Women Caste & Reform - 1 - UPSC Free MCQ Test with solutions

In some parts of the country, widows were praised if they chose death by burning themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands. Women who died in this manner, whether willingly or otherwise, were called “sati”, meaning virtuous women. Sati, painted by Balthazar Solvyn, was one of the many pictures of a religious practice painted by the European artists who came to India. The practice of sati was seen as evidence of the barbarism of the East.

India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification. The BBC explains its complexities.
The system which divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups based on their karma (work) and dharma (the Hindi word for religion, but here it means duty) is generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old.
The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation.
At the top of the hierarchy were the Brahmins who were mainly teachers and intellectuals and are believed to have come from Brahma's head.

Hindu religious texts assigned Vaishyas to traditional roles in agriculture and cattle-rearing, but over time they came to be landowners, traders and money-lenders. Therefore making it their responsibility to provide sustenance for those of higher class, since they were of lower class.

Untouchables are considered as inferior social beings and therefore not entitled to any individual rights i.e., civic, religious, political and economic. In fact, the disabilities are so severe that they are physically and socially isolated and excluded from the the rest of the Hindu society.

Correct Answer :- c

Explanation:- Monotheism is the belief in one god. A narrower definition of monotheism is the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, and intervenes in the world. 

Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered as the prophet of Indian Nationalism. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration, and education, as well as religion. He was described by Rabindranath Tagore as the " Father of Indian Renaissance "  and  the " Prophet  of Indian Nationalism.

Option A: Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a prominent social reformer who was deeply affected by the hardships faced by widows. He actively worked to abolish the practice of sati, a significant reform in Indian society.