The Charter Act of 1813 sanctioned a grant of one lakh rupees for the spread of education in India.

The setting up of the Hindu College in Calcutta in 1817 was an important step in the spread of
Western education.
Many enlightened Indians like Rammohun Roy were convinced that India would progress only
with Western learning. William Bentinck, who was the governor-general of India from 1828–1835,
and his advisor, Lord Macaulay, shared this view. In 1835, Macaulay declared in his famous
‘Minute upon Indian Education’ that ‘the great object of the British government ought to be the
promotion of European literature and science’. Following this, Western education, with English as
the medium of instruction, was formally introduced in India.
In 1844, the government declared that Indians who knew English would be given preference in
government employment. This further popularised Western education.
In 1854, Sir Charles Wood worked out a plan for education that came to be known as the Wood’s
Education Despatch. As per the plan, universities with affiliated colleges were set up in each of the
presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857. Primary schools, where the regional
language was the medium of instruction, were set up in districts.
Attention was also paid to the cause of women’s education. A number of girls’ schools and
colleges were opened by the British. Bethune College in Calcutta founded by John Drinkwater
Bethune became the first college for women in India.
5. The English East India Company’s main concern in India was to secure a large market for its
products and to source raw materials from distant parts of the country. The British realised that
a good transport system was necessary for this. Major cities, ports and markets were therefore
linked together by a network of roads and railways. Between 1853 and 1689, the British built more
than 6,400 kilometres of railways in India. Apart from trading interests, administrative necessities
also prompted the British government to build railways in India. Railways, by connecting different
parts of India, enabled the government to rule the country more efficiently. The railways brought
the different parts of India together. It eased transport and communication in the country and
thereby contributed in a major way to the spread of the national movement. On the other hand, it
also made it easier for the British army to move quickly from one place to another and subdue the
revolts and unrest created by the Indian nationalists.

Look and learn:

● An indigo factory in Bengal
● Growing indigo destroyed the soil. It led to a severe shortage of food crops and caused famine
in many parts of India.

SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORMS

A. 1. 1829 2. 1856 3. Upanishads, Bengali 4. the same god

5. R G Bhandarkar, Mahadev Govind Ranade 6. Swami Dayanand Saraswati
7. study of Vedas 8. Muslims 9. Madame Helena Blavatsky, Colonel Henry Olcott

B. 1. False. Raja Rammohun Roy translated the Vedas and the Upanishads into Bengali.
2. True
3. False. Dayanand Saraswati was in favour of the study of Western sciences.

18

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 4. False. Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.
5. True

C. 1. c. Debendranath Tagore 2. a. Chembati Sridharalu Naidu

3. a. Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College
4. b. The Theosophical Society 5. b. Irish

D. 1. c 2. e 3. d 4. a 5. b

E. 1. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a saint-mystic who lived at the Dakshineshwar temple (near
Calcutta. He firmly believed that all religions lead to the same god, who exists everywhere and in
everything.
2. Jyotiba Phule was a champion of the cause of the dalits. In 1873, Jyotiba formed the Satya Shodak
Samaj (Society of the Seekers of Truth) that aimed to work systematically towards the eradication
of caste discrimination in Indian society. Along with his wife Savitribai Phule, Jyotiba fought
for women’s right to education and was one of the earlier social reformers to start a school for
women.
3. Ramdas, Namdev and Tukaram were the Marathi saints who inspired the founders of the
Prarthana Samaj.
4. Kandukuri Veeresalingam was a social reformer from Andhra Pradesh. He was inspired by the
activities of the Brahmo Samaj. All his life, he fought for the cause of widow remarriage and the
right to education for women.
5. Sri Narayana Guru started the Shri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam in 1903 with the purpose
of establishing a caste-less and just society.
6. Syed Ahmed Khan’s greatest achievement was the establishment of the Mohammedan Anglo-
Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh in 1875. It became the most important educational institution
for Indian Muslims and later became the Aligarh Muslim University.
7. Dr Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu School at Benares. It later became the Benares Hindu
University.

F. 1. Raja Rammohun Roy spent most of his life fighting against the religious and social evils that
were prevalent among the Hindus of Bengal. • He was opposed to the practice of sati. He
organised public support for Lord Bentinck’s ban on sati. • He founded the Brahmo Samaj to
preach monotheism (worship of one god) and oppose idolatry (worship of idols). He sought to
rid Hinduism of the evils of caste and unnecessary rituals. • He translated the Vedas and the
Upanishads into Bengali to show that the ancient Hindu scriptures preached the existence and
worship of only one god. • He advocated Western education for both men and women. At the
same time, he also drew the attention of people to ancient Indian knowledge which had long
been ignored.
2. In 1897, Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna Mission, where people were trained in social,
educational and medical welfare work. Today, the Ramakrishna Mission, with branches all over
India and the world, is well known for its social-service activities.
3. The Prarthana Samaj, an important off-shoot of the Brahmo Samaj, was founded in Bombay in
1867. The members of the Samaj, like the members of the Brahmo Samaj, believed in monotheism
or the worship of one god. Like the Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj fought against social
customs such as child marriage and the caste system, and promoted widow remarriage and
education among women.

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 4. Swami Dayanand Saraswati was the founder of the Arya Samaj. • He believed that the roots
of Hinduism lay in the Vedas. • He believed in one god, and opposed idol worship, rituals,
the need for priests and animal sacrifices. • He condemned the caste system, the practice of
untouchability and injustices against women.
He established the Arya Samaj in an attempt to take Hinduism back to its roots, which he believed
lay in the Vedas.
5. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan started the Aligarh Movement for the spread of modern education and
social reform among Muslims in India. Over the years, Muslims in India had come to be regarded
with suspicion by the British. As a result, they remained socially and economically backward.
This deeply disturbed Syed Ahmad Khan. Syed Ahmad Khan firmly believed that, to keep up
with the times, the Muslims would have to adopt Western education. The objective of his Aligarh
Movement was to raise the status of Muslims in Indian society. He established the Mohammedan
Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh in 1875 to fulfil this objective. The College became the
most important educational institution for Indian Muslims. It later became the Aligarh Muslim
University. Thus, through the Aligarh Movement many Muslims were exposed to modern
education and the social awakening that was taking place in the country in the second half of the
19th century.
6. The Singh Sabha was a reform movement that began within Sikhism in the 19th century. The
first unit of the Singh Sabha was established in Amritsar in 1873. A second and more radical unit
was formed in Lahore. The chief objectives of the Singh Sabha were to revive the teachings of
the Sikh gurus, produce religious literature in Punjabi and promote education. The Singh Sabha
established the Khalsa College in 1892 and several Khalsa schools. It tried to maintain a distinct
Sikh identity by stressing that Sikhs were not Hindus and preached against the practices of idol
worship and caste prejudices.
7. The social and religious reform movements that occurred in the 19th century in India had many
important effects. • Growing feeling of nationalism: The religious and social reform movements
brought together educated Indians from all over the country. This indirectly encouraged the
growing feeling of nationalism. • Indians learnt to take pride in their culture: Western criticism
had lowered the confidence of Indians in their country and culture. The reform movements
helped Indians regain that confidence. They were now able to reform their religion to suit the
needs of the modern world. • Social improvements: By questioning social practices like sati,
child marriage and the caste system, the social reformers brought about a steady improvement in
the position of women and dalits in Indian society. • Creation of a rift between religions in India:
A negative effect of these movements was the creation of a rift between religions. The religious
reformers unintentionally increased the distance between different religious groups by focusing
on the religious aspects of Indian culture, rather than on aspects that were common to all, such as
music, literature, art and technology.

Look and learn:

1. • This is Annie Besant. • Central Hindu School at Benares, which later became the Benares
Hindu University; Madan Mohan Malaviya helped her in the project. • In 1917, she became the
president of the Indian National Congress.
2. • Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. • He carried on a long struggle in favour of widow remarriage. It
was mainly due to his efforts that the government introduced the Widow Remarriage Act in 1856.

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