Chapter Overview

The socio-religious reform movements (सामाजिक-धार्मिक सुधार आंदोलन) of the 19th and early 20th centuries tried to rid Indian society of practices such as sati, child marriage, the ban on widow remarriage, caste discrimination and untouchability, and to restate religion in terms of reason or of its “pure” original sources. They began in Bengal with Rammohan Roy’s Brahmo Sabha (1828), spread to Bombay, Punjab, Madras and Kerala, and reached every major community: Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs. They also produced a chain of laws on women’s status and built the self-confidence on which Indian nationalism grew.

Chhattisgarh has its own chapter in this story: Guru Ghasidas’s Satnam Panth, the Ramnami Samaj, and Pt. Sundarlal Sharma’s campaign against untouchability.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Name the founder, place and year of every major reform body (Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Theosophical Society, Deoband, Aligarh, Singh Sabha and others)
Explain the Brahmo splits of 1866 and 1878 and the Arya Samaj split of 1893
Distinguish “reformist” and “revivalist” movements and use the distinction carefully in Mains
Compare the Aligarh and Deoband movements
List the laws on women’s status in order: 1829, 1856, 1872, 1891, 1929
Contrast reform “from above” with lower-caste assertion “from below” (Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar, Ambedkar)
Write about Guru Ghasidas, the Ramnami Samaj and Pt. Sundarlal Sharma as Chhattisgarh’s reformers

Prerequisites

British Expansion and Colonial Policies: Company rule, English education and the colonial state the reformers petitioned
Bhakti and Sufi Movements: the older Indian tradition of questioning ritual and caste

Learning Path

Follow the topics in this order:

graph TD
    A["1. Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana Samaj
Rammohan Roy, sati ban,
1866 and 1878 splits"] --> B["2. Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna
Mission, Theosophy
Vedas, Vedanta, revivalism"]
    B --> C["3. Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs
Deoband, Aligarh,
Rahnumai Sabha, Singh Sabha, Akalis"]
    C --> D["4. Women and Caste Reform
Laws 1829–1929, Phule, Ambedkar,
Guru Ghasidas, Sundarlal Sharma"]
    D --> E["5. Quick Revision
One-page sheet"]
    E --> F["Next chapter:
National Movement 1885–1919"]

Topics in This Chapter

#	Topic	What it covers
1	Rammohan Roy, the Brahmo Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj	Why reform began in Bengal; Rammohan Roy and the sati ban (1829); Debendranath Tagore; Keshab Chandra Sen and the 1866 and 1878 splits; Young Bengal; the Prarthana Samaj and Ranade
2	Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission and the Theosophical Society	Dayanand Saraswati, Satyarth Prakash, Shuddhi, DAV and Gurukul; Ramakrishna and Vivekananda; Blavatsky, Olcott and Annie Besant; reformist vs revivalist
3	Reform among Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs	Wahabi and Faraizi; Deoband vs Aligarh; Ahmadiyya; Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha; Nirankari, Namdhari, Singh Sabha and the Akali movement
4	Women’s Emancipation and Caste Reform	Laws from 1829 to 1929; Vidyasagar, the Phules, Pandita Ramabai, Karve; Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar, Ambedkar, Gandhi; Guru Ghasidas, Ramnami Samaj, Sundarlal Sharma
—	Quick Revision	Every founder, year, law and Chhattisgarh reformer on one page

Where It Is Asked

Paper	What to expect
Prelims P-I (Part 1, India GS)	Founder–organisation–year matching, “which is correctly matched” pairs, statement-based questions on the Brahmo splits, the Arya Samaj, Aligarh vs Deoband, and the women’s laws
Prelims P-I (Part 2, Chhattisgarh)	Guru Ghasidas (Girodpuri, Satnam Panth), the Ramnami Samaj, Pt. Sundarlal Sharma’s untouchability work
Mains P-III (GS-I), History section	Short notes (Rammohan Roy, Satyashodhak Samaj, Guru Ghasidas) and analytical answers (reformist vs revivalist; Aligarh vs Deoband; contribution of reform movements to women’s emancipation and to nationalism; Gandhi vs Ambedkar on caste)

Exam focus

High-yield: 1828 / 1866 / 1878 Brahmo dates; Arya Samaj 1875 (Bombay); Ramakrishna Mission 1897; Deoband 1866; MAO College 1877; Satyashodhak 1873; SNDP 1903; Sarda Act 1929 (14/18).
Common mistakes: founding place vs main centre (Arya Samaj: Bombay, not Lahore; Theosophy: New York, not Adyar); Syed Ahmad of Rae Bareli vs Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; Arya Samaj vs Arya Mahila Samaj.
Chhattisgarh angle for Mains: Guru Ghasidas (“मनखे-मनखे एक समान”), the Ramnami Samaj and Pt. Sundarlal Sharma show both lower-caste assertion and reform from above in the state.

Quick Reference: Reform Bodies at a Glance

Organisation	Founder(s)	Year, place	One-line identity
Brahmo Sabha / Samaj	Rammohan Roy	1828, Calcutta	Monotheism, no idols; anti-sati
Tattvabodhini Sabha	Debendranath Tagore	1839, Calcutta	Upanishadic theism; merged with the Brahmo Samaj
Sadharan Brahmo Samaj	Ananda Mohan Bose, Sivanath Sastri	1878, Calcutta	Broke away from Keshab
Prarthana Samaj	Atmaram Pandurang	1867, Bombay	Theism with bhakti roots; Ranade
Arya Samaj	Dayanand Saraswati	1875, Bombay	“Go back to the Vedas”; Shuddhi
Theosophical Society	Blavatsky, Olcott	1875, New York (Adyar 1882)	Universal brotherhood; Annie Besant
Ramakrishna Mission	Vivekananda	1897	Practical Vedanta; service
Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha	Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji and others	1851, Bombay	Parsi reform; Rast Goftar
Deoband	Nanautavi, Gangohi	1866	Traditional Islamic learning; anti-British
Aligarh (MAO College)	Sir Syed Ahmad Khan	1875/1877	Western education for Muslims
Ahmadiyya	Mirza Ghulam Ahmad	1889, Qadian	Liberal Muslim sect
Singh Sabha	—	1873, Amritsar	Sikh purification and education
Satyashodhak Samaj	Jyotiba Phule	1873, Pune	Anti-caste; Gulamgiri
SNDP Yogam	Narayana Guru	1903, Kerala	“One caste, one religion, one God”
Self-Respect Movement	Periyar	1925, Tamil Nadu	Rationalism; anti-Brahmanism
Satnam Panth	Guru Ghasidas	Chhattisgarh plains	“मनखे-मनखे एक समान”

Start Learning

Begin with the first topic:

→ Rammohan Roy, the Brahmo Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj