It was in 1757, the Nawab of Bengal – Siraj-ud-Daulah, lost to British East India company in the Battle of Plassey. Bengal – The richest province of India in Eighteenth century – fell prey to British East India Company. British eventual mastery of the whole India was no doubt but because of Bengal’s rich revenues. The administrative policies were changed, Dual System was onto the track. As the company collected the revenues as Diwani, the Nawab had been a nominal ruler and wielded no power. From then they’ve exploited Bengal to wage wars, consolidate their power and conquer India.
Though they never lost their sight of their main objects – profiting economically and maintaining and strengthening British power over India – few, however did their best to reform the orthodox social and religious practices. In this great respect, while many Hindus held that the British cannot indulge in internal religious affairs, also many educated Indians sought the change. Rammohun Roy, Lord William Bentinck, Derozio, Debendranath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Bal Shastri Jambedkar, Jotiba Phule, Jagannath Shankar Seth, Bhau Daji, Vishnu Shastri Pundit, Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Dadabahi Naoroji among others were the ‘Early Pioneers of Reform in Western India’. They persistently agitated against the evil customs.
Rammohun Roy who is rightly regarded as first great leader of modern India, along with the then Governor-General of India (1828-1835) – Lord William Bentinck – have successfully abolished the practice of Sati in 1829. Rammohun Roy was a scholar and could talk over a dozen languages. To study the Bible, he had learnt Greek and Hebrew. In 1828, he founded Brahma Sabha, now popular as Brahma Samaj, which laid emphasis on human dignity and criticized the evil practices. He was also a man of action. When the orthodox Hindus petitioned against the actions of William Bentinck over Sati, he organized a counter petition with enlightened Hindus in favor of William Bentinck.
Lord William Bentinck deserves praise for he had saved over 800 lives in Bengal alone by outlawing the practice of Sati between 1815 and 1818. Albeit his primary concern was to develop loss-clung East India Company and to ensure that The British government would renew its Royal Charter, he influenced people with Western Education. He opened the Culcutta Medical College which was open to all without distinction to caste or creed. For the first time Western Education was introduced into India in this respect. He passed the ‘English Education Act’ in 1835 replacing Persian language with English as the medium of instruction and provided educated Indians service in the British Bureaucracy.
Henry Vivian Derozio, Anglo-Indian, inspirer and leader of ‘Young Bengal Movement’, led radical trends among many Bengali intellectuals. This radical trend was more modern than even Rammohun Roy’s. He taught his students to think rationally and freely, question all authority, and worship truth. Derozians and Young Bengal are fiery patriots and famous followers of him. He advocated for the Education of Women. He was removed from The Hindu college in 1831 for his radicalism, and in months he died of cholera at very young age of 22.
After Rammohun Roy, Brahmo Sabha was much out of life until Dendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore, rejuvenated it. He started a ‘Tatvabodhini Sabha’ to propagate ideas of Rammohun Roy. Also the ‘Tatvabodhini Patrika’ spreaded the rational outlook among intellectual Bengalis. The new ‘Brahmo Samaj’ actively endorsed movement for widow remarriage, abolition of polygamy, women’s education, improvement of the ryot’s condition and temperance.
Ishwar Chandra Vidhyasagar is one another great scholar and reformer. He struggled for women upliftment and widow remarriage. He also advocated Sanskrit learning to all castes and opposed the monopoly of Sanskrit study by brahmins. He was generous to the poor; he’d give off his coat to the first naked beggar he met on the street. The first legal widow remarriage was celebrated under his supervision in Culcatta on 7 December 1856. He protested child marriages and polygamy. He was one of the pioneers of higher education for women.
Bal Shastri Jambedkar attacked Brahmanical orthodoxy. Jyotiba Phule with his wife started a girl’s schools at Poona. Jagannath Shankar Seth and Bhau Daji been the active promoters of girl schools. Vishnu Shastri pundit advocated widow remarriages through Widow Remarriage Association. Gopal Hari Deshmukh advocated reorganization of Indian society. Dadabahi Naoroji, another great reformer agitated for grant of legal status to women.
It’s just 21st century and we’re not very far from our recent past. Many reformers – in past and contemporary times – devoted their life for social welfare. Yet, we’re hypocritical and orthodox enough, many a time we applause some movie stars who seldom did something for a society. We still need, even in modern society, many great changes and so reformers. They are the real heroes to be reckoned with.
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