RAS question
The Shuddhi Movement was associated with:
Correct answer: (A) Arya Samaj (reconversion of Hindus who had converted).
The Shuddhi Movement was associated with the Arya Samaj, which used it to bring back Hindus who had converted to Islam or Christianity.
Explanation
The Shuddhi Movement belongs to the reform programme of the Arya Samaj, founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. The National Institute of Open Schooling lesson on social and religious reform states that Arya Samaj started Shuddhi to bring back Hindus who had converted to Islam and Christianity. The movement was especially linked with Swami Shraddhanand and was framed as a reconversion or purification effort. That is why Arya Samaj is the precise association asked in the MCQ. Muslim Tabligh and Tanzim movements countered it, which made Shuddhi part of the sharper communal politics of the 1920s, not merely a general reform slogan.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Brahmo Samaj is wrong because Brahmo opposed this, while the verified National Institute of Open Schooling source specifically links Shuddhi to Arya Samaj.
- (C) Theosophical Society is wrong because the option itself points to a different organisation, and the National Institute of Open Schooling passage identifies Arya Samaj, not the Theosophical Society, with Shuddhi.
- (D) Ramakrishna Mission is wrong because it did not conduct Shuddhi, while the National Institute of Open Schooling attributes the movement to Arya Samaj.
Concept
This tests modern Indian socio-religious reform movements, especially the ability to match reform organisations with their characteristic programmes. It recurs in RAS because Arya Samaj, Shuddhi and the communal responses of the 1920s sit at the junction of reform, revivalism and nationalist-era politics.