Raja Ram Mohan Roy

religious reforms, modern education & freedom

of press
❖ He is generally hailed as "the father of Modern India".
❖ Though Roy was modernist in his approach, he always tried to link modernity
with tradition.
❖ He attempted the creative combination of secularism and spirituality, of
Western and Eastern philosophy.

Religious reforms
O Need for Rationality and modernity in religion.
O “Irrational religion" was at the root of many social evils
O True Hinduism, true Islam and true Christianity are not fundamentally different
from each other.
O Spiritual synthesis, stressing the unity of all religious experience.
O He pleaded for an Advaita Political Reform in philosophy which rejected caste,
idolatory and superstitous rites and rituals.

Reinterpreting Hinduism
O Need to abandon polytheism, idolatory and superstitions. [No sanction
in original texts]
O The multitude of religious rites and ceremonies and the unnatural
distinctions of caste and laws of purification, Roy argued, had deprived
the Hindus of any kind of common political feeling.

Brahmo samaj
O Need to abandon polytheism, idolatory and superstitions. [No sanction
in original texts]
O The multitude of religious rites and ceremonies and the unnatural
distinctions of caste and laws of purification, Roy argued, had deprived
the Hindus of any kind of common political feeling.
 Advocate of modern education
❑ He believed that modern education was an important vehicle to carry
social reforms and enlighten people about their rights.
❑ He was a great believer in the potency of western education, science and
mathematics.
❑ He supported induction of western learning into Indian education.
❑ He was a scholar and a great educationist who had detailed knowledge of
Sanskrit, Persian, English, Arabic, Latin and Greek.
❑ He supported English as a medium of teaching in India.

Contribution in modernizing education

❑ He opened schools and colleges at several places, Vedanta College, the
English School and City College of Calcutta were the results of his efforts.
In 1817, in collaboration with David Hare, he set up the Hindu College at
Calcutta.
❑ Raja Ram Mohan Roy made the newspapers Sainvad Kaumudi' and
'Miratul Akhbari' and his books, a medium to propagate his ideals. He
also made a tremendous contribution in the development of Bengali,
Urdu, Persian, Ariabic, Sanskrit and English language and literature
and wrote books in all these languages.

Freedom of press
❑ Father of Indian journalism
❑ Freedom of Expression, for Roy, was the most important right of man. It
is equally useful to the rulers and the ruled. By exposing the abuses of
power in time, the free press helps the rulers to correct their mistakes and
makes possible the redressal of people's grievances.

Vivekananda
revitalization of Indian life
 Resurgence of india
O Cultural and Spiritual Revolution
O Service, Sacrifice and Freedom
O Return to one's true religious self
O Religious Tolerance for strengthening democracy
O Emancipation of the poor by restoring dignity and respect ['Daridra
Narayan' or the 'poor as God‘]

The four methods to realize the divinity within

O Karma Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through unselfish
actions.
O Bhakti Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through love of God
O Raja Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through self control
O Jnana Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through knowledge
obtained by reasoning and analysis.

Pt ramabai
O One of the greatest women of modern India.
O Exceptionally learned, Ramabai, an outspoken champion of women's
rights and social reform
O Ramabai's break with Brahminism was inevitable, considering the life
and the legacy she inherited from her father, a non-conformist.
O Married a Shudra and fought forced and oppressive widowhood
O She impressed the religious elite with her mastery over Sanskrit language
and texts and received the title of 'Pandita' (Scholar) and 'Saraswati'
(Goddess of Learning).

Reforming hindusim to empower women

O Ramabai took up her social reform agenda by travelling widely in Bengal
O Arya Mahila Samaj in 1882 in Poona to mobilise women
O She brought out a book in Marathi, Stree Dharma Niti [Morals for
Women] with the objective of counselling the helpless and ignorant
women.
O Ramabai set up a home for high-caste Hindu widows and made an appeal
to the Hunter Commission to provide training facilities to women to
become teachers and doctors enabling them to serve other women.

Contesting Patriarchy: Hinduism and

Christianity
O She got converted to Christianity by the Anglican Church.
O Ramabai's encounter with the patriarchy of the Anglican Church across
the globe was no less harsh. When she was offered a professorship which
would involve her teaching to male students, the Bishop of Bombay
protested
O Her life was a narrative of complex contestations-
❑ that of a woman against male hegemony both in Hindu society as well as
Anglican Church,
❑ that of an Indian convert against the British Anglican bishops and
nuns,
❑ that of an Indian Christian missionary against the oppression of Hindu
women.
B. R. Ambedkar
caste, liberal democracy and constitutional
morality
Annihilation of Caste
O According to Ambedkar, along with each Varna there are castes, sub-
castes that are pernicious.
O Varna System offends both the canons of social adjustment – fluidity
and equity
O It was impracticable to reduce the thousands of castes into four varnas in
accordance with birth rather than worth.
O Unless this social ideal is destroyed root and branch, there cannot be liberty
and equality, love and social brotherhood, unity and humanity, in the social
relations of the Hindus

Ways to eliminate Caste System

O Dignity behind caste & shastras which sanctioned it should be
destroyed.
O Priesthood must cease to be hereditary . A Priest should be the servant
of the state and should be paid by the state and subjected to disciplinary
action. The number of priests should be limited by the law.
O Inter-caste marriages and inter caste dining should be encouraged.
O Education should be made universal by abolishing monopoly of
Brahmans on it.
O Recruitment of army should be open, fair and equal and not just limited to
Kshatriyas.

Liberal Democracy
O A state based on law and democratic mandate is crucial
O Democracy is superior because it enhances liberty. People have control
over the rulers.
 O Ambedkar supported the idea of all-round democracy- social and
economic democracy based on liberty and equality.
O He envisaged a democracy informed by law and a law characterized by
sensitivity to democracy.
O Law upheld reason and morality but without the authoritative injunctions
of law, reason and morality had no teeth.

Constitutional Morality
a paramount reverence for the forms of the constitution, enforcing obedience to
authority and acting under and within these forms, yet combined with the habit
of open speech, of action subject only to definite legal control, and unrestrained
censure of those very authorities as to all their public acts combined, too with a
perfect confidence in the bosom of every citizen amidst the bitterness of party
contest that the forms of constitution will not be less sacred in the eyes of his
opponents than his own.
George Grote

Ambedkar and Constitutional Morality

O A country may have a constitution. But it is only a set of rules. These rules
become meaningful only when people in the country develop
conventions and traditions consistent with the constitution.
O People and politicians must follow certain norms in public life. There must
also exist a sense of morality and conscientiousness in the society.
O Law and legal remedies can never replace a voluntary sense of
responsibility. No amount of law can enforce morality.
O Norms of honest and responsible behavior must develop in the society.
O Democracy can be successful only when every citizen feels duty bound to
fight injustice even if that injustice does not put him into any difficulty
personally. This will happen when equality and brotherhood exist in the
society.

Rabindranath tagore
Nationalism and cosmopolitanism idea of man
Gurudeva Tagore (1861-1941)
 First non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913
 Highly influential in introducing the authenticity of Indian culture to
Western Culture and vice versa.
 Involved in the re-shaping of literature, music and Indian art through
contextual modernism
 Humanist, universalist internationalist and strident nationalist

Critique of Nationalism
 Analysis of Nationalism- positive, ""the spirit of the West" and the other
negative, "the nation of the West"
 Tagore criticised not only the “organizing selfishness of Nationalism” in
the West, but also the replication of this alien concept of nationalism in
India by the nationalists.
 India’s reverence for ‘God’ and the ideal of ‘humanity’ need not be
replaced by the European concept of a limited ‘national identity’.

Nation: Least Human and Least Spiritual

 He considered the nation to be nothing else than an "organization of
politics and commerce" .
 It built a "civilization of power“ which made it exclusive, vain and
proud.
 Its emphasis on success made it a machine that stifled harmony in social
life and eclipsing the end of good life, namely the moral and spiritual
growth of individual.

Syncretic Civilization
Tagore developed the concept of ‘syncretic’ civilization as a basis of
nationalist civilizational unity, where ‘samaja’ (society) was given
centrality, unlike the European model of state-centric civilization.
 He had ultimate affinity with non-sectarian humanist/modernist position.
Cosmopolitanism
 Tagore was a pragmatic idealist
 ...a visionary who believed that in sentiment a multinational civilization is
the way through which individuals and nations might surrender their power.
 Universalism as an effective substitute for race, language, commercial
interests, religious unity and geographical location.

Idea of Man
 In harmony with the great universe
 Free mind and Spirit that questions conformity
 Generous and Humane
 Use of reason and science
 Not bound by nationalistic sentiments
 Modern and Cosmopolitan outlook
 Able to unleash creative spirit and energy

Sarvarkar
Hinduism and hindutva
Hindu Nationalism and Hindutva
O The ideology of 'Hindutva' was essentially the ideology of Hindu
nationalism.
O The first prominent exponent of Hindu nationalist ideology was V. D.
Savarkar. He wrote a book called 'Hindutva' in 1924.
O Hinduism stands for Hindu religion, but Hindutva is a political ideology
that wants to establish Hindu nation in India. Hinduism does not have
any political agenda, but Hindutva has a specific political agenda.

Foundational Thoughts
O Survival of the fittest
O Violence is inherent and in life both violence and non-violence are
intertwined
 O There is no absolute morality in the world.
O Use of all weapons, strength, and power for fight against imperialism
O Reason, science and technology were important to bring about the change
in the society. [Caste system and blind faith in vedas has destroyed unity of
Hindus]

Hindutva as Cultural Nationalism

O Despite having outward differences, the Hindus were internally bound
together by cultural, religious, social, linguistic and historical affinities.
O These affinities were developed through the process of assimilation and
association of countless centuries.
O It molded the Hindus into a homogeneous and organic nation and above
all induced a will to a common national life.
O Savarkar held that nation was a cultural category but state was a political
category. Non-Hindus cannot be part of Hindu nation but they can be
members of the state with equal rights and privileges.

Muhamad Iqbal
Community religion and nation
True Islam as a Cure for the World
O Iqbal's vision of society, state and politics was based on his view of Islam.
O According to lqbal the ideal society on earth will be established by the
muslims- the chosen people of God, the deputies of God in the East.
O A true muslim is an "embodiment of goodness, justice and benevolence
to the world“
O revival of true lslam was a must for the cure of the world.

Conflict b/w East and West

O The conflict between east and west or between love and reason form the
cardinal principle of Iqbal's political thought.
O West symbolized values of materialism and it was in contravention of the
high values of spiritualism and religiosity characterizing the East.
 O Nationalism leads to ‘de-Islamisation‘- religion could be a more uniting
factor of people than nationalism. He believed that the Westerners
wanted to use nationalism "to shatter the religious unity of lslam to
pieces".

Muslim Nationalism
O Muslims in India constitute a cultural entity.
O To him the talk of one nation was "futile". Iqbal's insisted on the
maintenance of distinct communities by recognising them as separate
entitities. This has made him the father of the Idea of Pakistan.
O He wanted "a state within a state", and not a separate state. But the league
leadership exploited Iqbal's name to give strength and sanctity to the
demand for Pakistan".

Islamic Democracy
O Democracy is different from and opposed to the Islamic democracy.
O Sovereignty, according to Islam, is vested in God; not in the people
O According to Iqbal, in the garb of democracy, operates "the demon of
autocracy". Liberty and other so-called rights are merely a cover in
capitalism. Democracy is the continuation of the authoritarian rule of the
past.
O The cardinal principles of Islamic democracy would be: the principle of
Unity of God, obedience to law, tolerance and universalism.

Islam and Marxism

O He finds many points of similarity between Islam and Marxian

ideology. He opined that both Islam and Marxism "aim at
destruction of autocracy in the world and view capitalism with
disfavour, both disapprove of priesthood and church as
organized institutions". He believed that Islam is a form of
socialism
O He believed that the great defect of Marxism is its denial of God
and spiritual values.