Social and Religious Reform Movements in the 19th Century - Anti-Caste Movements | 10th Social Science : History : Chapter 5 : Social and Religious Reform Movements in the 19th Century
Chapter: 10th Social Science : History : Chapter 5 : Social and Religious Reform Movements in the 19th Century
Anti-Caste Movements
Anti-Caste Movements
(a) Jyotiba Phule
Jyotiba
Govindrao Phule was born in 1827 in Maharashtra. He opened the first school for
“untouchables” in 1852 in Poona. He launched the Satyashodak Samaj
(Truth-Seekers Society) in 1870 to stir the non-Brahman masses to self-respect.
Phule opposed child marriage and supported widow remarriage. Jyotiba and his
wife Savitribai Phule devoted their lives for the uplift of the depressed
classes and women. Jotiba opened orphanages and homes for widows. His work, Gulamgiri (Slavery) is an important text
that summarized many of his radical ideas.
(b) Narayana Guru
Born to
poor parents in Kerala, Narayana Guru (1854–1928) evolved into a poet and
scholar in Malayalam, Tamil and Sanskrit. Disturbed by the terrible caste
tyranny, that the lower caste people suffered, he dedicated his whole life for
the betterment of the oppressed. He set up the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana
Yogam, an organization to work for the uplift of the “depressed classes”.
He
established a grand temple at Aruvipuram and dedicated it to all. Thinkers and
writers such as Kumaran Asan and Dr Palpu were influenced by his ideas and
carried forward the movement.
(c) Ayyankali
Ayyankali
was born in 1863 at Venganoor in Thiruvananthapuram then in the princely state of
Travancore. The discrimination he faced as a child turned him into a leader of
an anti-caste movement and who later fought for basic rights including access
to public spaces and entry to schools.
Inspired
by Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyankali founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangam
(Association for the Protection of the Poor) in 1907.
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