Prarthana Samaj as an organization never had any great influence but its members, like M. G. Ranade ( - ), R. G.
Bhandarkar, and K.T. Telang, were among the great leaders of nineteenth-century Maharashtra and they became the founders of the social reform movement in later years. Prarthana Samaj was similar to Brahmo Samaj, but it was consciously linked with the bhakti tradition of the Maharashtrian saints. The Prarathana Samaj continued its work mainly through educational work directed at women and workers at the lower level.
It concentrated on social reforms like inter-dining, inter- marriage, remarriage of widows, and uplift of women and depressed classes. The National Social Conference organized at the initiative of M.G. Ranade met each year immediately after the Indian National Congress ( ) annual sessions. Justice Ranade was an erudite scholar with a keen intellect and under his able guidance the Prarthana Samaj became the active centre of a new social reformation in western India.
He was one of the founders of the Widow Marriage Association and was an ardent promoter of the famous Deccan Education Society. Its object was to impart such education to the young as would fit them for the unselfish service of the country. When Ranade died in , his leadership was taken over by Chandavarkar. Arya Samaj ( ) The founder of the Arya Samaj was Dayananda Saraswati ( – ).
Dayananda, a Gujarati, left home in his youth to become an ascetic. For seventeen years he wandered around India. In he became a wandering an Advocate for and an Opponent of the Practice of Burning Widows , cited sacred texts to prove that no religion sanctioned the burning alive of widows. His efforts fructified and the Company through an enactment of law ( ) declared the practice of sati a crime.
The overall contribution of Brahmo Samaj can be summed up as follows . It denounced polytheism, idol worship, and the faith in divine avatars (incarnations) . It condemned the caste system, dogmas and superstitions. .
It wanted the abolition of child marriage, purdah system and the practice of sati . It supported widow remarriage Inspired