a narrow social base – they were limited to the upper and middle strata of the society that tried to adjust their modernized views to the existing social reality. From then on, the social reform movements began to percolate to the lower strata of society to reconstruct the social fabric. Heated debates among the intellectuals expressed in the form of public arguments, tracts and journals played a big role in taking new ideas to large sections of the people, as well as to reformulate older ideas in a new form. At the start, organizations such as the Social Conference, Servants of India and the Christian missionaries were instrumental in giving an impetus to the social reform movements along with many enlightened individuals about whom we dwell on in the following pages.
In later years, especially by the twentieth century, the national movement provided the leadership and organization for social reform. Brahmo Samaj ( ) Raja Rammohan Roy, was a man of versatile genius. He established the Brahmo Samaj in August, . The Brahmo Samaj was committed to “the worship and adoration of the eternal, unsearchable, immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe”.
His long term agenda was to purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism for which he drew authority from the Vedas. He emphasized human dignity, opposed idolatry and social evils such as sati. A retired servant of the East India Company, he was conversant in many languages including Persian and Sanskrit. His ideas and activities were aimed at the political uplift of society through social reform.
He was a determined crusader against the inhuman practice of Sati. His tract written in , A Conference Between Raja Rammohan Roy XI History - Lesson - - Towards Modernity intellectuals. In the early stages, many young men seized of the radical ideas avidly propagated them. Tagore’s family was a Brahmo family and its influence can be seen in his writings and ideas.
The Prarthana Samaj ( ) An off-shoot of the Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, was founded in in Bombay by Atmaram Pandurang ( – ). The