Socio Religious Reforms MCQ Questions and Answers

Pair 1 is correctly matched. In 1867, Atmaram Pandurang founded the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay. The important leaders were Mahadeo Govind Ranade, R.G. Bhandarkar (1837-1925) and N.G. Chandavarkar (1855-1923).

Pair 2 is correctly matched. In 1910, Saralabala Devi Choudharani founded the ‘Bharat Stree Mahamandal’ in Allahabad,

Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Sambad Kaumudi was a Bengali weekly newspaper published from Kolkata in the first half of the 19th century by Ram Mohan Roy (and not Dwarkanath Tagore). It was a noted proReformist publication that actively campaigned for the abolition(stop) of the Sati Pratha.

During the late 1820s and early 1830s, there emerged a radical, intellectual trend among the youth in Bengal, which came to be known as the ‘Young Bengal Movement’. A young Anglo-Indian, Henry Vivian Derozio (1809- 31), who taught at the Hindu College from 1826 to 1831, was the leader and inspirer of this progressive trend.

Statement 1 is correct. Drawing inspiration from the great French Revolution, Derozio inspired his pupils to think freely and rationally, question all authority, love liberty, equality and freedom, and oppose decadent customs and traditions. The Derozians also supported women’s rights and education.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Derozians failed to have a long-term impact. The main reason for their limited success was the prevailing social conditions at that time, which were not ripe for the adoption of radical ideas. Further, there was no support from any other social group or class. The Derozians lacked any real link with the masses; for instance, they failed to take up the peasants’ cause. In fact, their radicalism was bookish in character. Their total faith in the British and in English education, their rationalism and scientism derived from the West set them apart from the masses of Indians.

Women’s Indian Association was a heritage welfare organization of the women by the women for the women. It was formed on 8th May 1917 at Adyar, Chennai. It is the rst Women’s Association, which brought all Indian women together for mutual assistance. The main aim of the organization was to obtain women’s franchise to represent in the local state and central legislatures. It was founded by women’s rights activists such as Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, Sister Subbalaskmi and Sarojini Naidu. Other personalities are associated with the association are Vasumathy Ramaswamy, Ammu Swaminathan. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Heerabai Tata, Lady Sadasiva Aiyer.

Option 1 is correct. e Wahabi Movement was essentially an Islamic revivalist movement founded by Syed Ahmed of Rai Bareilly who was inspired by the teachings of Abdul Wahab (1703-87) of Saudi Arabia and Shah Waliullah of Delhi. Syed Ahmed condemned the western influence on Islam and advocated a return to pure Islam and society as it was in the Arabia of the Prophet’s time.

Option 2 is correct. The Deoband Movement was organised by the orthodox section among the Muslim ulema as a revivalist movement with the twin objectives of propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

Option 3 is correct. A group of westerners led by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831- 1891) and Colonel M.S. Olcott, who were inspired by Indian thought and culture, founded the eosophical Society in New York City, United States in 1875. In 1882, they shifted their headquarters to Adyar, on the outskirts of Madras (at that time) in India. It accepted the Hindu beliefs in reincarnation and karma, and drew inspiration from the philosophy of the Upanishads and samkhya, yoga and Vedanta schools of thought. As religious revivalists, the eosophists did not attain much success, but as a movement of westerners glorifying Indian religious and philosophical traditions, it gave much needed self-respect to the Indians ghting British colonial rule.

Statement 1 is correct: Besides being a leader and
organizer of the lower caste movement, Phule was also
an original thinker. In Brahmanache Kasab (1869)
Phule has exposed the exploitation of Brahmin priests. In
Gulamgiri (1873) he has given a historical survey of the
slavery of lower castes. In 1883 he published a collection
of his speeches under the title shetkaryancha Asud
( The cultivator’s whip-cord) where he has analyzed how
peasants were being exploited in those days.

Statement 2 is correct: E.V. Ramasamy Naicker published
an English Magazine under the title ‘Revolt’ in 1928. He
also published a Tamil weekly under the title “Kudi Arasu”
to spread the principles of self-respect.

Statement 3 is correct. B.R. Ambedkar on January 31,
1920, started a newspaper called Mooknayak, literally
translates to the leader of voiceless.

In 1848, several educated young men formed the Students’
Literary and Scienti c Society, which had two branches,
the Gujarati and the Marathi Dnyan Prasarak Mandalis.
e Society organized lectures on popular science and
social questions. One of the aims of the society was to
start schools for the education of women. Founders
were Dadabhai Naurozji, Behramji Khursedji, Vinayak
Harichand, and others.

There were two major types of religious reform
movements in British India – the reformist and the
revivalist movements.
The approach of the revivalist movements was as followed
–
1. Emphasis was on the Vedic or the original scriptural
authority
2. They did not oppose all forms of religious reforms.
In fact, Dayananda launched a frontal attack on
Hindu orthodoxy, caste rigidities, untouchability,
idolatry, polytheism, belief in magic, charms and
animal sacri ces, taboo on sea voyages, feeding the
dead through shraddhas, etc. Inter-caste marriages
and widow remarriages were also encouraged. Equal
status for women was the demand of the Samaj, both
in letter and in spirit.
3. Advocated return to a purer form of religion.
Example the Wahabi or the Deobandi movements
condemned the western influence on Islam and
advocated a return to pure Islam and society as it was
in the Arabia of the Prophet’s time
4. They did not call for a revival of the Vedic times. Dayananda’s slogan of ‘Back to the Vedas’ was a call
for a revival of Vedic learning and Vedic purity of
religion and not a revival of Vedic times. He accepted
modernity and displayed a patriotic attitude to
national problems
5. They criticised the western notion of cultural
superiority – The Arya Samaj was able to give selfrespect and self-con dence to the Hindus which
helped to undermine the myth of superiority of whites
and the Western culture.

The reformist movements like that of Swami Vivekanand
or Ram Mohan Roy sought to completely reform all the
ills of the religion while being inclusive of the western
thought and knowledge.

The revivalist movements on the other hand were
the result of a reaction to Western in uences and they
wanted to purify the religion as per the original teachings.
Examples include the Arya Samaj movement, the Wahabi
and the Deobandi movements, etc.

Statement 1 is correct. The Indian Social Conference
was founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao. It
met annually from its rst session in Madras in 1887 at
the same time and venue as the Indian National Congress.

Statement 2 is correct. It focussed attention on the social
issues of importance and could be called the social
reform cell of the Indian National Congress.

Statement 3 is correct. It launched the ‘Pledge Movement’
to inspire people to take a pledge against child marriage.

1. Raja Rammohan Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in
August 1828; it was later renamed Brahmo Samaj.
2. e Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Religious
Reform Association) was founded in 1851 by a group
of English educated Parsis for the “regeneration of the
social conditions of the Parsis and the restoration of
the Zoroastrian religion to its pristine purity”.
3. Prarthana Samaj was founded by Atmaram
Pandurang in 1867 with the help of Keshab Chandra
Sen in Maharashtra.
4. Servants of India Society was founded by Gopal
Krishna Gokhale in 1905 with the help of M.G.
Ranade.

Pair 1 is correctly matched. The Bengal Sati Regulation which banned the Sati practice in all jurisdictions of British India was passed on December 4, 1829 by the then Governor-General Lord William Bentinck (1828-35). The regulation described the practice of Sati as revolting to the feelings of human nature.

Pair 2 is incorrectly matched. The relentless efforts of a Parsi reformer, B.M. Malabari, were rewarded by the enactment of the Age of Consent Act (1891) which forbade the marriage of girls below the age of 12. The act was passed during the tenure of Viceroy Lord Landowne (1888-94).

Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 was passed when Lord Dalhousie (1848-56) was the governor-general of India. It was mainly due to the efforts of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-91), the principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta that the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856, was passed; it legalised marriage of widows and declared issues from such marriages as legitimate.

S tatement 1 is incorrect. The reformers helped to unify the people of India into one nation by attacking the caste system and untouchability. The cultural and ideological struggle taken up by the socio-religious movements helped to build up national consciousness. The reform movements fostered feelings of self-respect, selfreliance and patriotism among the Indians. ey, thus, paved the way for the growth of nationalism.

Statement 2 is incorrect. One of the major limitations of the religious reform movements was that they had a narrow social base, namely the educated and urban middle classes, while the needs of the vast masses of peasantry and the urban poor were ignored.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Many reformers advocated modern Western education but some turned towards traditional education system. The Arya Samaj established Gurukuls to propagate traditional ideals of education. A network of schools and colleges both for boys and girls were also established by the Arya Samaj. Rammohan Roy established a Vedanta College where both Indian learning and Western social and physical science courses were offered.

Option a is correct. Annie Besant was the president of the theosophical society. She laid the foundation of the Central Hindu College in Benaras in 1898. She launched a campaign to demand self-government for India after the war on the lines of white colonies. She campaigned through her newspapers, New India and Commonweal, and through public meetings. She also set up the Home Rule League in 1916 in Madras. The efforts of Tilak and Annie Besant towards the Moderate-Extremist reunion at Lucknow (1916) revived the Congress as an effective instrument of Indian nationalism. She was the INC president at the Calcutta session in 1917.

Option b is incorrect. Madame Bhikaji Cama was a Parsi revolutionary who operated from Paris and Geneva and brought out journal Bande Mataram. She supported the founding of Shyamji Krishna Varma’s Indian Home Rule Society in 1905. She hurled the Indian nationalist flag at a meeting in Stuttgart, Germany which she called the “Flag of Indian Independence”. Bhikaiji Cama moved to Paris where she founded the Paris Indian Society. Munchershah Burjorji Godrej and S.R. Rana were the cofounders of this society.

Option c is incorrect. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was a social reformer, freedom fighter and a champion of Indian handicrafts, handloom, theatre, and the cooperative movement. She also played signi cant roles in establishing the All-India Handicrafts Board, the Crafts Council of India and the National School of Drama. She also became the Organizing Secretary for the All-India Women Conference (AIWC).

Option d is incorrect. Sarala Devi Chaudhurani was an educationist and political activist who founded Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad in 1910. is was the rst women’s organization in India. One of the primary goals of the organization was to promote female education. She started the Lakshmi Bhandar (women’s store) in Kolkata to popularize native handicrafts produced by women.

Pair 1 is correctly matched. Justice Movement was started in Madras Presidency by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja to secure jobs and representation for the non-brahmins in the legislature. In 1917, Madras Presidency Association was formed which demanded separate representation for the lower castes in the legislature.

Pair 2 is correctly matched. In 1924, the Vaikom Satyagraha led by K.P. Kesava Menon, was launched in Kerala demanding the throwing open of Hindu temples and roads to the untouchables.

Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Self-Respect Movement was started by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker, in the mid1920s. the movement aimed at nothing short of a rejection of the Brahminical religion and culture which Naicker felt was the prime instrument of exploitation of the lower castes.

Gopalhari Deshmukh1. He was a social reformer and rationalist from Maharashtra.

2. He played a leading role in founding periodicals Gyan Prakash, Indu Prakash and Lokahitavadi.

3. He attacked Hindu orthodoxy and supported social and religious equality.

4. He held the post of a judge under British Raj.

5. He wrote a weekly “Prabhakar” under the pen name of Lokahitawadi on social reform issues.

Statement 1 is correct. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar wrote ‘Borno Porichoy’, an elementary level book for learning Bengali alphabets, where he reconstructed Bengali alphabets and reformed it into typography of 12 vowels and 40 consonants.

Statement 2 is incorrect. It was not that he did not believe in knowledge based on scriptures. In fact, he was against the priestly monopoly of scriptural knowledge and for this he opened the Sanskrit college to non-Brahmins.

Statement 3 is correct. He was one of the pioneers of higher education for women in India as secretary of Bethune school.

Statement 1 is correct. Keshab Chandra Sen was convinced, however, that Christian doctrine could bring new life to a strati ed Hindu society, which he perceived as rigid. So he tried to incorporate Christian theology into Hindu thought

Statement 2 is incorrect. He founded the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866 while Debendranath Tagore’s Samaj came to be known as Adi Brahmo samaj.

Statement 1 is correct. e Arya Samaj opposes worship of images, animal sacri ce, shraddha (rituals on behalf of ancestors), basing caste upon birth rather than upon merit, untouchability, child marriage, pilgrimages, priestly craft, and temple offerings. Unlike the Arya Samaj, the Ramkrishna Mission recognises the utility and value of image worship in developing spiritual fervour and worship of the eternal omnipotent God, although it emphasises the essential spirit and not the symbols or rituals.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Arya Samaj gave the call for revival of Vedic learning, not the revival of Vedic time.

Statement 3 is correct. Arya Samaj opposed the conversion of Hindus to Islam and thus organized Shuddhi movement. But Ramkrishna mission considered the junction of both Hinduism and Islam is necessary for our motherland.

Statement 1 is incorrect. eosophical Society accepted
the Hindu beliefs in reincarnation and Karma and drew
inspirations from the philosophy of the Upanishads and
Samakhya, Yoga and Vedanta school of thought.
Statement 2 is correct. eosophical Society advocated
for the upli ment of outcastes and improvement in the
condition of workers. It also opposed child marriage,
caste discrimination.
Statement 3 is correct. eosophical Society glorified
the Indian religions and philosophical traditions
and thus gave new self-respect to the Indians fighting
British colonial rule.

Kavyaphule was a book of poems by Savitribai Phule. The book had 41 poems, which dwelt on nature, education, and the caste system. She also edited a book of speeches by Jyotirao and wrote his biography titled ‘Bavankashi Subodharatnakar’ ( The Ocean of Pure Gems).

The biography was written in verse. Langal and ganabani was written by Gopu Chakravarti and Dharani Goswami. Gulamgiri was the work of Jyotirao phule.

Statement 1 is correct. Various Socio-religious movements in South India (including Kerala and Tamil Nadu) were focused on upliftment of the untouchables by demanding equality, participation in legislatures, entry into temples and refuting the orthodox ideas.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Justice Movement was started in Madras Presidency by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja to secure jobs and representation for the non-brahmins in the legislature. In 1917, Madras Presidency Association was formed which demanded separate representation for the lower castes in the legislature.

Statement 3 is correct. Self-Respect Movement was started by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker, a Balija Naidu, in the mid-1920s. The movement aimed at nothing short of a rejection of the brahminical religion and culture which Naicker felt was the prime instrument of exploitation of the lower castes. He sought to undermine the position of Brahmin priests by formalising weddings without Brahmin priests.

Statement 4 is incorrect. Kalaram Temple entry movement formed a pivotal role in the Dalit movement in India. B. K (Dadasaheb) Gaikwad and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar led a protest outside the temple on 2 March 1930, in order to allow Dalits into the temple. The movement was to have a right to enter temple, it was more towards having equal rights.

Statement 1 is correct. Raja Ram Mohan Roy established Vedanta college in 1825 in which courses in both Indian learning and western social and physical sciences were offered.

Statement 2 is correct. The religious practices in Brahmo Samaj were free from Hindu ceremonialism. The Samaj also tried to incorporate teachings of other religions and kept its emphasis on human dignity.

Statement 3 is incorrect. He supported David Hare’s efforts to found the Hindu college in Calcutta in 1817. Central Hindu college in Benaras was established by Annie Besant in 1898.

Statement 4 is incorrect. The Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha was formed in 1836 by associates of Rammohan Roy.

Pair 1 is correctly matched. e Deoband Movement begun at the Darul Uloom (or Islamic academic centre), Deoband, in Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1828-1905) to train religious leaders for the Muslim community. The Deoband Movement was a revivalist movement with the twin objectives of propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

Pair 2 is correctly matched. Taayuuni Movement was founded in Dacca (1839). Karamat Ali Jaunpuri was associated with it. The movement opposed Faraizi movement and supported the British rule in India.

Pair 3 is correctly matched. Ahmadiyya Movement. The Ahmadiyya forms a sect of Islam which originated from India. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889. It was based on liberal principles. The movement spread Western liberal education among the Indian Muslims.

Pair 4 is correctly matched. Wahabi/Walliullah Movement was founded by Sayyid Ahmad (1786-1831) of Rae Bareli, the Wahhabi Movement in India was a vigorous movement for socio-religious reforms in IndoIslamic society in the nineteenth century with strong political undercurrents. The teachings of Walliullah were popularized by Shah Abdul Aziz and Syed Ahmed Barelvi who also gave them a political perspective. The teachings of Abdul Wahab of Arabia and the preachings of Shah Walliullah (1702-1763) inspired this essentially revivalist response to Western influences and the degeneration which had set in among Indian Muslims and called for a return to the true spirit of Islam.

Option d is correct. DK Karve was a social reformer in India in the field of women’s welfare. He advocated widow remarriage and he himself married a widow. He made the efforts for the emancipation of widows in western India. He himself married a widow in 1893. He dedicated his life to the upliftment of Hindu widows and became the secretary of the Widow Remarriage Association. He opened a widows’ home in Poona to give the high caste widows an interest in life by providing them with facilities for vocational training.

Vaikom Satyagraha- was led by K.P. Kesava in 1924 demanding the throwing open of Hindu temples and roads to untouchables. Social service League was founded by Narayan Malhar Joshi in Bombay to secure for the masses better and reasonable conditions of life and work. Self-Respect movement-was started by E.V Ramaswamy Naickar for the rejection of Brahmanical religion and culture as he felt it was the prime reason for the exploitation of lower class. All-India Trade Union Congress- was founded by Narayan Malhar Joshi in 1920.

Statement 1 is correct. Halipratha was a system of lifelong and hereditary attachment of lower caste to upper castes.

Statement 2 is correct. Under this system, the Publas of South Gujarat were attached to higher caste Anvil Brahmans of South Gujarat. It began when any agricultural labour took debt from higher castes and was attached to the master for life. They were not sold but their services could be transferred from one master to another.

Established by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the Arya Samaj was revivalist in form and reformist in nature. The organisation was formally set up at Bombay in 1875 and later the headquarter was shifted to Lahore. Its vision of India included a classless and casteless society and an India free from foreign rule. It believed in the supremacy of the Vedas, but also advocated individual interpretation and condemned orthodox elements like idolatry, untouchability, etc. It also promoted women equality and welfare.

Mahadev Govind Ranade:
• He was a founding member of the Congress.
• Ranade was also an early member of the Prarthana
Samaj (Prayer Society).
• Ranade believed in improving the status of women
and promoted the idea of widow remarriage.
• He founded the Indian Social Conference along with
Raghunath Rao to focus attention on the social issues
of importance.
• By 1893, Ranade had become a judge of the Bombay
High Court.
• For him, economic development meant prioritising
industry and commerce over agriculture.

Social Service League was founded by Narayan Malhar Joshi, a follower of Gokhale, in Bombay in 1911. Its primary objective was to secure for the masses better and reasonable conditions of life and work. They organised many schools, libraries, reading rooms, day nurseries and cooperative societies.

Statement 1 is incorrect. In 1867, Keshab Chandra Sen helped Atmaram Pandurang found the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay. On the whole, the samaj was more concerned with social reforms than with religion.

Statement 2 is correct. e Prarthana Samaj tried to take inspiration from the Indian sources. In fact, the Samaj claimed itself as a continuation of the Bhakti movement.

Statement 3 is correct. Raising the age of marriage for both males and females was one of the four-point social agenda of Prarthana Samaj. Other agendas included disapproval of caste system, women’s education and widow remarriage.

Statement d is correct. All India Women’s Conference, National Council of Women in India and Women’s India Association articulated the arguments in favour of raising of the age for marriage and consent before the Joshi Committee.

M G Ranade was associated with all the given three associations:

• The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870) was founded in Poona by the new intelligentsia with M. G. Ranade as its guiding force. It demanded Indian representation in parliament, focused on agrarian problems and protested publicly against the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.

• Atmaram Pandurang, M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar are associated with Prathna Samaj, founded in Bombay in 1867. It was inspired by Brahmo Samaj and laid emphasis on monotheism, upliftent of women and abolition of religious orthodoxy. M.G. Ranade, Lokmanya Tilak, G.G. Agarkar and others founded the Deccan Education Society in 1884. It established Ferguson College of Pune in 1885 and worked for education and culture in western India

The Pledge Movement was launched by the Indian Social Conference to inspire people to take a pledge against child marriage. Indian Social Conference was
founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao and can be
called as social reform cell of Indian National Congress. The conference advocated inter-caste marriages, opposed polygamy and kulinism.

Statement 1 is correct: Faraizi Movement was founded
by Haji Shariat-Allah. Under his son Dadu Mian
the movement became revolutionary and organized
paramilitary forces armed with clubs to ght Hindu
landlords and even the police.

Statement 2 is incorrect: It was active in East Bengal
region with aimed at the eradication of social innovations
current among the Muslims of the region.

Statement 3 is correct: Under Dadu Mian, the movement
got an organizational system from village to the province
level with a khalifa or authorized deputy at every level.

Statement 1 is correct. The lower-caste movements
that emerged in Travancore and Cochin states in the
late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were led
by Ezhava peasants who had bene tted from the land
reforms and commercial opportunities in the princely
states. ey rallied for a higher status in caste hierarchy
and the removal of policies of segregation that denied
them access to wells, temples and public roads, and,
more signi cantly, schools and administrative positions.
Lower-caste radicalism was boosted by the presence of a
large group of plantation workers and labourers in coir
factories. By the 1930s, the Ezhavas had started speaking
in favour of the Russian model of socialism in their
meetings.

Statement 2 is correct. e Justice Party (1916)
published a Non-Brahman Manifesto and opposed
the Congress and its political programme. The party
showed its full loyalty to the colonial administration and
vied for privileges offered by government-sponsored
reforms. Indeed, it demanded separate representation
for non-Brahmans in legislative councils, as had been
granted to the Muslims in the Morley–Minto reforms
of 1909. It contested the elections to the Madras
Legislative Council, in open opposition to the Congress
programme of non-cooperation, and performed well.

Statement 1 is correct: Ahmadiya movement was
founded by Mirza Ahmed Ghulam in 1889. It was based
on the principles of universal religion of all humanity. It followed liberal ideas and presented itself as the flag bearer of Mohammedan Renaissance.

Statement 2 is correct: It spread western liberal
education among the Indian Muslims. It also opposed
jihad but like Baha’ism, it also suffered from mysticism.

Statement 1 is correct. ese movements had remained
confined to a narrow social space, as the reformist spirit
appealed only to a small elite group, who were primarily
the economic and cultural bene ciaries of colonial rule.
eir social base included only the educated and urban
middle classes, while the needs of the vast masses of
peasantry and the urban poor were ignored.
Statement 2 is correct. Lacking in a broad social base, the
reformers of the early nineteenth century thus exhibited
an intrinsic faith in the benevolent nature of colonial
rule and relied more on legislation for imposing reform
from above. ere was very little or no attempt to create
a reformist social consciousness at the grass-roots level,
where religious revivalism later found a fertile ground.
Statement 3 is correct. Socially, most of the
reforms were mostly Hindus, and though caste was
not a major criterion for membership, most of them belonged to the three higher castes, Brahman, Kayastha
and Baidya. The Brahmo movement was almost
exclusively patronised by these groups.

Statement d is incorrect. In 1920s, the Samaj members
were impressed by Gandhi’s constructive programme,
his championing of the dignity of labour and open
criticism of untouchability and constant reference to
the welfare of the downtrodden as the only justi cation
for swaraj. Under the leadership of Keshavrao Jedhe
in Poona, they responded to the Congress call and
participated in the Civil Disobedience movement.

Statement 1 is correct. The Madras Presidency was
slow to take up the cause of social reform. To improve
this, a Society for Social Reform was established by
Veeresalingam Pantulu in 1878 to encourage widow
remarriage.
Statement 2 is incorrect. In 1854, Charles Wood prepared
a despatch on an educational system for India. It laid great
stress on the need for female education and teachers’
training. It also promoted vocational education. It
recommended English as the medium of instruction for
higher studies and vernaculars at school level.
Statement 3 is correct. The Brahmo Samaj had the
issue of widow remarriage high on its agenda and did
much to popularise it. It worked for a respectable status
for women in society—condemned sati, worked for
abolition of purdah system, discouraged child marriage
and polygamy and crusaded for provisions of educational
facilities.

Dayananda Saraswati or Mulshankar (1824-1883) was
born in the old Morvi state in Gujarat in a brahmin family.
e rst Arya Samaj unit was formally set up by him at
Bombay in 1875. Dayananda took inspiration from the
Vedas and considered them to be ‘India’s Rock of Ages’,
the infallible and the true original seed of Hinduism. He
gave the slogan “Back to the Vedas”.
Statement 1 is incorrect. He refused to recognize the
hereditary basis of the caste system as an organic division
of society, sought to create an ‘open social system’ where
women and shudras received a measure of learning and
made education and not birth the determinant of status.
Statement 2 is correct. He denounced the worship of
gods and goddesses and advocated the worship of the
Supreme Being. Dayananda launched a frontal attack
on Hindu orthodoxy, caste rigidities, untouchability,
idolatry, polytheism, belief in magic, charms and
animal sacrithces, taboo on sea voyages, feeding the dead
through shraddhas, etc.

Statement 1 is incorrect: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was a
reformist. He condemned the system of piri and muridi
(relationship between a spiritual leader and his disciple)
which is central to Su sm.
Statement 2 is incorrect: Deoband school was a
revivalist movement which issued fatwa against Syed
Ahmed Khan’s organizations, United India Patriotic
Association and Mohammeden Anglo-Oriental
Association.
Statement 3 is correct: He upheld the Quran as the
ultimate authority, but he also wanted to reconcile
western scientific education with the teachings of
the Quran which were to be interpreted in the light of
contemporary rationalism and science.

Statement 1 is correct: Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha
was founded in 1851 by Dadabhai Naoroji, Naoroji
Furdonji, K.R. Cama and S.S. Bengalee.
Statement 2 is correct: It worked for the upliftment
of Parsi women through removal of purdah system,
raising the age of marriage and education. It worked
for the regeneration of the social conditions of Parsis and
the restoration of the Zoroastrian religion to its pristine
purity.
Statement 3 is correct: Rast Goftar was the journal used
by the association to spread the message of reform.

Pagal Panthis movement developed in the Sherpur
pargana of Mymensingh district in east Bengal. Karim
Shah and later his successor Tipu Shah led the movement
among the Hinduised tribals like the Garos, Hajangs and
Hadis. As the Company’s rule consolidated itself in this
region and the zamindari system became more rmly
entrenched under the Permanent Settlement, the peasants’
grievances rose against the illegal abwabs exacted by
the zamindars and the new revenue settlement. From
1825 to 1835, the Pagal Panthis refused to pay rent above
a certain limit and attacked the houses of zamindars.
The government introduced an equitable arrangement to
protect these peasants, but the movement was violently
suppressed in 1833.

Option c is correct: e keys affair was a part of this
movement. It involved the issue of possession of the keys
of the Toshakhana of the Golden Temple. The possession
of the keys was with the government which they refused
to hand over to the Akalis.

Statement 1 is correct: The Akali movement (also
known as Gurudwara Reform Movement) was a regional
movement but not a communal one. It was an offshoot
of the Singh Sabha Movement.

Statement 2 is correct: The mahants of the Golden
Temple honoured Dyer by declaring him a Sikh. is
led to the intensification of the demand for reforming
the management of Sikh shrines. This resulted in the
intensi cation of the Gurudwara Reform movement in
1919.
Statement 3 is correct: The Gurudwara Reform
Movement led to the passage of Sikh Gurudwaras Act
in 1922 which gave the control of gurudwaras to the
Sikh masses to be administered through Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) as the
apex body.

Statement 1 is correct: eosophical Movement was
founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel M.S.
Olcott in USA in 1875. It accepted the Hindu beliefs
of transmigration of soul and karma. It also drew
inspiration from samkhya, yoga and Vedanta schools of
thought.
Statement 2 is incorrect: Their philosophy was vague
and lacked a positive programme; as a result, its impact
was limited to a small segment of westernized class.
However, it gave much needed self-respect to the Indians
ghting British colonial rule.
Statement 3 is correct: They advocated the revival
and strengthening of ancient religions of Hinduism,
Zoroastrianism and Buddhism.

Statement 1 is correct: Introduction of Western
Education and Rule of Law by the colonial Government
indirectly helped growth of social reform movement
in India. Also, Colonial government attempted several
socio-religious reforms such as abolition of sati, widowmarriage and women’s education.
Statement 2 is incorrect: The socio-religious reform
movements envisaged neither a revival of the past nor a
total break with tradition. Reference to the past was to be
used only as an aid and an instrument.
Statement 3 is correct: Rationalism provided an
ideological base to the movement along with religious
universalism and humanism. Social relevance of every
practice was now being judged by a rationalist critique

Statement 1 is correct. Behramji M. Malabari (1853-
1912) , a Parsi social reformer, founded the Seva Sadan
in 1908 along with a friend, Diwan Dayaram Gidumal.

Statement 2 is correct. The effort of Behramji Malabari
e orts led to the enactment of Age of Consent Act (1891)
regulating the age of consent for girls.
Statement 3 is incorrect. Indian Mirror was the Indian
daily paper in English edited by Devendranath Tagore.
Behramji Malabari acquired and edited the Indian
Spectator

Event 3: Gift of Monotheists was written by Raja
Rammohan Roy in Persian in 1809.
Event 1: Atmiya Sabha was formed in 1814 by Raja
Rammohan Roy with an aim to campaign against
idolatry, caste rigidities, meaningless rituals and other
social evils.
Event 2: Percepts of Jesus was written by Raja
Rammohan Roy in 1820 in which he tried to separate
moral and philosophical message of New Testament.

Event 4: Vedanta College was established in 1825 by
Raja Rammohan Roy where courses in both Indian
learning and Western social and physical sciences were
offered.

Statement 1 is correct: Regarding India’s socio-religious
movements, both reformists and revivalists depended
on appeal to the lost purity of religion that they sought
to reform. Only difference between them was of varying
degree to which they relied on tradition or on reason and
conscience.
Statement 2 is correct: Revivalist movements depended
more on to the tradition side. It tends to revive former
customs or practices thus take back the society to its
glorious past.
Statement 3 is incorrect: Theosophist movement was
revivalist in nature. It advocated for the revival and
strengthening of ancient religions of Hinduism,
Zoroastrianism and Buddhism.

Statement 1 is correct. In 1924, Vaikom Satyagraha
was launced in Kerala demanding the throwing open of
Hindu temples and roads to the untouchables. It was led by K.P. Kesava. Mahatama Gandhi undertook a tour in the
support of the movement.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Aravippuram movement
did not seek to increase the political representation of
the depressed classes. In 1888, Sri Narayan Guru installed
an idol of Shiva at Aravippuram in Kerala. It was an effort
to shows that consecration of a god’s image was not a
monopoly of the Brahmins. The Aravippuram movement
inspired several socio-religious reform movements in the
South especially the temple entry movement.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Justice movement was started
by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja in the
Madras Presidency. The aim was to secure jobs and
representation for the non-Brahmins in the legislature.
Sri Narayan Guru was not associated with justice
movement.

Statement 1 is incorrect: Ramakrishna mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 with
headquarter at Belur near Calcutta.
Statement 2 is correct: Ramakrishna Parmahansa sought
salvation through traditional ways of renunciation,
meditation and bhakti. He recognised the fundamental
oneness of all religions.
Statement 3 is incorrect: Arya Samaj believed in one God
and rejected the worship of idols. Unlike Arya Samaj,
Ramakrishna Mission recognized the utility and value
of image and idol worship.
Statement 4 is correct: One of the strong reasons for
the success of Ramakrishna mission was that it did not
consider itself as a sect of Hinduism.

Pair 1 is incorrectly matched: Satya Prakash was a
Gujarati weekly launched by Karsondas Mulji in 1852 to
advocate for widow remarriage. Satyarth Prakash was the
book written by Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
Pair 2 is correctly matched: Vivian Derozio started East
Indian as a daily newspaper.
Pair 3 is incorrectly matched: Tattvabodhini Patrika
was a Bengali newspaper launched by Debendranath
Tagore in 1843. It was devoted to the systematic study of
India’s past with a rational outlook.
Pair 4 is correctly matched: Mirat-ul-Akbar was
launched by Raja Rammohan Roy as the first Persian
journal in 1822. It had to stop publication under the
Licensing Regulation 1823 under acting governorgeneral John Adams.

Akshay Kumar Dutta-

• He was one of the leaders of Brahmo Samaj. He repudiated the infallibility of the Vedas, renouncing it as an authentic source for Hinduism.

• He was against child marriage and brought medical opinion to support his views against Child marriage.

• He also served as the editor of the Tattwabodhini Patrika, the organ of the Tattwabodhini Sabha (founded in 1839) .

• He was pre-eminently an educationist and pedagogue who successfully ran schools and experimented with the teaching.

• He supported both widow remarriages and legal abolition of multiple marriages among upper-caste Hindu males.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Arya Samaj was founded by
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati on 10 April 1875. It is
a monotheistic Hindu reform movement that promotes
values and practices based on the belief in the infallible
authority of the Vedas.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Lala Lajpat Rai joined the
Arya Samaj in December 1882. His journal Arya Gazette
concentrated mainly on subjects related to the Arya
Samaj. He did not oppose the appeal of Arya Samaj to
the authority of Vedas.
Statement 3 is correct. Keshab Chandra Sen joined the
Brahmo Samaj in 1858. Later, in 1866, Keshab and his
followers founded the Brahmo Samaj of India. In the
Brahmo Samaj of India, he laid special emphasis on
women’s education.
Statement 4 is correct. Acharya Vinoba Bhave founded
the Sarvodaya Samaj in 1948 to work among refugees.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Under the Act of 1860, there was no minimum age for marriage. The Act of 1960 made it penal offence for consummation of marriage with the brides below the age of 10 years.

Statement 2 is correct. The Age of consent act 1891 forbade sexual intercourse with girls below the age of 12.

Statement 3 is correct. The Sharda act, 1930 pushed the age of marriage to 18 and 14 for boys and girls respectively.

Statement 1 is correct. The Hunter commission (1882) drew attention to inadequate facilities for female education especially outside the presidency towns and made recommendations for its spread. The commission was appointed to enquire into the execution of Wood’s Despatch of 1854,

Statement 2 is correct. Professor D.K. Karve started the Indian Women’s University in 1916, at Pune for imparting education to women.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The first step in giving a modern education to girls was taken by the Christian missionaries. The Christian missionaries set up the Calcutta Female Juvenile Society in 1819. The Bethune School was founded by J.E.D. Bethune in Calcutta in 1849.

Option c is correct: Pandita Ramabai started Sharda Sadan in Bombay in 1889 to provide an ashram to destitute high caste widows. Sharada Sadan provided residential school for Brahmin women, mainly widows, but also unmarried girls.

Pandita Ramabai Saraswati founded the Arya Mahila Samaj in 1882 to serve the cause of women. She pleaded for improvement in the educational syllabus of Indian women before the English Education Commission which
was referred to Queen Victoria.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Bharat Stree Mahamandal was
founded by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani in Allahabad in
1910. It is considered as the first major Indian women’s
organisation set up by a woman.
Statement 2 is correct. e objectives of Bharat Stree Mahamandal included promotion of education for women, abolition of the purdah system and
improvement in the socio-economic and political status of woman all over India.

Statement 3 is incorrect. All India Women’s
Conference (AIWC) strived for the enactment of Equal
Remuneration Act. All India Women’s Conference
(AIWC) was founded by Margaret Cousins in 1927. The
AIWC worked towards various legislative reforms before
and after India’s independence.

Event 2. Bharat Stree Mahamandal was founded by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani in Allahabad in 1910. Event 4. Anusuya Sarabai founded the Ahmedabad textile Labour Association in 1920. It is India’s oldest union of Textile workers.

Event 3. In 1925, the National council of women in India, a national branch of the International council of women, was formed. Meehribai Tata played a vital role in its formation.

Event 1. In 1927, The All-India Women’s conference was founded by Margaret Cousins –the first women’s organization with an egalitarian approach.

Raja Rammohan Roy, in collaboration with David Hare
and Alexander Duff , established the Hindu College at Calcutta in 1817. The foundation committee of the
college, which oversaw its establishment, was headed by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The control of the institution was vested in a body of two Governors and four Directors.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

• He started English weekly newspaper, The Hitavada

• He served as Secretary of the Deccan Education Society.

• He was later elected to the Council of India of the Governor-General of India in 1903.

• He became president of INC in 1905 in Banaras session

• In 1905, he founded the Servants of India Society, which trained people to be selfess workers.

• He was instrumental in the formation of the MorleyMinto Reforms of 1909, which eventually became law.

• Gandhi described him as his ‘Political Guru’. He advocated free and compulsory primary education and asked for the creation of equal opportunities to fight against Untouchability

Pair 1 is incorrectly matched. Prarthana Samaj was
founded by Dadoba Pandurang and his brother Atmaram
Pandurang in 1867 with the help of Keshub Chandra Sen.
Mahadev Govind Ranade joined it in 1870.
Pair 2 is correctly matched. Radhaswami Movement
was founded by Tulsi Ram, also known as Shiv Dayal
Saheb, in 1861. The Radhaswamis believe in one supreme
being, supremacy of the guru, a company of pious people
(satsang) , and a simple social life.
Pair 3 is correctly matched. Dev Samaj was founded in
1887 at Lahore by Shiv Narayan Agnihotri (1850- 1927)
. It was a religious and social reform society. The society
emphasised on the eternity of the soul, the supremacy of
the guru, and the need for good action.

Statement 1 is correct. Debendranath Tagore founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha in 1839. The Sabha started its organ called Tattvabodhini Patrika in Bengali. Its main objective was the systematic study of India’s past with a rational outlook.

Statement 2 is correct. Debendranath Tagore was closely associated with Rammohan Roy and was highly inspired by Roy’s ideas on religious and social reforms. Hence, one of the aims of the Tattvabodhini Sabha was to propagate Roy’s ideas.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Tattwabodhinī Sabha was dissolved into the Brahmo Samaj in 1859, while the Prarthana Samaj was formed later in 1867.

Statement 1 is correct. Young Bengal Movement under Henry Vivian Derozio inspired his followers to think freely and advocated liberty, equality, freedom and opposed irrational traditions. But some of these ideas were too radical for the prevailing times in Bengal. Hence, they had minimum support outside their group.

Statement 2 is correct. The movement also lacked any connect with the masses, this led to their limited popularity. They also failed to take up peasants causes. There was also lack of cooperation with other social organizations of the times.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The movement took up several issues of public interest like social, economic and political. On the political front they demanded reforms in Company’s charter, freedom of press, better treatment to Indian labor abroad etc.

Statement 1 is correct. Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded
the Servants of India Society in 1905 with the help of M.G. Ranade. The aim of the society was to train national missionaries for the service of India.
Statement 2 is correct. e society worked for famine relief and improving tribals’ condition in particular.
Statement 3 is correct. After Gokhale’s death (1915),
Srinivasa Shastri took over as president. Srinivasa
Shastri also founded the Indian Liberal Federation.

Veda Samaj was founded in 1864 by K Sridharalu Naidu and Keshab Chandra Sen. The movement was inspired to ght the causes of Brahmo Samaj in South India. It worked to abolish caste distinctions and promote widow remarriage and women’s education. The members of the society believed in one God and condemned the superstitions and rituals of orthodox Hinduism.

Radhakant Deb (not Keshub Chandra Sen) founded Dharma Sabha in 1830. It was an orthodox society which favoured no changes in the cultural and religious practices. It even opposed the abolition of sati. Although an orthodox society, Dharma Sabha favoured the promotion of Western education, even for girls.

Statement 1 is correct. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar started a movement in support of widow remarriage which resulted in legalization of widow remarriage.

Statement 2 is correct. He was also a crusader against child marriage and polygamy. Statement 3 is correct. He did much for the cause of women’s education. As government inspector of schools, he helped organize many girls’ schools. As secretary of Bethune School, he was one of the pioneers of higher education for women in India.

Statement 4 is correct. Vidyasagar campaigned extensively against polygamy. In the 1870s, Vidyasagar wrote two brilliant critiques of polygamy, arguing to the government that since polygamy was not sanctioned by the sacred texts, there could be no objection to suppressing it by legislation.

Statement 1 is correct. The religious reform movements in India had a narrow social base, mainly the educated and urban middle classes. As a result, the needs of the vast masses of peasantry and the urban poor were ignored.

Statement 2 is correct. The socio-cultural reform movements in India led to the rise of communal consciousness—along with national consciousness. It was mainly because, Hindu reformers con ned their praise to India’s ancient period and looked upon the medieval Islamic period as an era of decadence. Also, many in the Muslim middle classes turned towards West Asia for their traditions and moments of pride.

Statement 1 is correct: EV Ramaswamy, commonly known as Periyar, started the Self-Respect Movement. He joined the Justice Party which fought for social change and political empowerment in Madras.

Statement 2 is correct: Self Respect Movement was an egalitarian movement. It aimed at • Rejection of Brahminical religion and culture

• Equal rights for the backward classes and women

• Rejuvenation of the Dravidian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. Statement 3 is correct: Earlier a Congress worker, Periyar resigned from the congress party in 1925 over the ideological difference with Mahatma Gandhi over the issue of social inequality. He quarreled with Gandhi over the question of separate dining for Brahmin and nonBrahmin students at Gurukulam in Cheranmahadevi.

Statement 1 is correct: Satyashodhak Samaj or Truthseekers’ Society was a social reform society founded by Jyotirao Phule in Pune in 1873. The main aims of the movement were eradication of untouchability and caste system; social service; and spread of education among women and lower caste people.

Statement 2 is correct: Jyotirao Phule was the first person to coin the term “Dalits” to apply to all people considered lower castes and untouchables by the Brahmins.

Statement 1 is correct. The Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II sent Ram Mohan Roy as an ambassador to Britain and gave him the title “Raja.

Statement 2 is correct. The Calcutta Unitarian Committee was jointly founded by William Adam and Rammohan Roy in September 1821. The association sought to bring together prominent people for the promotion of religious monotheism and social reform among Indians.

Statement 3 is correct. Rammohun Roy believed in rational and scientific approach, human dignity and social equality of all men and women. He opposed the subjugation of women and their inferior status in society. He supported property rights for women.

Key features of education reforms sought by early Indian social reformers:

• Indian reformers stressed for a science and technology-based education system for material development of the country. While the British emphasized a classical and art-based curriculum.

• They wanted to develop the Indian education system for the social transformation of Indian society and not just for jobs in the British administration.

• Teaching in vernaculars was deemed necessary to popularize education and spread it to the masses.

• The reformers emphasized on education of women and expanding their role outside the home.

• Some of them advocated free and compulsory education up to primary level.

Statement 1 is correct. In 1872, the Government passed the Native (Civil) Marriages Act legalizing marriages performed according to Brahmo Samaj rites.

Statement 2 is correct. The Tattvabodhini Sabha was founded by Debendranath Tagore which emphasized on indigenous language and culture.

Statement 3 is correct. The Rehnumai Mazadayasan Sabha was founded by Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, K.R. Cama and S.S. Bengalee. It was a religious association for the modernization of the Parsi religion.

Statement 1 is correct. The Lex Loci Act of 1850 provided for the right to inherit ancestral property by Hindu converts to Christianity.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, passed by the British Parliament, abolished slavery in parts of the British Empire with the exception of “the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company”, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) , and Saint Helena.The Indian Slavery Act, 1843 outlawed many economic transactions associated with slavery.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Regulation VI of 1802 was enacted to ban the practice of female infanticide in
Bengal.

Statement 1 is correct. The depressed classes in India could not draw water from public wells and ponds. In 1927, Babasaheb Ambedkar led the Mahad March at the Chowdar Tank at Colaba, near Mumbai, to give the untouchables the right to draw water from the public tanks.

Statement 2 is correct. The temple entry movement was launched by Dr. Ambedkar in 1930 at Kalaram temple, Nasik.

Statement 3 is correct. In 1923, Ambedkar set up the ‘Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha’ (Outcastes Welfare Association), which was devoted to spreading education and culture amongst the downtrodden.

Statement 1 is correct: In 1924, the Vaikom Satyagraha led by K.P. Kesava, was launched in Kerala demanding the throwing open of Hindu temples and roads to the untouchables.

Statement 2 is correct: In early March 1925, Gandhi began his tour of Kerala and met the Maharani and other offcials. In his Kerala tour, Gandhi did not visit a single temple because avarnas were kept out of them.

Statement 3 is incorrect: A compromise was arrived at. The roads around the temple were opened to avarnas but those in the Sankethan of the temple remained closed to them. It was only on November 12, 1936, the Maharaja of Travancore issued a proclamation throwing open all government-controlled temples to all Hindus.

Statement 1 is correct. In 1848, educated young men of Maharashtra founded the Student’s Literary and Scientific Society. The society organized lectures on popular science and social questions and aimed to start schools for the education of women.

Statement 2 is correct. The notable works of Savitribai Phule include Kavya Phule, Bavankashi Subodh Ratnakar and also the poem titled “Go, get education.

Statement 3 is correct. Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded the Widow Remarriage Association in the 1850’s. D.K. Karve dedicated his life to the upliftment of Hindu widows and became the secretary of the Widow Remarriage Association.

Statement 1 is correct. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar wrote a Bengali Primer, Barnaparichay which developed the modern prose style in Bengali literature.

Statement 2 is correct. He took over principalship of Sanskrit College from 1851 onwards and introduced western thought in Sanskrit education.

Statement 3 is correct. Vidyasagar was the Head Pandit at Fort William college from 1841 to 1846.

Statement 1 is correct. Kongu Vella Sangam was a caste association of Gounder caste in Tamil Nadu.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (S.N.D.P.) Yogam was a caste association of ezhava caste in Kerala.

Statement 3 is correct. Vokkaliga and Lingayat Association were caste associations of Vokkaligas and Lingayats in Mysore, Karnataka.

The following factors strengthened the resolve to bring socio-religious reforms in early 19th century in India: Growth of national sentiments revived the glory of ancient India and created faith among the people in their religion and culture and thus found expression in movements to reform. So, Statement 1 is correct.

Newly middle class and educated class emerged due to growing awareness of contemporary developments in the west but their number was very low. In fact, this narrow social base was a major hurdle in religious reform movement. Emergence of new economic forces like Industrial revolution demanded better communication facilities. Thus conditions became ripe for socio-religious reform as it helped in spreading awareness about the reform among the masses. So, Statement 2 is correct.

Spread of education created a class of intelligentsia who developed a rational approach to study tradition, evaluated the contemporary practices from the point of social utility. So, Statement 3 is correct.

It was not the realization of potential of western ideas but due to intrusion of colonial culture and ideology, people realized the potential of traditional culture. Thus, they tried to attempt to reinvigorate the traditional institutions. So, Statement 4 is incorrect.

Consciousness of defeat by foreign power gave birth to new awakening that vast country like India had been colonised by a handful of foreigners because of internal weaknesses within the Indian social structure and culture. So now the condition is ripe for these reforms. So, Statement 5 is correct.

Indian society in the nineteenth century was caught in a vicious web created by religious superstitions and social obscurantism.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The social base of Socio-religious reform movements was very narrow mainly the educated and urban middle class. e needs of vast masses of peasantry and the urban poor was ignored. There was a signi cant contrast between the broadly middle class derived from a growing awareness of contemporary developments in the west and a predominantly nonmiddle class social base.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The socio-cultural regeneration of India was not created by the colonial presence. Instead, it was created by the effort of middle-class intelligentsia who brought many socio-religious reforms. They created awareness among people on basis of reason, humanism and even falsifying the practices on basis on scriptures. ey appealed to British administrators to legislate to reform. us, these movements were mainly occasioned by the colonial presence and not created by them.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Many reformers advocated modern Western education but some turned towards traditional education system. The Arya Samaj established Gurukuls to propagate traditional ideals of education. A network of schools and colleges both for boys and girls were also established by the Arya Samaj. Rammohan Roy established a Vedanta College where both Indian learning and Western social and physical science courses were offered.

The humanistic ideals of social equality and the equal worth of all individuals which inspired the newly educated middle class influenced the field of social reform in a major way.

Statement 1 is correct. The socio-religious reform movements of 19th century gave emphasis on individual right’s to interpret religious scriptures in the light of human reason. So that every individual had the right and the capacity to decide with the help of his own intellect what was right and what was wrong in a religious book or principle.

Statement 2 is correct. These socio-religious reform movements attacked the priestly dominations on religious matters. us the Brahmo samaj was basically opposed to idolatry and superstitious practices and rituals, in fact it was opposed to the entire Brahmanical system.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The features of dissociating itself from religion and adopting a secular approach was adopted much later. The social reform movements were linked to the religious reforms primarily because nearly all social ills like untouchability and gender-based inequity derived legitimacy from religion in one way or the other.

Statement 1 is correct. The religious reform movements of early 19th century introduced an element of revivalism, a tendency to harp back on the Indian past and to defend, Indian culture and civilization. Although this tended to impart a conservative and retrogressive character to these movements, they played an important role in creating cultural consciousness and con dence among the people.

Statement 2 is incorrect. It primarily focused on worldly existence and not on the issues of salvation and peace. Religious reformation was an important but not the exclusive concern of these movements.

Statement 3 is correct. An important religious idea in the nineteenth century was universalism- a belief in the unity of godhead and an emphasis on religions. Rammohun Roy considered different religions as national embodiments of universal theism and he had initially conceived Brahmo Samaj as a universalist Church. He was a defender of the basic and universal principles of all religions. Keshub Chandra Sen also tried to synthesise the ideas of all major religions. He once said that “Our position is not that truths are to be found in all religions, but all established religions of the world are true.

The reform movements could broadly be classified into two categories—the reformist movements like the Brahmo Samaj and the revivalist movements like the Deoband movement.

Statement 1 is correct. Revivalist movement tended to revive former customs or practices and thus take the society back to the glorious past and thus defend Indian culture and civilization.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Regarding India’s socio-religious movements, both reformists and revivalists depended on appeal to the lost purity of religion that they sought to reform. Only difference between them was of varying degree to which they relied on tradition or on reason and conscience.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana samaj, the Aligarh movement are the examples of reformist movement. The Arya Samaj and the Deoband movement are the examples of revivalist movement.

The Socio-religious reform movements mainly concerned with two issues – evolution of an alternative culturalideological system and the regeneration of traditional institutions. These concerns were addressed through attempts to:

Reconstruct traditional knowledge:

Rational approach was adopted by reformers in reconstructing traditional knowledge. Contemporary socio-religious practices were evaluated from the standpoint of social utility and to replace faith with rationality. Attempts were made to revitalise Indian system of medicine. Shyamadas Vacaspati, a reputed Ayurvedic scholar, founded a national University of Bengal, called Gaudiya Saravidyayatana, as part of the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Statement 1 is correct. Use and development of vernacular languages: Religious texts were translated into vernacular languages and journals were written in various regional languages. Ex: Raja Rammohan Roy brought out journals in Bengali, Hindi, English and Persian to inform the public, Bal Shastri Jambhekar’s Marathi journal Darpan.

Statement 2 is correct. Defence of religion: Religion and Vedanta principles were to be followed on the basis of rational thinking. Ex: Swami Vivekananda held that the same method of investigation which applies to sciences should be the basis on which religion must justify itself.

Statement 3 is correct. The focus was done on regeneration of traditional institutions including medicine, education, pre-colonial technology and philosophy and so on through social and educational reforms.

Statement 4 is correct. Creation of an alternative system of education: Rammohan Roy established a Vedanta college in 1825 where courses in both Indian learning and Western social and physical sciences were offered. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar opened the Sanskrit College to non-brahmins. Establishment of Dayanad Anglo Vedic College, Deccan Education Society, Fergusson College led to further development of mass education. The emphasis was laid on universalism.

Though the reformers tried to reform their religions, there was a universalistic aspect to their religious perspective. Raja Rammohan Roy considered different religions as national embodiments of universal theism.

Pair 1 is correct. Karsondas Mulji started the weekly Satya Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage. Karsondas Mulji, a contemporary of Dadabhai Naoroji, was one of the pioneer Indian social reformers working for the cause of women emancipation. In 1850s-60s, Mulji was a prominent member of the “Bombay intelligentsia” in conflict with the “merchant aristocracy” over social issues. Mulji’s place in Indian history as a reformer is due to the Maharaj libel case in 1862 which earned him the title of “a Reformer, a Martin Luther of the Banian Cast”.

Pair 2 is incorrect. Hindu Widows’ Home was started by Professor D.K. Karve (and not K. Natarajan) in Poona to give the high caste widows an interest in life by providing them with facilities for vocational training. He himself married a widow in 1893 and dedicated his life to the upliftment of Hindu widows and became the secretary of the Widow Remarriage Association.

Pair 3 is incorrect. Vishnu Shastri Pandit (not Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar) founded the Widow Remarriage Association in the 1850s. The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856, was passed mainly due to the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. It legalised marriage of widows.

The social reformers raised their voice against degrading customs such as polygamy, purdah, child marriage, restrictions on widow marriage, They worked relentlessly to establish educational facilities for women, to persuade the government to enact favourable legislations for women and in general to propagate the uselessness of medieval, feudal attitudes.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Native Marriage Act (or Christian Marriage Act, 1872) was passed in 1872 which signified legislative action in prohibiting child marriage. Under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, if a party to a marriage is a minor, the consent of father if living, or if the father is dead, the consent of the guardian of the person of such minor or if there is no guardian, then that of the mother, is essential before marriage. The Age of Consent Act was later passed in 1891 which forbade the marriage of girls below the age of 12.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The relentless efforts of a Parsi reformer, B.M. Malabari, led to the enactment of the Age of Consent Act (and not Sarda Act) in 1891. e Sarda Act was enacted in 1930 which pushed up the marriage age to 18 and 14 for boys and girls, respectively.

Statement 1 is correct. In Southern India, a number of caste association began to play a signi cant role in ‘reform movements’ which were often connected with the social elevation of the caste concerned. is was to be observed in the case of, for example, the Kongu Vellala Sangam of the Gounder Caste in Tamil Nadu, the Vokkaliga and Lingayat Associations in Mysore, the S.N.D.P. Yogam of the Iravas of Kerala, etc. e caste leaders of the caste movements formed an elite, often in non-traditional careers, who stressed a common heritage of caste members and pushed forward changes in social and ritual practices.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The social reform movements in the 19th century involved the upper and middle classes and upper castes who tried to balance their modernized views and the existing social conditions. The humanistic ideals of social equality and the equal worth of all individuals which inspired the newly educated middle class influenced the eld of social reform in a major way. In contrast, the later social reform movements penetrated the lower strata of society to revolutionise and reconstruct the social sphere.

Pair 1 is incorrect. The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed by M.C Rajah (and not Baba Walangkar). is association had come into being in the wake of the All India Depressed Classes Leaders’ Conference held in Nagpur in 1926. M.C. Rajah was elected as its first president and Dr Ambedkar, was elected one of its vice-presidents. Ambedkar later resigned from this association and in 1930 at a conference in Nagpur, founded his own All India Depressed Classes Congress.

Pair 2 is incorrect. B. R Ambedkar (and not M. C Rajah) organised the All India Scheduled Castes Federation at a conference in 1942 in Nagpur, with its constitution claiming the dalits to be “distinct and separate from the Hindus”.

Pair 3 is correct. Mahatma Gandhi set up the M. K Gandhi and V. D Savarkar at a meeting in Bombay in 1932 presided by Madan Mohan Malaviya of the Hindu Mahasabha. Industrialist G. D. Birla was made the President of the Anti-Untouchability League and Amritlal V. akkar, a social worker, its secretary. Gandhi started using the term Harijan for untouchables, and strove to establish dignity of labour by performing the tasks Harijan were traditionally assigned.

The Ramakrishna Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 who used it for humanitarian relief and social work. The mission worked for both religious and social reforms.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Ramakrishna Mission recognised the utility and value of image worship in developing spiritual fervor and worship of the eternal omnipotent God. However, it emphasised on the essential spirit and not the symbols or rituals.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The mission under Paramahamsa sought salvation through traditional ways of renunciation, meditation and bhakti amidst increasing westernisation and modernisation. He recognised the fundamental oneness of all religions and emphasised that Krishna, Hari, Ram, Christ, Allah are different names for the same God.

Statement 3 is correct. The Ramakrishna Mission subscribed to the Vedanta which Swami Vivekananda considered a fully rational system with a superior approach. It believed that the philosophy of Vedanta will make a Christian a better Christian, and a Hindu a better Hindu. His mission was to bridge the gulf between paramartha (service) and vyavahara (behaviour), and between spirituality and day-to-day life.

Statement 4 is correct. The Mission is a deeply religious body, but it is not a proselytising body. It does not consider itself to be a sect of Hinduism. Vivekananda advocated the doctrine of service—the service of all beings. The service of jiva (living objects) is the worship of Siva.

The Deoband Movement begun at the Darul Uloom in Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1828-1905). The Ahmadiyya forms a sect of Islam which originated from India. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The aim of the Deoband Movement was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community. It was organised by the orthodox section among the Muslim ulema as a revivalist movement with the twin objectives of propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers. In contrast, the Ahmadiyya movement was based on liberal principles. It described itself as the standardbearer of Mohammedan Renaissance, and based itself, like the Brahmo Samaj, on the principles of universal religion of all humanity, opposing jihad (sacred war).

Statement 2 is correct. The Deoband movement aimed to train religious leaders for the Muslim community and the instruction imparted at Deoband was in original Islamic religion. On the contrary, the Ahmaddiya movement spread Western liberal education among the Indian Muslims. They believed in separating the mosque from the State as well as in human rights and tolerance.

The socio religious reform movements managed to contribute towards the liberation of the individual from uncritical submission to exploitation by the priests and other classes. The movements emphasised the human intellect’s capacity to think and reason.

Statement 1 is correct: These reform movements helped Indians purge society and religions of medieval and outdated practices. is removed the avenues for the Britishers to taunt Indians on the inferiority of their society and civilization. us, Indians felt a new sense of self-respect which helped them shake off the colonial mindset that had led them to accept slavery. They began to question the British and believe that they could be defeated and were not superior.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Despite the hard work and efforts of many reformers like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Dayanand Saraswati and organisations like Brahmo Samaj, in reality, only a handful of widow remarriages took place. The wider Indian society did not accept it readily at that time and took a long time to come to terms with this social reform. In Madras Presidency for example, by the 1880s only 3 widow remarriages had taken place.

Statement 3 is incorrect: None of these preindependence social reform movements resulted in a legislation which set 18 years as the minimum age of the bride for the marriages to be legally recognized. The British did introduce some laws to curb child marriages. A law in 1860 banned marriages of girls below 10 years of age. Further, the Sharda Act of 1929 barred marriages where the age of bride is less than 14 years or that of the groom less than 18 years.

Knowledge Base: For a comprehensive list of achievements as well as limitations of the socio-religious reform movements of 19th century India, refer to: History of Modern India by Spectrum, CH-9

Assertion (A) is true: Caste is a very deep-set part of
Indian society and has remained so for the last 3000
years or so. Although there were many developments in
the colonial period like modern education, destruction
of isolated village life, industrialization, urbanisation,
reservation policy etc that helped diminish the caste
barriers, yet it did not disappear entirely and even until independence and thereafter, untouchability was
practised widely in India.

Reason (R) is true: The Britishers were generally aided
in their desire to rule India by reactionary elements of
Indian society loyal to them like the Native Princes, the
Zamindars, the landed aristocracy, communalists, etc.
So, the British generally tried to appease these reactionary
elements and use them against the middle- and lowerclass masses who were nationalists.

R is the correct explanation of A: Although the Britishers
did introduce some socially progressive legislations
like abolition of Sati, age of consent Act, reservation
for depressed classes etc, their main aim was smooth
administration of India under their rule to exploit Indian
resources for their bene t. Since reactionary elements
like Princes, aristocrats, zamindars were vestiges of
medieval feudal society, they derived their power by
oppressing lower castes and classes, and so did not want
the status quo to change. So, to appease these elements,
the British government did not fully ensure progressive
social reforms to their full potential as they did not care
about the well being of the Indian masses, rather they just
wanted powerful allies to continue their grip over India.