- Information
- AI Chat
Unit 1 to 11
Indian Political Thought-II (6.2)
University of Delhi
Recommended for you
Related Studylists
indian political thought 2Preview text
Core Course
Paper-XIV : Indian Political Thought-II
Study Material : Unit 1-
Editors : Dr. Mangal Deo
Dr. Shakti Pradayani Rout
Department of Political Science
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
University of Delhi
B. (Hons.) Political Science Semester-VI
Graduate Course
Paper-XIV : Indian Political Thought-II
Contents
Pg. No.
Unit-1 : Introduction to Modern Indian Political Thought Dr. Nishant Kumar/ 01 Narayan Roy
Unit-2 : Raja Rammohan Roy: Rigths Anju 14
Unit-3 : Pandita Ramabai Dr. Smita Agarwal 28
Unit-4 : Vivekananda: Ideal Society Anju 38
Unit-5 : Gandhi: Swaraj Manish Kumar 52
Unit-6 : B. R. Ambedkar Dr. Nishant Kumar 63
Unit-7 : Tagore: Critique of Nationalism Nitesh Rai 78
Unit-8 : Muhammed Iqbal: Community Dr. Prashant Barthwal/Dharmendra Kumar 89
Unit-9 : Nationalism of V. Savarkar Sheshmanee Sahu 102
Unit-10 : Nehru: Secularism Dr. Deepika 114
Unit-11 : Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Dr. Nishant Yadav 127
Edited by: Dr. Mangal Deo Dr. Shakti Pradayani Rout
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI 5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-
introduced western ideas like liberty, equality, social harmony and created the map of India’s future on basis of traditional knowledge that was embedded in ancient Indian Granth and Upanishadas.
Indian thinkers of the period like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, M. Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pt. Nehru, either through their writings or speech or both, tried to bring reforms in traditions and related customs and beliefs those were considered inhumane and threat to the project of creating modern India. Simultaneously, they also tried to give an Indian face to western ideas and proposed ideals and framework of India’s future political system, like Nehru did in Discovery of India and Gandhi in India of My Dreams. There were many aspects in this approach that was different from both Ancient philosophy as well as Modern Western Philosophy.
1 What is ‘Modern’ in Modern Political Thought
The word ‘Modern’ in Modern Indian Political Thought does not reflect an epistemological meaning as it generally does. In western lexicon, ‘Modern’ knowledge corresponds to a particular meaning, where modernity was seen as a gift of scientific and enlightenment-based movements. Knowledge in this framework was considered to be meaningful only if it conformed to the epistemology of science, that is if you want to claim something as knowledge it should be have emerged from the process of observation, experimentation and confirmation. This Modern epistemic frame of knowledge became the base of differentiation between Classical and Modern Western political thought, which also reflected a rejection and replacement of the classical. However, the same might not be true about Indian Political Thought.
Actually, the word ‘Modern’ in Modern Indian Political Thought represents the time, the time of India’s struggle for its independence. During this period of time certain set of ideas were produced by our leaders those were leading the struggle. These leaders crossed the constructed boundaries of thought and produced new ideas about many political subjects like state, freedom, equality, social justice, ideal system of governance suitable for India and many more. On one hand, these leaders challenged the dominant perspective of the west by constructing or producing such new ideas and on the other hand they, by using their capability of leadership, made these new ideas like social justice, freedom, equality, fraternity popular among masses. These new perspectives which challenged the western ideas, together, constitutes what we call Modern Indian Political Thought. Thus, it can be said that the origin of modern Indian political thought lies in the responses of Indian intellectuals to the processes of colonization and modernization of their society under British rule, which can be understood as a response to colonial modernity.
1 Indian and Western Political Thought Compared
To have a clear understanding of modern Indian political thought, we need to have knowledge about the differences between Indian and Western political thought. However,
before entering this discourse we also need to understand what is ‘western’? Generally, the word is used in India to denote anything that belongs to Europe or America. But the problem with such generalized use is that it assumes that there is some homogeneity in the socio- cultural patterns of these societies. But it is not so. If we take the example of advent of modernity and the rise of enlightenment movement in these societies, we find that even within Europe, different societies were responding to it differently. For example, the English Enlightenment was very different from Scottish Enlightenment or French Enlightenment movements and had differing repercussions on these societies. Also, the social values celebrated in American society is much different than in England. So, there is no homogeneity in the socio-cultural pattern exhibited by these societies. Yet, for a long time in India the use of ‘west’ as a homogenous category has not only become a common parlance but also gained popularity. During colonialism, the use of this category also helped in the process of ‘self-identification’. By treating west as a homogenous category, the nationalists tried to project it in binary terms to what was Eastern or Indian in particular. As most of the colonizing forces belonged to west (Europe in particular like France, Portugal, Spain and Britain etc.), this categorization easily found buyers in different colonized societies. The categorization helped the nationalists to claim a self-identity for nation in socio-cultural way by claiming that it represented what was right and good against the ‘west’ that represented all that was negative and often against the values celebrated by East. West therefore became the obvious ‘other’ which was used to assert the self-identity and difference of Indian nation and its culture. Now let us see in what broad ways is the Modern Indian Political Thought different from Western Political thought.
- As we have discussed earlier, the word ‘modern’ in west was used to show epistemological difference between new and previous knowledges. On the basis of this new modern framework of knowledge, western thinkers and intellectuals, established the hegemony of the knowledge system developed primarily in the post enlightenment period with an emphasis on scientific methodology. The dominance of this methodology was so regressive that it branded any idea developed at other places as outdated and worthy of rejection if it did not conform to their standards. Under colonialism, the intellectuals from west, including many Indologists, did the same with Indian knowledge systems. On the contrary, modern Indian intellectual system unapologetically used the resources which were primarily indigenous to develop their philosophy. So, the idea of rejection or refutation was not the focus, rather they focussed on revisiting the ancient tradition and rebuilding it to suit the changed context. A great of example of this is philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, which formed the basis of political philosophy of many modern Indian thinkers like Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Aurobindo Gosh, and Tagore. Similarly, Samakhya philosophy had deep influence on the political philosophy of Bankimchandra.
- Second difference between Indian and western political thought lies in their evolution process, which had impacted the nature of both. Evolution process of western philosophy is linear, which started with Reformation (movement in which established
Colonialism and its impact on Indian minds: Almost all the thinkers, those are categorised as modern Indian thinker, synthesised and produced their ideas during the colonial period of India. It is well known fact that British rule used education as means to achieve its end of creating a class (of Indian people) which physically appeared to be Indian but mentally which was in sync with colonial powers. Britisher tried to colonize the Indian minds, by implementing the western English education model based on western ideals and thought. A popular example of it is Macaulay minutes 1835 which sought to establish the need to impart English education system to Indian natives. The cultural dominance asserted by the colonizers was largely successful in creating self-doubt in the minds of Indians many of whom became sceptic about the relevance of their cultural and social aspects. The constant criticism and name calling of the cultural practices, branding them as barbaric had a deep influence on Indian psyche.
However, it is equally true that the same process of colonialism that became the reason for humiliation became the source for preparing a counter attack. The education which was aimed to cement colonial cultural dominance, became the weapon to challenge and threaten the dominance of the colonizers in their own turf. Indians became more aware of concepts like liberty, rights, equality and used it as trope to expose the dubiousness of British rule in India. They realized how, on one hand, the western ideas talk about liberty and right of individual but on other hand, they are abstaining native Indians from exercising these rights. One way of understanding this dilemma and the native response has been theorized by Partha Chatterjee who uses the binary of ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ conflict among the nationalist visualization. Chatterjee argues that in response to colonial modernity, the nationalists on the one hand were ready to accept and negotiate on subjects that concerned public/outer/political sphere, as in the case of rights and political representation. But at the same time on subjects concerning inner sphere like spiritual or cultural aspects they were not ready to compromise with the values and principles that were central to their identity. This is reflected in the protests against the reform bills like Age of Consent Bill among others.
Response against colonial efforts to colonize Indian minds had several dimensions. Indians were not static or passive beings waiting to be moulded according to the British wish. Colonial modernity had the most pressing influence and as the attack on Indian identity continued the natives responded in different ways. Their response can be broadly categorized as one of the following: submission, reform, or revivalism.
Submission: Submission in relation to the impact of colonial modernity meant that many Indians of that time accepted the appeal of western modern ideas. They became cynical about the social values and cultural practices of India and believed that the only way to change things was through adoption of what the west had on offer. They believed that ideas of west (like separation of power, constitutionalism, etc.) and western scientific education can be of more importance in building new India. Thinkers of this category favoured imitative reproduction of knowledge and worked aggressively for its adoption and replacement of socio-cultural practices that were contrary to this ideation.
Reform: The difference between submission and reform was that, under submission claims of western supremacy was accepted uncritically, but in contrary to this, reformist Indian thinker opted to do Indianization of the western ideas, by combining them with native ideas. Thinkers of this category, avoided narrow approach of studying ideas by creating binaries like indigenous and foreign, modern and tradition, and opted for method of dialogue between tradition and modern, indigenous and western. Thinkers like Rajaram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda, Gandhi and many others had accepted the importance of wester ideas, but they defined these ideas from a new lens. This new perspective can be seen if we see how our leaders defined secularism, nationalism, and the role of state. Western criticism was used as a mirror to root out elements within our culture and society that were considered negative and thereby introducing incremental changes to root it out.
Revival: Against oriental construction of idea of India, some Indian intellectuals responded by focusing on revival of Indian native ideas and knowledge. Such a take was taken by K C Bhattacharya, when he argued about establishing Swaraj in Ideas, a cognitive independence from western ideas. Thinkers of this category were focused on redefining the knowledge and ideas presented in Upnishadas and Ancient texts. Another explicit example of this was the approach of Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati whereby he gave the call of going back to Vedas. They tried to show how these ideas, which are tagged as tradition by West, are relevant in modern times and needed to be revived in its pure form. It also included an uncritical and unapologetic glorification of India’s past.
One other thing that we need to understand is the debate about question of continuity of tradition or break from past. In ideas of many thinkers like Ambedkar, Nehru, Lohia we can see a kind of substantial break from the tradition or Indian past. In modern new context these thinkers produced such ideas in which we can see a departure from medieval and ancient tradition of Indian political thought. Whereas in the works of thinkers like Aurobindo Ghosh, Rabindranath Tagore and also Gandhi, we can explicitly see the continuity of tradition. Some political thought experts have argued that neither the conception of continuity nor the conception of break from tradition is completely true about Indian political thought, rather the evolution of modern Indian political thought follows pattern of continuity with change.
1 Major Themes of Modern Indian Political Thought
As we all know, Britishers with them brought a system of colonialism, under which there only goal was to have political control over India and to uses its resources for the growth and prosperity of Britain. Many years after, as time passed, many of our people came to realize this harsh truth. They started struggle for their right to have a dignified life. Initially, during the period of colonization of India, Britishers limited themselves to economic and political sphere, but later on they also started bringing western culture in Indian society, through education and other means. To achieve this objective, they started producing knowledge about India, which could be understood in terms of Edward Said’s theory of ‘Orientalism’. Due to this step of Britishers and Indian response to this orientalist construction of
compromise, it promotes social cooperation and harmony rather than competition. Considering liberty and harmony as the basis of the relationship between the individual and society, Aurobindo Ghosh held the belief that one person is the seeker of his spiritual freedom and on the other hand seeks to maintain his group by understanding and relation in society. Vivekananda tried to establish a link between the western concept of political and social independence with the concept of traditional Indian concept of individual and society. The philosophy of Advaita Vedanta was the basis of Vivekananda’s several ideas. According to this philosophy each and every person is Divyansh (part of the divine) and because we all have part of divine within us, we all are equal. On basis of the Advaita Vedanta, Vivekananda advocated that there must be a social and political equality among each of. Likewise, the basis of Gandhi’s objections regarding custom of Untouchability was the presence the divine within us. Even on the basis of this idea, Gandhi called the untouchable people Harijana. Gandhi did not agree to the claims that the Indian social system based on the Varna is the reason of social inequality and dominance of one over other. He believed that the Varna system was just a framework of social division of labour.
Relationship between Human and Nature: Modern Indian political thinker did not only advocate a harmonious relationship between all individuals in society, but also emphasized on the harmonious relation between human beings and nature. This is explicated most cogently in Deendayal Upadhyaya’s idea of Integral Humanism. The relationship between man and nature is also emphasized by thinkers like Tagore and Gandhi who promote rejection of materialist culture and its replacement with spiritual unity of human with nature and environment.
State: In the West, the state signified a unit which had a control over a defined territory and it enjoyed absolute sovereignty over this territory. By the time, role of state and nation was properly established in the daily life of west, in India religion was more decisive, which was related to humanism and the spiritual system, not to the state. In this respect Dalton argues that Indian thought has not been anti-political, but it depicts government as an unfortunate necessity. All modern Indian thinkers, whether their views regarding state are different, accepted government and state both as a part of society. Many of modern thinker accepted state as necessity for the proper functioning of the society. For example, Babasaheb Ambedkar stressed on the role of state in protecting of weaker section of the society. Contrary to this, there were many thinkers like Aurobindo and Gandhi those did not have complete trust in the political unit like state and are often claimed to be ‘philosophical anarchists’. Gandhi firmly believed that the Atman (soul) exists in every individual and connection between soul is the basis of harmony, but contrary to this the state is a soulless machine. In his view the state represents violence in a centralized and organized form. That’s why he was sceptical of the role of state. For them state was at best a necessary evil and such thinkers stressed on the need to tame the role of state for larger social transformation and to create an ethical and moral social order based on conscious and enlightened citizenry. Therefore
they laid emphasis on making state more responsible and accountable to society through devolution and decentralization of powers.
Secularism: As we discussed above, religion was an important part of discourse during the India’s independence struggle. At this time, many thinkers used the word Secularism to defines their understanding of relation between the religion and the state. The word secularism, in west, was used to signify complete separate relation between state and religion. In modern western politics, it is a common belief that the religion is a private matter of individual and thus state has no business in sphere of religion and vice versa. Even in context of the British rule in India, this western idea of secularism was not able to transcend in the modern India. Although this western definition had impact on some of Indian leaders, but many Indian leaders like Gandhi, Aurobindo did not believe that Dharma has no role in politics and state has no role in religion. Rather they stressed on an imminent relation between politics and religion. Dharma as the guiding principle for statecraft symbolized the perception that rulership is meant for and ethical and moral upliftment of society by creating conditions where all individuals can perform their duties and enjoy their liberties without intervention. Thus, in India, we see a new trend of secularism. In India, the public nature of religion was more commonly accepted. In this context Gandhi, in his autobiography said that ‘without religion the idea of polity is quite unimaginable’. He said that “religion should remain method and medium of our work but one should be very careful about the word 'religion'. It doesn't refer to the extremist ideologies; it means faith in a particular moral system”. Later this nature of secularism got reflected in the Indian constitution, which have provision to protect the rights of religious minorities and establishes the role of state in religion.
Social Reform and Social Justice: It is well known fact that Britisher succeeded in colonising India because it was politically divided, but at that time, we Indians were not merely politically divided. There were many bases like caste, religion, gender on the basis which one felt oneself superior than other, and he tries to assert this superiority by curtailing basic human rights of the other person. Earlier Britishers did not interfere in the social system of India, but with the rising demand of many Indian intellectuals and leaders like Raja Rammohan Roy, later they interfered. On the other hand, many Indian thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries established many social, religious, political institutions and started many movements to address this issue of social divide and injustice. In this discourse of social reform there was divide among our leaders on the questions related to role of Britishers in the reform movement and What should be our reference – we should go back to vedas or we should look toward west. Leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotiba Phule considered the help of British rule in this movement important as they believed that state, by making law and implementing it, can correct injustice like Sati and caste discrimination. Whereas there were leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak who did not welcome the interference of foreign government in the social system of India, rather they argued that if any reform was necessary, it should have its genesis from the demands emanating from society and the people should
Aurobindo, the concerns about cosmopolitanism in Tagore and Gandhi, or the stress on need for creative exchange between sciences of west and spirituality of India in thoughts of Bankim, Vivekananda and Gandhi among others, these thinkers went beyond their immediate concerns to imagine a world order that could redefine humanity and look for panacea of all human sufferings to create an ideal society. This aspect was significant as it indicated that the Indian thinkers, although concerned with the problems facing their own nation, did not limit their contemplation to emancipate the lifeworld of their own people, rather saw the role of India in guiding the world to a more inclusive and sensitive understanding of human welfare in general.
1 Significance of Studying Modern Indian Thinker
It provides a new lens for understanding political ideas. The ideas of modern political thought emerged in the context of colonialism, in response to orientalist thinking and the metaphysical and epistemological assumptions of modern Indian thinkers differ sharply from those of the west. Western approach is based on binaries like binary between modern and pre-modern/traditional, rational and irrational, material and spiritual. In Indian approach we see a kind of synthesis or evolution of one stage to the other rather than the binaries or dichotomies. What is different about Indian thinkers is that their ideas are future oriented but at the same time, these ideas are deeply embedded in their context. Modern Indian thinker like Ambedkar, Gandhi and Nehru were deeply engaged in the politics and in dealing the challenges of their time, but at the same time they were reflecting about the society, state and politics. Because of this deep and active engagement of these thinkers with their context, Indian modern political thought not only tells us about the concerns of the that time but it also presents solutions to our current problems and concerns, which were dealt by those thinkers in their vision for the future of India. In spectrum of modern Indian political thought, we can see and learn how to make balance between various dichotomies. Modern Indian thinkers, in their works and speeches, have tried to balance individual freedom with social equality; urban development with rural development; national unity with religious-cultural diversity, nationalism with internationalism/global approach of ideas; material prosperity with spiritual prosperity of individual.
1 Conclusion
On the basis of discussion, we have so far, it can be said that modern Indian political thought is rich archive of philosophy, ideas and concepts which emerged in response to colonialism. If we have a look on western ideas through the lens of ideas provided by modern Indian thinker than we can understand political concepts and ideas from a new and enriched perspective, a perspective which get across the binaries of tradition and modern and simultaneously tries to bring together east and west. To have an enriched understanding of modern Indian thought we need to study it with a broad and thematic perspective, not by
limiting the political thought to some individual or few individual thinkers. If we unpack the ideas of the modern Indian thinkers by doing comparative study than we can better understand and explain Indian society and its social-cultural-economic aspects.
1 Practice Questions
What do you understand by ‘Modern Indian Political Thought’? Discuss the context in which modern Indian political thought emerged. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................
Critically analyse the main features of modern Indian political thought.
............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................
Dennis Dalton calls strategy of modern Indian political thinkers as ‘Preservation by Reconstruction’. Elaborate. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................
Compare the characteristics features of modern Indian political thought with that of western political thought. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................
1 Suggested Readings
Chatterjee, Partha (1986). Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World, A Derivative Discourse, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Dalton, Dennis Gilmore (1982). Indian Idea of Freedom: Political Thought of Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Mahtama Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, Gurgaon: The Academic Press, pp-28. Mehta, V. (1996). Foundations of Indian Political Thought, New Delhi: Manohar Publishers.
Unit-
Raja Rammohan Roy: Rigths
Anju
- Structure
2 Objectives
2 Introduction
2.2 Early Life and Influences 2.2 Ideology
2 Contribution and Social Reforms
2.3 Brahmo Samaj 2.3 Abolition of Sati 2.3 Religious Reforms 2.3 Disagreement to Caste System 2.3 Educational Reforms 2.3 Advocate of Western Education 2.3 Liberty of Press 2.3 Champion of Nationalism 2.3 The Synthesizer of Religion and Morality 2.3 Love for Liberty and Constitutionalism 2.3 Champion of Internationalism
2 Roy’s Political Liberalism
2 Roy’s Views on Liberty and Rights
2 Raja Ram Mohan Roy- Father of Indian Journalism
2 Summary
2 Practice Questions
2 Multiple Choice Questions
2 Reference
2 Objectives
The unit is concerned with Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s political ideas. He was a notable religious and social reformer in nineteenth-century India. He established the Liberal tradition in Indian political thinking. After completing this lesson, you should be able to:
Recognize the importance of socio-religious reform movements in the formation of contemporary India; Recognize Roy’s struggle against harsh and barbarous social customs; and
Define and explain the role of liberalism in influencing modern Indian political thinking.
2 Introduction
The ‘Father of Modern India,’ ‘Father of the Bengal Renaissance,’ and ‘Father of the Indian Renaissance’ were all titles given to Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, was a famous Indian social reformer. Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered as the pioneer of modern Indian Renaissance for the remarkable reforms he brought in the 18th and 19th century India. The title ‘Raja’ was bestowed upon him by the Mughal emperor Akbar II, in 1831. Though Roy was modernist in his approach, he always tried to link modernity with tradition. He attempted the creative combination of secularism and spirituality, of Western and Eastern philosophy. He wanted to present the concept of universal religion by combining the best features of all leading religions of the world. He was of the opinion that rationality and modernity needed to be introduced in the field of religion and that “irrational religion” was at the root of many social evils. This concept of universal religion meant not merely religious tolerance, but also transcending all the sectarian barriers of separate religion He was the founder of Liberal tradition in Indian political thought.
He was born into an affluent Brahman family in British-ruled Bengal (varna). Little is known about his early life and education, but he appears to have grown up with unconventional religious beliefs. He travelled frequently outside Bengal as a child and learned numerous languages, including Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and English, in addition to Bengali and Hindi.
Rammohan began giving money to Englishmen working in Calcutta for the British East India Company starting in the late 18th century. John Digby, a subordinate company officer who introduced him to Western culture and literature, hired him in 1805. For the following ten years, Roy worked as Digby’s assistant for the British East India Company. During that time, Rammohan resumed his religious studies. In 1803 he published a tract criticising India’s superstition and religious differences, both within Hinduism and between Hinduism and other religions. He proposed a monotheistic Hinduism as a cure for those ills, in which reason leads the faithful to “the Absolute Originator, who is the initial principle of all religions.” He looked to the Vedas (Hinduism’s sacred writings) and the Upanishads (speculative philosophical literature) for a philosophical foundation for his religious ideas, translating old Sanskrit treatises into Bengali, Hindi, and English and producing summaries and treatises on them. The adoration of the Supreme God, who is beyond human comprehension and who sustains the universe, was the fundamental focus of those scriptures for Roy. In 1824, the French Sociéte Asiatique granted him honorary membership in recognition of his translations.
In 1815, Rammohan Roy created the short-lived Atmiya-Sabha, or Friendly Society, to spread his monotheistic Hinduism ideas. In order to read the Old and New Testaments, he acquired Hebrew and Greek. In 1820, he released Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace and
sati as a violation of every humanitarian and social feeling, as well as a hallmark of a race’s moral debasement.
2 Contribution and Social Reforms
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a great social reformer. He modernized Indian society in many ways. Ram mohan as the ‘first modern man’ of India realized early that social reform was the precondition for the regeneration of the people of our country. Roy believed in, the progressive role of the British rule in India and sought government held in the matter of social reforms, especially in the form of socially progressive legislations. Roy’s aim was the creation of a new society based on the principles of tolerance, sympathy and reason, where the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity would be accepted by all, and where man would be free from the traditional shackles which had enslaved him for ages. He yearned for a new society which would be cosmopolitan and modern. Roy’s methods of social reform were multifaceted. He combined all possible means, including even those which were commonly believed to be incompatible. His reforms have been discussed below:
2.3 Brahmo Samaj
The Brahmo Samaj (1828) The society of God was the first attempt by Indians in the nineteenth century to reform Hindu society. It is a cosmopolitan religious organization based on the positive sides of all the prevailing religion. Initially, the reform was named as ‘Brahmo Sabha’ in 1820 but later in 19th century, it was renamed as Adi Brahmo Samaj meaning the society of men believing in the worship of supreme power in spirit form but opposing the idol worship of the Almighty. The Brahmo Samaj was essentially a monotheistic reform movement in the Hindu religion. The Brahmo Samaj was a reflection of the Bengal Renaissance and took active participation in social emancipation, which included the abolition of sati, the caste system, child marriage, dowry and the betterment of the status of women in society. The core of the Brahmo Samaj was to understand that all human beings were related at a human level and hence no discrimination should be practiced, be at the level of caste, religion or gender. The Bhahmo Samaj propagated the oneness of God, brotherhood, morality and charity and was against idol worship, polygamy, caste system, sati, child marriage and other meaningless rituals. The prominent leader of the Brahmo Samaj Keshad Chandra Sen, Jagdish Chandra Bose, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Satyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore, Debendranath Tagore. The Brahmo Samaj is credited with being one of the most important reform movements in India which led to the foundation of modern India. Its educational and social reform activities instilled a new confidence which, in turn, contributed to the growth of national movement. A number of Brahmo Samajists were later prominent in the struggle of Independence.
2.3 Abolition of Sati
Sati is described as a Hindu custom in India in which the widow was burnt to ashes on her dead husband’s pyre. Basically the custom of Sati was believed to be a voluntary Hindu act in which the woman voluntary decides to end her life with her husband after his death. But there
were many incidences in which the women were forced to commit Sati, sometimes even dragged against her wish to the lighted pyre. The Brahmins and other higher castes in the society encouraged it. Raja Ram Mohan Roy raised his voice against the Sati system. A few rulers of
India tried to ban this custom. In 1818, Roy wrote his first essay on sati in which he argued that the woman had an existence independent of her husband and hence, she had no reason to end her life on the demise of her husband. The society had no right over her life. Right to life of both man and women was equally important. Roy found that ignorance of the women about their legitimate rights, their illiteracy, customary denial of the property rights to the widow and the consequent helplessness, dependence, misery and humiliation were some of the causes behind this practice. According to Roy, Sati was nothing short of murder and was therefore a punishable offence under the law. It was Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s efforts, bore fruits and this practice was stopped by an Act passed in 1829 during Lord William Bentinck. Thus, a long prevailing ugly practice of the Hindus was uprooted.
2.3 Religious Reforms
Ram Mohan raised his voice against idolatry. In his book Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin’ he championed the cause of Monotheism. He criticized idol-worship by the Hindus. He rejected polytheism, idol-worship and rituals of different religions. He advocated monotheism or unity among gods. He also advised people to be guided by the conscience. He inspired men to cultivate rationality. To all he appealed to observe the principle of unity of God. Further, he formed ‘Atmiya Sabha’ in 1815 to carry on discussions among scholars on religion and philosophy. Through this, he raised his voice against religious and social malpractices, Champion of Women Liberty Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a champion of women’s rights in India. He laid the foundations of the women’s liberation movement in this country. He revolted against the subjection of women and pleaded for the restoration of their rights. Raja Ram Mohan Roy advocated the liberty of Women. He was determined to give women her proper place in the society. Besides abolishing Sati, he advocated in favor of widow remarriage. In 1822, Roy wrote a book entitled Brief Remarks Regarding Modern Enchroachments on the Ancient Right of Females. He argued that like the sons, daughters have also their right over parental property. He also influenced the British government to bring necessary modification in the existing law. He raised voice against child-marriage and polygamy. He was the advocate of women education. Brahmo Samaj which he founded paid special attention to women’s education. Thus, he advocated women’s liberty out and out and awakened them.
2.3 Disagreement to Caste System
The caste system was a very ugly practice prevailing in Indian society right from the later Vedic age. Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s strongest objection to the caste system was on the grounds that it fragmented society into many divisions and subdivisions. The higher castes like Brahmins and Kshatriyas looked down upon the Sudras, Chandalas and other aboriginals.
Unit 1 to 11
Course: Indian Political Thought-II (6.2)
University: University of Delhi
- Discover more from:
