NCERT Solutions Class 8 History Chapter 9 - Women, Caste and Reform

Jyotirao Phule wrote his book, ‘Gulamgiri’ in 1873. The title of the book means ‘Slavery.’ From 1861 to 1865, the American Civil war was being fought. The Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people. Phule dedicated his book to all those Americans who had fought to free slaves, thus establishing a link between the conditions of the “lower” castes in India and the black slaves in America.

In 1927, Ambedkar started a temple entry movement, in which his Mahar caste followers participated. Brahman priests were outraged when the Dalits used water from the temple tank. His aim was to make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society.

a. Rammohun Roy – Ban of Sati

b. Dayanand Saraswati – Widow Remarriage

c. Veerasalingam Pantulu – Widow Remarriage

d. Jyotirao Phule – Equality amongst castes

e. Pandita Ramabai – Women’s education

f. Periyar – Equality for untouchables

g. Mumtaz Ali – Women’s education

h. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar – Widow remarriage

(a) True

(b) False

(c) False

(d) False

Ram Mohan Roy was well-versed in Sanskrit, Persian and several other Indian and European languages. He tried to show through his writings that the practice of widow burning had no sanction in ancient texts. The strategy adopted by Ram Mohan Roy was used by later reformers as well. Whenever they wished to challenge a practice that seemed harmful, they tried to find a verse or sentence in the ancient sacred texts that supported their point of view. They then suggested that the practice, as it existed at present, was against early tradition. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar used the ancient texts to suggest that widows could remarry.

There were the following reasons for people not sending their girls to school:

a. They feared that schools would take girls away from home.

b. Schools will prevent them from doing their domestic duties.

c. Girls had to travel through public places in order to reach school.

d. Travelling to schools would have a corrupting influence on them.

e. They felt that girls should stay away from public spaces.

The Christian missionaries were attacked by the people, as they were involved in the religious conversion of poor and tribal people, that is, converting a Hindu into a Christian. These missionaries also set up schools for tribal and poor kids to learn. However, the larger section of people who looked down upon the poor people and tribal people did not like the idea of exposing tribal people to education. Hence, the attacks on Christian missionaries started.

The poor from the villages and small towns, many of them from low castes, began moving to the cities where there was a new demand for labour. Some also went to work in plantations in Assam, Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia. The poor and the people from low castes saw this as an opportunity to get away from the oppressive hold that upper-caste landowners exercised over their lives and the daily humiliation they suffered.

Jyotirao Phule, who stood against caste inequality, believed that the upper castes being ‘Aryans’, were not the original inhabitants of their lands. He put forward his opinions by telling people that the land has always belonged to the lower-caste people and that the Aryans were outsiders. He looked forward to the golden age when lower-caste people would live peacefully without the intrusion of upper castes.

Jyoti Rao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker both were critical of the national movement, as they thought that there were no differences between anti-colonialists and colonialists. Phule thought that the upper-caste people who wanted to fight against the British would want to rule once the British left. Phule was always against the upper caste people, as he called them the ‘outsiders.’

Naicker was a part of the Congress party, and his experiences led him to believe that the party was not free from the taint of casteism. So, he was reluctant to take part in the anti-British national movement that was not concerned about creating a caste-less society.

Their criticism helped strengthen the national struggle. Reformists started restructuring their thoughts to get rid of the differences between the upper caste and lower caste. The national struggle became the tool to eradicate caste differences, and religious and gender inequality.