Question

Social reformers had to discard the ancient texts in order to argue for reform in social practices. State whether true or false.

Answer 1

Answer: The given statement is False. Many social reformers took the help of ancient texts to argue against the prevalent social practices.

• Through his writings, Rammohun Roy showed that there was no sanction for widow burning in ancient texts.
• Later reformers also adopted the same strategy that was adopted by Rammohun Roy.
• A sentence or verse in the ancient sacred texts was used to support their point of view by social reformers who challenged the harmful practices that were prevalent in those days.
• Verses of ancient texts were used to argue that earlier traditions did not support the existing or prevalent practice.
• For example, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, one of the most popular social reformers used ancient texts to suggest that widows were permitted to remarry.
• British officials adopted his suggestion and passed a law in 1856 which allowed widow remarriage.
• Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was boycotted by people who were against widow remarriage.
• An Buddhist text which was critical of caste was translated by Rammohun Roy.
• The tradition of Bhakti that believed in spiritual equality of all castes was adhered to by the Prarthana Samaj.
• However social reformer Periyar was a strong critic of Hindu scriptures.
• Periyar criticised Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, the ancient lawgiver – Codes of Manu.
• Periyar said Hindu scriptures were used for domination of men over women and he was of the opinion that Hindu scriptures were used to establish domination of Upper castes over people of lower castes.