Test: Reform Movements - UPSC MCQ

• He was a reformer of the 19th century. He led liberal, social and cultural movements within the Muslim society.

• Option A: While pursuing studies of different subjects, including European jurisprudence

• Option B: Syed began to realise the advantages of Western-style education, which was being offered at newly established colleges across India.

• Despite being a devout Muslim, Syed criticised the influence of traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy, which had made most Indian Muslims suspicious of British influences.

• Option (c): Syed studied the Quran and sciences within the court later studied law from the University of Edinburgh. Being a modernist, he supported the rational studies of religious scriptures.

• The orthodox section among the Muslim ulema organised the Deoband Movement. It was a revivalist movement whose twin objectives were to: (i) propagate among the Muslims the pure teachings of the Koran, and the Hadis and (ii) keep alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers. The new Deoband leader Mahmud-ul-Hasan (1851-1920) sought to impart a political and intellectual content to the religious ideas of the school. The liberal interpretation of Islam created political awakening among its followers.

Ans: b

Explanation: Gopal Hari Deshmukh (18 February 1823 – 9 October 1892) was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.

It was launched by Haji Shariatullah to give up un-Islamic practices and act upon their duties as Muslims. The movement protected the rights of tenants to a great extent. The Faraizis adhered to the Hanafi school with certain differences in practices.

• To be penitent for past sins as a measure for the purification of the soul.

• To observe the obligatory duties of Faraizi strictly.

• Strict adherence to Tawhid.

• India being Dar al-Harb, Friday and Eid's prayers were not obligatory.

• Denouncing all cultural rites and ceremonies which had no reference to the Quran and Sunnah as sinful innovations.

• The Akali movement developed on a purely religious issue but ended up as a powerful episode of India’s freedom struggle. From 1920-1925, more than 30,000 men and women underwent imprisonment, nearly 400 died, and over 2,000 were wounded.

•  

  The movement arose intending to free the Gurdwaras (Sikh temples) from the control of ignorant and corrupt mahants (priests).

•  

  To control and manage the Golden Temple, the Akal Takht and other Gurdwaras, a representative assembly of nearly 10,000 reformers met in November 1920 and elected a committee of 175 to be known as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

• As per some commentators, ‘Their view, at least in the early years, was that God creates the world, and all things within it are pathways to the knowledge of Brahman, the Ultimate Self, and the ultimate goal.

• Similarly, they saw that material wealth, if made and possessed with the correct intention-that of helping society and others- was in fact not only ethically sound but an utter necessity for harmonious society’.

In 1859, the Sabha was dissolved back into the Brahmo Samaj by Debendranath Tagore.

The Tattwabodhini Sabha  was a group founded in Calcutta on 6 October 1839 as a splinter group of the Brahmo Samaj, reformers of Hinduism and Indian Society. The founding member was Debendranath Tagore, previously of the Brahmo Samaj, eldest son of influential entrepreneur Dwarkanath Tagore, and eventually father to renowned polymath Rabindranath Tagore. In 1859, the Tattwabodhinī Sabhā were dissolved back into the Brāhmo Samāj by Debendranath Tagore.

Sister Nivedita, also known as Margaret Noble, was a disciple of Swami Vivekananda and played an important role in the spread of his teachings. She became the first Western woman to be received into an Indian monastic order when she was initiated into the vow of brahmacharya by Swami Vivekananda in 1898.

However, she did not serve as the president of the Ramakrishna Mission. After Swami Vivekananda's passing, she continued to work for the propagation of his teachings and established the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, a women's organization based on the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

Regarding the teachings of Buddhists, Sister Nivedita did not term them as anti-Vedic and regressive. In fact, she was deeply influenced by the teachings of Buddhism and saw them as complementary to the Vedantic philosophy. She believed that the ultimate goal of both traditions was the same - the realization of the ultimate reality or Brahman.

Swami Vivekananda championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy and its compatibility with modern science and technology. He also emphasized the unity of all religions and the importance of practical application of spiritual teachings in daily life.

However, he was not against the idea of Indian nationalism. In fact, he believed in the importance of national pride and the revival of Indian culture and spirituality.

Regarding idol worship and religious figures, Swami Vivekananda respected and recognized the value of such practices and figures in their proper context. He believed that they could serve as powerful symbols and aids to spiritual realization, but should not be mistaken for the ultimate reality.

• Henry Vivian Derozio was the founder of the Young Bengal Movement. He taught in the Hindu College, Calcutta. His followers were known as the Derozians and their movement the Young Bengal Movement.

• They attacked old traditions and decadent customs. They also advocated women’s rights and education. They founded associations and organised debates against idol worship, casteism and superstitions.

The correct answer is option 3: 2 only.

The Satnami movement was founded by Guru Ghasidas in the early 19th century in Chhattisgarh, which was then a part of Central Provinces and Berar. Therefore, statement 1 is incorrect.

Statement 2 is correct. The Satnami movement believed in the equality of all human beings and rejected the caste system.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Satnamis believed in the concept of one God and rejected the worship of idols.

Statement 4 is incorrect. While the Satnamis did rebel against the British, they did not call them "Dikus." This term was used by other tribal communities in the region to refer to outsiders.

• The Servants of India Society was formed in Pune, Maharashtra, in 1905 by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

• The Society organised many campaigns to promote education, sanitation, health care and fight the social evils of untouchability and discrimination, alcoholism, poverty, oppression of women and domestic abuse.

• The publication of The Hitavada, the organ of the Society in English from Nagpur, commenced in 1911.

• The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha was formed in 1906 much after the formation of the Pune Mahasabha. M.G. Ranade established Poona Sarvajanik Sabha in 1870 along with Ganesh Vasudeo and others.

• The Hindu Mahasabha was formed to protect the Hindu community's rights in British India, after the formation of the All India Muslim League in 1906 and the British India government’s creation of separate Muslim electorate under the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.

• It did not advocate radical reforms as Swadeshi or Swaraj. It was a socio-political organisation in British India that started to work as a mediating body between the government and people of India.

• The organisation was a precursor to the Indian National Congress, which started with Maharashtra's first session. The Pune Sarvajanik Sabha provided many of the prominent national stature leaders to the Indian freedom struggle, including Bal Gangadhar Tilak. It was formed in 1870 by S. H. Chiplunkar, Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi and Mahadev Govind Ranade.

• Statement 3 is incorrect as the religious meetings of the Samaj drew upon Hindu, Buddhist and Christian texts. Statement 2 is also incorrect, as securing social justice was the primary aim of the Samaj, not the promotion of spirituality to the West.

• Derived from the ancient rite of shuddhikaran or purification, it was started by the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati and his followers like Swami Shraddhanand, who also worked on the Sangathan consolidation aspect of Hinduism in North India, especially Punjab in early the 1900s, though it gradually spread across India.

• Shuddhi had a social reform agenda behind its belligerent rationale and aimed to abolish the practice of untouchability by converting outcasts from other religions to Hinduism and integrating them into the mainstream community by elevating their position instilling self-confidence and self-determination in them. The movement strove to reduce the conversions of Hindus to Islam and Christianity, which were underway at the time.

• The Swadhyay Parivar is a devotional movement based in Maharashtra, India. It claims to have over 50,000 Kendra locations and 60,00,000 followers in India, Portugal, USA, UK, Canada, and the Middle East who carry out various self-development activities, self-learning, devotional activities and social awareness activities around the world.

• Swadhyaya means the study of self for a spiritual quest.

• Pandurang Shastri Athavale (1920-2003) was the originator of this movement that promotes a particular interpretation and reading of the Vedic scriptures like Bhagavad Gita, Vedas and the Upanishads.

The Veda Samaj was a socio-religious reform movement in India that aimed to promote the belief in one God and rationalize superstitious Hindu practices based on the Vedas. It did not focus on promoting the study of Eastern mysticism through educational institutions.

Therefore, the correct answer is: 1 and 2 only

• The Theosophical Society was founded in New York (USA) in 1875 by Madam H.P. Blavatsky, a Russian lady, and Henry Steel Olcott, an American colonel.

• Their main objectives were to form a universal brotherhood of man without any distinction of race, colour or creed and promote the study of ancient religions and philosophies. They arrived in India and established their headquarters at Adyar in Madras in 1882.

• Later, in 1893, Mrs Annie Besant arrived in India and took over the Society's leadership after Olcott's death. Mrs Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu School and Madan Mohan Malaviya at Benaras, which later developed into the Banaras Hindu University.

• He was Rettaimalai Srinivasan. Affectionately called Thatha (Grandfather) for his untiring efforts to re-establish the scheduled communities' cultural ownership and legacy, he accompanied Dr Ambedkar to the Round Table Conference.

• He rejected demeaning terms like ‘Depressed classes’, which was perhaps the precursor to today’s label ‘Dalit’. He wanted Scheduled Communities to be named ‘reformist Hindus’ because they rejected the disease of untouchability plaguing the so-called caste Hindus.

• Known as Periyar (the respected); a strong supporter of atheism; famous for his anti-caste struggle and rediscovery of Dravid identity; initially a worker of the Congress party; started the self-respect movement (1925); led the anti- Brahmin movement; worked for the Justice party and later founded Dravid Kazhagam; opposed to Hindi and domination of north India; propounded the thesis that north Indians and Brahmins are Aryans.

• The Dravidian movement led to Dravida Kazhagam [DK] under the leadership of E.V. Ramasamy ‘Periyar’.

• The communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-2011 century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahminical representation in government jobs.

• The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation representing the non-Brahmins in the Madras Presidency and is seen as the start of the Dravidian Movement. In 1920, it won the first direct elections in the presidency and formed the government.

• It came under the leadership of Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy and his Self-Respect Movement. In 1944, Periyar transformed the Justice Party into the social organisation Dravidar Kazhagam and withdrew it from electoral politics.

• It opposed Annie Besant and her Home rule movement because it believed home rule would benefit the Brahmins. The party also campaigned against the non-cooperation movement in the presidency. It was at odds with M. K. Gandhi, primarily due to his praise for Brahminism.

• In 1903, a small group of Ezhavas, led by Palpu, established Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), the region's first caste association.

• This was named after Narayana Guru, who had established an ashram from where he preached his message of ‘one caste, one religion, one god’ and a Sanskritised version of the Victorian concept of self-help. His influence locally has been compared to that of Swami Vivekananda.

• The Kerala Provincial Congress Committee (KPCC) took up the eradication of untouchability as an urgent issue.

• While carrying on a massive propaganda campaign against untouchability and for the Harijans' educational and social upliftment, it was decided to launch an immediate movement to open Hindu temples and all public roads to the avarnas or Harijans.

• This, it was felt, would give a decisive blow to the notion of untouchability, since it was basically religious in character and the avarnas’ exclusion from the temples was symbolic of their degradation and oppression.

• A beginning was made in Vaikom, a village in Travancore. There was a major temple whose four walls were surrounded by roads that could not be used by avarnas like Ezhavas and Pulayas.

• He was a reformer of the 19th century. He led liberal, social and cultural movements within the Muslim society.
• While pursuing studies of different subjects, including European jurisprudence, Syed began to realise the advantages of Western-style education, which was being offered at newly established colleges across India.
• Despite being a devout Muslim, Syed criticised the influence of traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy, which had made most Indian Muslims suspicious of British influences. Option (c): Syed studied the Quran and sciences within the court later studied law from the University of Edinburgh. Being a modernist, he supported the rational studies of religious scriptures.

The orthodox section among the Muslim ulema organised the Deoband Movement. It was a revivalist movement whose twin objectives were to: (i) propagate among the Muslims the pure teachings of the Koran, and the Hadis and (ii) keep alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers. The new Deoband leader Mahmud-ul-Hasan (1851-1920) sought to impart a political and intellectual content to the religious ideas of the school. The liberal interpretation of Islam created political awakening among its followers.

• It was started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) for the Muslims' social and educational advancement in India.
• He fought against the medieval backwardness and advocated a rational approach towards religion. In 1866, he started the Muhammadan Educational Conference as a general forum for spreading liberal ideas among the Muslims.
• In 1875, he founded a modem school at Aligarh to promote English education among the Muslims. This had later grown into the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College and then into the Aligarh Muslim University.

It was launched by Haji Shariatullah to give up un-Islamic practices and act upon their duties as Muslims. The movement protected the rights of tenants to a great extent. The Faraizis adhered to the Hanafi school with certain differences in practices. 

• To be penitent for past sins as a measure for the purification of the soul.
• To observe the obligatory duties of Faraizi strictly.
• Strict adherence to Tawhid.
• India being Dar al-Harb, Friday and Eid's prayers were not obligatory. 
• Denouncing all cultural rites and ceremonies which had no reference to the Quran and Sunnah as sinful innovations.

• The Akali movement developed on a purely religious issue but ended up as a powerful episode of India’s freedom struggle. From 1920-1925, more than 30,000 men and women underwent imprisonment, nearly 400 died, and over 2,000 were wounded.
• The movement arose intending to free the Gurdwaras (Sikh temples) from the control of ignorant and corrupt mahants (priests).
• To control and manage the Golden Temple, the Akal Takht and other Gurdwaras, a representative assembly of nearly 10,000 reformers met in November 1920 and elected a committee of 175 to be known as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). 

• This movement marked the first major anti-British reaction and its new political order initiated in 1849 among the Punjab people in 1857.
• The Namdhari movement, the aftermath of the Kuka movement, was the most important phase to overthrow the British rule and played an important role in the freedom struggle.

It had evoked strong feelings of self-respect and sacrifice for the country’s freedom struggle. This movement actively propagated boycott and non-cooperation given by Guru Ram Singh (founder of the Namdhari sect) for the Namdharis.

Debendranath Tagore established the Tattvabodhini Sabha (1839) at Calcutta to propagate Rammohan Roy’s ideas. Hence, B is the correct option.