Socio-Religious Reform Movements of the 19th Century

Why This Chapter Matters

This is one of the highest-scoring chapters in Modern History for SSC and RRB exams. Questions from reform movements are almost always direct one-liners: founder and year of an organisation, who wrote which book, who founded which newspaper, which Governor-General passed which social law. In a typical SSC CGL or RRB NTPC General Awareness section, expect 1 to 2 questions from this chapter alone, and across a full exam cycle the topic appears in almost every shift in some form.

The sub-topics that repeat most are Brahmo Samaj and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Arya Samaj and Dayananda Saraswati, Ramakrishna Mission and Vivekananda, the Theosophical Society, the Aligarh movement, and the social laws on sati and widow remarriage. Examiners love match-the-pair questions here: organisation with founder, founder with book, movement with place. Learn the tables in this chapter until you can recall them without looking. That alone can fetch you easy marks that many aspirants throw away by mixing up years.

1. Background: Why Reform Movements Began

By the early 19th century, Indian society carried practices such as sati, child marriage, female infanticide, a ban on widow remarriage, rigid caste rules, and untouchability. Three forces pushed educated Indians to question these practices.

First, Western education spread after the Charter Act of 1813 (which set aside one lakh rupees for education) and Macaulay's Minute of 1835. English-educated Indians read European ideas of reason, liberty, and equality.

Second, Christian missionary criticism of Hindu and Muslim customs stung educated Indians into defending and cleaning up their own traditions. Missionary activity was officially permitted in Company territory from 1813.

Third, Orientalist scholarship by Europeans like William Jones (who founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784) and Max Muller recovered ancient texts and gave reformers the confidence to argue that evil customs had no sanction in the original scriptures.

Reform movements took two broad approaches. Reformist movements (Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Aligarh movement) accepted modern reason as the test of every practice. Revivalist movements (Arya Samaj, Deoband movement) wanted to return to what they saw as the pure original faith. Both attacked the same social evils, so do not treat "revivalist" as anti-reform.

2. Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj

Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833), born at Radhanagar in Bengal, is called the "Father of the Indian Renaissance" and the "first modern man of India". He knew Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and English, and studied Hebrew and Greek to read scriptures in the original.

His career in brief:

• 1809: Wrote Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (A Gift to Monotheists) in Persian, attacking idol worship and defending the unity of God.
• 1815: Founded the Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta, a discussion circle on religious and social questions.
• 1817: Helped David Hare establish the Hindu College, Calcutta.
• 1821: Started the Bengali weekly Samvad Kaumudi; in 1822 the Persian weekly Mirat-ul-Akhbar.
• 20 August 1828: Founded the Brahmo Sabha in Calcutta, later called the Brahmo Samaj. It preached worship of one formless God, rejected idol worship, priesthood, and sacrifices, and drew on the Upanishads.
• 1829: His long campaign succeeded when Lord William Bentinck passed Regulation XVII, declaring the practice of sati illegal in Bengal Presidency (extended soon after to Madras and Bombay).
• 1830: Went to England as an envoy of the Mughal emperor Akbar II, who gave him the title "Raja". He died at Bristol, England, in 1833.

He also campaigned against child marriage, polygamy, and caste rigidity, supported women's right to inherit property, defended the freedom of the press, and demanded that government money for education be spent on English and science rather than only Sanskrit.

The Brahmo Samaj after Roy

• Debendranath Tagore (father of Rabindranath) founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha in 1839 and joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1843, giving it new life. The Sabha's journal was the Tattvabodhini Patrika.
• Keshab Chandra Sen joined in 1858 and pushed radical reform: inter-caste marriage, widow remarriage, and opposition to the sacred thread. Differences with Debendranath led to the first split in 1866: Keshab formed the Brahmo Samaj of India, while Debendranath's group became the Adi Brahmo Samaj.
• Keshab's followers themselves broke away when he married his minor daughter to the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, violating his own preaching. In 1878 they formed the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj (leaders: Ananda Mohan Bose, Shibnath Shastri, Umesh Chandra Dutta). This was the second split.
• Keshab's campaign contributed to the Native Marriage Act (Civil Marriage Act) of 1872, which legalised inter-caste and inter-religious civil marriages and fixed minimum marriage ages.

3. Reform in Bengal beyond the Brahmos

Young Bengal Movement

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809–1831), an Anglo-Indian teacher at Hindu College, inspired a group of radical students called the Young Bengal or Derozians. They attacked orthodoxy, championed reason and free thought, and drew inspiration from the French Revolution. Derozio was removed from the college in 1831 and died of cholera the same year, aged 22. The movement faded quickly because it had no link with the masses, but SSC asks about Derozio regularly.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta, opened the college to non-Brahmin students. Using scriptural evidence, he campaigned for widow remarriage. The result was the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856, passed in the time of Lord Canning (the bill was piloted under Lord Dalhousie's administration and received assent in July 1856). Vidyasagar also fought child marriage and polygamy and did pioneering work for girls' schools, helping J.E.D. Bethune found the Bethune School (1849) in Calcutta.

4. Reform in Western India

Paramahansa Mandali and Early Reformers

The Paramahansa Mandali (1849, Bombay) was among the first reform bodies in Maharashtra, working secretly against caste rules. Balshastri Jambhekar started Darpan (1832), the first Marathi newspaper, and attacked orthodoxy. Gopal Hari Deshmukh "Lokahitawadi" wrote articles (the Shatpatras) demanding social reform through reason.

Prarthana Samaj (1867)

The Prarthana Samaj was founded in Bombay in 1867 by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang, with inspiration from Keshab Chandra Sen's visit. Its great figures were Mahadev Govind Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar. Unlike the Brahmos, the Prarthana Samajists stayed within the Hindu fold and worked quietly through the four-point programme: opposition to caste, widow remarriage, women's education, and raising the age of marriage. Ranade also founded the Widow Remarriage Association (1861) and the Deccan Education Society (1884). In the South, the parallel body was the Veda Samaj (Madras, 1864), associated with Keshab Chandra Sen and K. Sridharalu Naidu.

Jyotiba Phule and the Satyashodhak Samaj (1873)

Jyotirao (Jyotiba) Phule (1827–1890) of Maharashtra attacked Brahmin domination and untouchability. With his wife Savitribai Phule, he opened a school for girls at Pune in 1848, one of the first by Indians. In 1873 he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth-Seekers' Society) to secure social justice for lower castes, and published Gulamgiri (Slavery, 1873), dedicated to the American movement against slavery. His other work Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Pustak stated his religious ideas. The title "Mahatma" was conferred on him in 1888.

5. Arya Samaj and Dayananda Saraswati

Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1824–1883), born Mula Shankar in Tankara, Gujarat, founded the Arya Samaj at Bombay on 10 April 1875. The headquarters later shifted to Lahore (1877). His slogan was "Go back to the Vedas", and he held the Vedas to be infallible, rejecting idol worship, polytheism, priestcraft, child marriage, and caste by birth. His main book is Satyarth Prakash (1875), written in Hindi.

Key facts examiners pick:

• Dayananda called for "India for the Indians", an early nationalist note.
• The Shuddhi movement reconverted to Hinduism those who had left it, the first organised reconversion effort.
• After his death, followers split over education. The Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) College was set up at Lahore in 1886 under Lala Hansraj, teaching English and modern subjects. The gurukul wing under Swami Shraddhanand founded Gurukul Kangri near Haridwar in 1902, stressing Vedic education.
• Arya Samaj leaders such as Lala Lajpat Rai and Swami Shraddhanand later became front-rank nationalists.

6. Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda

Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836–1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, was a priest at the Dakshineswar Kali temple near Calcutta. He taught that all religions lead to the same God and that service to man is service to God. He founded no organisation himself.

His disciple Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), born Narendranath Datta in Calcutta, carried the message worldwide.

• 1893: Vivekananda addressed the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago (September 1893) and made Indian spirituality respected in the West.
• 1 May 1897: He founded the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur (the Belur Math on the Hooghly became its headquarters in 1898-99). The Mission runs schools, hospitals, and relief work, treating social service as worship.
• He started the journals Prabuddha Bharata (English) and Udbodhan (Bengali).
• Vivekananda attacked untouchability and religious narrowness, and told Indians that strength, not weakness, was the message of the Vedanta. Subhas Chandra Bose called him the "maker of modern India" in spirit; exam papers often quote Vivekananda as the "cyclonic monk of India".

Note the difference SSC tests: Ramakrishna Math (religious trust for monks) and Ramakrishna Mission (social service body, 1897) are related but distinct.

7. Theosophical Society and Annie Besant

The Theosophical Society was founded at New York in 1875 by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (a Russian) and Colonel H.S. Olcott (an American). They shifted to India and set up the headquarters at Adyar, near Madras, in 1882. The Society preached the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads and Vedanta, belief in reincarnation and karma, and universal brotherhood. It was a case of Westerners glorifying Indian tradition, which raised Indian self-confidence.

Annie Besant, an Irishwoman, joined the Society in 1889 and came to India in 1893. She became its President in 1907 after Olcott's death. In 1898 she founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras, which Madan Mohan Malaviya later merged into the Banaras Hindu University (1916). Besant went on to start the Home Rule League (1916) and became the first woman President of the Indian National Congress (Calcutta session, 1917). These later facts belong to Chapter 14, but the pair "Besant = Theosophy + Home Rule + 1917 Congress President" is a favourite question.

8. Muslim Reform Movements

Aligarh Movement — Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) wanted Muslims to take to English education and government service instead of staying aloof after 1857. His steps:

• 1864: Founded the Scientific Society at Ghazipur (shifted to Aligarh) to translate scientific works into Urdu.
• 1875: Founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College at Aligarh, which became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.
• 1870: Started the journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq to reform social customs.
• He wrote a commentary on the Quran interpreting it in the light of reason, opposed polygamy and easy divorce, and asked Muslims to stay away from the Congress in its early years, fearing competitive politics would hurt the community.

His follower Chiragh Ali, the poet Altaf Husain Hali, and Shibli Numani (who founded the Nadwat-ul-Ulama at Lucknow, 1894, seeking a middle path) belong to the same broad current.

Deoband Movement (1866)

The Dar-ul-Ulum at Deoband (Saharanpur district, UP) was founded in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. It was revivalist: it taught pure Islamic learning, rejected English education, and opposed the loyalist Aligarh school. Politically the Deobandis were anti-British; they welcomed the founding of the Congress, and later scholars like Mahmud-ul-Hasan and Ubaidullah Sindhi joined anti-colonial activity. The Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Hind (1919) grew from this tradition.

Other Muslim movements

• Ahmadiyya movement: founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at Qadian, Punjab, in 1889; stressed universal religion and modern education; opposed jihad by the sword.
• Barelvi school: associated with Ahmad Raza Khan of Bareilly (late 19th century), defended customary practices against the Deobandis.
• The earlier Wahhabi/Walliullah movement of Syed Ahmed of Rae Bareli belongs to the pre-1857 uprisings chapter (Chapter 8), so it is not repeated here.

9. Sikh and Parsi Reform

Singh Sabha and After

The Singh Sabha was founded at Amritsar in 1873 (a second Sabha at Lahore in 1879) to reform Sikh religion and society, spread education through Khalsa schools, and counter conversion by Christian missionaries and the Arya Samaj's Shuddhi. The Khalsa College at Amritsar was established in 1892. In the 20th century the reform urge produced the Akali movement (1920s) to free gurdwaras from corrupt hereditary mahants, leading to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, which handed gurdwara management to the elected Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC, formed 1920).

Parsi Reform

The Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Religious Reform Association) was founded at Bombay in 1851 by Naoroji Furdunji, with Dadabhai Naoroji and S.S. Bengalee among the leaders. Its journal was Rast Goftar (Truth-Teller, started 1851, associated with Dadabhai Naoroji). It campaigned against elaborate rituals and for women's education, a higher marriage age, and modernisation of Zoroastrian practice. Parsis became one of the most Westernised communities in India.

10. Caste Reform in the South: Narayana Guru and Others

Sree Narayana Guru (1856–1928), born in an Ezhava family of Kerala, fought caste tyranny. In 1888 at Aruvippuram he consecrated a Shiva idol himself, a right claimed only by Brahmins, and declared the famous ideal "One caste, one religion, one God for man". In 1903 his followers, led by Dr. Palpu with the poet Kumaran Asan as first general secretary, founded the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam.

Related facts often tested together:

• Justice Movement (Madras, 1916): non-Brahmin movement led by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair, and P. Tyagaraja Chetti; its party ran the South Indian Liberal Federation.
• Self-Respect Movement (1925): launched by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker "Periyar" in Tamil Nadu against Brahminical domination and superstition.
• Temple entry satyagrahas in Kerala: Vaikom Satyagraha (1924) and Guruvayur Satyagraha (1931-32), with K. Kelappan; the Temple Entry Proclamation of Travancore (1936) opened state temples to all Hindus.
• Aravinda/Depressed classes: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (1924) and led the Mahad Satyagraha (1927) for water rights and the Kalaram Temple entry (Nashik, 1930). His fuller story runs through later chapters, but these founding facts are asked with this topic.

11. Social Legislation: The Law Catches Up

Reformers pushed, and the colonial state legislated. Learn this table cold; it is the single most repeated block of facts from this chapter.

Year	Law / Regulation	Governor-General / Viceroy	What it did	Reformer behind it
1795, 1802	Regulations against infanticide	(Bengal regulations)	Declared female infanticide illegal	—
1829	Regulation XVII (Sati abolition)	Lord William Bentinck	Made sati illegal and punishable	Raja Ram Mohan Roy
1843	Indian Slavery Act (Act V)	Lord Ellenborough	Abolished slavery in India	—
1856	Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act	Passed July 1856, Lord Canning era (moved under Dalhousie's administration)	Legalised widow remarriage	Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
1870	Female Infanticide Prevention Act	Lord Mayo	Compulsory registration of births, checks on infanticide	—
1872	Native (Civil) Marriage Act	Lord Northbrook	Permitted inter-caste/inter-faith civil marriage; girl's minimum age 14	Keshab Chandra Sen
1891	Age of Consent Act	Lord Lansdowne	Raised age of consent for girls from 10 to 12	B.M. Malabari
1929	Child Marriage Restraint (Sarda) Act	Lord Irwin	Marriage age: girls 14, boys 18	Harbilas Sarda

Behramji M. Malabari, a Parsi journalist (editor of the Indian Spectator), led the agitation for the 1891 Act after the death of the child bride Phulmoni. The 1891 Act was fiercely opposed by orthodox opinion and even by Tilak, who objected to state interference in religion, not to reform itself.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• Atmiya Sabha, 1815, Calcutta — Raja Ram Mohan Roy's first association.
• Brahmo Sabha/Samaj founded 20 August 1828 at Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
• Roy's Persian work against idolatry: Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (1809).
• Sati abolished by Regulation XVII, 1829, under Lord William Bentinck.
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy died at Bristol, England, 1833; title "Raja" given by Mughal emperor Akbar II.
• Tattvabodhini Sabha (1839) — Debendranath Tagore.
• First Brahmo split 1866: Keshab Chandra Sen's Brahmo Samaj of India vs Adi Brahmo Samaj.
• Second split 1878: Sadharan Brahmo Samaj (Ananda Mohan Bose, Shibnath Shastri).
• Young Bengal movement — Henry Vivian Derozio, Hindu College, Calcutta.
• Widow Remarriage Act 1856 — campaign by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
• Prarthana Samaj, Bombay, 1867 — Atmaram Pandurang; main force M.G. Ranade.
• Veda Samaj, Madras, 1864 — southern counterpart of the Brahmo movement.
• Satyashodhak Samaj, 1873, Pune — Jyotiba Phule; book Gulamgiri (1873).
• First girls' school by Indians at Pune, 1848 — Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule.
• Arya Samaj founded 1875 at Bombay by Swami Dayananda Saraswati; book Satyarth Prakash.
• Dayananda's slogan: "Go back to the Vedas"; birth name Mula Shankar.
• DAV College, Lahore, 1886 (Lala Hansraj); Gurukul Kangri, 1902 (Swami Shraddhanand).
• Ramakrishna Mission founded 1897 by Swami Vivekananda; headquarters Belur Math.
• Vivekananda spoke at the Chicago Parliament of Religions, September 1893.
• Theosophical Society, New York, 1875 — Blavatsky and Olcott; Indian HQ Adyar (1882).
• Annie Besant founded Central Hindu College, Banaras, 1898.
• MAO College, Aligarh, 1875 — Sir Syed Ahmed Khan; became AMU in 1920.
• Dar-ul-Ulum, Deoband, 1866 — Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi.
• Ahmadiyya movement, Qadian, 1889 — Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
• Singh Sabha, Amritsar, 1873; Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925.
• Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha, 1851, Bombay — Parsi reform; journal Rast Goftar.
• Aruvippuram consecration, 1888; SNDP Yogam, 1903 — Sree Narayana Guru.
• Self-Respect Movement, 1925 — Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy.
• Age of Consent Act 1891 — agitation by B.M. Malabari; Sarda Act 1929 under Lord Irwin.
• Native Marriage Act 1872 — outcome of Keshab Chandra Sen's campaign.

Memory Tables

Table 1: Organisation → Founder → Year → Place

Organisation	Founder(s)	Year	Place
Atmiya Sabha	Raja Ram Mohan Roy	1815	Calcutta
Brahmo Samaj	Raja Ram Mohan Roy	1828	Calcutta
Tattvabodhini Sabha	Debendranath Tagore	1839	Calcutta
Paramahansa Mandali	Dadoba Pandurang and others	1849	Bombay
Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha	Naoroji Furdunji, S.S. Bengalee	1851	Bombay
Scientific Society	Sir Syed Ahmed Khan	1864	Ghazipur
Veda Samaj	K. Sridharalu Naidu (inspired by Keshab Chandra Sen)	1864	Madras
Dar-ul-Ulum	Qasim Nanautavi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi	1866	Deoband
Prarthana Samaj	Atmaram Pandurang	1867	Bombay
Satyashodhak Samaj	Jyotiba Phule	1873	Pune
Singh Sabha	Sikh reformers	1873	Amritsar
Arya Samaj	Dayananda Saraswati	1875	Bombay
MAO College	Sir Syed Ahmed Khan	1875	Aligarh
Theosophical Society	Blavatsky and Olcott	1875	New York (Adyar 1882)
Sadharan Brahmo Samaj	Ananda Mohan Bose, Shibnath Shastri	1878	Calcutta
Ahmadiyya movement	Mirza Ghulam Ahmad	1889	Qadian
Nadwat-ul-Ulama	Shibli Numani	1894	Lucknow
Ramakrishna Mission	Swami Vivekananda	1897	Belur
Central Hindu College	Annie Besant	1898	Banaras
Gurukul Kangri	Swami Shraddhanand	1902	Haridwar
SNDP Yogam	Followers of Narayana Guru (Dr. Palpu)	1903	Kerala
Self-Respect Movement	Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy	1925	Tamil Nadu

Table 2: Person → Book / Journal

Person	Book / Journal	Year
Raja Ram Mohan Roy	Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin	1809
Raja Ram Mohan Roy	Samvad Kaumudi (Bengali weekly)	1821
Raja Ram Mohan Roy	Mirat-ul-Akhbar (Persian weekly)	1822
Debendranath Tagore	Tattvabodhini Patrika	1843
Dadabhai Naoroji (associated)	Rast Goftar	1851
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan	Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq	1870
Jyotiba Phule	Gulamgiri	1873
Dayananda Saraswati	Satyarth Prakash	1875
Swami Vivekananda	Prabuddha Bharata; Udbodhan	1896; 1899
B.M. Malabari (editor)	Indian Spectator	—

Table 3: Social Law → Year → Governor-General/Viceroy

Law	Year	Head of Government
Abolition of Sati (Regulation XVII)	1829	William Bentinck
Indian Slavery Act	1843	Ellenborough
Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act	1856	Canning (bill under Dalhousie's administration)
Female Infanticide Prevention Act	1870	Mayo
Native (Civil) Marriage Act	1872	Northbrook
Age of Consent Act	1891	Lansdowne
Child Marriage Restraint (Sarda) Act	1929	Irwin

Practice MCQs

Q1. The Brahmo Samaj was founded in 1828 by (a) Debendranath Tagore (b) Keshab Chandra Sen (c) Raja Ram Mohan Roy (d) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Q2. Sati was declared illegal by Regulation XVII of 1829 during the tenure of (a) Lord Dalhousie (b) Lord William Bentinck (c) Lord Canning (d) Lord Cornwallis

Q3. "Satyarth Prakash" was written by (a) Swami Vivekananda (b) Raja Ram Mohan Roy (c) Swami Dayananda Saraswati (d) Ramakrishna Paramahansa

Q4. The Arya Samaj was founded in 1875 at (a) Lahore (b) Bombay (c) Delhi (d) Haridwar

Q5. Swami Vivekananda addressed the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in (a) 1890 (b) 1893 (c) 1897 (d) 1902

Q6. The Theosophical Society set up its Indian headquarters at (a) Adyar (b) Aligarh (c) Belur (d) Pune

Q7. Who founded the Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873? (a) Gopal Hari Deshmukh (b) M.G. Ranade (c) Jyotiba Phule (d) Atmaram Pandurang

Q8. The Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh was established by (a) Shibli Numani (b) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (c) Qasim Nanautavi (d) Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Q9. Match the pairs:

1. Prarthana Samaj — A. 1867
2. Ramakrishna Mission — B. 1897
3. SNDP Yogam — C. 1903
4. Deoband Dar-ul-Ulum — D. 1866 (a) 1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D (b) 1-B, 2-A, 3-D, 4-C (c) 1-A, 2-C, 3-B, 4-D (d) 1-D, 2-B, 3-C, 4-A

Q10. The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856 was the result of the campaign led by (a) Keshab Chandra Sen (b) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (c) B.M. Malabari (d) Debendranath Tagore

Q11. The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was formed in 1878 because of differences with (a) Debendranath Tagore (b) Raja Ram Mohan Roy (c) Keshab Chandra Sen (d) Atmaram Pandurang

Q12. Arrange the following in chronological order of founding:

1. Arya Samaj 2. Atmiya Sabha 3. Ramakrishna Mission 4. Prarthana Samaj (a) 2, 4, 1, 3 (b) 2, 1, 4, 3 (c) 4, 2, 1, 3 (d) 2, 4, 3, 1

Q13. Which of the following statements about the Deoband movement is NOT correct? (a) The Dar-ul-Ulum was founded in 1866 by Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (b) It promoted English education and loyalty to the British government (c) It was located in Saharanpur district of the United Provinces (d) Its scholars later welcomed the founding of the Indian National Congress

Q14. "One caste, one religion, one God for man" is associated with (a) Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy (b) Jyotiba Phule (c) Sree Narayana Guru (d) B.R. Ambedkar

Q15. The Age of Consent Act, 1891, which raised the age of consent for girls from 10 to 12 years, was passed during the viceroyalty of (a) Lord Ripon (b) Lord Dufferin (c) Lord Lansdowne (d) Lord Curzon

Answer Key

Q	Answer	One-line reason
1	(c)	Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha at Calcutta on 20 August 1828.
2	(b)	Bentinck's Regulation XVII of 1829 outlawed sati in Bengal Presidency.
3	(c)	Satyarth Prakash (1875) is Dayananda Saraswati's chief work, written in Hindi.
4	(b)	Arya Samaj began at Bombay in April 1875; headquarters moved to Lahore in 1877.
5	(b)	Vivekananda spoke at Chicago in September 1893.
6	(a)	The Society, founded at New York (1875), made Adyar near Madras its HQ in 1882.
7	(c)	Jyotiba Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj at Pune in 1873.
8	(b)	Sir Syed Ahmed Khan set up MAO College in 1875; it became AMU in 1920.
9	(a)	Prarthana Samaj 1867, RK Mission 1897, SNDP 1903, Deoband 1866.
10	(b)	Vidyasagar's scriptural campaign produced the 1856 Act.
11	(c)	Keshab's daughter's under-age marriage split his followers, who formed the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.
12	(a)	Atmiya Sabha 1815, Prarthana Samaj 1867, Arya Samaj 1875, RK Mission 1897.
13	(b)	Deoband rejected English education and opposed the loyalist Aligarh school.
14	(c)	Narayana Guru declared this ideal; SNDP Yogam (1903) spread it.
15	(c)	The 1891 Act came under Lord Lansdowne after B.M. Malabari's agitation.