Reform Movements (Part X)

The Manav Dharma 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. Since the Second decade of the seventeenth century, Surat was under British Governance and witnessed a row of tensions especially after the start of western education and missionaries in the state.

The Organization named Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha proved to be an extremely effective step towards propelling the Parsi socio-religious movements in India, to a large extent. The reform especially came at a time when the Parsi Community was going through a bad phase in society. Even at that time the internal unity of the community was shaken, the reform thus, stood to make a difference and uplift the Parsi Community solving all there social economic problems. Naoroji Furdunji was the founder of the Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha. He first edited a journal named Fam-i-Famsbid, during the 1840s and also wrote many articles and books during the 1850s to prove the superiority of Zoroastrianism over Christianity.

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

Faraizi movement was a religious reform movement founded by Haji Shariatullah during the nineteenth century. After seeing degradation of Muslims Haji Shariatullah called up muslims to give up anti-muslim practices and perform their duties as like a true muslim.The movement was also concerned with the British influence upon Muslims and a call for social justice was raised. The movement continued from 1830 to 1857.

Singh Sabha Movement was started in seventies of the 19th century after the Nirankari and Namdhari movements and proved to be the turning point in the history of the Sikhs. The Singh Sabha intended to reinstate Sikhism to its past purity by promoting Punjabi language to propagate knowledge in the form of historical religious books, magazines and journals. The movement was also aided by the missionaries’ activities of Mohammedans and Christians.Sardar Harbans Singh also believed that Singh Sabha had a deeper influence on the Sikh community as the movement touched the roots of Sikhism and shaped the Sikhs attitude for nearly about a century.

Shuddhi Movement was started by Arya Samaj in earlier part of 20th century to bring back the people who transformed their religion to Islam and Christianity from Hinduism.The literal meaning of shuddhi is purification but Arya Samajis didn’t aim at literal meaning rather they meant reconversion by the term. There was vast difference in the scriptural authorities of these religions as Islam and Christianity claimed divine authority for their Koran and Bible respectively while Vedas of Hinduism didn’t put up such claims. Founder of Arya Samaj, Dayananda then strived to give the Vedas the similar degree of supernatural authority.This process of reconverting Hindus from Islam and Christianity was accompanied by a Sanghathan movement.

The Namdhari movement was founded by Baba Ram Singh in 1857 as one of the most influential and transitional socio-religious movements in Punjab. At the initial stage of the movement a set of rituals were modeled after Guru Gobind Singh’s founding of Khalsa. He used a recitation of Gurbani (hymns from the Granth Sahib), Ardas (the Sikh prayer), a flag and baptism for entry into the new community.