2. This chapter is about status of women in India in
19thcentury. The Women discrimination was on the
peak. They were treated like a slave or maid even in
their own houses.
Also, the other discriminative issues of the
society which stopped development in the society and
personal development, especially the poor and
untouchables.
3. Apart from Women discretion, There were many other
wrong traditions were followed. Some of them are mentioned
as under:
(1) Sati System
(2) Male Domination and Caste Discrimination based on
type of work they do in the society.
(3) Child marriage
(4) Bandhua Mazdoori and Gulami (Bonded Labourers)
(5) Right to Education
(6) Spiritual Equality of all Castes.
(7) Unethical ways of medical treatment.
4. Dates Events
1772-1833 Raja Rammohun Roy brought a lot of reformations
in the Indian society during this period.
1829 Sati was Banned.
1856 A law was passed to permit widow remarriage.
1875 The Arya samaj was founded.
1929 The child marriage Restraint act was passed
1927-1935 Ambedkar led three temple entry movements
between this period.
5. In Earlier days, Sati (a Virtuous Women)
was a custom where a widow has to immolate
herself on her husband's pyre , or committed
suicide in another fashion.
Willingly or against her wish.
6. The practice was initially legalized by the colonial
British officials specifying conditions when sati was
allowed. then the practice was outlawed in 1829.
Followed up by laws in the same directions by
the authorities.
The general ban for the whole of India issued
by Queen Victoria in 1861.
In Nepal, sati was banned in 1920.
The Indian Sati Prevention Act from 1988
further criminalized any type of aiding, abetting,
and glorifying of sati
7. Over the time, Education, various
awareness activists, and various reform
movements played a great role in changing the
social status of women in Indian society.
8. Men were allowed to do anything of their choice but women were
treated as slaves even in their own houses. They were not allowed
education, choice husband or second marriage. However, In some
parts Men were allowed (Be it Hindu or Muslim) more than one
marriage.
The people were divided on the basis of work they perform and on
the basis of their caste. No other work was allowed to them. The higher
caste people never allow them education and discriminated as
untouchables.
9. An early age marriage where the Boy and the Girl
are innocent and does not understand the meaning
of Marriage System. As per Indian Judiciary
system, Age of a Girl under 18 years or of the boy
under 21 years is considered as Child Marriage.
In child Marriage, both boy and the girl are not
developed mentally and physically . Thus resulting
in to mental stress / medical complications.
Most child marriages involve under age women in
poor socio-economic conditions.
10. In the earlier times, The upper caste
people who actually rule the village people
distribute loans in various kind to needy
poor people. In return, some or all family
members were booked for labour work at
their farms or at home.
11. In the olden times, the society was based on and
Caste and the type of work they do. The lower
caste people (shudra) who were un touchable.
They were not allowed to enter temples or drink
water from the well meant for upper caste. Their
childrenwere not allowed education.
12. Despite available medication in Ayurveda / Homeopath / Unani
medicine by the known respective people, the people fall prey
in the hands of sadhus and babas and maulavis who were
treatingpatients withunnatural,unhealthyways.
In those times the patient were sent out of community area to
get out of illness naturally or in a temples outside village so that
the godwill curetheirillness.
13. In this popular festival, devotees
underwent a peculiar form of suffering
as a part of ritual worship . With hooks
pierced through their skin they swung
themselves on a wheel . In the early 19th
century ,when European officials begin
criticising Indian customs and rituals as
barbaric , this was one of the rituals that
came under attack.
14. The attitude towards women and social customs
started changing from the early nineteenth
century.
The changes took place due to various reasons:-
1) Awareness was created among women and the
society in general as people started reading
more and more . People started reading books,
newspapers , magazines , leaflets and
pamphlets as they were much cheaper by then.
15. 2) There were debates and discussions about social
customs and practices which also helped in
creating awareness among the people.
Ordinary people could read and many of them
could also write and express their ideas in their
own languages. All kinds of issues like social,
political, economic and religious issues were
debated and discussed by men. These discussions
brought about many changes . These debates
were often initiated by Indian reformers and
reform groups
16. Who are Social Reformers Some people are
described as reformers as they felt that
changes were necessary in the society, and
unjust practices needed to be done away
with. The thought that the best way to ensure
these changes was to give up old practices
and adopt a new way of life. Examples of
some great reformers are : Raja ram Mohan
Roy, Ishwarchandra vidya sagar , Swami
Dayanand Saraswati ,Tara bai shinde ,
Pandita Rama Bai Begum Rokeya and
Sakhawat Hossain
17. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and
educational reformer, and humanitarian, who challenged
traditional Hindu culture such as 'Sati‘ and indicated the
lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is
called the "Maker of Modern India," and also the "Father of
Modern India ." He is also regarded as the "Father of the
Bengal Renaissance." He, along with Dwarkanath
Tagore and other prominent Bengalis of the early 19th
century, founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which
engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-
religious reform movement during the Bengal Renaissance.
His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public
administration, and education, as well as religion.
18. Ram Mohan Roy was well versed in sanskrit , persian and
several other Indian and European languages . Roy
pointed out to the people that ‘sati’ was not practised
during the olden days. Through his writings he condemned
the practice of ‘sati’. As the British were also opposed to
the practise of ‘sati’ they supported Roy and a law was
passed banning ‘sati’ in the year 1829 .
The approach taken by Rammohan was used by later
reformers as well. Whenever they wished to challenge a
practice that seemed harmful, they tried to find a verse or
sentence in the ancient sacred texts that supported their
point of view. They then suggested that the practice as it
existed at present was against early tradition.
19. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was an
Indian Bengali polymath and a key figure of
the Bengal Renaissance. Vidyasagar was a
philosopher, academic , educator , writer,
translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur,
reformer, and philanthropist. His efforts to
simplify and modernize Bengali prose were
significant. He also rationalized and simplified
the Bengali alphabet and type, which had
remained unchanged since Charles Wilkins and
Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first wooden
Bengali type in 1780 .
20. Ishwarchandra Vidhyasagar suggested that
widows could remarry .
His suggestion was adopted by British officials, and
a law was passed in 1856 permitting widow
remarriage.
Many were against the remarriage of widows.
They opposed Vidyasagar and boycotted him.
During the second half of the 19th century , the
movement in favour of widow remarriage spread
to other parts of the country .
In Madras presidency, Veerasalingam Pantulu
formed an association for widows remarriage.
21. All reformers felt that it was necessary to educate women
in order to improve their conditions .
Vidhyasagar set up schools for girls in Calcutta .
Veerasalingam established a girls school at
Dhavaleswaram and Rajamundry.
Problems Faced by Girls to go to School
• When schools for girls opened in the mid 19th century,
many people were afraid of them.
• They feared that schools would take girls away from
home , prevent them from doing their domestic work.
22. From the early 20th century , Muslim women played a notable
role in promoting education among women . Primary school
for girls was started atAligarh. Begum Rokeya Sakhawat
Hussain started school for muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta.
In the 1880s , Indian women started going to universities for
higher education. They became doctors and teachers.
Many women began to write about the place of women in
society.
23. Veerasalingam was one of the greatest personalities
and earliest reformers in India to demand for redical
changes in Telugu Indian society. He had a keen in
sight , great courage and dynamic energy. He fought
against untruth and championed the cause of
progress with vigour . He fought for education for
women, and remarriage of widows . He started
Vivekavardhini , a monthly journal, to point out and
criticise the defects in the society.
In 1874 , he established a girls school at
Dhavleshvaram to encourage women’s education. In
1884, he established another school for girls in
Rajmundry .
24. PanditaRama Bai Pandita Ramabai was
an Indian Christianwhotriedto changemany thingsin
India.Apoet and scholar, shetriedhardto improve
(make better) thelives of womenin India. She wrote
manybooks includingher popularThe High-Caste
IndianWoman, whichshowedthetroublesof child
wives andwomenin India.
25. Tara Bai ShindeTarabai Shinde(1850–1910) was a feminist activist
who protested patriarchy andcastein 19thcentury India. She is
knownfor her publishedwork, Stri PurushTulana ("AComparison
BetweenWomenandMen"), originallypublishedin Marathi in 1882.
The pamphlet is a critique of upper-caste patriarchy, and is often
consideredthe first modernIndian feminist text. It was very
controversial for its time in challengingthe Hindureligious
scriptures themselves as a sourceof women's oppression, a viewthat
continues to be controversial and debatedtoday.
26. BegumRokeya Sakhawat Hossain wasa leadingfeminist
writerand social workerin undividedBengal during the
early 20thcentury. She is most famousfor her efforts on
behalf of gender equality and other social issues. She
establishedthe first school aimedprimarily at Muslim
girls, whichstill existstoday. Shewas a notableMuslim
feminist; modern feminist writers such asTaslima Nasrin
citeher as an influence. BegumRokeya alsowrote short
stories and novels. Her important worksare Sultana' s
Dreamand Padmarag.
27. • Apart from demanding equal right for women and
social reformers also fought against the caste
system that was prevalent in India during the early
20th century.
• The Prarthana Samaj adhered to the tradition of
Bhakti that believed in spiritual equality of all
castes .
• Paramhans Mandali was founded in 1840, in
Bombay, to work for the abolition of castes.
• Many of these reformers were people of upper
castes.
28. In the 19th century , Christian missionaries started
setting up schools for tribal groups and “lower”- caste
children. These were trained to find a footing in the
changing world. Soon the poor left the villages and
started looking for jobs in the cities.
There were plenty of jobs in the cities. Drains had to be
dug, roads laid, buildings constructed, and cities
cleaned. This required coolies, diggers, carriers,
bricklayers, sewage cleaners, sweepers, palanquin
bearers and rickshaw pullers. Many started working in
plantations in India .
Some of them even went to far off countries like
Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia. The poor were
happy to leave their villages and find work else work
. They were happy to escape from the oppression and
humiliation they suffered from the upper-caste
landlords.
29. Guru Ghasi Das (1756–1850) was an advocate of the Satnami sect ion
of Hinduism in the early 19th century. GhasiDas was a farmer who
worked for low-caste Indians, particularly the Leather workers and
organiseda movement
Haridas Thakur’s Matua sect worked in eastern Bengal. He worked
amongthe Chandalacultivators.
Shri Naryana Guru was a guru from Ezhava caste in the modern day
Kerala. He argued against unequal treatment of people on the basis of
caste.He believedthat all humanbeingsbelongedto thesamecaste.
30. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, born in 1827 was one of the most vocal
amongst the low caste leaders. He studied in Christian missionary
school. He attacked the Brahmans’claim to superiority. He argued that
the Aryans were foreigners who subjugated the true children of the
country. He said that the upper caste had no right to land and power
and the land belonged to the low caste people who were the original
inhabitants of the land in the peninsula. Phule founded the
Satyashodhak Samaj to promote caste equality. He wrote a book
named Gulamgiri; in 1873. He dedicated his book to all those
Americans who had fought against slavery.
31. Dr.B.R. Ambedkar
Ambedkar was born in a Mahar family.
From a very early age he expirienced caste
discrimination. In school he was forced to sit
outside the class room on the ground, and
was not allowed to drink water from taps
that upper caste children used.
Ambedkar finished his schooling and went
to the US for higher studies.
He returned to India in 1919.
32. During the second half of the 19th century, people
from within the “lower” castes began organising
movements against caste discrimination, and
demanded social equality and justice.
Ghasidas founded the Satnami movement in
Central India. He belonged to the ‘lower caste’ ,
and worked among the leatherworks and
orgnised a movement to improve their social
status.
Haridas Thakur worked among the “low” caste
Chandala cultivators in eastern Bengal. He
questioned the Brahmanical texts that supported
the caste system.
33. All the leaders came from “low” castes
and worked amongst them. They tried
to change those habits and practices
among “low” castes which provoked
“upper” castes’ contempt. They tried to
create a sense of self-esteem amongst
the lower castes.
34. He wrote widely on the power the “upper”
caste had in the society.
In 1927, Ambedkar started a temple entry
movement , in which Mahar caste followers
participated.
The Mahar caste people who were called Dalits
used water from the temple tank. This outraged
the upper caste people.
Ambedkar led three such movements for temple
entry between 1927 and 1935.
His aim was to make everyone see the power of
caste prejudices within society.
35. The non- Brahman movement started in the early 20th
century. It was started by non Brahman castes which
were educated, wealthy and influential.
E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker
• E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker , or Periyar came from a
middle-class family.
• He had been a ascetic in his early life and had studied
sanskrit scriptures.
• Later, he became a member of the Congress. He soon
left the Congress as he felt that the Party
discriminated among castes. The lower castes were
made to sit at a distance from the upper castes.
36. TO GROW, LET’S NOT FIGHT FOR CASTE AND GENDER,
TOGETHER WE CAN !!!
LETS GROW TOGETHER
AND
HELP DEVELOP OUR NATION.
Thank you
