Prophet. They even had prepared commentaries on standard collections of adadith. He was thus responsible for that revival of religious learning which found expression in several religious movements of the time.

7.1 Wahabi Movement:

Of the movements religious in form but political in content the Wahabi, the Faraizi and the Khilafat movements were important. In 1821, Syed Ahmad of Rae Bareli (1786-1831), a disciple of Shah Abdul Aziz Qadri, the eldest son of Shah Waliullah visited Macca and came under the influence of Wahabi ideology. On his return to India he established a permanent centre at Patna and started a movement for the reform of Muslim religious life and restoration of their political power. His two distinguished disciples, Shah Muhammad Ismail and Maulana Abdul Haiy (both belonged to the house of Shah Waliullah) consolidated the teachings of their master in a book known as Siratul-Mustaquim. Syed’s successors published a lot of literature in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu in order to propagate their ideology.

7.2 Faraizi Movement:

Faraizi Movement was started in Bengal by Haji Shariatullah of Faridpur. It was anti-British in content and found ready response in Eastern Bengal. Haji suspended the observance of the Friday and id prayers on the ground that India had become dar-ul-harb since it was under the political suzerainty of the British. He desired his disciples to lead an abstemious life and fight against the political domination and economic explotation of the foreigners. His son, Dudu Miyan (1819-1860) arrested the equality of mankind. He had also felt that the earth belonged to God and hence no one had the right to occupy it as an inheritance or levy ta xes upon it. The Faraizi movement weakened after the death of Dudu Miyan in 1860.

7.3 Dar-ul-Ulum:

The founders of the Dar-ul-Ulum of Deoband wanted “to resuscitate classical Islam” for improving the spiritual and moral condition of the Muslims. The failure of the revolt of 1857 made them to work for the uplift of the Muslims through religious education. They created political awakening by means of religious exhortations. Maulana Husain Ahmad felt that religion did not constitute any basis for separate national individuality and that the Hindus and Muslims of India were one nation. His views were propagated by Muslim religious organizations like the Jamiat-ul–Ulama i-Hind.

7.4 Nadwah-ul-Ulama:

It was established at Lucknow in 1894. Its aim was “to recast Muslim educational system, develop religious sciences, reform Muslim morals and put an end to theological controversies within the fold of Islam”. Under the guidance of Maulana Shibli a new school of religious scholars sprang up. Nadwah developed the study of religious sciences. Its offshoot Dar-ul-Musannifin of Azamgarh has published a number of outstanding religious works.

Other religious groups :

In the latter half of the 19th century three religious groups appeared. They were Ahl-i-Hadith, the Ahl-i-Quran and the Barelwi. But, their leaders confined themselves to theology and theological controversies.

8. New Scholastic Movements:

The activities of Christian missionaries, the impact of western ideas and civilization posed a challenge to Muslim religious thought. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98) was the first to react to this new situation. He fought medieval obscurantism through his journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq. He advocated a rational approach towards religion. He rejected taqlid, or blind adherence to religious law. He asked for a reinterpretation of the Quran in the light of reason. In his “Lectures on Islam” he condemned the theories propounded by Christian missionaries. Prominent among those who followed Ahmad Khan was Syed Ameer Ali, the author of “The Spirit of Islam”. Those who followed the path different from that of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan were included Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) and Muhammad Iqbal (1873-1938). Maulana wrote an incomplete commentary on the Quran. He declared all attempts at resolving the conflict between religion and science as irrelevant; scientific problems he felt were not the real domain of religious scriptures. Iqbal emphasized the need for a reform of Muslim religious thought in view of the changes taking place world-wide. He considered religion as a powerful factor in the evolution of man’s personality and the betterment of human society. He emphasized a life of self-assertion and self-realization. Iqbal’s thought had a very deep impact on the contemporary Muslim religious attitudes.

8.1 Movements for moral and spiritual uplift:

Three persons played a key role in the purely religious and spiritual movements of the Indian Muslims. They were: Shah Ghulam Ali of Delhi, Maulana Ashraf Ali of Thana Bhawan of Sharanpur district, and Maulana Muhammad Ilyas of Delhi. Their thought travelled to distant parts of the Muslim world, including Arab countries.

9. Summary :

The socio-religious reform movements of 19th and early 20th centuries helped removal of evils in the society and religions, both Hindu and Muslim and made people to think on scientific lines.