C.S. Adcock
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198078012
- eISBN:
- 9780199080984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198078012.003.0044
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
The Arya Samaj has long been distinguished among nineteenth century reform organizations as forerunner of Hindu nationalist politics and exemplar of Hindu religious intolerance. Arya Samaj practices ...
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The Arya Samaj has long been distinguished among nineteenth century reform organizations as forerunner of Hindu nationalist politics and exemplar of Hindu religious intolerance. Arya Samaj practices that can be classed as proselytizing lie at the heart of this scholarly assessment: practices of religious controversy between contending Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian organizations; and the shuddhi ritual of conversion or purification. This chapter argues that understandings of the so-called proselytizing activities of the Arya Samaj have been circumscribed by the framing narrative of Hindu Tolerance. One consequence is a near exclusive focus on the motives or intentions of Hindu elite ‘proselytizers’ in the Arya Samaj. When shuddhi is viewed from the perspective of those who pursued conversion, its subversive potential becomes visible. The chapter treats the case of the Arya Samaj controversialist and former Muslim, Dharm Pal, who pursued shuddhi as a step towards radical caste reform.Less
The Arya Samaj has long been distinguished among nineteenth century reform organizations as forerunner of Hindu nationalist politics and exemplar of Hindu religious intolerance. Arya Samaj practices that can be classed as proselytizing lie at the heart of this scholarly assessment: practices of religious controversy between contending Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian organizations; and the shuddhi ritual of conversion or purification. This chapter argues that understandings of the so-called proselytizing activities of the Arya Samaj have been circumscribed by the framing narrative of Hindu Tolerance. One consequence is a near exclusive focus on the motives or intentions of Hindu elite ‘proselytizers’ in the Arya Samaj. When shuddhi is viewed from the perspective of those who pursued conversion, its subversive potential becomes visible. The chapter treats the case of the Arya Samaj controversialist and former Muslim, Dharm Pal, who pursued shuddhi as a step towards radical caste reform.
C.S. Adcock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199995431
- eISBN:
- 9780199346417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199995431.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter 4 details the political connotations that the language of universal religion came to acquire when Arya Samajists and colonial officials negotiated the colonial policy of religious toleration ...
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Chapter 4 details the political connotations that the language of universal religion came to acquire when Arya Samajists and colonial officials negotiated the colonial policy of religious toleration in the years after 1907. As colonial officials became preoccupied with the question of how to determine whether their organization was religious in the generic sense, or whether it was compromised by political entanglements, Arya Samaj leaders found new utility in the language of universal religion. After 1907, characterizations of shuddhi as religious proselytizing subserved Arya Samaj claims to religious freedom from government interference.Less
Chapter 4 details the political connotations that the language of universal religion came to acquire when Arya Samajists and colonial officials negotiated the colonial policy of religious toleration in the years after 1907. As colonial officials became preoccupied with the question of how to determine whether their organization was religious in the generic sense, or whether it was compromised by political entanglements, Arya Samaj leaders found new utility in the language of universal religion. After 1907, characterizations of shuddhi as religious proselytizing subserved Arya Samaj claims to religious freedom from government interference.
C.S. Adcock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199995431
- eISBN:
- 9780199346417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199995431.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter 5 describes the contested practices and politics of shuddhi through the first decade of the twentieth century. Scholars have emphasized how shuddhi served the interests of caste Hindu elites ...
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Chapter 5 describes the contested practices and politics of shuddhi through the first decade of the twentieth century. Scholars have emphasized how shuddhi served the interests of caste Hindu elites in the politics of representation. The chapter complicates this picture by documenting how non-elites—including Untouchables and Muslims—appropriated shuddhi into their own ritual-political initiatives in ways that rendered shuddhi’s contribution to the upper-caste politics of Hindu unity uncertain. Questioning whether shuddhi can be adequately described in terms of proselytizing or conversion, the chapter makes visible forms of nonelite politics that the language of religion obscures.Less
Chapter 5 describes the contested practices and politics of shuddhi through the first decade of the twentieth century. Scholars have emphasized how shuddhi served the interests of caste Hindu elites in the politics of representation. The chapter complicates this picture by documenting how non-elites—including Untouchables and Muslims—appropriated shuddhi into their own ritual-political initiatives in ways that rendered shuddhi’s contribution to the upper-caste politics of Hindu unity uncertain. Questioning whether shuddhi can be adequately described in terms of proselytizing or conversion, the chapter makes visible forms of nonelite politics that the language of religion obscures.
Nonica Datta
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195699340
- eISBN:
- 9780199080236
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195699340.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter introduces Subhashini as a colonial subject and engages with her life history. It seeks to connect and situate a daughter's testimony within a parallel social history — a history of the ...
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This chapter introduces Subhashini as a colonial subject and engages with her life history. It seeks to connect and situate a daughter's testimony within a parallel social history — a history of the Arya Samaj — and her father's life history. The shifting contexts within which the author frames Subhashini's story are informed by the narrative tensions in the testimony. There are many stories in this chapter.Less
This chapter introduces Subhashini as a colonial subject and engages with her life history. It seeks to connect and situate a daughter's testimony within a parallel social history — a history of the Arya Samaj — and her father's life history. The shifting contexts within which the author frames Subhashini's story are informed by the narrative tensions in the testimony. There are many stories in this chapter.
Carey Anthony Watt
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195668025
- eISBN:
- 9780199081905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195668025.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
This chapter explores how education was used to train both the mind and body to promote active participation in society, a belief common to Indian and Western understandings of the connection between ...
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This chapter explores how education was used to train both the mind and body to promote active participation in society, a belief common to Indian and Western understandings of the connection between a citizen’s physical health and service to society The leaders of the subcontinent’s social service organizations were keen that healthy Indians became active, patriotic, and efficient citizens. The chapter focuses on the educational interventions of the Arya Samaj, the Kanya Mahavidyalaya, the Theosophical Society, The Servants of India Society, The Kangri Gurukul, among others. Students were also encouraged to reject colonial employment in favour of social service. The observation of brahmacharya was encouraged amongst male students. The chapter also describes the physical capabilities of Professor Ramamurti Naidu, the athletics instructor of Central Hindu College. The influence of Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys (1908) is discussed as is also the threat posed by the growing number of Boy Scout movements to British power.Less
This chapter explores how education was used to train both the mind and body to promote active participation in society, a belief common to Indian and Western understandings of the connection between a citizen’s physical health and service to society The leaders of the subcontinent’s social service organizations were keen that healthy Indians became active, patriotic, and efficient citizens. The chapter focuses on the educational interventions of the Arya Samaj, the Kanya Mahavidyalaya, the Theosophical Society, The Servants of India Society, The Kangri Gurukul, among others. Students were also encouraged to reject colonial employment in favour of social service. The observation of brahmacharya was encouraged amongst male students. The chapter also describes the physical capabilities of Professor Ramamurti Naidu, the athletics instructor of Central Hindu College. The influence of Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys (1908) is discussed as is also the threat posed by the growing number of Boy Scout movements to British power.
Alaka Atreya Chudal
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199466870
- eISBN:
- 9780199087259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466870.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter poses the question: Why did the Arya Samaj represent a nav prakāś (new light) for Sankrityayan? It will explain how Sankrityayan envisaged a revival that might take place in Indian ...
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This chapter poses the question: Why did the Arya Samaj represent a nav prakāś (new light) for Sankrityayan? It will explain how Sankrityayan envisaged a revival that might take place in Indian society and how he came to regard the Arya Samaj, in its fostering of deś bhakti (nationalism, patriotism) and the desire for rāṣtrīya kārya (national work), as instrumental for the emergence of nationalist sentiment in him. This is the period of Sankrityayan’s first ‘inarticulate glimpse’ (asphut jhā̃kī) of the ideal he saw the nation striving to attain: a mixture of the Arya Samaj’s principles and his own vague understanding of the ideas of the Russian Revolution. It also discusses the different ways Sankrityayan understood the word ‘Hindu’ at different stages of his life.Less
This chapter poses the question: Why did the Arya Samaj represent a nav prakāś (new light) for Sankrityayan? It will explain how Sankrityayan envisaged a revival that might take place in Indian society and how he came to regard the Arya Samaj, in its fostering of deś bhakti (nationalism, patriotism) and the desire for rāṣtrīya kārya (national work), as instrumental for the emergence of nationalist sentiment in him. This is the period of Sankrityayan’s first ‘inarticulate glimpse’ (asphut jhā̃kī) of the ideal he saw the nation striving to attain: a mixture of the Arya Samaj’s principles and his own vague understanding of the ideas of the Russian Revolution. It also discusses the different ways Sankrityayan understood the word ‘Hindu’ at different stages of his life.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391640
- eISBN:
- 9780199866649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391640.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
When the first Indian workers were introduced to the Natal coast of South Africa in 1860, inexperienced entrepreneurs were just learning how to grow sugarcane, and many workers were assigned to civic ...
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When the first Indian workers were introduced to the Natal coast of South Africa in 1860, inexperienced entrepreneurs were just learning how to grow sugarcane, and many workers were assigned to civic work in the port city of Durban or the inland provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg. When Muslim traders later arrived in Durban and Gandhi began political organizing in 1893, the primary base of the Indian community was shifted to those cities. Most of the workers in South Africa were from South India, and the temples they built after the beginning of the twentieth century were Sanskritized temples with brāhmanical ritual and a subsidiary role for the goddesses. By 1947, the Natal Indian Congress was fighting for basic political rights for Indians, and that fight inspired the later effort of the African National Congress. Throughout this period, reform religious bodies such as the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Centre, and the Hari Kṛṣṇas grew in importance.Less
When the first Indian workers were introduced to the Natal coast of South Africa in 1860, inexperienced entrepreneurs were just learning how to grow sugarcane, and many workers were assigned to civic work in the port city of Durban or the inland provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg. When Muslim traders later arrived in Durban and Gandhi began political organizing in 1893, the primary base of the Indian community was shifted to those cities. Most of the workers in South Africa were from South India, and the temples they built after the beginning of the twentieth century were Sanskritized temples with brāhmanical ritual and a subsidiary role for the goddesses. By 1947, the Natal Indian Congress was fighting for basic political rights for Indians, and that fight inspired the later effort of the African National Congress. Throughout this period, reform religious bodies such as the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Centre, and the Hari Kṛṣṇas grew in importance.
Christopher Harding
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199548224
- eISBN:
- 9780191720697
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548224.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History, History of Religion
This chapter sets the socio-economic and cultural scene for the book by looking at the meaning of socio-religious ‘uplift’ in Punjab. It begins by analyzing the socio-economic and cultural background ...
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This chapter sets the socio-economic and cultural scene for the book by looking at the meaning of socio-religious ‘uplift’ in Punjab. It begins by analyzing the socio-economic and cultural background in Punjab, and in particular where rural low-caste peoples were concerned. The shifting yet enduringly dependent and isolated nature of low-caste life is explored, and its manifestation in idiosyncratic and combative forms of low-caste religion analyzed. ‘Uplift’ in the Victorian British context is then examined, followed through to its appearance in Punjab in a variety of forms from the work of mission societies and British officials such as Lieutenant Frank Brayne and Sir Malcolm Darling, to Indian innovations such as the Arya Samaj and Ad Dharm religious movements.Less
This chapter sets the socio-economic and cultural scene for the book by looking at the meaning of socio-religious ‘uplift’ in Punjab. It begins by analyzing the socio-economic and cultural background in Punjab, and in particular where rural low-caste peoples were concerned. The shifting yet enduringly dependent and isolated nature of low-caste life is explored, and its manifestation in idiosyncratic and combative forms of low-caste religion analyzed. ‘Uplift’ in the Victorian British context is then examined, followed through to its appearance in Punjab in a variety of forms from the work of mission societies and British officials such as Lieutenant Frank Brayne and Sir Malcolm Darling, to Indian innovations such as the Arya Samaj and Ad Dharm religious movements.
C.S. Adcock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199995431
- eISBN:
- 9780199346417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199995431.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter 2 revisits the nineteenth-century culture of debate that scholars have treated under the rubric of “religious controversy.” In order to make visible the work of translation that was required ...
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Chapter 2 revisits the nineteenth-century culture of debate that scholars have treated under the rubric of “religious controversy.” In order to make visible the work of translation that was required when Indians represented their concerns before the state, the chapter unsettles the apparent necessity of describing Arya Samaj practices in terms of religion. Where scholarship has focused on elite practices of debate, describing them in terms of competing truth-claims and disputation of doctrine, the chapter documents how nonelites appropriated Arya Samaj techniques of controversy and reformed Vedic ceremony for what is best described as a ritual-politics of low-caste assertion. The chapter points to the limits of religion as a descriptive category to gain critical leverage on the history of secularism in India.Less
Chapter 2 revisits the nineteenth-century culture of debate that scholars have treated under the rubric of “religious controversy.” In order to make visible the work of translation that was required when Indians represented their concerns before the state, the chapter unsettles the apparent necessity of describing Arya Samaj practices in terms of religion. Where scholarship has focused on elite practices of debate, describing them in terms of competing truth-claims and disputation of doctrine, the chapter documents how nonelites appropriated Arya Samaj techniques of controversy and reformed Vedic ceremony for what is best described as a ritual-politics of low-caste assertion. The chapter points to the limits of religion as a descriptive category to gain critical leverage on the history of secularism in India.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391640
- eISBN:
- 9780199866649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391640.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The plantation owners of Mauritius were French settlers who had established an aristocratic style for themselves during the eighteenth century using slaves from Africa. The Indian workers quickly ...
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The plantation owners of Mauritius were French settlers who had established an aristocratic style for themselves during the eighteenth century using slaves from Africa. The Indian workers quickly came to constitute three‐quarters of the total population, but they respected the cultural norms the French had already established. Many were soon plantation owners themselves, and they created a parallel Indian aristocracy. There are fine stone temples for the goddesses Mīnākṣi, Draupadī, and Māriyamman in the South Indian style, and a beautiful North Indian‐style temple in Triolet. In the early twentieth century, the Arya Samaj became active and built a plainer style of temple. After the introduction of democratic government in 1968, the Indian political leadership was careful not to change the French‐led cultural pattern too drastically. The one notable change is the new public celebration of Śivarātri.Less
The plantation owners of Mauritius were French settlers who had established an aristocratic style for themselves during the eighteenth century using slaves from Africa. The Indian workers quickly came to constitute three‐quarters of the total population, but they respected the cultural norms the French had already established. Many were soon plantation owners themselves, and they created a parallel Indian aristocracy. There are fine stone temples for the goddesses Mīnākṣi, Draupadī, and Māriyamman in the South Indian style, and a beautiful North Indian‐style temple in Triolet. In the early twentieth century, the Arya Samaj became active and built a plainer style of temple. After the introduction of democratic government in 1968, the Indian political leadership was careful not to change the French‐led cultural pattern too drastically. The one notable change is the new public celebration of Śivarātri.
Nonica Datta
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195699340
- eISBN:
- 9780199080236
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195699340.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This book presents the oral testimony of Subhashini (1914–2003), the woman head of a well-known Arya Samaj institution devoted to women's education in rural north India. Subhashini's narrative ...
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This book presents the oral testimony of Subhashini (1914–2003), the woman head of a well-known Arya Samaj institution devoted to women's education in rural north India. Subhashini's narrative unfolds a story, within a sea of stories, which has remained silent in the dominant historical discourse. Her memory evokes contrasting images of violence, martyrdom, and Partition. Not 1947 but 1942 — the year of her father's ‘martyrdom’ — is recalled as a violent rupture in her memory. Partition is a moment of celebration, revenge, divine retribution, empathy, remorse, tragedy, and fear. Translating Subhashini's oral testimony, the author recreates the memory of a colonial subject, living in postcolonial times, as a historical narrative. Moving beyond a historical event and well-established historical facts, Violence, Martyrdom and Partition is a parallel history of events and non-events, memory and history, testimony and experience. The book also includes photographs of Subhashini and a map of the Rohtak District and Dujana State.Less
This book presents the oral testimony of Subhashini (1914–2003), the woman head of a well-known Arya Samaj institution devoted to women's education in rural north India. Subhashini's narrative unfolds a story, within a sea of stories, which has remained silent in the dominant historical discourse. Her memory evokes contrasting images of violence, martyrdom, and Partition. Not 1947 but 1942 — the year of her father's ‘martyrdom’ — is recalled as a violent rupture in her memory. Partition is a moment of celebration, revenge, divine retribution, empathy, remorse, tragedy, and fear. Translating Subhashini's oral testimony, the author recreates the memory of a colonial subject, living in postcolonial times, as a historical narrative. Moving beyond a historical event and well-established historical facts, Violence, Martyrdom and Partition is a parallel history of events and non-events, memory and history, testimony and experience. The book also includes photographs of Subhashini and a map of the Rohtak District and Dujana State.
Ruchi Ram Sahni
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199474004
- eISBN:
- 9780199089864
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199474004.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Social History
In this chapter Ruchi Ram Sahni describes four years of college life at the Government College, Lahore. It includes a lengthy discussion of his teachers at the time, such as Dr G.W. Leitner, J.C. ...
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In this chapter Ruchi Ram Sahni describes four years of college life at the Government College, Lahore. It includes a lengthy discussion of his teachers at the time, such as Dr G.W. Leitner, J.C. Oman, and Maulavi Mohammed Hussain Azad. It offers several reflections on teaching and pedagogy, some drawn from his own experiences as a teacher. Sahni also describes attempts to challenge various forms of orthodoxy and occultism, for instance, in connection with a visit to Lahore by Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. These challenges were of a piece of the general culture of discussion and debate in which Sahni and his friends found themselves, whether arguing over the texts of Mill and Bentham or engaging in public debates on a variety of topics. Many of these debates were with close friends associated with the Arya Samaj, whose doctrines were opposed by Sahni, an early adherent of the Brahmo Samaj in Punjab.Less
In this chapter Ruchi Ram Sahni describes four years of college life at the Government College, Lahore. It includes a lengthy discussion of his teachers at the time, such as Dr G.W. Leitner, J.C. Oman, and Maulavi Mohammed Hussain Azad. It offers several reflections on teaching and pedagogy, some drawn from his own experiences as a teacher. Sahni also describes attempts to challenge various forms of orthodoxy and occultism, for instance, in connection with a visit to Lahore by Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. These challenges were of a piece of the general culture of discussion and debate in which Sahni and his friends found themselves, whether arguing over the texts of Mill and Bentham or engaging in public debates on a variety of topics. Many of these debates were with close friends associated with the Arya Samaj, whose doctrines were opposed by Sahni, an early adherent of the Brahmo Samaj in Punjab.
T. N. Madan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198065104
- eISBN:
- 9780199080182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198065104.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
Many early Victorian writers considered India to be at the threshold of a new way of life under the combined influence of the new administrative and mercantile dispensations and evangelical ...
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Many early Victorian writers considered India to be at the threshold of a new way of life under the combined influence of the new administrative and mercantile dispensations and evangelical Christianity. However, the critics overlooked the vitality of the inner dynamism of Hinduism. The character of the mixed response of Bengali intellectuals to the cultural impact of the West is best illustrated by the creed and social concerns of the Brahmo Sabha, founded by Rammohun Roy, and its successor, the Brahmo Samaj. This chapter examines Hindu religious tradition, focusing on religious revivalism and fundamentalism. It then analyses the Arya Samaj, the ideology of Hindutva and the founding of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and Mahatma Gandhi's Hinduism.Less
Many early Victorian writers considered India to be at the threshold of a new way of life under the combined influence of the new administrative and mercantile dispensations and evangelical Christianity. However, the critics overlooked the vitality of the inner dynamism of Hinduism. The character of the mixed response of Bengali intellectuals to the cultural impact of the West is best illustrated by the creed and social concerns of the Brahmo Sabha, founded by Rammohun Roy, and its successor, the Brahmo Samaj. This chapter examines Hindu religious tradition, focusing on religious revivalism and fundamentalism. It then analyses the Arya Samaj, the ideology of Hindutva and the founding of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and Mahatma Gandhi's Hinduism.
C.S. Adcock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199995431
- eISBN:
- 9780199346417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199995431.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The introduction examines the Indian secularist ideal of Tolerance as it has informed both public life and historical reflection, giving special attention to how it has shaped debates over religious ...
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The introduction examines the Indian secularist ideal of Tolerance as it has informed both public life and historical reflection, giving special attention to how it has shaped debates over religious freedom and conversion. The Tolerance critique of religious freedom is often understanding as a Hindu religious perspective on a human right that has framed predominantly by Christian attitudes to conversion. The chapter argues on both analytical and historical grounds that this is a flawed understanding.Less
The introduction examines the Indian secularist ideal of Tolerance as it has informed both public life and historical reflection, giving special attention to how it has shaped debates over religious freedom and conversion. The Tolerance critique of religious freedom is often understanding as a Hindu religious perspective on a human right that has framed predominantly by Christian attitudes to conversion. The chapter argues on both analytical and historical grounds that this is a flawed understanding.
Doris R. Jakobsh
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195679199
- eISBN:
- 9780199081950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195679199.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Sikhism
This chapter examines the education-for women enterprise of the Singh Sabha reformers which became the common goal uniting various the factions of other reform movements both within the Sikh ...
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This chapter examines the education-for women enterprise of the Singh Sabha reformers which became the common goal uniting various the factions of other reform movements both within the Sikh community and outside it. The help of European women from the Western missionary organizations was sought to teach Sikh women from elite families, while schools for a specifically Sikh education for girls (e.g. the Sikh Kanya Mahavidyala) were set up. How the language issue—Gurmukhi vs. Hindi—got implicated in the education for women are also discussed. The author describes the difficulties facing reforms in education in the light of the Jat Sikh belief in a virile masculinity and which saw education as an effeminizing process. The author also focuses on the Sikh Educational Conference in Gujranwala of 1908. The differences between the Arya Samaj women's educational endeavour (which went back sources in the Vedas) and those of the Tat Khalsa (which went back to the teachings of the Sikh gurus) are also analyzed. While the reformers consistently maintained the ‘proper’ place of their womenfolk was at home, they also encouraged Sikh women to become teachers and headmistresses. ‘Service along with duty’ increasingly became the slogan of the Singh Sabha reformers in their transformational exercise of Sikh women. After a discussion of Bhai Vir Singh (in whose writing there is a concerted effort to create role models for Sikh women), the chapter concludes with a discussion of how the colonial state made sure that continuing loyalty to the Crown was not eroded in the educational endeavours of all reformers.Less
This chapter examines the education-for women enterprise of the Singh Sabha reformers which became the common goal uniting various the factions of other reform movements both within the Sikh community and outside it. The help of European women from the Western missionary organizations was sought to teach Sikh women from elite families, while schools for a specifically Sikh education for girls (e.g. the Sikh Kanya Mahavidyala) were set up. How the language issue—Gurmukhi vs. Hindi—got implicated in the education for women are also discussed. The author describes the difficulties facing reforms in education in the light of the Jat Sikh belief in a virile masculinity and which saw education as an effeminizing process. The author also focuses on the Sikh Educational Conference in Gujranwala of 1908. The differences between the Arya Samaj women's educational endeavour (which went back sources in the Vedas) and those of the Tat Khalsa (which went back to the teachings of the Sikh gurus) are also analyzed. While the reformers consistently maintained the ‘proper’ place of their womenfolk was at home, they also encouraged Sikh women to become teachers and headmistresses. ‘Service along with duty’ increasingly became the slogan of the Singh Sabha reformers in their transformational exercise of Sikh women. After a discussion of Bhai Vir Singh (in whose writing there is a concerted effort to create role models for Sikh women), the chapter concludes with a discussion of how the colonial state made sure that continuing loyalty to the Crown was not eroded in the educational endeavours of all reformers.
Nalini Bhushan and Jay L. Garfield
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190457594
- eISBN:
- 9780190457617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190457594.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores the history of two of the principal social and religious movements in colonial India: the Arya and Brahmo Samaj movements. It shows how each of these exhibits the ...
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This chapter explores the history of two of the principal social and religious movements in colonial India: the Arya and Brahmo Samaj movements. It shows how each of these exhibits the characteristics of renaissance movements, and how each contributed to the secularization of Indian philosophical thought and to the modernization of Indian culture.Less
This chapter explores the history of two of the principal social and religious movements in colonial India: the Arya and Brahmo Samaj movements. It shows how each of these exhibits the characteristics of renaissance movements, and how each contributed to the secularization of Indian philosophical thought and to the modernization of Indian culture.
Carey Anthony Watt
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195668025
- eISBN:
- 9780199081905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195668025.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
This chapter illustrates how the development of an associational culture relates to the shaping of Indian society and the conceptualization of the Indian ‘nation.’ The author discusses the views of ...
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This chapter illustrates how the development of an associational culture relates to the shaping of Indian society and the conceptualization of the Indian ‘nation.’ The author discusses the views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Annie Besant, and Madan Mohan Malviya regarding the importance of social service organizations in the consolidation of Indian civil society, and the raising of political awareness among the young. The author emphasizes that the patriotism inherent in social service contributed to Indian nation building. He describes how, because of these associations, M.K. Gandhi was able to mobilize vast numbers of patriotic students and youth in protests against British rule. How institutionally disparate Hindu and Muslim volunteer organizations often worked together is also described. The author concludes by stating that the proliferation of social service institutions in early twentieth century India assumed greater and greater control over national life, and ‘hollowed out’ the colonial state from within, thus diminishing its authority and legitimacy.Less
This chapter illustrates how the development of an associational culture relates to the shaping of Indian society and the conceptualization of the Indian ‘nation.’ The author discusses the views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Annie Besant, and Madan Mohan Malviya regarding the importance of social service organizations in the consolidation of Indian civil society, and the raising of political awareness among the young. The author emphasizes that the patriotism inherent in social service contributed to Indian nation building. He describes how, because of these associations, M.K. Gandhi was able to mobilize vast numbers of patriotic students and youth in protests against British rule. How institutionally disparate Hindu and Muslim volunteer organizations often worked together is also described. The author concludes by stating that the proliferation of social service institutions in early twentieth century India assumed greater and greater control over national life, and ‘hollowed out’ the colonial state from within, thus diminishing its authority and legitimacy.
C.S. Adcock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199995431
- eISBN:
- 9780199346417
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199995431.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book provides a critical history of the distinctive tradition of Indian secularism known as Tolerance. Since it was first advanced by Mohandas Gandhi, the Tolerance ideal has measured secularism ...
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This book provides a critical history of the distinctive tradition of Indian secularism known as Tolerance. Since it was first advanced by Mohandas Gandhi, the Tolerance ideal has measured secularism and civil religiosity by contrast with proselytizing religion. In India today, it informs debates over how the right to religious freedom should be interpreted on the subcontinent. Not only has Tolerance been an important political ideal in India since the early twentieth century; the framing assumptions of Tolerance permeate historical understandings among scholars of South Asian religion and politics. In conventional accounts, the emergence of Tolerance during the 1920s is described as a victory of Indian secularism over the intolerant practice of shuddhi “proselytizing,” pursued by reformist Hindus of the Arya Samaj, that was threatening harmonious Hindu-Muslim relations. This study shows that the designation of shuddhi as religious proselytizing was not fixed; it was the product of decades of political struggle. The book traces the conditions for the emergence of Tolerance, and the circumstances of its first deployment, by examining the history of debates surrounding Arya Samaj activities in north India between 1880 and 1930. It asks what political considerations governed Indian actors’ efforts to represent shuddhi as religious on different occasions; and it asks what was lost in translation. It reveals that by framing shuddhi decisively as a religious matter, Tolerance functioned to disengage Indian secularism from the politics of caste.Less
This book provides a critical history of the distinctive tradition of Indian secularism known as Tolerance. Since it was first advanced by Mohandas Gandhi, the Tolerance ideal has measured secularism and civil religiosity by contrast with proselytizing religion. In India today, it informs debates over how the right to religious freedom should be interpreted on the subcontinent. Not only has Tolerance been an important political ideal in India since the early twentieth century; the framing assumptions of Tolerance permeate historical understandings among scholars of South Asian religion and politics. In conventional accounts, the emergence of Tolerance during the 1920s is described as a victory of Indian secularism over the intolerant practice of shuddhi “proselytizing,” pursued by reformist Hindus of the Arya Samaj, that was threatening harmonious Hindu-Muslim relations. This study shows that the designation of shuddhi as religious proselytizing was not fixed; it was the product of decades of political struggle. The book traces the conditions for the emergence of Tolerance, and the circumstances of its first deployment, by examining the history of debates surrounding Arya Samaj activities in north India between 1880 and 1930. It asks what political considerations governed Indian actors’ efforts to represent shuddhi as religious on different occasions; and it asks what was lost in translation. It reveals that by framing shuddhi decisively as a religious matter, Tolerance functioned to disengage Indian secularism from the politics of caste.
Khushwant Singh
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195673098
- eISBN:
- 9780199080595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195673098.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Sikhism
This chapter considers the Singh Sabha, a society that protested against the speeches of a Hindu orator, and the missionary activity of Christians and Hindus. It illustrates that the Radha Soami, ...
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This chapter considers the Singh Sabha, a society that protested against the speeches of a Hindu orator, and the missionary activity of Christians and Hindus. It illustrates that the Radha Soami, Nirankari, and Namdhari movements made a small impact on the Sikhs. These all developed into schismatic coteries that owed allegiance to their particular guru and practised their own obscure rituals. It shows that after an American Presbyterian Mission was established in Ludhiana, other religious factions opened their own centres. The British officials, however, actively supported the Christian missionaries. The chapter moves on to discuss the Singh Sabhas of Amritsar and Lahore, and introduces the Arya Samaj. The followers of Arya Samaj believed in a single omnipresent and invisible God who was equal to human beings.Less
This chapter considers the Singh Sabha, a society that protested against the speeches of a Hindu orator, and the missionary activity of Christians and Hindus. It illustrates that the Radha Soami, Nirankari, and Namdhari movements made a small impact on the Sikhs. These all developed into schismatic coteries that owed allegiance to their particular guru and practised their own obscure rituals. It shows that after an American Presbyterian Mission was established in Ludhiana, other religious factions opened their own centres. The British officials, however, actively supported the Christian missionaries. The chapter moves on to discuss the Singh Sabhas of Amritsar and Lahore, and introduces the Arya Samaj. The followers of Arya Samaj believed in a single omnipresent and invisible God who was equal to human beings.
Ravinder Kaur
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195683776
- eISBN:
- 9780199081844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195683776.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This chapter describes the resettlement of untouchable non-Muslims. It also considers how to reach a group that is not part of the popular imagination and whose history of migration has never been ...
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This chapter describes the resettlement of untouchable non-Muslims. It also considers how to reach a group that is not part of the popular imagination and whose history of migration has never been recorded, and has been deemed irrelevant. A quick survey of Punjab’s social history would show that untouchable caste groups were present in sufficient numbers in Punjab. It is suggested that the untouchable castes in West Punjab did not migrate in large numbers, and that they did not resettle in the middle or lower-middle class areas of Delhi. It is also shown that untouchables groups who frequently moved in the Punjab region had already come into contact with the Arya Samaj and, thus, a new Hindu identification. The separation from the upper caste groups resulted in the integration of untouchable migrants with the existing untouchable groups in Delhi. This integration reduced their distinctive experiences of Partition.Less
This chapter describes the resettlement of untouchable non-Muslims. It also considers how to reach a group that is not part of the popular imagination and whose history of migration has never been recorded, and has been deemed irrelevant. A quick survey of Punjab’s social history would show that untouchable caste groups were present in sufficient numbers in Punjab. It is suggested that the untouchable castes in West Punjab did not migrate in large numbers, and that they did not resettle in the middle or lower-middle class areas of Delhi. It is also shown that untouchables groups who frequently moved in the Punjab region had already come into contact with the Arya Samaj and, thus, a new Hindu identification. The separation from the upper caste groups resulted in the integration of untouchable migrants with the existing untouchable groups in Delhi. This integration reduced their distinctive experiences of Partition.
