• Phule looked upon education ofthe masses as a liberating and revolutionary factor.
• Since women and deprived and downtrodden were the worst sufferers in the society.
• Phule argued that women's liberation was linked with the liberation of other classes in society.
• Equality between classes as also between men and women was stressed by Phule.
• During marriages he asked the bridegroom to promise the right of education to his bride

• Phule held radical views on social, religious, political and economic issues.
• He considered the caste system as an antithesis of the principle of human equality.
• He sought to raise. the morale of the non-Brahmins and united them to revolt against the centuries old inequality and social degradation.
• Towards this end Phule founded the Satya Shodak Samaj (Society for Seeking Truth) in 1875.
• His most important book is Gulamgiri (Slavery).

The overall contribution of Brahmo Samaj can be summed up as follows
• It denounced polytheism, idol worship, and the faith in divine avatars (incarnations)
• It condemned the caste system, dogmas and superstitions .
• It wanted the abolition of child marriage, purdah system and the practice of sati
• It supported widow remarriage

The Social Reform Movement in Tamilnadu
The reform movements of the north India had its own impact on Tamilnadu. Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj had their branches. Keshab Chandra Sen visited Madras and lectured here. But Tamilnadu also saw its own reform movements.
The Sri Vaikunda Swamigal:
• The Sri Vaikunda Swamigal's cult, which survives to this day, was organized in the 1830s. Born in a poor family (1809) at Sastankoil Vilai (now known as Swamithoppu), a village then in south Travancore (the present day Kanyakumari district), Muthukutti, spent his childhood in the village pial school, learning religious and moral texts.
• He also learnt the Bible and became well-versed in Christian theology.
Ramalinga Swamigal :
• Ramalinga Swamigal was born in a modest family near Chidambaram and spent his early life in Madras.
• He never had formal schooling, but exhibited great scholarship.
• Inspired by the Saiva Thevaram and Thiruvasagam hymns, he began to compose moving poems on his own.
• In his time, Saiva religion was in the grip of Saiva monasteries such as those at Thiruvaduthurai, Dharumapuram and Thiruppanandal.
Buddhist Revivalism and Iyotheethoss Pandithar
• Buddhismhad been practically wiped out in the Tamil country by the beginning of the second millennium. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, there was a revival of Buddhism. The publication of the complete edition of Jeevaka Chintamani (1887) and Manimekalai (1898) were landmarks in the recovery of heterodox traditions.
• But the most important figure was Iyotheethoss Pandithar (1845-1914). A native doctor by profession, he was an erudite scholar. He also came under the influence of Colonel Olcott of the Theosophical Society.
• In the 1890s he began a movement among the Adi Dravidars arguing that they were the original Buddhists who had been consigned to 'untouchability' due to their opposition to Vedic Brahminism.
• He re-read classical Tamil and other texts to make his case. He also encouraged the conversion to Buddhism. He found the greatest following in north Tamilnadu and among the working classes of the Kolar Gold Fields.
• In this movement, M. Singavelu and Prof P. Lakshmi Narasu also played an important role. Pandithar ran a weekly journal called Oru Paisa Tamilan (later Tamilan) from 1908 until his death.

• The official religious policy of the East India Company was one of neutrality towards the native religions. Their reason for continuing this policy was the belief that the earlier Portuguese rule had come to an end because of their attempts to forcibly convert people to Christianity. As a result of this concern, the Company government prohibited the entry of missionaries into the territories under their control.
• In 1793 two English missionaries, William Carey and John Thomas, both Baptists, set out to India with the intention of starting a mission. In view of the ban on missionary activity they settled down in the Danish Colony of Serampore, north of Calcutta. Carey, along with two other missionaries, Joshua Marshman and William Ward established the Serampore Mission in 1799.
• The Serampore missionaries were the first evangelical Baptist missionaries in India. They were followed later by other missionary groups belonging to different Protestant denominations. Before the arrival of the Serampore missionaries, several centuries earlier, there were Christian missions in the Portuguese territory of Goa, and also on the Malabar Coast and the Coromandel Coast. The work of the earlier missionaries was limited both geographically and in terms of the number of conversions to Christianity. Thus major attempts at proselytization began during the nineteenth century.
• The missionaries organised schools for the socially and economically deprived and pleaded for their economic improvement through employment in the state service. They also fought for their 'civil rights' that included access to public roads, and permission for the women of these groups to wear upper garments.
• The missionaries gave shelter to orphaned children and other destitute widows in their missions and provided education for them in their boarding schools. Particularly after the famines which were quite common during the nineteenth century, about which we discussed in the previous lesson, the missionaries organized relief.
• Providing shelter and succour gave these an opportunity to convert people to Christianity. In Tirunelveli district many villages took to Christianity during famines, especially in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The same phenomenon was witnessed in Andhra where Malas and Madigas embraced Christianity in a big way.
• The Company government did little to provide modern education for the native population. For a long time, the provision of elementary school facilities to the native population, especially in the interiors for the disprivileged and the poor people, was a responsibility willingly accepted by the Christian missionaries. It must be noted that the Christian Missionaries took the intiative of establishing Hospitals and Dispensaries.

Swami Vivekananda was a personification of youth and boldness and referred to as the Morning Star of the Modern India. In the words of Valentine Chirol, 'the first Hindu whose personality won demonstrative recognition abroad for India's ancient civilization and for her newborn claim to nationhood.'

Iyotheethoss Pandithar, the radical Dalit thinker, was introduced to modem Buddhism through his interaction with Colonel Olcott who took him to Sri Lanka

It concentrated on social reforms like inter-dining, inter-marriage, remarriage of widows, and uplift of women and depressed classes

The Brahmo Samaj met with great opposition from orthodox elements in Bengal society such as the Hindu Dharma Sabha. However, there were also reformers such as Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, who advocated the same ideas but drew on Hindu scriptures as authority.

The Brahmo Samaj was committed to "the worship and adoration of the eternal, unsearchable, immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe".