SOCIAL SOCIAL REFORMERREFORMER

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RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY

RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY

•Sri Raja Ram Mohan Roy a social reformer born in Calcutta in 1772 initiated many debates which formed a reform group called as the brahmo Sabah. He felt that changes were necessary in society. He with he help of British abolished sati.

MAHATMA GANDHI

MAHATMA GANDHI MAHATMA GANDHI

• Sri Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi (Father of the Nation) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of 'satyagraha'—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance

BASVESHWARA

BASVESHWARA

• Basava(1134–1196), also known as Bhakti Bhandari Basava(1134–1196), also known as Bhakti Bhandari Basavanna or Basaveshwara was a philosopher, Statesman Basavanna or Basaveshwara was a philosopher, Statesman and a social reformer from present-day Karnataka, India. and a social reformer from present-day Karnataka, India. Basava fought against the inhuman practice of caste system, Basava fought against the inhuman practice of caste system, which discriminated people based on their birth, and certain which discriminated people based on their birth, and certain rituals in Hinduism. He spread social awareness through his rituals in Hinduism. He spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna used poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna used Ishtalinga to eradicate untouchability, establish equality Ishtalinga to eradicate untouchability, establish equality among all human beings and a means to attain spiritual among all human beings and a means to attain spiritual enlightenment. These are rational and progressive social enlightenment. These are rational and progressive social thoughts coupled with established perception of God in Hindu thoughts coupled with established perception of God in Hindu society. He was a great philosopher.society. He was a great philosopher.

SRIMANTA SANKARDEVA

SRIMANTA SANKARDEVA

• Srimanta Sankardev(1449–1568), was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath: a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, social-religious reformer and a colossal figure in the socio-cultural and religious history of Assam, India. . The religion he preached is practised by a large population, and Sattras (monasteries) that he and his followers established continue to flourish and sustain his legacy.

KABIR

KABIR

•Kabir (1440–1518) was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. Kabir is the first Indian saint to have harmonized Hinduism and Islam by preaching a universal path which both Hindus and Muslims could tread together

VIVEKANADA

VIVEKANADA

• Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902) was the founder of Ramakrishna Mission. Swami Vivekananda was also known as a great scholar. His real name was Narendra Nath Dutta. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. He was considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America. He introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago in 1893.

•Vivekananda believed that a country's future depends on its people, and his teachings focused on human development. He wanted "to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest". Vivekananda believed that the essence of Hinduism was best expressed in the Vedanta philosophy, based on Adi Shankara's interpretation.

He summarized the Vedanta as follows

• Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these—and be free.• This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or

dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.

• Vivekananda linked morality with control of the mind, seeing truth, purity and unselfishness as traits which strengthened it. He advised his followers to be holy, unselfish and to have śraddhā (faith). Vivekananda supported brahmacharya (celibacy), believing it the source of his physical and mental stamina and eloquence.He emphasized that success was an outcome of focused thought and action; in his lectures on Raja Yoga he said, "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced".

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

 

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

 • Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891) was a philosopher, academic, educator, writer, translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur, reformer, and philanthropist. His efforts to simplify and modernise Bangla prose were significant. He was a Bengali polymath and a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. Vidyasagar championed the uplift of the status of women in India, particularly in his native Bengal.

•Unlike some other reformers who sought to set up alternative societies or systems, he sought, however, to transform orthodox Hindu society from within. Vidyasagar introduced the practice of widow remarriages to mainstream Hindu society. In earlier times, remarriages of widows would occur sporadically only among progressive members of the Brahmo Samāj.

PANDITA RAMABAI

PANDITA RAMABAI

•Ramabai was born on April 23, 1858 in Dakshina Kannada District, Mala, Gangamoola, Karnataka. She was a social reformer who tried her level best to educate women .

VIRCHAND GHANDI

VIRCHAND GHANDI

• Virchand Gandhi was from Mahuva. He advocated female education. He is a 19th-century Indian patriot who was a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and contemporary to Swami Vivekanand. He and swami vivekananda drew equal attention at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He won a silver medal in same. His statue still stands at the Jain temple in Chicago

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