Major social and religious reform movements in India

In Indian history, the 19th century has been considered as the century of religious and social renaissance. At this time, due to the western education system of the East India Company, the modern youth mind became reflective, young and old all were forced to think on this subject. Although the Company followed a policy of restraint against interference in the religious affairs of India, it did so for its own political interest. People influenced by western education started to test the Hindu social structure, religion, customs and traditions on the test of logic.

This gave birth to a social and religious movement.The influence of communism was more in the industrial cities of Calcutta, Mumbai, Kanpur, Lahore and Madras, which were shabby and superstitious due to centuries of customs under the British rule. Enlightened Indian social and religious reformers, reformist British Governor-Generals and the spread of Western education made efforts to revive Indian society.

Major causes of religious reform movement in India:

  1. The primacy of rituals: - The sages and sages of the Vedic period who had established the holy Hindu religion, it was very simple, ostentatious and far away from complications. But with the passage of time, due to the importance of birth over karma, Brahmins increased the importance of rituals in Hindu religion to increase their dominance, due to which they started demanding more money for doing big religious works. Due to which the general public and poor people could not get them done and their interest gradually started to end in Hindu religion.
  2. Presence of pomp and superstition:- With the passage of time, pomp and superstition started to arise in Hinduism. Animal sacrifices were started to please the gods and goddesses, the concept of heaven and hell had started to arise and people were being inspired to perform yajnas etc. Had been.
  3. Multiplicity of Yagyas:- With the passage of time in Hindu religion, great importance was given to Yagyas. Due to such ideologies that excessive rain and hailstorm could be stopped by Yagya, the importance of Yagyas started increasing more. People were given the importance of sacrifices for the peace of their ancestors' souls and to earn fame and wealth.

List of the major social and religious reformer movements of India and the great thinkers who started them:

The year Social and religious reform movement Names of great thinkers
1828 Brahma Samaj Raja Ram Mohan Roy
1828 Young Bengal Movement Henry Vivian Derozio
1867 Prayer Society Atmaram pandurang
1875 Arya Samaj Dayanand Saraswati
1875 Theosophical Society Madame Blavatsky and Karnal Alcott
1875 Aligarh Movement Syed Ahmed Khan
1885 Indian National Congress A O hum
1889 Ahmadiyya Movement Mirza Ghulam Ahmadiyya
1897 Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda
1897 Revolutionary Nationalism Chapekar brothers
1905 Bengal Partition Lord Curzon
1905 Abhinav Bharat V. D. Savarkar
1905 India House Syama G Krishna Verma
1906 Muslim League Nawab Salimulla
1911 Delhi Durbar George V
1916 Home Rule Movement Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak
1916 Sabarmati Ashram Mahatma Gandhi
1919 Rowlatt Act Rowlatt Committee
1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre General Dyer
1920 Khilafat Movement Mahatma Gandhi
1920 Non-cooperation movement Mahatma Gandhi
1922 Chauri Chaura Massacre -
1927 Simon Commission Sir John Simon
1928 Nehru Report Motilal Nehru
1930 Declaration of Poorna Swaraj Jawaharlal Nehru
1930 Civil Disobedience Movement Mahatma Gandhi
1930 First Round Table Conference -
1931 Second Round Table Conference -
1932 Third Round Table Conference -
1932 Communal Judgment Ramje macdonald
1940 August offer Viceroy Lord Linlithgow
1942 Cripps Proposal Sir Stafford Cripps
1942 Quit India Movement Mahatma Gandhi
1944 Rajagopalachari Formula Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
1945 Wavell Plan Lord Wavell
1946 Cabinet Mission Clement Attlee Cabinet
1947 Mountbatten Plan lord mount baton
1948 Attlee's Declaration -

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Religious Reform Movement FAQs:

A reform movement is a type of social movement that aims to improve certain aspects of society by changing them relatively slowly. It does not aim for rapid change or radical change.

The Tebhaga movement was an important peasant movement, initiated in Bengal by the All India Kisan Sabha, the Kisan Front of the Communist Party of India.

The Non-Cooperation Movement (1922) was led by Mahatma Gandhi and some senior Congress leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, Bal Gangadhar Tilak were outright opposed to the idea of Non-Cooperation Movement.

Ramanuja was the first exponent of the Bhakti movement. He gave the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita. He believed in Brahman as the supreme and individual soul. He believed that through devotion the soul can be attained by God.

Bhoodan movement was started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in the year 1951. This movement was a completely voluntary land reform movement in the field of land reform.

  Last update :  Fri 7 Oct 2022
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