Aspirant Academy

History

Lower Caste Reform Movements

Socio-Religious Reform Movements (19th–20th Century), Intellectual Awakening

Paper I · Unit 1 Section 8 of 12 0 PYQs 32 min
Topic Preview Subject Inventory

Public Section Preview

Lower Caste Reform Movements

7.1 Jyotirao Phule and the Satyashodhak Samaj (Maharashtra)

Jyotirao Phule (1827–1890) belonged to the Mali (gardener) caste — a non-Brahmin lower-caste community in Maharashtra. His reform work was the most systematic and comprehensive lower-caste reform movement of the 19th century.

Achievements

  • With wife Savitribai Phule, opened the first school for girls in India at Bhide Wada, Pune (1848) — Savitribai became India's first woman teacher.
  • They also opened India's first school for "untouchables" (1852).
  • Founded Satyashodhak Samaj (1873) — "Truth-Seeking Society" — to challenge Brahmin ritual monopoly; conducted marriages without Brahmin priests ("book marriages").
  • Wrote Gulamgiri ("Slavery," 1873) — dedicated to African-American abolitionists, drawing a parallel between caste oppression and racial slavery.
  • First to use the term "Dalit" (oppressed) for the untouchable castes.
  • Received the title "Mahatma" from the citizens of Pune in 1888.

7.2 Narayana Guru (1856–1928) — Kerala

Sree Narayana Guru was a Dalit saint-philosopher from the Ezhava community in Kerala. He built temples accessible to all castes when untouchables were prohibited from entering orthodox temples. His motto: "One Caste, One Religion, One God for Humanity" (Oru Jati, Oru Matam, Oru Daivam Manushyanu). He founded the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam (1903), which became the primary organisation of the Ezhava community.

7.3 B.R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) — The Systematic Challenger

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar experienced untouchability personally throughout his life despite achieving his BA (Bombay, 1912), MA and PhD from Columbia University (New York, 1915, 1916), and DSc from London School of Economics. He became the most articulate voice against the caste system.

Key Acts and Writings

  • Mahad Satyagraha (March 1927): Led untouchables to drink from the Chavadar Tank (a public tank in Mahad, Maharashtra) — the first symbolic assertion of untouchables' right to public spaces.
  • Burning of Manu Smriti (December 1927): Public burning of the Manu Smriti (the ancient Hindu law code that codified caste discrimination) — a symbolic declaration that untouchables rejected the scriptural basis of their oppression.
  • Three Roundtable Conferences (1930–32): Represented "depressed classes" separately from Congress.
  • Poona Pact (24 September 1932): Negotiated reserved seats (within joint electorate) with Gandhi as alternative to separate electorates proposed in Communal Award.
  • Annihilation of Caste (1936): Prepared as a presidential address but uninvited after the caste Hindu organisers read his draft — published independently; Gandhi criticised it; Ambedkar rebutted. Most systematic critique of the caste system ever written.
  • Independent Labour Party (1936), Scheduled Castes Federation (1942): Political organisations for Dalit interests.
  • Drafted India's Constitution as the first Law Minister (1947–51).
  • Mass conversion to Buddhism (14 October 1956, Nagpur): Ambedkar and approximately 500,000–600,000 followers converted to Buddhism in the largest mass religious conversion in history. Died 6 December 1956.