Socio Religious Reforms Organisation & Movements

Atmiya Sabha

• Atmiya Sabha (or Society of Friends), 1814 was set up by Raja Rammohan Roy in Calcutta to propagate the monotheistic ideals of the Vedanta and to campaign against idolatry, caste rigidities, meaningless rituals and other social ills.

• Strongly influenced by rationalist ideas, he declared that Vedanta is based on reason and that, if reason demanded it, even a departure from the scriptures is justified. He actively opposed Sati system and the practice of polygamy.

Young Bengal Movement

• A young Anglo-Indian, Henry Vivian Derozio (1809- 31), who taught at the Hindu  College from 1826 to 1831, was the leader and inspirer of this progressive trend.

• They pose an intellectual challenge to the religious and social orthodoxy of Hinduism.

• As a mark of emancipation from decayed traditions they exulted in taking beef and drinking wine, which they regarded as a yardstick to measure their freedom from all religious superstition and prejudice and a notable effort to break social fetters. The Derozians also supported women’s rights and education.

• In 1828 Derozio founded with his students the ‘Academic Association’, which organised debates on various subjects.

• Another organisation of the Young Bengal was the ‘Society for the Acquisition of General Knowledge’ founded in 1838.

• Tarachand Chakravarty was the president of the society and secretaries were Peary Chand Mitra and Ramtanu Lahiri.

• The Young Bengal published quite a few journals between 1828 and 1843—among these were the Parthenon, Hesperus, Jnanannesan, Enquirer, Hindu Pioneer, Quill and the Bengal Spectator.

• The greatest folly on the part of the Young Bengal, however, was that they found  perfection in everything western. The Derozians lacked any real link with the masses.

Brahmo Samaj

• In 1828, Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the ‘Brahma Samaj’.

• Through ‘Brahma Samaj, he wanted to expose the religious hypocrisies and check the growing influence of Christianity on the Hindu society.

• The Samaj was committed to “the worship and adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable, Immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe”. The Samaj was opposed to idolatry and meaningless rituals.

• The long-term agenda of the Brahmo Samaj—to purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism—was based on the twin pillars of reason and the Vedas and Upanishads.

• The Brahmo Samaj had the issue of widowremarriage high on its agenda and did much to popularise it. Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s efforts bore fruit when in 1929, the Sati system was abolished.

Dharma Sabha

• Radhakant Deb, along with his conservative Hindu friends, founded this sabha in 1830 in opposition to Lord Bentinck’s decree abolishing sati.

• It was an orthodox society which stood for the preservation of the status quo in socio-religious matters, opposing even the abolition of sati.

• Since the Sabha organized its defense of the indigenous culture against alien intrusion and used collective political means to articulate its position, it became modern India’s first proto-nationalist movement.

• However, it favoured the promotion of Western education, even for girls.

Tattvabodhini Sabha

• Tattvabodhini Sabha was founded by Debendranath Tagore in 1839.

• Tattvabodhini Sabha later amalgamated with the Brahmo Samaj in 1859.

• Tattvabodhini Patrika in Bengali was published by Tattvabodhini Sabha.

• Bombay Native General Library and the Native Improvement Society

• Balshastri Jambheka founded the Bombay Native General Library and started the Native Improvement Society of which an offshoot was the Students Literary and Scientific Library.

• Balshastri Jambhekar (1812-1846) was a pioneer of social reform through journalism in Bombay; he attacked brahmanical orthodoxy and tried to reform popular Hinduism.

• He started the newspaper Darpan in 1832. Known as the father of Marathi journalism, Jambhekar used the Darpan to awaken the people to awareness of social reform.

• In 1840, he started Digdarshan which published articles on scientific subjects as well as history.

Manav Dharma Sabha

• Sabha was a major socio- cultural reform established by Mehtaji Durgaram Manchharam on 22nd June, 1844.

• It proved to be a road-map for all other reforms in Surat and especially in the state of Gujarat.

• Other prominent members of the group were Dadoba Pandurang Tarkhad, Dinmani Shankar, Dalpatram Bhagubai and Damodar Das.

• Durgaram and his friends rejected “the existence of ghosts, their exorcism by means of incantations, the evils of early marriage and the bar against remarriage of high caste Hindu widows”.

• The main cause behind the foundation of the Sabha was the fire against the conversion of a Parsi student to Christianity.

The Bethune School

•  The Bethune School founded by J.E.D. Bethune at Calcutta (1849) was the first fruit of a powerful movement for education of women which arose in the 1840s and 1850s.

• It started as the Hindu Female School and blossomed into the Bethune School on 7 May 1849.

• Bethune was the president of the Council of Education. Mostly due to Bethune’s efforts, girls’ schools were set up on a sound footing and brought under government’s grants-in-aid and inspection system.

Parmahansa Mandali

• Paramahansa Mandali was founded by Dadoba Panderung in 1849 and was one of the most effective socio-cultural organizations that had its influence across the state of Maharashtra.

• The Parmahansa Mandali was founded in Poona, Satara and other towns of Maharashtra. Its followers had faith in one God and they opposed the caste system.

• During the phase of conceptualization, most of the leaders of Paramahansa Mandali and Manav Dharma Sabha were common and shared similar ideologies.

• The Mandali denied the polytheism of popular Hinduism, the caste system and the Brahmanical monopoly of knowledge.

• At its meetings, members took food cooked by low- caste people. They favoured  education of women and supported widow remarriage.

• For all their ideologies the Mandali worked on two basic principles. Firstly, that the members of the Mandali would not attack any religion.

• The second principle was that, they would reject any religion which claimed that it had `the infallible record of God’s revelation to man`.

Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha or Religious Reform Association

• The Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Religious Reform Association) was founded in 1851 by a group of English educated Parsis for the “regeneration of the social conditions of the Parsis and the restoration of the Zoroastrian religion to its pristine purity”.

• It was founded by Nauroji Furdoonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, S.S. Bengalee and others.

• They started a journal called Rast Goftar, for the purpose of social-religious reforms among the Parsis.

• They also played an important role in the spread of education, especially among girls.

• In the social sphere, attempts were made to uplift the status of Parsi women through removal of the purdah system, raising the age of marriage and education.

Widow Remarriage Association

• Widow Remarriage Association was founded by Vishnu Shastri Pandit in the 1850s.

• Karsondas Mulji who started the Satya Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage.

• D.K. Karve dedicated his life to the upliftment of Hindu widows and became the secretary of the Widow Remarriage Association. He opened a widows’ home in Poona to give the high caste widows an interest in life by providing them with facilities for vocational training.

Radhaswami Movement

•  Tulsi Ram, a banker from Agra, also known as Shiv Dayal Saheb, founded this movement in 1861.

• The Radhaswamis believe in one Supreme Being, supremacy of the guru, a company of pious people (satsang), and a simple social life.

• They consider all religions to be true. While the sect has no belief in temples, shrines and sacred places, it considers as necessary duties, works of faith and charity, service and prayer.

Mohammedan Literary Society

• Mohammedan Literary Society was founded in Calcutta in 1863 by Nawab Abdul Latif (1828-1893).

• The management committee of the society was formed with Prince Mahomed Ruheemoodin of Mysore as President, and Prince Mirza Jahan Kader Bahadur of Oudh and Prince Mahomed Nusseroodin Hyder of Mysore as Vice-Presidents. The Lieutenant Governor of Bengal was made the Patron of the Society.

• The first meeting of the Mohammedan Literary Society was held at 16 Taltala under the chairmanship of Maulvi Md Wazir.

• It promoted discussion of religious, social and political questions in the light of modern ideas and encouraged upper and middle class Muslims to adopt Western education. It also played an important role for Muslim Unity.

• Spreading higher education among the Muslims and proper utilization of the Mohsin Endowment Fund for Muslim education were noteworthy achievements of the Society.

• Through his tireless efforts, Nawab Abdul Lutif made the Mohammedan Literary Society a powerful forum for the social,  cultural and intellectual progress of Muslims.

• It survived as the most important nerve centre of the Muslims of Bengal down to 1930 under the name of the Muslim Institute of Calcutta.

Veda Samaj

•  Veda Samaj founded in Madras in 1864 advocated discarding of caste distinctions and promotion of widow remarriage and women’s education.

• It condemned the superstitions and rituals of orthodox Hinduism and propagated belief in one supreme God.

• An important ideology of the members of Veda Samaj was considering marriage and the funeral rituals as matters of routine, destitute of all religious significance.

• Chembeti Sridharalu Naidu was the most popular leader of the Veda Samaj. He translated books of the Veda Samaj in Tamil and Telugu.

• The Deoband School (Darul Uloom)

• The Deoband Movement was organised by the orthodox section among the Muslim ulema as a revivalist movement.

• It has the twin objectives of propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

• The Deoband Movement began at the Darul Uloom (or Islamic academic centre), Deoband, in Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1828-1905) to train religious leaders for the Muslim community.

• In contrast to the Aligarh Movement, which aimed at the welfare of Muslims through Western education and support of the British government, the aim of the Deoband Movement was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community.

• Deoband School welcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress and in 1888 issued a fatwa (religious decree) against Syed Ahmed Khan’s organisations, the United Patriotic Association and the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Association.

• Shibli Numani, a supporter of the Deoband School, favoured the inclusion of English language and European sciences in the system of education. He believed in the idealism of the Congress and cooperation between the Muslims and the Hindus of India to create a state in which both could live amicably.

Brahmo Samaj of India and Adi Brahmo Samaj

• Keshab Chandra Sen and his followers founded the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866, while Debendranath Tagore’s Samaj came to be known as the Adi Brahmo Samaj.

• The split was caused because Debendranath did not like some of Sen’s ideas which he found too radical, such as cosmopolitanisation of the Samaj’s meetings by inclusion of teachings from all religions and his strong  views against the caste system, even open support to inter-caste marriages. 

Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the Prarthana Samaj

•  Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade established the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the Prarthana Samaj in 1867 in Bombay to bring about religious reforms.

• It sought to remove caste restrictions, abolish child marriage, the shaving of widows’ heads, the heavy cost of marriages and other social functions; encourage education of women and promote widow remarriage.

• Like Bramho Samaj, it advocated the worship of one God. It condemned idolatry and the domination of the priestly castes in religious matters.

• He introduced vernacular languages in the University curriculum which made higher education accessible to Indians.

Singh Sabhas Movement

•  The formation of the two Singh Sabhas at Amritsar and Lahore in the 1870’s was the beginning of the religious reform movement among the Sikhs.

• The setting up of Khalsa College in Amritsar in 1892 helped promote Gurmukhi, Sikh learning and Punjabi literature. The college was set up with help from the British.

• After 1920 the Sikh energy gained momentum when the Akali Movement rose in Punjab.

• The chief object of the Akalis was to improve the management of the Gurudwaras or Sikh Shrines that were under the control of priests or Mahants who treated them as their private property.

• In 1925, a law was passed which gave the right of managing Gurudwaras to the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.

• With the aid of this act and by direct action, they freed the sacred places from the control and domination of corrupt Mahants.

Satya Shodhak Samaj

•  Jyotiba Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers’ Society) in 1873, with the leadership of the samaj coming from the backward classes, malis, telis, kunbis, saris and dhangars.

• The main objective of Satyashodhak Samaj was liberating the lower castes and protecting them from exploitation and atrocities.

• The main aims of the movement were (i) social service, and (ii) spread of education among women and lower caste people.

• Phule’s works, Sarvajanik Satyadharma and Gulamgiri, became sources of inspiration for the common masses.

Arya Samaj

•  The Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875 undertook the task of reforming Hindu religion in North India.

• The first Arya Samaj unit was formally set up by him at Bombay in 1875 and later the  headquarters of the Samaj were established at Lahore.

• He considered Vedas to be infallible and the foundation of all knowledge. He believed that every person had the right to have direct access to God.

• It started the Shuddhi Movement to bring back those Hindus who had converted to Islam and Christianity. Satyarth Prakash was his most important book.

• Arya Samaj advocated social reform and worked to improve the condition of women. It fought untouchability and the rigidities of the hereditary caste system and promoted social equality.

• The role of Arya Samaj was commendable in promoting education among the masses.

• Some of Swami Dayanand’s followers later started a network of schools and colleges called D.A.V. (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) in the country to impart education on western lines without compromising on the Vedic teachings. They encouraged teaching of English and modern science along with Sanskrit and Vedic education.

College Party (some sources say ‘Culture’ Party) and Mahatma Party

•  A difference of opinion between two groups in the Arya Samaj arose over the curriculum of the D.A.V. College.

• One group was known as the College Party (some sources say ‘Culture’ Party), among whose leaders were Lala Hansraj, Lala Lal Chand and Lala Lajpat Rai, and the other was the Mahatma (later Gurukul) Party led by Guru Datta Vidyarthi and Lala Munshi Ram (who later came to be known as Swami Shraddhanand).

• While the College Party favoured the government curriculum and English education to meet economic and professional needs, the Mahatma Party was interested in introducing the study of Sanskrit and Vedic philosophy in the tradition of ancient gurukuls.

• The College Party had nothing against non- vegetarianism, claiming that diet was a personal choice and it was not mentioned in the principles of the samaj; the Mahatma Party was in favour of all the Aryas being strict vegetarians.

• The College Party retained control over the D.A.V. School and College, while the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Punjab and a majority of the local Arya Samaj branches were taken over by the Mahatma Party.

Theosophical Society

•  Theosophical Society was founded in the USA in 1875 by a Russian spiritualist  Madame H.P. Blavatsky and an American Col. H.S. Olcott.

• Its objective was to promote studies in ancient religions, philosophies and science, develop the divine powers latent in man and form a universal brotherhood of man.

• The Society was introduced to India in 1879 and its headquarters were set up at Adyar near Madras in 1886.

• Annie Besant was a member of the Theosophical Society and came to India for the first time in 1893. She became the President of the Theosophical Society in 1907.

• This movement was led by Westerners who glorified Indian religious and philosophical traditions and encouraged vernacular languages and literary works to instill a sense of pride in Indian heritage and culture.

Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College

•  Sir Syed Ahmed Khan started the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 at Aligarh.

• It was meant to be a centre for spreading Western sciences and culture. Later, this college grew into the Aligarh Muslim University.

• The liberal, social and cultural movement started by Sayyid Ahmad Khan among the Muslims is known as the Aligarh Movement as it originated in Aligarh.

• The Anglo-Oriental College was the centre of this movement. It aimed at promoting modern education among Muslims without weakening the ties with Islam. It became the central educational institution for Indian Muslims.

• The Aligarh Movement was largely responsible for the Muslim revival that followed. He wanted women to be educated and advocated the removal of the purdah. He was also against polygamy

Sadharan Brahmo Samaj

•  In 1878, Keshab’s inexplicable act of getting his thirteen-year-old daughter married to the minor Hindu Maharaja of Cooch-Behar with all the orthodox Hindu rituals caused another split in Keshab’s Brahmo Samaj of India.

• After 1878, the disgusted followers of Keshab set up a new organisation, the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was started by Ananda Mohan Bose, Shibchandra Deb and Umesh Chandra Datta.

• It reiterated the Brahmo doctrines of faith in a Supreme Being, one God, the belief that no scripture or man is infallible, belief in the dictates of reason, truth and morality.

Arya Mahila Samaj

•  In Maharashtra, Pandita Ramabai Saraswati, a renowned social reformer, fought for the rights of women and spoke against the practice of child marriage.

• She promoted girls education and started the Arya Mahila Samaj in1881, in Pune, to  improve the condition of women, especially child widows.

• She pleaded for improvement in the educational syllabus of Indian women before the English Education Commission which was referred to Queen Victoria.

• This resulted in medical education for women which started in Lady Dufferin College. Later Ramabai Ranade established a branch of Arya Mahila Samaj in Bombay.

Deccan Education Society

• Mahavdev Govind Ranade founded the Deccan Education Society in 1884 along with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and V.G. Chibdonkar.

• Dev Samaj

• Dev Samaj was founded in 1887 at Lahore by Shiv Narayan Agnihotri (1850- 1927), earlier a Brahmo follower.

• The society emphasised on the eternity of the soul, the supremacy of the guru, and the need for good action.

• It called for an ideal social behaviour such as not accepting bribes, avoiding intoxicants and non- vegetarian food, etc. Its teachings were compiled in a book, Deva Shastra.

• Agnihotri spoke against child marriage.

Indian Social Conference

•  Founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao, the Indian Social Conference met annually from its first session in Madras in 1887 at the same time and venue as the Indian National Congress.

• It could be called the social reform cell of the Indian National Congress, in fact. The conference advocated inter-caste marriages, opposed polygamy and kulinism.

• It launched the ‘Pledge Movement’ to inspire people to take a pledge against child marriage.

Sharda Sadan

•  Sharda Sadan was started by Pandita Ramabai Saraswati in 1889.

• Sharda Sadan provided housing, education, vocational training and medical services to widows, orphans and the visually challenged.

• She designed this institution to provide security and education for Hindu women who were widowed young.

Mukti Mission

•  In 1889, Pandita Ramabai established the Mukti Mission, in Pune, a refuge for young  widows who had been deserted and abused by their families.

• Pandita Ramabai, a woman described by renowned Indian social reformer D.K. Karve as “one of the greatest daughters of India”.

• In 1903, a group of concerned Australians joined together to support the work of Ramabai Mukti Mission to offer shelter, access to food and water, health care and education to children and women made destitute by famine in India.

Madras Hindu Association

•  Madras Hindu Association was founded in 1892 by Viresialingam Pantulu in Madras.

• It launched missions against the devadasi system and oppression of widows.

The Ramakrishna Mission

•  Swami Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna mission in 1897 after the name of his guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa (after his death).

• The headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission are at Belur near Calcutta. The two are twin organisations, though legally and financially separate.

• Vivekananda was the first spiritual leader who thought beyond religious reforms.

• He laid stress on the removal of religious superstitions, obscurantism, and outdated social customs.

• He tried to remove caste rigidities, and untouchability. He motivated the people to respect women while he himself worked for women’s upliftment and education

• This Mission to date has played an important role in providing social service in times of national distress like famine, floods, and epidemic. Many schools, hospitals, orphanages are run by it.

Ahmadiyya Movement

•  Mirza Ghulam Ahmed had founded the Ahmadiyya Movement in 1899.

• Under this movement, a number of schools and colleges were opened all over the country. They emphasised the universal and humanitarian character of Islam. They favoured the unity among Hindus and Muslims.

• One of the greatest poets of modern India, Muhammad Iqbal, (1876-1938) also profoundly influenced through his poetry, the philosophical and religious outlook of the younger generation of Muslims as well as of Hindus.

Bharat Dharma Mahamandala

•  An all-India organisation of the orthodox educated Hindus, it stood for a defence of orthodox Hinduism against the teachings of the Arya Samajists, the Theosophists, and the Ramakrishna Mission.

• Other organisations created to defend orthodox Hinduism were the Sanatana Dharma Sabha (1895), the Dharma Maha Parishad in South India, and Dharma Mahamandali in Bengal.

• These organisations combined in 1902 to form the single organisation of Bharat Dharma Mahamandala, with headquarters at Varanasi.

• Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was a prominent figure in this movement.

Shree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP)

•  Shree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) was started by Sree Narayana Guru Swamy (1856- 1928) among the Ezhavas of Kerala, who were a backward caste of toddy-tappers and were considered to be untouchables, denied education and entry into temples.

• The SNDP movement was an example of a regional movement born out of conflict between the depressed classes and upper castes.

• Narayana Guru, himself from the Ezhava caste, took a stone from the Neyyar river and installed it as a Sivalinga at Aruvippuram on 

• Sivaratri in 1888. It was intended to show that consecration of an idol was not the monopoly of the higher castes.

• The movement (Aruvippuram movement) drew the famous poet Kumaran Asan as a disciple of Narayana Guru. In 1889, the Aruvippuram Kshetra Yogam was formed.

• Aruvippuram Sree Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana Yogam (in short SNDP) was registered in 1903 under the Indian Companies Act, with Narayana Guru as its permanent chairman, and Kumaran Asan as the general secretary.

• Sree Narayana Guru held all religions to be the same and condemned animal sacrifice besides speaking against divisiveness on the basis of caste, race or creed.

• The SNDP Yogam took up several issues for the Ezhavas, such as (i) right of admission to public schools, (ii) recruitment to government services, (iii) access to roads and entry to temples, and (iv) political representation.

Servants of India Society

•  Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), a liberal leader of the Indian National Congress, founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 with the help of M.G. Ranade.

• The aim of the society was to train national missionaries for the service of India; to promote, by all constitutional means, the true interests of the Indian people; and to prepare a cadre of selfless workers.

• In 1911, the Hitavada began to be published to project the views of the society. The society chose to remain aloof from political activities and organisations like the Indian National Congress.

Vokkaliga Sangha

•  The Vokkaliga Sangha in Mysore launched an anti- brahmin movement in 1905

Seva Sadan

•  Seva Sadan Society was founded in 1908 by Parsi social reformer Shri Behramji Malbari and Diwan Dayaram Gidumal.

• Malabari spoke vigorously against child marriage and for widow remarriage among Hindus.

• It was his efforts that led to the Age of Consent Act regulating the age of consent for females, Seva Sadan specialised in taking care of those women who were exploited and then discarded by society.

• It catered to all castes and provided the destitute women with education, and medical and welfare services.

Bharat Stree Mahamandal

•  In 1910, Sarla Devi Chaudhurani convened the first meeting of the Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad.

• Considered as the first major Indian women’s organisation set up by a woman, its objectives included promotion of education for women, abolition of the purdah system and improvement in the socio-economic and political status of women all over India.

Nishkam Karma Math

•  Nishkam Karma Math was founded by Dhondo Keshav Karve in Pune in 1910.

• It worked for Educational progress of women and improving widows’ condition.

• He also founded a women’s university in Pune.

Social Service League

•  Narayan Malhar Joshi founded the Social Service League in Bombay in 1911 with an aim to secure for the masses better and reasonable conditions of life and work.

• Their activities also included police court agents’ work, legal aid and advice to the poor and illiterate, excursions for slum dwellers, facilities for gymnasia and theatrical performances, sanitary work, medical relief and boys’ clubs and scout corps.

• Joshi also founded the All India Trade Union Congress (1920).

Seva Samiti

•  Seva Samiti was founded in 1914 by Hridyanath Kunzru in Allahabad. Hridyanath Kunzru was a prominent member of the Servants of India Society.

• It worked to improve the status of the suffering classes through social service, education.

• The Seva Samiti had as its objective to organise social service during natural disasters like floods and epidemics, to promote the spread of education, cooperation, sanitation, to uplift depressed classes, reform criminals and rescue the fallen.

Madras Presidency Association

•  In 1917, Madras Presidency Association was formed which demanded separate representation for the lower castes in the legislature.

• Madras Presidency Association was a faction within the Indian National Congress.

• While the Justice Party championed the cause of non- Brahmins in the Madras presidency, non-Brahmins within the Congress party founded the Madras Presidency Association.

• The Justice movement in the Madras Presidency was started by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja to secure jobs and representation for the non-brahmins in the legislature.

All India Harijan Sangh

•  In 1932, Mahatma Gandhi founded the All India Harijan Sangh.

• Gandhi founded it to remove untouchability in the society.

• It was later renamed as Harijan Sevak Sangh (“Servants of Harijan Society”).

• Ghanshyam Das Birla was its founding president with Amritlal Takkar as its secretary.

Self-Respect Movement

•  During 1925, in South India, the non-brahmins organized the Self-Respect Movement.

• It was led by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (also known as Periyar).

• It was an egalitarian movement that propagated the ideologies of breaking down of the Brahminical hegemony, equal rights for the backward classes and women in the society. It also aimed for the revitalization of the Dravidian languages.

Faraizi Movement

• The movement, also called the Faraizi Movement because of its emphasis on the Islamic pillars of faith, was founded by Haji Shariat-Allah.

• It was focused in East Bengal, and it aimed at the eradication of social innovations currently among the Muslims of the region. 

• Under Dudu Mian, the movement became revolutionary from 1840 onwards.

• The Faraizi organized paramilitary forces armed with clubs to fight the Hindu landlords and even the police.

• The movement survived merely as a religious movement without political overtones after the death of Dudu Mian in 1862.

Ahmadiyya Movement

• This movement was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed in 1889.

• It was based on liberal principles.

• It described itself as Mohammedan Renaissance, and based itself, like the Brahmo Samaj, on the principles of universal religion of all humanity, opposing jihad.

• It spread western liberal education among the Indian Muslims.

• The Ahmadiyya Movement suffered from mysticism.

 Parsi Reform Movements

• The Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Religious Reform Association) was founded in 1851.

• It aimed towards regeneration of the social conditions of the Parsis and the restoration of the Zoroastrian religion to its pristine purity.

• Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, K.R. Carna and S.S.Bengalee were its leaders.