Socio-Religious Reform Movements — Who Founded What, and the Four Laws They Won

Between 1815 and 1903 a set of Indians looked at their own society and decided parts of it had to change. They founded organisations, started newspapers, opened schools for girls, and pushed a colonial government into passing laws it had no wish to pass. That whole century is one chapter in every paper, and it is asked as a matching exercise: a name, a body, a year, a book.

It is worth treating as a case study rather than a list, because the movements answer each other. Ram Mohan Roy wanted reason inside Hinduism; Dayanand wanted a return to the Vedas; Phule and Narayana Guru said reform from the top would never reach the bottom and organised outside it; Sir Syed argued that the community he led needed modern education before politics.

The exam traps come from pairs that sit close together — teacher and disciple, founder and famous successor, two societies begun in the same year. Learn the pairs and the chapter stops being a memory test.

1. Who founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which later grew into the Brahmo Samaj?

2. Sati was abolished by regulation in 1829 during the tenure of which Governor-General?

3. The book 'Satyarth Prakash' was written by:

4. The Satyashodhak Samaj, founded at Pune in 1873, was established by:

5. The Ramakrishna Mission was founded in 1897 by:

6. The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856 was passed largely because of the efforts of:

7. The Aligarh Movement, which stressed modern education before political agitation, was led by:

8. The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875 by: