(i) The Namdhari Movement, founded by Baba Ram Singh, was another socio-religious movement among the Sikhs.
(ii) The Namdharis insisted on wearing the symbols of Sikhism except the kirpan (sword).
(iii) Instead, Baba Ram Singh wanted his' followers to carry a lathi. It considered both men and women equal and accepted widow remarriage.
(iv) It prohibited the dowry system and child marriage.

(i) Baba Dayal Das was the founder of the Nirankari Movement.
(ii) Stressed the worship of God as Nirankar (formless). Rejection of idols, rejection of rituals associated with idolatry, reverence for the authority of Guru Nanak and of the Adi Granth formed the essence of his teachings. He reiterated the prohibition on meat-eating, and liquor consumption.

The Zoroastrians who had fled from Iran in the tenth century in the face of religious persecution.

(i) The school curricula shut out English education and western culture.
(ii) The instruction imparted was in original Islamic religion and the aim was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community.
(iii) The Deoband School did not prepare its students for government jobs but for the preaching of Islamic faith.

(i) After the suppression of great revolt of 1857 Indian Muslims looked to Western culture with suspicion.
(ii) The community feared that Western education, Western culture, and Western ideas would endanger their religion.
(iii) Therefore only a small section of Muslims accepted the new avenues for modern education.
(iv) Consequently, Indian Muslims as a community lagged behind in comparison to the Hindu elite of various parts of India.

(i) Theosophical Society stimulated a study of the Hindu classics, especially the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
(ii) The Theosophical Society also played an important role in the revival of Buddhism in India.
(iii) Western interest in Hindu scriptures gave educated Hindus great pride in their tradition and culture.

Contribution of Annie Besant
(i) In India the Theosophical movement became further popular with the election of Annie Besant (1847-1933) as its president after the death of Olcott.
(ii) She played a role in Indian nationalist politics and formed the Home Rule League demanding home rule to India on the lines of Ireland.
(iii) Annie Besant spread Theosophical ideas through her newspapers called New India and Commonweal.

(i) Arya Samaj attempted to check the incidence of religious conversion in British India.
(ii) One of its main objectives was counter conversion, prescribing a purificatory ceremony called suddhi, directed at Hindus who had converted to Islam and Christianity.

(i) In 1866 a split occurred in the ranks of Brahmo Samaj. Keshab left the Samaj and founded a new organization.
(ii) Debendranath's organization, thereafter, came to be known as Adi Brahmo Samaj.
(iii) After Keshab had his fourteen-year-old daughter married to an Indian prince, in contravention of the Samaj's condemnation of child marriages, the opponents of child marriage left the Brahmo Samaj of India and started the Sadharan Samaj, which developed anti-Christian tendencies.

The Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, and the Aligarh Movement.

The Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission and the Deoband Movement.

(i) Iyothee Thassar went to Sri Lanka in 1898 and converted to Buddhism. In the same year, he founded the Sakya Buddhist Society at Madras to construct the rational religious philosophy through Buddhist religion.
(ii) He argued that the so-called untouchables were originally Buddhists who were stigmatized by Brahminism.

Vivekananda's activist ideology rekindled the desire for political change among many western education young Bengalis. Many of the youths who were involved in the militant nationalist struggle during the Swadeshi movement following the Partition of Bengal were inspired by Vivekananda.

a) Ayyankali challenged many caste conventions such as clothing style. He wore clothes associated with upper castes that were prohibited for lower castes.
b) He rode on an ox - cart challenging the ban on untouchables from accessing public roads used by caste Hindus.
c) Ayyankali founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangam and raised funds to educate the lower caste Pulaya people.
d) Ayyankali fought for basic rights including access to public places and entry to schools.