Modern History (Social & Religious Reforms) by Shivlal Gupta

Model Answer

Question #1. How 19th social reform movements helped in emancipation of women? Assess the role of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in this regard.

Approach

• Introduce by briefly describing the advent of social reform movements for emancipation of women  (40 words)
• Discuss the different reformative initiatives take for emancipation of women (100 words)
• State the contributions of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in improving the condition of women (70 words)
• Conclusion (40 words)

Hint:

The urgent need for social and religious reform began to manifest itself from the early decades of the 19th century and it emerged in response to the contact with Western culture and education. The degraded condition of women in society was evident to educated Indians who started to work systematically for their removal.

The women suffered from some of the very degrading practices at the hands of a patriarchal and orthodox society such as female infanticide, child marriage, sati pratha, ban on widow remarriage, restrictions on girl education and polygamy.

The social reformers attacked a number of traditional, authoritarian, and hierarchical social institutions and launched social reform initiatives to liberate the Indian women from their shackles in the following way:

• Rammohan Roy fought relentlessly against social evils like sati, polygamy, child marriage and female infanticide. He organised a movement against the inhuman custom of sati and helped William Bentinck to pass a law banning the practice (1829). It was the first successful social movement against an age old social evil.
• Prarthana Samaj in Maharashtra campaigned against child marriage and the purdah system, preached widow remarriage and emphasised female education. In order to reform Hinduism, Justice Ranade started the Widow Remarriage Association and the Deccan Education Society.
• In 1839, Debendranath Tagore founded the Tatvabodhini Sabha advocate for widow remarriage, the abolition of polygamy and women’s education in Bengal region.
• Asserting that the Vedas made no mention of untouchability, child marriage and the subjugation of women, Swami Dayanand attacked these practices vehemently through the Arya Samaj. 
• Pandita Rama Bai wrote about the unequal treatment meted out to the women of India. She founded the Arya Mahila Sabha in Pune and opened the Sarda Sadan for helping destitute widows.
• Behramji M. Malabari, founded the Sevasadan in 1885. The organization specialized in taking care of those women who were exploited and then discarded by society.
• The initial efforts in the direction of female education were made by the Christian missionaries. Prof. Karve founded several educational institutions in Maharashtra, the most notable being India’s first Women’s University in Bombay in the early 20th century. The spread of female education led to several other social reforms of great consequences, such as, the abolition of purdah, which further led to the participation of women in the freedom struggle.

A mention ought to be made in this regard of the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who devoted his life for emancipating the women from the shackles of patriarchy.

• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a great social reformer who sought to improve the condition of widows by legalizing widow remarriages.  The first Hindu Widow Remarriage Act was introduced in 1856 owing to of Vidyasagar’s relentless efforts. 
• Vidyasagar also protested against child-marriage and campaigned against polygamy.
• Importantly, he was a champion of women’s education. His efforts in this direction were praise worthy. As government inspector of schools, he helped organize thrity-five girls’ schools many of which he ran at his own expense. As secretary of Bethune School (established in 1849), I.C. Vidyasagar was one of the pioneers of higher education for the women in India

Conclusion:

Recently, 200th birth anniversary of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was commemorated by promoting his values of gender equality and empowerment and his courageous acts of freeing women from orthodox and oppressing social customs to raise their status in the society as equals.

Question #2. Highlight the role played by the Bhakti movement in enriching Indian culture. Why is this movement considered important for the development of Music? 

Approach

• The question focuses on 2 pillars: 1) The role played by the Bhakti movement in enriching Indian culture,2)The Bhakti movement is considered important for the development of Music.
• Introduction (Summary of key demand of the question, along with necessary facts).
• Conclusion by summing up the gist of the answer.

Hints:

Any change or enrichment in the religious values will therefore change or supplement the texture of Indian culture. Bhakti Movement has had a profound influence on the Indian culture. It not only enriched various aspects of culture, but also initiated new modes of cultural expressions.

The role played by the Bhakti movement in enriching Indian culture:

• Meerabai composed more than 1200 songs conveying her surrender to Krishna and her longing to unite with Him in simple rhythm and repeating refrain that encouraged millions to repeat the songs and relive the moods of intense longing. In many parts of North India, especially Rajasthan, her Bhajans have become part of religious gathering and folk culture.
• Surdas is said to have composed more than a hundred thousand songs (though only about 8000 is available now), collectively called Sur-Sagar, apart from writing Sur-Saravali and Sahitya Lahiri.
• In Vrindavan near Delhi, Swami Haridas promoted music and is considered to have taught Tansen who was at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Tansen is regarded as an important exponent of the Hindustani classical music and is credited with introducing ragas as the Miyanka Malhar, Miyanki Todi and Darbari.
• Eknath initiated in Maharashtra a movement called Vasudeva Sanstha, which involved visiting house to house and spreading religious messages through Bhajans. He introduced a new form of religious song called Bharood, apart from composing a few hundred Abhangas. Namdev and Tukaram composed several thousand Abhangas that were very popular and which helped in uniting people spiritually during the difficult days of foreign aggressions.
• The Vallabha tradition directly contributed to the theory and practice of music. The religious and musical procedures of the followers of this tradition were systematized by Vallabha’s son Goswami Vitthalnathji (1516-1698). The ‘Ashtachap’ stream of music was thus established. It was named after the eight musical Acharyas or preceptors who composed the music of the tradition. The tradition created a rich tapestry of temple-based music called ‘Haveli Sangeet’.
• Purandaradasa composed more than thousand songs, mostly in Kannada and some in Sanskrit. He is considered to be the father of Carnatic music. His classification of swaravali, jantivarase, alamkara, and lakshana factors are the standards even today throughout South India. He was the first composer to include daily events in his compositions. He set his lyrics to folk tunes so that even a common man can learn and sing them. He had great influence on Hindustani music also.
• Thyagaraja revolutionized and gave direction to Carnatic music. He was so creative that he could turn simple tunes into ragas like Kharaharapriya, Harikambhoji and Devagandhari. His musical genius is reflected in every song of his, but his immortal Pancha Rathna Kritis, with each song set in different raga and tala reveal the mastery he had over musical techniques.
• Chaitanya popularized the Sankirtan (group devotional singing accompanied with ecstatic dancing) in the homes, in the temples, and even on the streets.

The Bhakti movement is considered important for the development of Music:

• 7th century onwards /Bhakti movement in the country brought in its wake hundreds of saint singers and religious teachers. Shaivite and vaishnavite saints wrote Tevarams and Divya Prabhandas in Tamil region. 
• Devotional singers like Purandara Dasa. Bhadrachala Ramadasa, Annamacharya, Mira Bai, Surdas, Kabir Das,Tulasidas, Gurunanak and other saint singers composed thousands of simple devotional songs. 
• Along with messages of Bhakti, virtuous living and Universal love, these songs were set to simple rhythms and appealing tunes. 
• Regional languages were extensively used for these songs, in order to reach the masses. In south, these songs had the features of the ancient prabandhas in a simple format of Pallavi, Anupallavi / Charana that became the nucleus for the future bejewelled kriti.
• Indian classical music continued to prosper and grow along the ancient traditional way encouraged by temples and traditional Hindu Kings.

Conclusion:

The most profound influence and contribution of the Bhakti Movement to the Indian Culture is in composing of songs and poetry and in revitalizing music and group singing. The intertwining of Bhajan and Bhakti, song and devotion, is largely due to the fact that the path of Bhakti from its very beginning was preached through songs.