Socio Religious movements

Statement 1 is correct. Ayyankali was a social reformer who worked for the advancement of deprived untouchable people in the princely state of Travancore, British India. He defied the social conventions that applied to lower castes and untouchables in the society.
The region in Kerala where Ayyankali lived was particularly affected by social divisions during his lifetime and was described by Swami Vivekananda as a “mad house” of castes. The Pulayars were regarded as the lowest group of people in the Travancore kingdom and they suffered badly from oppressive discrimination, in particular from members of the powerful Nair caste.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Ayyankali (28 August 1863 – 1941) did not participate in Quit India Movement that started on 8 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British Rule of India.

Vishvanath Narayan Mandlik (8 March 1833 – 9 May 1899) was an eminent Bombay citizen, lawyer, author and a legal expert on Hindu law.
• Although a conservative when dealing in several cases involving Hindu traditions (where he opposed state intervention), he supported some reforms such as education for women.
• He also translated several English classics and law books into Marathi.
• He also wrote several works on Hindu Law in English, including translations of Yajnyawalkya’s Smriti, the Manu Smriti and Nilakantha’s Vywahara-mayukha.
• He founded a bi-weekly in English called the Native Opinion in 1864 to which he was the sole contributor in the early years.

The Faraizi movement, also called the Fara’idi Movement because of its emphasis on the Islamic pillars of faith, was founded by Haji Shariatullah in 1818.
• Its scene of action was East Bengal, and it aimed at the eradication of social innovations or un-Islamic practices current among the Muslims of the region and draws their attention to their duties as Muslims.
• Under the leadership of Haji’s son, Dudu Mian, the movement became revolutionary from 1840 onwards.
• He gave the movement an organisational system from the village to the provincial level with a khalifa or authorised deputy at every level.
• The Fara’idis organised a paramilitary force armed with clubs to fight the zamindars who were mostly Hindu, though there were some Muslim landlords too, besides the indigo planters. Dudu Mian asked his followers not to pay rent.
• The organisation even established its own Law courts. Dudu Mian was arrested several times, and his arrest in 1847 finally weakened the movement.
• The movement survived merely as a religious movement without political overtones after the death of Dudu Mian in 1862.

A group of westerners led by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) and Colonel M.S. Olcott, who were inspired by Indian thought and culture, founded the Theosophical Society in New York City, United States in 1875.
• In 1882, they shifted their headquarters to Adyar, on the outskirts of Madras (at that time) in India.
• The society believed that a special relationship could be established between a person’s soul and God by contemplation, prayer, revelation, etc. It accepted the Hindu beliefs in reincarnation and karma, and drew inspiration from the philosophy of the Upanishads and samkhya, yoga and Vedanta schools of thought.
• It aimed to work for universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.

The development of the Western culture and ideology forced the traditional institutions to revitalize themselves.
• During the second half of the nineteenth century, the expression of protest and desire for change were articulated through various reform movements.
• What gave these reform movements an ideological unity were rationalism, religious universalism and humanism.
• For example, Raja Rammohun Roy repudiated the infallibility of the Vedas and during the Aligarh Movement, Syed Ahmed Khan emphasized that religious tenets were not immutable.
• As Keshab Chandra Sen said, ‘Our position is not that truths are to be in all religions, but that all established religions of the World are true.’

Dharma Sabha: The orthodox Hindu led by Raja Radhakant Deb organised the ‘Dharma Sabha’ with the object of countering the propaganda of BrahmoSamaj.

Tatvabodhini Sabha: Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore founded the Tatvabodhini Sabha in 1839 to propagate Rammohun Roy’s ideas. The Tatvabodhini Sabha and its organ the Tatvabodhini Patrika promoted a systematic study of India’s past in Bengali language and helped spread rational outlook.
Brahmo Samaj of India: Keshubsen and his followers broke away from Brahmo samaj in 1866 and established what was called the ‘Brahmo Samaj of India’.

Jyotirao Phule, a gardener by caste who was fascinated by the founding principles of the United States, espoused a radical view of social change.
• Shivaji, to him, stood up not only to the tyranny of Aurangzeb that emanated from Agra, but also to the tyranny within Hindu society of its hereditary elite.
• Phule in his book/publication Life of Shivaji wanted the ordinary peasant to emulate Shivaji and stand up against every variety of oppression, domestic as well as foreign.

The Satyarth Prakash (The light of Truth) is the masterpiece of Swami
Dayanand Saraswati.
•As the great writer of this masterpiece Swami Dayanand was a symbol of ultimate
morality and spiritualism and was a sage of standing.
•This book (Satyarth Prakash) is, indeed, and encyclopedia of the various
contemporary social religious and political currents cross-currents and movements
going on at the time of the writer’s life.
•To go it further, the writer has not spared the past events and guiding philosophies,
which has polluted the human mind and deteriorated the man’s quest for true
knowledge and right way of life.

The Justice Party, earlier South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political
party in the Madras Presidency of British India. It was established in 1916 by Natesa
Mudaliar and co-founded by T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series
of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency.

Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha is a central institution formed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
for removing difficulties of the untouchables and placing their grievances before
government
S.N.D.P. means Sri Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana Yogam or sangam. Narayana
Guru through his socio religious teachings and writings has become so famous in the socioreligions and political scenario of Kerala during 19th century that all the young people
turned towards the reformative movements of Sri Narayana Guru and voluntarially they
have redesignated their former youth association (it’s called Vivatu sangha) as S.N.D.P. It
was registered as a joint stock company in January 1903 with Sri Narayana Guru as
life time president.