The Canon · No. 098
Hindu Reform Movements
Brahmo Samaj; Arya Samaj; the Hindu Renaissance
1828 CE – present · Dharmic / Indian · Living · India, especially Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra
VII. THE MODERN AGE — 1800 – 1945
How many
Brahmo Samaj is now tiny, in the low thousands. Arya Samaj has several million adherents in Punjab, Haryana and the diaspora. Their combined effect on modern Hinduism is far larger than either.
Who began it
Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828. Dayananda Saraswati (1824–1883) founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. Related: Vivekananda's Ramakrishna Mission (1897) and the Prarthana Samaj.
What it is for
To answer the missionary and colonial charge that Hinduism was idolatrous, superstitious and socially barbaric — by reforming it rather than abandoning it.
What it worships
Brahmo Samaj: one formless God, no images, no avatars. Arya Samaj: one God, formless, called by the Vedic name and worshipped only through fire ritual and study.
What it holds
Both rejected image worship, polytheism, caste by birth, child marriage and the prohibition on widow remarriage. Roy campaigned against sati and argued from the Upanishads that Hindu monotheism was original and image worship a later corruption. Dayananda went further with the slogan Back to the Vedas: only the four Vedas are authoritative, and the Puranas, the epics, pilgrimage and temple worship are all accretions. He also introduced shuddhi, purification, a reconversion rite for those who had become Muslim or Christian — the first organised Hindu reconversion mechanism and a lasting influence on later Hindu nationalism.
What it does
Congregational worship with sermon and hymn, deliberately modelled on Protestant practice. Fire ritual (havan) for the Arya Samaj. Schools and colleges — the DAV network founded by the Arya Samaj is one of India's largest private school systems. Widow remarriage; intercaste marriage; the sacred thread given regardless of birth caste, including to women.
After death
Karma and rebirth retained. The Arya Samaj is emphatic on rebirth and rejects any eternal hell. The Brahmo position moved toward a general immortality of the soul without detailed cosmology, under Unitarian influence.
Its texts
Brahmo: the Upanishads, read selectively. Arya Samaj: the four Vedas alone, plus Dayananda's Satyarth Prakash (Light of Truth, 1875), a combative work that attacks Puranic Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism in turn.
Its branches
Brahmo Samaj (Adi and Sadharan); Arya Samaj; Prarthana Samaj; Ramakrishna Mission and Vedanta Societies.
Of note
Modern Hinduism as most people encounter it — a monotheism of one reality behind many names, tolerant, philosophical, scripture-centred and reformist about caste — is substantially a product of these movements answering colonial criticism in the nineteenth century.
Its timeline
- 1828 CE Brahmo Sabha founded in Calcutta.
- <strong>1829 CE</strong> Sati abolished in Bengal, after a campaign in which Roy's arguments from Hindu scripture were decisive in overcoming the objection that abolition was religious interference.
- 1856 CE Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, driven by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
- 1866, 1878 CE The Brahmo Samaj splits twice over how far to go.
- 1875 CE Arya Samaj founded in Bombay.
- 1886 CE First DAV school opens in Lahore.
- 1893 CE Vivekananda at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago presents Vedanta as a universal and rational faith; the speech reshapes how Hinduism is understood both abroad and at home.
- 1897 CE Ramakrishna Mission founded, combining Vedanta with organised social service — a form of religious philanthropy modelled partly on Christian missions.
- 1920s CE Shuddhi campaigns intensify communal tension in Punjab and the United Provinces.
- 1929, 1955–56 CE Child Marriage Restraint Act; the Hindu Code Bills reform marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.