Social and Ideological Bases of Reform

At a Glance

• What it is Who led reform and what ideas united the reform movements
• Social base New middle class and educated intellectuals
• Ideological unity Rationalism, religious universalism, humanism
• Concerns Worldly life, culture, language, education, art, medicine
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Socio-Religious Reform Movements: General Features

Where Does It Fit?

This is the second topic of the category on the general features of socio-religious reform. The previous topic gave the factors that created the desire for reform. This topic describes the social base and the shared ideas of the reformers. The next topic describes the two streams of reform. Previous topic: Factors Giving Rise to the Desire for Reform.

Who Formed the Social Base?

The social base of the regeneration of the nineteenth century was the newly emerging middle class and the educated intellectuals, both traditionally educated and Western educated. There was, however, a significant contrast between the broadly middle-class ideals, derived from a growing awareness of developments in the West, and a predominantly non-middle-class social base.

The nineteenth-century intelligentsia looked to the European middle class as its model. Through Western education it had learnt that this class had brought about the great transformation of the West from medieval to modern times through movements such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and democratic revolution or reform. But India’s intelligentsia did not grow from trade or industry, which were firmly under British agencies. Its roots lay in government service or the professions of law, education, journalism and medicine, often combined with some connection with land in the form of intermediate tenures.

What Was the Ideological Unity?

What gave the reform movements an ideological unity was rationalism, religious universalism and humanism.

Rationalism: Rationalism was brought to judge social relevance. Raja Rammohan Roy firmly believed in the principle of causality linking the whole phenomenal universe, and in demonstrability as the sole criterion of truth. Akshay Kumar Dutt declared that rationalism was the only teacher and held that natural and social phenomena could be understood by purely mechanical processes. They used a rational approach to study tradition and judged social and religious practices by their social utility, replacing faith with rationality. As a result, the Brahmo Samaj repudiated the infallibility of the Vedas, while the Aligarh movement stressed the reconciliation of Islamic teaching with the needs of the modern age. Syed Ahmed Khan went so far as to say that religious tenets were not immutable.

Many intellectuals set aside the authority of religion and tested truth in any religion by logic, reason or science. Swami Vivekananda held that the method of investigation used in the sciences should be the basis on which religion must justify itself. Some reformers appealed to faith and ancient authority, but on the whole a rational and secular outlook was evident in the alternatives they put forward. Akshay Kumar Dutt, for instance, brought medical opinion to support his views against child marriage. Reference to the past was only an aid and an instrument. Neither a revival of the past nor a total break with tradition was envisaged. The movements are described in Raja Rammohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Aligarh Movement.

What Was Religious Universalism?

Though the reformers tried to reform their own religions, their religious perspective had a universal aspect. Raja Rammohan Roy considered different religions as national embodiments of universal theism. He defended the basic and universal principles of all religions, such as the monotheism of the Vedas and the unitarianism of Christianity, while attacking the polytheism of Hinduism and the trinitarianism of Christianity. Syed Ahmed Khan said that all prophets had the same din (faith) and that every country and nation had different prophets.

The social reformers used this universalist perspective to contend with the strong influence of religious identity on the social and political outlook of the people.

What Was the Humanist Outlook?

A new humanitarian morality was embodied in the social reform movements. It included the idea that humanity can progress and has progressed, and that moral values are ultimately those that favour human progress. The humanist aspect of the religious reform movements showed in the emphasis on the individual’s right to interpret religious scriptures in the light of human reason and welfare, and in a general attack on priestly domination of religious practice.

Religious reformation was important but not the only concern. Attention was fixed on worldly existence, not on salvation or otherworldliness. Because religion was the dominant ideology of the time and was tied to social practices, no social action was possible without coming to grips with it.

What Did the Movements Cover?

The movements took into their ambit the entire cultural existence and way of life. Two concerns were the evolution of an alternative cultural-ideological system and the regeneration of traditional institutions. These showed in efforts to:

• Knowledge Reconstruct traditional knowledge
• Languages Use and develop vernacular languages
• Education Create an alternative system of education
• Religion Defend religion
• Arts Regenerate Indian art and literature
• Way of life Stress Indian dress and food
• Science Revitalise Indian systems of medicine and research pre-colonial technology for its potential

As an analytical point, the contrast stated at the start, middle-class ideals resting on a mostly non-middle-class base, explains an important feature of these movements: they were led by a small educated group but addressed a society that was largely rural and religious. That is why their ideas were often presented in religious language, even when the reasoning was rational. The reform of women’s condition and caste, treated in Reform Movements and the Position of Women and Struggle Against Caste-Based Exploitation, were the practical outcomes.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Concept questions Rationalism, universalism and humanism are the standard answer points
• Examples Rammohan Roy, Akshay Kumar Dutt, Syed Ahmed Khan and Vivekananda are often cited
• Base for 12.x They explain why individual movements took the form they did

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the two streams of reform, reformist and revivalist. Next topic: Prarthana Samaj, Aligarh Movement Revivalist…">Two Streams of Reform: Reformist and Revivalist.

Key People and Terms

• Intelligentsia The educated class that led the reform movements
• Rationalism The use of reason to judge beliefs and practices
• Religious universalism The belief in a common core among all religions
• Humanism A concern for human welfare and progress
• Vernacular The language of the people, as against English
• Intermediate tenure A land right between the State and the cultivator

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for the character of the reform movements. These points add depth.

• Narrow base, broad aim A small educated group wanted to change a whole society
• Reason over authority Religious tenets were tested by logic and utility
• Whole culture Language, education, art and medicine were all included