Socio-Religious Reform Movements of 19th-Century India — Part 3: Debendranath Tagore, Keshab Sen and Vidyasagar

2.3 Debendranath Tagore and Keshab Chandra Sen

After Rammohan's death, the impetus for reform lost momentum. Debendranath Tagore (father of Rabindranath Tagore) revived it. In 1839 he established the Tattvabodhini Sabha to carry on Rammohan's ideals independently of the Brahmo Samaj. It aimed at counteracting the rapid spread of Christianity in India and advocated the development of Vedantism. A Tattvabodhini Press was established, and in 1843 the Tattvabodhini Patrika — a journal of the organisation — was started for the propagation of ideas. Under the Sabha's aegis, emphasis on indigenous language and culture became much more pronounced; Bengali texts in all subjects were published. Debendranath became a Brahmo in 1843 and reorganised the Brahmo Samaj the same year.

Keshab Chandra Sen was another towering intellectual within the Brahmo Samaj. Keshab laid stress on female emancipation and emphasised universalism as against Debendranath's stress on national Hindu identity. Despite doctrinal differences among themselves, the Brahmo Samajists collectively contributed to propagating Rammohan's ideas and changing Bengal's society — denouncing priestly intermediation, standing for the worship of one God, and supporting widow marriage, monogamy, and women's education. Keshab later organised the breakaway group Nav Bidhan, which sought to synthesise the ideas of all major world religions.

2.4 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

The second half of the 19th century witnessed the emergence of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar — a great Sanskrit scholar who became the principal of Sanskrit College in 1851. He introduced the study of Western thought in the Sanskrit College and opened its gates to non-Brahmin students. He wrote a Bengali Primer and helped evolve a distinct modern prose style in Bengali.

Vidyasagar's greatest contribution lay in the field of female emancipation. Widow marriage was the specific social issue he devoted his entire life to. His agitation for legalising the remarriage of widows won support from enlightened sections across India, and finally a law was enacted. Under his supervision, the first legal Hindu widow marriage among the upper castes in India was celebrated in 1856. Through his endeavours, nearly 25 widow marriages were solemnised between 1855 and 1860 — a major breakthrough and a great advance from Rammohan's idea of ascetic widowhood.

As Secretary to the Bethune School (founded in Calcutta in 1849), he was instrumental in the movement for women's higher education. He also campaigned against child marriage and polygamy. Vidyasagar's inability to achieve something more substantial in practical terms nonetheless indicated the limits of social reform effort in colonial India.