Socio-Religious Reform Movement

India’s Renaissance: Socio-Religious Reform Movement Awakening in the 19th Century

The social and religious movement that took place in the 19th century, which was called the Renaissance period of India, developed a new consciousness in India. Inspired by Western education, where people like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and Iswarchandra Vidyasagar attacked the evils spread in the society, on the other hand, thinkers like Swamiviveka Nand and Dayanand Saraswati advised to move forward after learning from their glorious past. 

Revolutionizing India: Socio-Religious Reform Movement Empower Women & Society

The socio-religious reform movements had significant and enduring effects, particularly when it came to social ills like the atrocities committed against women through dowry, sex-based injustice, child marriage, hypergamy, purdah, and child marriage. This movement in India affected various sections of Indian society in the following ways:

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• Position of women improved: These reform movements led to the improvement in women’s position in society. The Sati was banned (1829) and Infanticide was made illegal. A law was passed in 1856 to allow widow remarriage.
• Discouraged child marriage: To discourage child marriages, a law was passed in 1929 (Sharda Act) to discourage child marriage. It had raised the marriageable age to 14 years for girls and 18 years for boys.
• Development of Vernacular language: To reach the masses, the reformers heavily relied on propaganda in the Indian language. Thus, promoting regional languages.
• Development of literature: These reformers used books, plays, short tales, poetry, and the press to promote their messages.
• Spread of education: Social reformers made great efforts to educate women, prevent young children from getting married, remove women from purdah, ensure monogamy, and allow middle-class women to work in professions or the government.
• Social progress: Many superstitions vanished as a result of these reform movements.

Balancing Acts: Socio-Religious Reform Movement Impact

The twin ideals of Reason (Rationalism) and Humanism served as a connecting thread between the religious reform movements of the modern age. There is both positive as well as negative impact: 

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Drawbacks of Socio-Religious Reform Movement: Narrow Focus and Cultural Oversights

• Focused on a small segment of society: The fact that the religious reform movements focused on a small segment of society—the educated and urban middle classes—while ignoring the needs of the great majority of the rural and the urban poor was one of their main drawbacks.
• Promoted pseudo-scientific thinking: Reformers’ propensity to extol the virtues of the past and to cling to biblical authority supported mysticism in disguise and promoted pseudo-scientific thinking while acting as a brake on the complete acceptance of the necessity of a modern scientific outlook.

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• Insufficient attention on other areas of culture: By placing insufficient attention on other areas of culture—art, architecture, literature, music, science, and technology—the emphasis on theological and philosophical parts of the cultural heritage was slightly amplified.
• Focused their admiration on the ancient era: The Hindu reformers focused their admiration on the ancient era of Indian history and viewed the medieval era as primarily a time of decadence.
• Low caste group did not accept: The low caste groups of society, who had endured religiously approved exploitation during the ancient period, did not accept the thought of two distinct peoples being created, on the one hand, and an unquestioning glorification of the past, on the other.
• Look to the West Asian part: Many members of the Muslim middle class went so far as to look to the West Asian past for their customs and proud moments.
• The emergence of communal consciousness: The emergence of communal consciousness—along with national consciousness among the middle classes—and the evolution of a composite culture, which was visible throughout Indian history, signaled indications of being arrested.

Conclusion

The socio-religious reform movements had significant and enduring effects, particularly when it came to social ills like the atrocities committed against women through purdah, child marriage, hypergamy, dowry, and sex-based inequity. The nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century reform movements were not exclusively of a religious origin. The social and religious movement, on the one hand, tried the revival of women, which later paved the way for women’s education and rights, and on the other hand, by ending the discrimination of untouchability, high and low, tried to bring everyone together, which resulted in Later on, all sections of the country tried to give their equal participation in the freedom movement of India.

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Impact Of The Socio-Religious Reform Movements FAQs

Q1. Which social and religious reform movements had the greatest effects in the 19th and early 20th centuries?

Ans. National Awakening, Hinduism resurgence, women’s injustices, radical thought.

Q2. Describe the detrimental effects of socio-religious reform movement.

Ans. The following are some detrimental effects of social and religious movements:

• Religious reform movements primarily targeted educated and urban middle classes, neglecting peasants and the poor. Their focus on past virtues and biblical authority led to mysticism and pseudo-science thinking, hindering modern scientific understanding.

Q3. Which four sorts of reform are there?

Ans. There are four primary ways to change the law: 

• A law may be repealed, 
• A new law may be created, 
• A law may be consolidated, and 
• A law may be codified.

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