Socio-Religious Reform II: Muslim, Sikh, Parsi and Anti-Caste Movements

Reform beyond the Hindu upper castes

Reform in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not limited to Brahmo and Arya Samaj circles. Muslim, Sikh and Parsi communities had their own reform movements, and the most radical challenge to the social order came from lower-caste and anti-caste movements led by Jyotiba Phule, Sree Narayana Guru, Periyar and B.R. Ambedkar. UPSC asks matching questions on founders, organisations and newspapers, and Mains questions on the role of these movements in social justice.

Muslim reform movements

After 1857 the British treated Muslims with suspicion, and the community lagged in Western education and government jobs. Reformers responded in different ways.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and the Aligarh Movement

• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–98) believed that Muslims must accept modern Western education and science to progress, and that the Quran was compatible with reason.
• He founded the Scientific Society (1864) at Ghazipur to translate Western books into Urdu, and the journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq.
• In 1875 he founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh, which became Aligarh Muslim University (1920).
• He opposed purdah, polygamy and easy divorce and favoured women's education, though cautiously.
• He wrote Asbab-i-Baghawat-i-Hind (Causes of the Indian Revolt), arguing that the revolt was due to the lack of Indian representation in the legislature.
• Later he opposed the Indian National Congress and urged Muslims to stay loyal to the British, which some historians see as an early step towards separate Muslim politics.

Other Muslim movements

• Deoband Movement: the Dar-ul-Uloom at Deoband (Saharanpur, UP) was founded in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. It was orthodox and revivalist, aimed at teaching pure Islamic doctrine, but it was anti-British and welcomed the Congress; later Deobandi scholars such as Maulana Mahmud-ul-Hasan and Hussain Ahmad Madani opposed partition.
• Ahmadiyya Movement: founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at Qadian (Punjab) in 1889; liberal in promoting Western education, but controversial because of claims about prophethood.
• Nadwatul Ulama at Lucknow (1894), founded by Shibli Nomani and others, tried to balance tradition and modern learning.
• Muhammadan Literary Society (Calcutta, 1863) by Nawab Abdul Latif.

Sikh reform movements

• Nirankari movement: Baba Dayal Das (1840s), called Sikhs back to the worship of a formless God (nirankar) and against idol worship.
• Namdhari (Kuka) movement: Baba Ram Singh; social reform plus anti-British resistance.
• Singh Sabha movement: the first Singh Sabha was formed at Amritsar in 1873; it aimed to restore the purity of Sikhism, spread education (the Khalsa College, Amritsar, 1892) and publish Gurmukhi literature.
• Akali (Gurdwara Reform) Movement (1920–25): aimed to free gurdwaras from corrupt mahants backed by the British. Events included the Nankana Sahib massacre (1921) and the Guru-ka-Bagh morcha (1922). It led to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, which placed gurdwaras under the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC, 1920). The movement, supported by Gandhi, merged with the national struggle.

Parsi reform

The Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Religious Reform Association) was founded in 1851 by Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji and S.S. Bengalee. Its journal Rast Goftar (Truth-teller) attacked orthodox practices and supported women's education. Parsis became one of the most educated communities and played a leading role in business and early nationalism.

Anti-caste and lower-caste movements

These movements went beyond upper-caste reform and challenged Brahminical domination itself.

Jyotiba Phule (1827–90), Maharashtra

• With his wife Savitribai Phule, he opened a school for girls in Pune (1848), one of the first run by Indians, and later schools for lower-caste children.
• Founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth-Seekers' Society) in 1873 to fight caste and priestly domination.
• Books: Gulamgiri (Slavery, 1873) and *Sarvajanik Satyadharma*. He used the term dalit in the sense of the oppressed, and saw lower castes as the original inhabitants exploited by Brahmins.
• Savitribai is honoured as India's first woman teacher.

Sree Narayana Guru (1856–1928), Kerala

• From the Ezhava community; consecrated a Shiva idol at Aruvippuram (1888), challenging the Brahmin monopoly over temple rites.
• Founded the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam (1903).
• Slogan: "One caste, one religion, one God for man."

Other movements in the south

• Ayyankali (Kerala) fought for the rights of Pulayas to use public roads and attend schools; founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (1907).
• Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–25) in Travancore demanded that lower castes be allowed to use roads near the Vaikom temple; led by T.K. Madhavan, K. Kelappan and supported by Gandhi and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar). Later, the Guruvayur Satyagraha (1931–32) was led by Kelappan, and the Temple Entry Proclamation of Travancore (1936) opened temples to all.
• Justice Party (1916) in Madras, representing non-Brahmins.
• Self-Respect Movement (1925) by Periyar, which rejected caste, rituals and Brahmin priests and promoted self-respect marriages.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar (1891–1956)

• Founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (1924) and the newspapers Mook Nayak (1920), Bahishkrit Bharat and later Janata.
• Led the Mahad Satyagraha (1927) for the right to draw water from the Chavdar tank, and publicly burnt the Manusmriti.
• Led the Kalaram temple entry satyagraha at Nashik (1930).
• Founded the Independent Labour Party (1936) and the All India Scheduled Castes Federation (1942).
• Signed the Poona Pact (1932) with Gandhi, which replaced separate electorates for Depressed Classes with reserved seats.

Gandhi founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh (1932) and campaigned against untouchability, though he and Ambedkar differed sharply on whether reform should come from within Hinduism or through legal and political power.

Assessment

These movements spread modern education, created organisations of the oppressed, and turned social equality into a political demand. Their ideas fed directly into the Constitution: Article 17 (abolition of untouchability), Article 15 (non-discrimination), and reservations for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

Women reformers

Women were not only the subject of reform; many led it. Pandita Ramabai founded the Arya Mahila Samaj (1882) and the Sharada Sadan for widows in Bombay and Pune, and later the Mukti Mission. Tarabai Shinde wrote *Stri Purush Tulana* (1882), a sharp critique of male domination. Anandibai Joshi became one of the first Indian women to earn a medical degree (1886). Rukhmabai fought a famous court case against a child marriage, which helped the campaign for the Age of Consent Act. D.K. Karve opened a widows' home and founded the SNDT Women's University (1916). Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain worked for Muslim girls' education in Bengal and wrote *Sultana's Dream*. Later, the Women's Indian Association (1917) and the All India Women's Conference (1927) brought women's rights into national politics.

The press and early associations

Reform spread through newspapers and associations. Rammohan Roy's papers, *Rast Goftar*, *Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq* and Ambedkar's *Mook Nayak* show how print allowed small groups to reach the wider public. Associations such as the Landholders' Society (1838), British Indian Association (1851), Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870), Indian Association (1876) and Madras Mahajan Sabha (1884) carried the same spirit of public debate into politics and paved the way for the Congress in 1885.

Mains practice question

Q. "Lower-caste movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries widened the meaning of Indian nationalism." Discuss. (250 words)

Framework: limits of upper-caste reform; Phule, Narayana Guru, Ayyankali, Periyar, Ambedkar; temple entry and water satyagrahas; Poona Pact; link to constitutional values of equality and social justice.

Quick self-test

1. Who founded the MAO College at Aligarh? *(Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, 1875)*
2. Which Act placed gurdwaras under the SGPC? *(Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925)*
3. Who wrote Gulamgiri? *(Jyotiba Phule)*
4. Where did Ambedkar lead a satyagraha for water rights? *(Mahad, 1927)*