Socio-Religious Reform Movements of 19th-Century India — Part 4: Western India

3. Western India

In Western India, the main focus of reform was on social ideas rather than religious and philosophical issues. Throughout the 19th century, a general awareness developed among various lower castes against social discrimination.

3.1 Prarthana Samaj

The early phase of Maharashtra's intellectual movement featured Bal Shastri Jambhekar (1812–1846), pioneer of the intellectual movement through his writings in the early 1830s; Dadoba Pandurang Tarkhadkar (1814–1882), who founded the Paramhansa Sabha in 1840 — the first reform organisation of 19th-century Maharashtra; Gopal Hari Deshmukh "Lokahitwadi" (1823–1882), whose hundred letters (Shatpatre) in the Marathi weekly Prabhakar (1848–1850) constituted the magnum opus of early intellectual endeavour in Maharashtra; and Vishnubawa Brahmachari (1825–1873), who challenged caste rigidity by employing a Muslim cook and eating food served by anyone.

Unlike Bengal, which began with a religious note, Maharashtra placed strictly social issues at the centre of reform. The Paramhansa Sabha's principal objective was the demolition of all caste distinctions — each new recruit pledged not to observe caste distinctions, ate bread baked by a Christian, and drank water from a Muslim's hands. The Sabha was, however, a secret society for fear of the orthodox.

Mahadev Gobind Ranade (1842–1901) was the towering figure of the later phase. A judge of the Bombay High Court, he held that caste distinction was the main blot on Indian social system and realised that social reform could not move people unless it assimilated religious reform. Under his guidance the Paramhansa Sabha was reorganised in 1867 under the name Prarthana Samaj. The Prarthana Samaj preached monotheism and denounced priestly domination and caste distinctions. Its activities also spread to South India through the efforts of the Telugu reformer Veeresalingam.

Other significant figures include Vishnu Parashram Shastri Pandit (1827–1876), who started the Vidhava Vivaha Uttejaka Mandal (Society for Encouragement of Widow Marriage) in 1865 and set an example by marrying a widow in 1875; and K.T. Telang (1850–1893), instrumental in introducing compulsory primary education in Bombay and the first Indian Vice-Chancellor.

3.2 Jyotirao Phule and Satyashodhak Samaj

Jyotirao (Jyotiba) Phule (1827–1890), born in the Mali caste, emerged as a champion of the depressed sections of society. He was the first Indian to start a school for the untouchables in 1854. In 1851 he and his wife Savitribai Phule started a girls' school at Poona — one of the earliest such initiatives in India. He championed the liberation of Indian women and the destruction of Brahmin domination over lower castes.

Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth-Seekers) to free lower castes from exploitation by Brahmin priests and zamindars. The movement was anti-caste in a social rather than communal sense, seeking a broad humanist platform for the liberation of the peasantry and the depressed classes. Phule's critique was one of the most radical of the century, connecting social oppression directly with economic exploitation.

3.3 Gopal Ganesh Agarkar

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar (1856–1895) was an iconoclast and uncompromising rationalist. He was pungent in his denunciation of any blind dependence on tradition or false deification of India's past. He was perhaps the sole exception to the general 19th-century trend of seeking scriptural sanction for reforms — Agarkar regarded social reform as an entirely secular and rational enterprise, independent of religious considerations. He differed sharply from Tilak on the primacy of social reform over political action.