10.10 Sikh (Singh Sabha, Akali), Parsi (Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha), and Women's Social Reform Movements (Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde, Begum Rokeya, Dhondo Keshav Karve)

1. Context & Foundation

The cultural and spiritual history of late nineteenth-century India was not entirely dominated by mainstream Hindu and Muslim reform movements. Deep within the socio-cultural fabric of the subcontinent, minor communities and historically marginalized groups were waging their own fierce battles for self-respect, moral purification, and structural survival. While early elite reformers focused on theological debates, a parallel and incredibly powerful wave of grassroots resistance emerged among the Sikhs of Punjab, the Parsis of Bombay, and notably, Indian women across all religious communities who had groaned under the dual weight of feudal patriarchy and colonial exploitation.

In Punjab, the Sikh community faced a unique civilizational threat. Traditional Sikh shrines—the Gurdwaras—had fallen under the hereditary control of corrupt, pro-British priests known as Mahants. These Mahants treated sacred community properties as personal estates and introduced orthodox Hindu idol-worship practices, severely eroding the monotheistic purity of the Khalsa. This spiritual stagnation sparked a twin response: a moderate educational revival led by the Singh Sabha, and a militant, non-violent mass struggle known as the Akali Movement. The battle for the Gurdwaras was not merely a local religious dispute; it was a highly organized struggle for democratic communal autonomy that successfully challenged the might of the British Raj and its local feudal collaborators.

Concurrently, the highly prosperous but culturally stagnant Parsi community of western India underwent a rapid process of modernization. Realizing that their survival as a minority depended on their ability to integrate Western scientific education with Zoroastrian theological purity, Parsi intellectuals led by Naoroji Furdonji and Dadabhai Naoroji established dedicated societies to purge medieval superstitions and dismantle the rigid authority of conservative orthodox priests.

The most revolutionary and agonizing struggle of this era, however, was fought on the front of women's emancipation. For centuries, Indian women had been treated as secondary citizens, subjected to infant marriage, forced domestic confinement (Purdah), systematic denial of literacy, and the horrific isolation of widowhood. While male reformers had secured early protective legislations like the Sati Abolition Act of 1829, the late nineteenth century witnessed the rise of pioneering women reformers themselves. Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde, and Begum Rokeya did not wait for male charity; they established schools, wrote radical critiques of religious scriptures, and organized pan-Indian unions, transforming the social reform struggle into a deep campaign for absolute gender justice and laying the indispensable foundations for modern Indian nationhood.

2. Detailed Study Notes

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                       │     SIKH, PARSI, & WOMEN'S REFORMS     │
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   SIKH REFORMS                      PARSI REFORMS                     WOMEN'S REFORMS
• 1840s: Nirankari (Dayal Das).    • 1851: Rahnumai Sabha.           • 1851: First Girls' School (Phules).
• 1872: Kuka/Namdhari (Ram Singh). • Naoroji Furdonji & Dadabhai.     • 1882: Stripurush Tulana (Shinde).
• 1873: Singh Sabha (Amritsar).    • Organ: "Rast Goftar" weekly.    • 1889: Sharada Sadan (Ramabai).
• 1920: Akali Movement (SGPC).     • Emphasized female literacy.     • 1916: First Women's Uni (Karve).

A. Sikh Reform and Revivalist Movements

The Sikh community constructed powerful internal reform mechanisms to preserve their identity and reclaim their sacred institutions:

• The Nirankari Movement (1840s):

  • The Founder: Established at Rawalpindi by Baba Dayal Das as a movement of purification and return.

  • Core Philosophy: Dayal Das advocated the worship of the Formless God (Nirankar) and strictly rejected all orthodox Hindu rituals, idol worship, and the authority of Brahmin priests. He urged a return to the pristine, original teachings of Guru Nanak.

  • Outcome: The movement developed its own chain of worship centers and priests, issuing authoritative injunctions (hukamnamas) to define Sikh social and religious conduct, eventually evolving into a distinct sect.

• The Namdhari or Kuka Movement (1857/1872):

  • The Genesis: Originally initiated by Bhagat Jawahar Mal (Sian Sahib) and Baba Balak Singh in western Punjab, it transformed into a powerful religio-political force under Baba Ram Singh in 1863.

  • The Reform Agenda: Ram Singh strictly forbade caste distinctions, infanticide, child marriage, and the exchange of dowry. He introduced the simple Anand Marriage ceremony.

  • Militant Character: The followers, known as Kukas (or Namdharis), were given physical and military training. They practiced non-cooperation with the British by boycotting British postal services, railways, and foreign cloth. Following a violent clash over the slaughter of cows, the Kukas raided Malerkotla on January 15, 1872, resulting in a brutal British crackdown where dozens of Kukas were blown to death with cannons and Ram Singh was deported to Rangoon.

• The Singh Sabha Movement (1873):

  • Establishment: Founded at Amritsar in 1873 by the Sikh elite, led by Thakur Singh Sandhawalia and Giani Gian Singh, in response to Kuka suppression and the proselytizing activities of Christian missionaries.

  • Educational Focus: Urged the introduction of modern Western education to the Sikh youth. Under its direct influence, the historic Khalsa College at Amritsar was established in 1892 with British support to promote the Punjabi language and the Gurmukhi script.

• The Akali Movement or Gurdwara Reform Movement (1920–1925):

  • The Target: Evolved out of the Singh Sabha to liberate historical Gurdwaras from the corrupt control of hereditary, pro-British priests (Mahants).

  • Key Confrontations:

    • Nankana Tragedy (December 1920): Mahant Narain Das hired armed thugs who brutally massacred over 100 peaceful Akali reformers inside the birthplace of Guru Nanak.

    • Keys Satyagraha / Keys Affair (1921): The government seized the keys to the Golden Temple treasury, leading to widespread Akali protests. The government was eventually forced to surrender the keys to the newly elected SGPC president, Baba Kharak Singh, which Mahatma Gandhi celebrated as the "first victory of the freedom struggle."

  • The Legal Victory: The movement culminated in the enactment of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1922 (revised in 1925), permanently placing the administration of all historical Sikh shrines under the democratic control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) as the apex body.

B. The Parsi Reform Movement

The small but highly influential Parsi community of the Bombay Presidency pioneered some of the earliest modernizing reforms in Western India:

• Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Zoroastrian Reform Society - 1851):

  • The Foundation: Established in Bombay in 1851 by a group of English-educated, progressive Parsis.

  • The Leaders: Guided by Naoroji Furdonji (who served as president), Dadabhai Naoroji (the "Grand Old Man of India"), K.R. Cama, and the social reformer Sorabjee Shapoorji Bengalee.

  • Objectives: Aimed at the complete restoration of Zoroastrian religious purity, the eradication of expensive, superstitious customs, and the promotion of female literacy.

• Rast Goftar (The Truth-Teller):

  • An influential Anglo-Gujarati weekly newspaper launched by Dadabhai Naoroji to serve as the primary intellectual organ of the Sabha and spread modernizing ideas among the Parsi masses.

  • The Outcome: Through these systematic campaigns, the Parsis rapidly dismantled orthdox resistance, emerging as one of the most socially modernized, western-educated, and economically dominant communities in modern India.

C. Women's Social Reform Movements and Pioneers

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed a dramatic transition, as Indian women stepped forward to lead their own liberation struggles:

• Savitribai Phule (1831–1897):

  • The Educator: Working in absolute solidarity with her husband Jyotirao Phule, she became the first female teacher of modern India.

  • Satyashodhak Outreach: In 1851, she co-founded the first indigenous girls' school at Poona (Bhidet Wada). Despite facing severe public humiliation and having mud and cow dung thrown at her by orthodox conservatives, she persevered.

  • Welfare for Widows: In 1854, she opened a specialized home for pregnant and destitute widows to prevent infanticide, and later took a leading role in managing relief camps during the devastating plague epidemic of 1897 in Pune, where she eventually contracted the disease and died.

• Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922):

  • The Sanskrit Scholar: Awarded the titles of "Pandita" and "Saraswati" by Calcutta University for her extraordinary mastery over Sanskrit scriptures.

  • The Rebellion: She publicly rejected orthodox caste boundaries by marrying a lower-caste Bengali lawyer, Bipin Behari Medhavi, and subsequently converted to Christianity, exposing the severe limitations of traditional Hindu social reform.

  • Arya Mahila Samaj (1881): Founded in Pune to promote female education and campaign against the practice of child marriage.

  • Sharada Sadan (1889): Established in Bombay (and later moved to Pune) to provide shelter, vocational training, and modern education to young, high-caste Hindu widows who had been abandoned by their families.

  • Mukti Sadan: Founded the Mukti Mission at Kedgaon to house and educate hundreds of famine victims and destitute young girls.

• Tarabai Shinde (1850–1910):

  • Feminist Pioneer: A radical feminist thinker and writer associated with the Satyashodhak Samaj.

  • Stripurush Tulana (1882): Published her masterpiece book Stripurush Tulana (A Comparison Between Women and Men) in 1882 as a blistering response to a local court case where a young Brahmin widow was sentenced to death for aborting her illegitimate child.

  • The Critique: Her book is celebrated as the first modern, systematic feminist critique of patriarchy and religious scriptures in India. She openly attacked the double standards of Hindu male reformers, exposed the hypocrisy of religious texts written by men, and defended women's sexual, emotional, and social autonomy.

• Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932):

  • The Muslim Pioneer: A visionary writer, social worker, and feminist from Bengal who championed the cause of Muslim women trapped under the strict Purdah system.

  • Sultana's Dream (1905): Wrote this landmark feminist science fiction story in English, depicting a utopian "Ladyland" where gender roles are reversed: men are confined to the domestic "zenana" while women run the state, universities, and scientific laboratories using solar energy.

  • The Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School: Established the school in Bhagalpur in 1909 (later shifted to Calcutta) utilizing her husband's inheritance. She travelled door-to-door, persuading orthodox Muslim families to allow their daughters to attend school.

  • Anjuman-e-Khawatat-e-Islam: Founded the Islamic Women's Association in 1916 to foster a sense of solidarity and fight for the legal, educational, and marital rights of Muslim women.

• Dhondo Keshav (D.K.) Karve (1858–1962):

  • Maharishi Karve: A dedicated professor of mathematics at Fergusson College, Pune, who committed his life to women's higher education and widow welfare.

  • Widow Remarriage: In 1893, he established the Widow Remarriage Association, and set a personal example by marrying a young widow, Godubai (later named Baya Karve).

  • The Women's University (1916): Founded the first Women's University in India (SNDT Women's University) in Bombay in 1916, modeled after Japan's Women's University, to offer specialized higher education in vernacular languages.

  • The Bharat Ratna (1958): For his monumental, life-long contributions to social reform, he became the first social reformer to be awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1958.

• Sarala Devi Chaudhurani (1872–1945):

  • Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910): Founded this historic organization in Allahabad in 1910. It was the first pan-Indian women's organization managed entirely by women for women.

  • The Strategy: Sarala Devi identified the Purdah system as the primary obstacle to women's progress. She organized a network of home-based teachers who travelled to women's homes to provide literacy and vocational training, establishing successful branches in Calcutta, Lahore, Karachi, and Delhi.

D. Landmark Pan-Indian Women's Organizations

As the national movement gained strength, women consolidated their struggle by forming powerful national organizations to demand legal and political rights:

• Women's Indian Association (WIA - 1917):

  • Founded in Madras in 1917 by Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Sarojini Naidu, and Dorothy Jinarajadasa, with Besant serving as its first president.

  • It was the first pan-Indian organization to demand women's suffrage (the right to vote) and equal legal representation before the Southborough Franchise Committee.

• National Council of Women in India (NCWI - 1925):

  • Established in 1925 under the leadership of Lady Mehribai Tata and Lady Dorabji Tata as a national branch of the International Council of Women, representing elite, professional Indian women.

• All-India Women's Conference (AIWC - 1927):

  • Founded in 1927 by Margaret Cousins in Pune. It emerged as the most powerful and representative women’s organization in India, campaigning vigorously for the passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 and the subsequent overhauling of Hindu personal laws.

E. Regional Deccan, Hyderabad State & Telangana Connections

The social reform currents of Western and Southern India had a direct, transformative impact on the Hyderabad State and Telangana:

• Spillover of the Phule and Karve Models: The radical anti-caste and women's education works of Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai, and D.K. Karve in neighboring Maharashtra directly crossed the borders into the Marathwada and Telangana districts of the Nizam's Hyderabad State.

• The Birth of the Library Movement: Young, Telugu-educated reformists in Telangana were deeply inspired by these external social movements. In 1901, they established the Sri Krishnadevaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam in Hyderabad, which served as the epicentre of the regional cultural reawakening, bypassing the autocratic restrictions of the Nizam’s administration.

• The Devadasi / Jogini Eradication Campaign: Reformist organizations in Telangana, highly influenced by the social purity movements led by Kandukuri Veeresalingam and the Madras-based Women's Indian Association (WIA), launched a sustained struggle against the highly exploitative Devadasi and Jogini systems (where lower-caste girls were ritually dedicated to temples and subsequently exploited by local feudal landlords, the Deshmukhs).

• The Andhra Maha Sabha (AMS): Formed in the 1930s, the AMS institutionalized these social reform campaigns across rural Telangana. Under the leadership of women reformers, the AMS campaigned against child marriage, promoted female literacy, and organized girls' schools in districts like Warangal and Karimnagar, directly linking women's social emancipation with the broader political struggle against the feudal autocracy of the Nizam.

3. Quick Revision Cheat Sheet

• 1840s: Nirankari Movement founded in Rawalpindi by Baba Dayal Das to promote the worship of the Formless God (Nirankar).

• 1851: Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha established in Bombay by Naoroji Furdonji and Dadabhai Naoroji; official organ: Rast Goftar (Anglo-Gujarati weekly).

• 1851: Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule establish the first indigenous girls' school in Poona.

• 1872: Kuka / Namdhari Movement led by Baba Ram Singh is brutally suppressed; Ram Singh is deported to Rangoon.

• 1873: Singh Sabha Movement founded in Amritsar to introduce modern Western education to Sikhs.

• 1881: Pandita Ramabai establishes the Arya Mahila Samaj in Pune to promote female education.

• 1882: Tarabai Shinde publishes Stripurush Tulana, the first modern Indian feminist critique of patriarchy.

• 1889: Pandita Ramabai establishes the Sharada Sadan in Bombay to house and educate high-caste young widows.

• 1892: Khalsa College established in Amritsar under the influence of the Singh Sabha.

• 1905: Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain publishes her feminist science fiction masterpiece Sultana's Dream.

• 1909: Ramabai Ranade and G.K. Devadhar establish the Poona Seva Sadan for women's vocational training.

• 1910: Sarala Devi Chaudhurani establishes the Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad, the first pan-Indian women's organization.

• 1916: D.K. Karve establishes the SNDT Women's University in Bombay, the first women's university in India.

• 1917: Women's Indian Association (WIA) founded in Madras by Annie Besant and Margaret Cousins.

• 1920–1925: Akali Movement forces the passage of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act (1922/1925), placing Gurdwaras under the SGPC.

• 1927: All-India Women's Conference (AIWC) established by Margaret Cousins in Pune.

• 1958: Maharishi D.K. Karve is awarded the Bharat Ratna, becoming the first social reformer to receive this honor.

4. Exam Strategy & PYQ Focus

High-Yield Focus Areas

• The "First Women's University" Details (Extremely High Priority): SPSC and other civil service exams frequently target the establishment details of the first women's university. Always connect SNDT Women's University (1916) with Dhondo Keshav (D.K.) Karve in Bombay, not Pandita Ramabai or Annie Besant.

• Tarabai Shinde’s Masterpiece: Memorize the exact book and its publication year: Stripurush Tulana (1882). This is a very frequent target for match-the-following and statement-based questions on pioneering feminist literature.

• Savitribai Phule’s Achievements: SPSC exams heavily target her specific milestones:

  • First female teacher of India.

  • Established the first girls' school in 1851 at Poona (Bhidet Wada).

  • Co-founded the specialized home for destitute pregnant widows in 1854.

• Sikh Reform Chronology: Do not confuse the sequence of various Sikh movements. Memorize this chronological flow:

  • Nirankari Movement (1840s) $\rightarrow$ Namdhari/Kuka (1857/1872) $\rightarrow$ Singh Sabha (1873) $\rightarrow$ Akali Movement (1920–1925).

• The SGPC Legal Milestone: Always connect the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1922 (revised in 1925) with the culmination of the Akali Movement, which placed Gurdwara properties under the democratic control of the SGPC.

• Parsi Reform Press Organ: Connect the weekly newspaper Rast Goftar (1851) directly with Dadabhai Naoroji and the Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha, not Sir Syed Ahmad Khan or the Aligarh Movement.

• Bharat Stree Mahamandal Founder: Note that the first pan-Indian women's organization, Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910, Allahabad), was founded by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, who was a granddaughter of Debendranath Tagore, not Ramabai Ranade or Sarojini Naidu.

• WIA First President: Remember that the Women's Indian Association (WIA) was founded in Madras in 1917, and its first president was Annie Besant, not Sarojini Naidu or Margaret Cousins.

What to Skip / Low-Yield

• Detailed genealogical trees of individual Akali volunteers who courted arrest during the Golden Temple "Keys Affair" of 1921.

• Minor financial account registers of the purchase of printing equipment for the Rast Goftar press in Bombay.

How to Study This Topic

1. Construct a "Women Proponents" Matrix: Create a quick, five-column table on a single study card: Reformer Name $\rightarrow$ Key Organization $\rightarrow$ Key Publication/Book $\rightarrow$ Exact Year $\rightarrow$ Core Objective. This matrix guarantees that you can instantly solve any matching question on women's social reforms.

2. Contrast the Sikh Reform Movements: Keep a clear mental distinction between the religious characters of the three main Sikh movements:

   • Nirankari: Spiritual, focused on worshipping the formless God (Nirankar) and rejecting Brahminical rituals.

   • Kuka/Namdhari: Aggressively anti-British, religio-political, practiced non-cooperation, and wore white turbans.

   • Akali: Mass satyagraha movement focused on liberating historical Gurdwaras from corrupt, British-backed Mahants, culminating in the SGPC Act.

5. Chronology & Broader Context (Past – Present – Future)

Decline of the Maratha & Sikh Empires; Rise of corrupt Mahants & Social Decay (Early 19th Century)
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Baba Dayal Das establishes the Nirankari Movement in Rawalpindi (1840s)
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Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule found the first indigenous Girls' School in Poona (1851)
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Naoroji Furdonji and Dadabhai Naoroji establish the Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha in Bombay (1851)
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Passage of the historic Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act XV of 1856 (July 26, 1856)
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Kuka / Namdhari Movement is suppressed; Baba Ram Singh is deported to Rangoon (1872)
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Singh Sabha Movement is founded in Amritsar to promote Sikh education (1873)
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Pandita Ramabai establishes the Arya Mahila Samaj in Pune (1881)
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Tarabai Shinde publishes Stripurush Tulana (1882)
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Pandita Ramabai establishes the Sharada Sadan for young high-caste widows (1889)
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Begum Rokeya Hossain publishes her feminist masterpiece Sultana's Dream (1905)
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Ramabai Ranade establishes the Poona Seva Sadan for women's vocational training (1909)
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Sarala Devi Chaudhurani founds the Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad (1910)
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D.K. Karve establishes the SNDT Women's University in Bombay (1916)
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Women's Indian Association (WIA) is established in Madras by Annie Besant (1917)
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Akali Movement forces the passage of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act (1922 / 1925)
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All-India Women's Conference (AIWC) is established in Pune by Margaret Cousins (1927)
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Post-Independence India outlaws gender-based discrimination under Article 15 (1950)
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D.K. Karve is awarded the Bharat Ratna for his social reform contributions (1958)

• Pre-Context:

  • Pre-1840s: Traditional Indian society had fallen into a state of structural stagnation following the collapse of the Peshwai and the Sikh Empire. Social evils like Sati, female infanticide, child marriage, and the total denial of literacy to women and lower-castes were deeply entrenched, protected by orthodox priestly classes. Early British administrators followed a policy of non-intervention in native social matters to prevent religious rebellions.

• Concurrent Events:

  • The Western Women's Suffrage Movement (late 19th - early 20th Century): Raging in the United States and Great Britain, this historic struggle of women to secure the right to vote directly inspired Indian women reformers—most notably Margaret Cousins and Sarojini Naidu—to demand women's franchise and equal legal status before British constitutional committees in India, leading to the establishment of the WIA in 1917.

  • The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (1917): Occurring in the background, this monumental political shift proclaimed absolute economic, social, and gender equality for the working classes, deeply inspiring progressive Indian nationalists and trade unionists (such as N.M. Joshi, who co-founded the AITUC in 1920) to align the working-class struggle with the cause of women's social and economic emancipation.

• Post-Context:

  • Post-1947: Following the transfer of power, the progressive gender and minority rights pioneered by these reform movements were permanently institutionalized in the Indian Constitution (1950), primarily through the efforts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, which outlawed untouchability (Article 17), prohibited gender-based discrimination (Article 15), and secured equal opportunity in public employment (Article 16). In the legal space, the subsequent enactment of the Hindu Code Bills (1955–1956) secured equal rights to inheritance, marriage, and divorce for Hindu women, permanently fulfilling the visionary social agendas pioneered by Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai, and Tarabai Shinde.