Chapter-8 Women, Caste and Reforms

Explanation:

 i) Ram Mohun Roy – Ban of Sati

• To combat societal ills and spread social and educational changes in India, Roy established the Atmiya Sabha and the Unitarian Community. He was a champion of dispelling myths, a trailblazer in Indian education, and an influence on Bengali prose and Indian journalism.

• Fought a crusade against Hindu traditions like caste system, adultery, and sati.

• Women's rights to receive land were demanded.

• He founded the Brahmo Sabha, a group of reforming Bengali Brahmins, in 1828 to combat societal ills.

ii) Dayanand Saraswati – Widow Remarriage

• Swami Dayanand Saraswati established the Arya Samaj reform group in the north, and like them, he backed widow remarry.

• Although many progressives supported the widow remarriage act, very few women actually got married. Many conservative organizations resisted people who got married, and they were not always well-liked in society.

iii) Veerasalingam Pantulu – Widow Remarriage

• One of Veeresalingam's biggest changes was to encourage women's education, which was then considered unfeminine. He established a publication named Viveka Vardhini in 1876 and wrote articles there about women's issues of the time. His writings gained fame, and after the journal was originally printed in Chennai (then Madras), he created his own press in Rajahmundry.

• He fought widow remarriage, which was frowned upon in the society of the time by citing passages from the Hindu Dharma Sastra to support his position. When they were unable to stop him, his opponents organized extra gatherings and discussions to refute his claims. When that didn't work, they even turned to using physical force against him.

iv) Jyotirao Phule - Equality amongst castes

• Phule regarded Mahabali (Bali Raja) as a hero and viewed Vishnu's incarnations as a representation of tyranny resulting from the Aryan invasions.

• His assault on the Vedas, the most basic writings of Hinduism, set the stage for his criticism of the caste system. 

• He is credited with popularizing the Marathi term dalit, which means "broken" or "crushed," to describe those who did not fit into the established Varna structure. The Dalit Panthers subsequently made the word popular in the 1970s.

• In 1882, Phule requested assistance from the education board in order to provide instruction for castes who were being exploited. He supported making basic education mandatory in villages to carry it out. Additionally, he requested specific promotions to attract more members of lesser castes.

v) Pandita Ramabai – Women’s Education

Early in life, Ramabai was attracted to the field of social change. She spoke to women about the importance of education and empowerment throughout Bengal Presidency and Calcutta. She put in a lot of effort to free women.

She and her sibling had traveled the nation to promote societal change and female education.

She established the Arya Mahila Samaj when she moved to Pune after her husband's passing, demonstrating how comprehensive her conception of education was and how devoted she was to the cause of social change.

vi) Periyar – Equality to Untouchables

The position of women in India has undergone numerous changes. The promotion of equity by social reformers like Savitibai Phule, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, etc., to the fall in rank from ancient to medieval periods.

The Vedic era recognized their equality. There was no gender-based prejudice. Women had similar rights in every area of existence. Women were sent to school, according to old grammarians like Patanjali and Katayayna, whose writings have been studied. Women even had the freedom to select their own husbands and engage in intermarriage.

vii) Mumtaz Ali – Women’s Education

Sayyid Mumtaz Ali visited Aligarh sometime in the late 1890s and by chance showed Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan the draft of his essay defending women's rights under Islamic law, Huquq un-Niswan. Sir Sayyid appeared stunned as he started to read it. His cheeks flushed red as he opened it to a second location. His hands began to shake as he read it in a third location. Finally, he ripped the document to pieces and tossed it in the trash can. Luckily, a servant came to declare lunch at that precise time, and as Sir Sayyid exited his office, Mumtaz Ali snatched his torn-up manuscript out of the trash. Huquq un-Niswan was not published until 1898, the year of Sir Sayyid's passing.

viii Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar – Widow Remarriage

• Vidyasagar advocated for the advancement of women's position in India, especially in his native Bengal. He aimed to change society from within, as opposed to some other reformers who tried to establish substitute communities or institutions.[13]
• 
  Many of these girls would flee and turn to prostitution to support themselves because they couldn't stand the mistreatment. Ironically, the wealth and opulent lives of the city allowed many of them to have prosperous jobs once they left society's control and entered the demi-monde.

Explanation:

1.  When the British captured Bengal they framed many new laws to regulate the rules regarding marriage, adoption, inheritance of property, etc. – TRUE

In 1829, the British enacted legislation outlawing the Sati system.

The British government enacted rules allowing widow remarriage in 1856.

However, it is important to note that the British only enacted these laws after vigorous efforts by social activists to address the social problems in society.

Fighting for widow remarry was Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.

With the works of women's organizations on the subject and one of the challenged customs, the movement for change got traction.

2. Social reformers had to discard the ancient texts in order to argue for reform in social practices. – FALSE.

In reality, social activists used ancient writings to support their arguments.

Rammohun Roy demonstrated through his works that there was no support for widow burning in ancient literature.

The same approach Rammohun Roy used was also used by later leaders.

3. Reformers got full support from all sections of the people of the country. – FALSE

Not all segments of the population backed the progressives. Orthodox members of the Hindu and Muslim faiths opposed societal activists.

After the movements of lower caste leaders, their writings, and their vehement statements, upper caste nationalism leaders engaged in self-criticism, which also caused them to reconsider their positions.

However, those opposed to widow remarriage shunned social activists like Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.

His advice was taken up by British authorities, who in 1856 enacted legislation allowing widow remarriage.

4. The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in1829. – FALSE

On September 28, 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was enacted into law. The law set the age of majority for marriage at 14 for females and 18 for boys. Later, it would be changed to 18 years for females and 21 years for boys, correspondingly. After its backer, Harbilas Sarda, it is commonly referred to as the Sarda Act.

Explanation:

Sanskrit, Persian, and a number of other Indian and European languages were all fluent in Ram Mohan Roy's vocabulary. Through his works, he attempted to demonstrate that ancient literature did not support the practice of burning widows. Later activists followed Ram Mohan Roy's lead and employed the same tactic. Whenever they desired to question a practice that seemed harmful, they attempted to locate a verse or sentence in the old sacred writings that backed their point of view. They went on to say that the practice was against ancient custom in its current form. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar suggested that women could remarry based on ancient writings.

Explanation:

For the reasons listed below, parents chose not to enrol their daughters in school:

1. They worried that schools would separate females from their families.

2.  They won't be able to perform their household chores because of school.

3.  To get to school, girls had to pass through crowded areas.

4. The impact of traveling to school would pervert them.

5. They believed that females ought to avoid going in public places.

Explanation:

 People attacked the Christian missionaries because they were engaged in turning impoverished and tribal people to Christianity, or in other words, transforming a Hindu to Christianity. These missionaries also built up institutions for tribal and poor kids to study. However, the majority of people who had contempt for the impoverished and tribal people opposed the notion of educating the latter group. Consequently, the assaults on Christian preachers began.

Explanation:

Many of the low caste impoverished from rural areas and small communities started migrating to urban areas where there was a new need for labour. Others moved to work on crops in Indonesia, Trinidad, Mauritius, Assam, and Mauritius. Low caste and the impoverished saw this as a chance to escape the oppressive control higher caste landlords had over their lives and the daily humiliation they endured.

Explanation:

The anti-caste activist Jyotirao Phule held the view that because members of the higher castes were 'Aryans,' they were not the initial inhabitants of their territories. He expressed his views by claiming that the Aryans were foreigners and that the lower caste people had always owned the country. He eagerly anticipated the time when lower caste individuals would coexist amicably without higher caste interference.

Explanation:

"Gulamgiri," a novel by Jyotirao Phule, was published in 1873. The book's title translates to "Slavery." The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. The long-running debate over the slavery of black people was the main cause of the start of the Civil War. Phule made a connection between the plight of the "lower" classes in India and that of the black slaves in America by dedicating his work to all the Americans who had battled for the freedom of slaves.

Explanation:

Movement Into the Temple B. R. Ambedkar spearheaded the Temple Entry campaign in the 1920s and 1930s to protect Dalits' (previously known as "untouchables") right to join and venerate in Hindu shrines.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar began a temple entrance campaign in 1927.People from the Mahar Caste took part in this shrine entrance campaign. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar oversaw three shrine entry campaigns between 1927 and 1935. It was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's goal to reveal social biases in Indian society through the temple entry campaign. Brahman monks were furious when Dalits drank water from the shrine tank. The Mahar household, into which Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was born. Ambedkar had experienced social prejudice since he was a young kid. Ambedkar was forbidden from drinking water from the faucets that higher caste kids used.

Explanation:

Both Jyoti Rao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker were sceptical of the national movement because they believed that anti-colonialists and colonialists had little in common. Phule believed that those from the higher caste who desired to battle the British would also desire to govern after their departure. Phule was always opposed to the higher rank individuals because he referred to them as the "outsiders."

Naicker belonged to the Congress party, and his encounters made him think that casteism was still present in the party. He therefore resisted joining the anti-British national movement, which was unconcerned with establishing a caste-free society.

Their critique strengthened the civil rights movement. Reformers began reorganizing their ideas in order to eliminate the disparities.