Chapter 9 · Topic 9.3 · Prelims + Mains3 of 3
Social & Religious Reform Movements: Caste, women and education
Key points
- Phule: girls' school (1848), Satyashodhak Samaj and Gulamgiri (1873); Savitribai taught there.
- SNDP (1903), Vaikom (1924–25), Self-Respect (1925, Periyar), Ambedkar's Mahad Satyagraha (1927).
- Women's laws: sati ban 1829, widow remarriage 1856, Age of Consent 1891, Sarda Act 1929.
- Education: 1813 grant, 1823 committee, Macaulay 1835, Wood's Despatch 1854, Hunter 1882.
Prelims box: facts and traps
- Widow Remarriage Act: Act XV of 1856, passed 26 July 1856 under Canning.
- Sarda Act (1929): girls 14, boys 18.
- Founders: Calcutta Madrasa (Hastings, 1781), Asiatic Society (Jones, 1784), Sanskrit College Benaras (Duncan, 1791), Fort William (Richard Wellesley, 1800).
- Sikh reform: Singh Sabha (1873), Akali movement, Sikh Gurdwaras Act (1925).
- Trap (Prelims 2018): Wood's Despatch did not make English the medium at every level.
- Women's bodies: Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910), WIA (1917), AIWC (1927).
On this page (3 sections)
Anti-caste movements and Sikh reform
The reformers so far were mostly upper-caste. From the 1870s, people from the lower castes began to speak for themselves. Jyotirao Phule (1827–1890) of Pune led the way.
| Jyotirao Phule | Detail |
|---|---|
| 1848 | Opened a girls’ school in Pune; his wife Savitribai Phule taught there |
| 1873 | Founded the Satyashodhak Samaj; wrote Gulamgiri (Slavery) |
| Ideas | Against Brahmin dominance and caste; for education of the lower castes and women |
Prelims 2016 asked what the ‘Satya Shodhak Samaj organized’. Answer: an anti-caste movement in Maharashtra.
Satya Shodhak Samaj organized
- a movement for upliftment of tribals in Bihar
- a temple-entry movement in Gujarat
- an anti-caste movement in Maharashtra
- a peasant movement in Punjab
Show answer
Answer: (c) · UPSC official key
Mains 2025 said Phule’s ‘writings and efforts of social reforms touched issues of almost all subaltern classes’. Subaltern means people at the bottom of society: peasants, women, widows, lower castes and untouchables.
Mahatma Jotirao Phule’s writings and efforts of social reforms touched issues of almost all subaltern classes. Discuss.
| Leader or movement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Gopal Baba Walangkar | Vital-Vidhvansak (1888), a monthly journal for untouchables |
| Sri Narayana Guru (Kerala) | SNDP Yogam (1903) for the Ezhavas; ‘one caste, one religion, one God for man’ |
| Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–25) | Right to use roads near the Vaikom temple, Travancore; T.K. Madhavan, K. Kelappan; Periyar joined |
| Self-Respect Movement (1925) | E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker ‘Periyar’, Tamil Nadu; against Brahmin dominance |
| B.R. Ambedkar | Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (1924); Mahad Satyagraha (1927) |
Prelims 2020 asked who published the Vital-Vidhvansak, ‘the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience’. Answer: Gopal Baba Walangkar.
The Vital-Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience was published by
- Gopal Baba Walangkar
- Jyotiba Phule
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
- Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Show answer
Answer: (a) · UPSC official key
Prelims 2025 asked who founded the ‘Self-Respect Movement’. Answer: Periyar.
Who among the following was the founder of the ‘Self-Respect Movement’?
- ‘Periyar’ E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
- Bhaskarrao Jadhav
- Dinkarrao Javalkar
Show answer
Answer: (a) · UPSC official key
Gandhi’s Harijan work came after the Poona Pact (1932). Prelims 2025 asked after which event he ‘decided to include the upliftment of ‘Harijans’ in his political and social programme’.
Subsequent to which one of the following events, Gandhiji, who consistently opposed untouchability and appealed for its eradication from all spheres, decided to include the upliftment of ‘Harijans’ in his political and social programme?
- The Poona Pact
- The Gandhi-Irwin Agreement (Delhi Pact)
- Arrest of Congress leadership at the time of the Quit India Movement
- Promulgation of the Government of India Act, 1935
Show answer
Answer: (a) · UPSC official key
| Sikh reform | Detail |
|---|---|
| Singh Sabha (1873) | Founded at Amritsar; Sikh education, Gurmukhi, Khalsa College (1892) |
| Akali movement (1920s) | Freed gurdwaras from corrupt mahants; led to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act (1925) and the SGPC |
What UPSC asks: Prelims: Satyashodhak (2016), Walangkar (2020), Periyar (2025). Mains: Phule (2025). Next likely angle: Vaikom and SNDP.
Women’s rights and the reform laws
Almost every reformer took up women’s condition. The result was a series of laws, though laws alone changed little until education spread, like a rule on paper that nobody at home follows.
| Law | Detail |
|---|---|
| Sati banned (1829) | Regulation XVII under Bentinck, with Ram Mohan Roy’s support |
| Female infanticide | Bengal regulations of 1795 and 1804; Female Infanticide Prevention Act (1870) |
| Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act (1856) | Result of Vidyasagar’s campaign |
| Native Marriage Act (1872) | Inter-caste marriage, minimum age; pushed by the Brahmos |
| Age of Consent Act (1891) | Raised the age to 12 after Behramji Malabari’s campaign; Tilak opposed it |
| Sarda Act (1929) | Child Marriage Restraint Act: girls 14, boys 18 |
| Woman reformer | Detail |
|---|---|
| Savitribai Phule | Taught at the first girls’ school in Pune (1848) |
| Pandita Ramabai | Arya Mahila Samaj (1882); Sharada Sadan for widows (1889) |
| Tarabai Shinde | Stri Purush Tulana (1882), comparing the treatment of men and women |
| Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain | Sultana’s Dream (1905); girls’ school in Calcutta |
| D.K. Karve (a man) | Widows’ home, Pune (1896); Indian Women’s University (1916) |
UPSC asks about these women outside History too. Mains 2020 (Ethics) asked for the ‘contribution of Savitribai Phule’ to fighting gender inequality.
What are the main factors responsible for gender inequality in India? Discuss the contribution of Savitribai Phule in this regard.
Women’s organisations: Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910, Sarala Devi Chaudhurani), Women’s Indian Association (1917) and the All India Women’s Conference (1927).
What UPSC asks: Prelims: the laws in order. Mains: Savitribai (2020). Next likely angle: Sarda Act ages.
Colonial education policy
The Company first backed Oriental learning (Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian), then switched to English. UPSC asks the sequence and who founded what.
| Year | Institution | Founder |
|---|---|---|
| 1781 | Calcutta Madrasa | Warren Hastings |
| 1784 | Asiatic Society of Bengal | William Jones |
| 1791 | Sanskrit College, Benaras | Jonathan Duncan |
| 1800 | Fort William College | Lord (Richard) Wellesley |
Prelims 2018 matched institutions and founders. Only the Calcutta Madrasa and Warren Hastings was right. The ‘Sanskrit College at Benaras’ was Jonathan Duncan’s, and Fort William College was Richard Wellesley’s, not Arthur’s.
With reference to educational institutions during colonial rule in India, consider the following pairs : Institution Founder 1. Sanskrit College at Benaras William Jones 2. Calcutta Madarsa Warren Hastings 3. Fort William College Arthur Wellesley Which of the pairs given above is/are correct ?
- 1 and 2
- 2 only
- 1 and 3
- 3 only
Show answer
Answer: (b) · UPSC official key
Prelims 2020 asked why ‘Wellesley established the Fort William College at Calcutta’. Answer: to train British civilians for administration in India.
Wellesley established the Fort William College at Calcutta because
- he was asked by the Board of Directors at London to do so
- he wanted to revive interest in oriental learning in India
- he wanted to provide William Carey and his associates with employment
- he wanted to train British civilians for administrative purpose in India
Show answer
Answer: (d) · UPSC official key
How English education came in.
| Step | What happened |
|---|---|
| Charter Act 1813 | ₹1 lakh a year for education |
| 1823 | General Committee of Public Instruction set up to spend it |
| 1835 | Orientalist vs Anglicist debate ended by Macaulay’s Minute; English made the medium; ‘downward filtration’ |
| Wood’s Despatch 1854 | Grants-in-aid; universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (1857); vernacular at the primary level |
| Hunter Commission 1882 | Primary and secondary education |
| Universities Act 1904 | Curzon; more official control |
| Later | Sadler (1917), Hartog (1929), Wardha basic education (1937), Sargent (1944) |
Prelims 2018 asked which events ‘led to the introduction of English Education in India’: the 1813 Act, the 1823 Committee and the Orientalist–Anglicist debate. All three, as a chain. “Downward filtration” meant: teach a few at the top, and knowledge will trickle down, like water through a filter.
Which of the following led to the introduction of English Education in India ? 1. Charter Act of 1813 2. General Committee of Public Instruction, 1823 3. Orientalist and Anglicist Controversy Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: (d) · UPSC official key
Wood’s Despatch (Prelims 2018): the ‘Grants-in-Aid system was introduced’ and universities were recommended. It did not make English the medium at all levels; primary teaching was in the vernacular (local language).
Regarding Wood’s Dispatch, which of the following statements are true ? 1. Grants-in-Aid system was introduced. 2. Establishment of universities was recommended. 3. English as a medium of instruction at all levels of education was recommended. Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer
Answer: (a) · UPSC official key
Mains 2026 asked about the ‘impact of Macaulay’s Minute on colonial administration and education’. It produced English-educated clerks, but also the leaders who later questioned British rule.
Discuss the impact of Macaulay’s Minute on colonial administration and education in India.
What UPSC asks: Prelims: founders (2018, 2020). Mains: the chain to English education. Next likely angle: Wood’s Despatch; Macaulay (Mains 2026).
Mains box: analysis and answer points
- Mains 2025 (GS I, 15 marks): Phule's work reached all subaltern classes: peasants, women, widows, lower castes.
- Mains 2020 (GS IV): Savitribai Phule as an example against gender inequality.
- Mains 2026 (GS I, 10 marks): Macaulay's Minute created clerks and, without meaning to, nationalist leaders.
- Next likely angle: Vaikom and SNDP.
Practice
Practice MCQs (8)
The Mahad Satyagraha of 1927, led by B.R. Ambedkar, was launched to assert the right of the depressed classes to
Answer (a) & explanation
In March 1927 Ambedkar led thousands to the Chavdar tank at Mahad (Kolaba district), which the Bombay Legislative Council's Bole resolution of 1923 had declared open to all, to assert the untouchables' right to use public water. When orthodox residents 'purified' the tank, a second conference at Mahad in December 1927 publicly burnt the Manusmriti.
With reference to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, consider the following statements:
1. As principal of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta, he opened its doors to non-Brahmin students.
2. He wrote the Bengali primer 'Barnaparichay', used for generations to teach children to read.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Vidyasagar (1820-91) became principal of the Sanskrit College in 1851 and opened it to non-Brahmin students, breaking the priestly monopoly of Sanskrit learning. His primer Barnaparichay (1855) reshaped the teaching of the Bengali alphabet. He also championed widow remarriage, campaigned against polygamy and child marriage, and worked for girls' schools.
The Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham, founded in Travancore in 1907 to fight for the rights of the Pulaya and other depressed communities, including the right of their children to attend school, was set up by
Answer (b) & explanation
Ayyankali (1863-1941), a Pulaya leader, defied caste bans on public roads by driving a bullock cart (villuvandi) through them in 1893 and founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham in 1907. He organised a strike of agricultural labourers to win school admission for Pulaya children and was nominated to the Sree Mulam Popular Assembly of Travancore in 1911.
The Depressed Classes Mission Society of India, founded in Bombay in 1906 to work for the education and uplift of the untouchables, was set up by
Answer (a) & explanation
Vitthal Ramji Shinde, a Prarthana Samaj worker, founded the Depressed Classes Mission Society of India in Bombay in 1906. It opened schools, hostels and other institutions for the untouchables across western India and campaigned against untouchability within the framework of liberal Hindu reform.
With reference to the Singh Sabha movement, consider the following statements:
1. The first Singh Sabha was founded at Amritsar in 1873.
2. The Khalsa College at Amritsar, founded in 1892, was one of its main educational efforts.
3. It was founded by Baba Ram Singh, the leader of the Namdharis.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer (d) & explanation
The Singh Sabha movement began at Amritsar in 1873 (a Lahore Sabha followed in 1879) to purge Sikhism of practices seen as un-Sikh and to spread modern education with Gurmukhi and Punjabi. The Khalsa College, Amritsar (1892) came out of this effort. Baba Ram Singh led the separate Namdhari (Kuka) movement, which the British crushed in 1872.
According to NCERT, the Satnami movement founded by Ghasidas in central India worked mainly among
Answer (c) & explanation
NCERT's Our Pasts III lists several sects that questioned Brahmanical authority from below: the Satnami movement in central India, founded by Ghasidas, worked among the leatherworkers (Chamars) and organised a movement to improve their social status; the Matua sect worked among the Chandala cultivators of eastern Bengal; and in Maharashtra the Mahars were later mobilised by Ambedkar.
Consider the following pairs: Initiative of B.R. Ambedkar : Year
1. Mooknayak (fortnightly) : 1920
2. Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha : 1924
3. Independent Labour Party : 1942
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer (b) & explanation
Ambedkar started the Marathi fortnightly Mooknayak ('Leader of the Voiceless') in January 1920, and founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha in Bombay in July 1924 to spread education and culture among the depressed classes. The Independent Labour Party was founded in 1936 and contested the 1937 elections; in 1942 he set up the All India Scheduled Castes Federation instead.
With reference to the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856, consider the following statements:
1. It followed petitions organised by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
2. It was enacted in July 1856, when Lord Canning was the Governor-General.
3. Under it, a widow who remarried retained full rights in her deceased husband's property.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer (a) & explanation
Vidyasagar argued from the shastras that widow remarriage was permitted and organised petitions to the government for a law. The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act (Act XV of 1856) was passed on 26 July 1856; the bill had been prepared in Dalhousie's time, but Canning had taken office in February 1856. The Act legalised remarriage and the children of such marriages, but a widow who remarried lost her rights in her late husband's property, as if she had died.
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In 150 words, explain the significance of Social & Religious Reform Movements with one recent example.
Flashcards (6)
Phule's book of 1873?
Gulamgiri.
Who published Vital-Vidhvansak?
Gopal Baba Walangkar.
Who founded the SNDP Yogam?
Sri Narayana Guru, 1903.
Ages under the Sarda Act (1929)?
Girls 14, boys 18.
Why was Fort William College founded?
To train British civil servants.
What did Wood's Despatch introduce?
Grants-in-aid; universities (1857).
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