Women, Caste, and Reform PDF

## © NCERT Not to be republished ### Differences between men and women were not the only ones in society. In most regions, people were divided along lines of caste. - Brahmans and Kshatriyas considered themselves as “upper castes”. - Others, such as traders and moneylenders (often referred to as...

## © NCERT Not to be republished ### Differences between men and women were not the only ones in society. In most regions, people were divided along lines of caste. - Brahmans and Kshatriyas considered themselves as “upper castes”. - Others, such as traders and moneylenders (often referred to as Vaishyas) were placed after them. - Then came peasants, and artisans such as weavers and potters (referred to as Shudras). - At the lowest rung were those who laboured to keep cities and villages clean or worked at jobs that upper castes considered “polluting”, that is, it could lead to the loss of caste status. - The upper castes also treated many of these groups at the bottom as “untouchable”. - They were not allowed to enter temples, draw water from the wells used by the upper castes, or bathe in ponds where upper castes bathed. - They were seen as inferior human beings. ### Working Towards Change From the early nineteenth century, we find debates and discussions about social customs and practices taking on a new character. One important reason for this was the development of new forms of communication. - For the first time, books, newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets were printed. - These were far cheaper and far more accessible than the manuscripts that you have read about in Class VI. - Therefore ordinary people could read these, and many of them could also write and express their ideas in their own language. - All kinds of issues - social, political, economic and religious - could now be debated and discussed by men (and sometimes by women as well) in the new cities. - The discussions could reach out to a wide public, and could become linked to movements for social change. ### Reformers These debates were often initiated by Indian reformers and reform groups. One such reformer was Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833). He founded a reform association known as the Brahmo Sabha (later known as the Brahmo Samaj) in Calcutta. - People such as Roy are described as reformers because they felt that changes were necessary in society, and unjust practices needed to be done away with. - They thought that the best way to ensure such changes was by persuading people to give up old practices and adopt a new way of life. ### Activity Can you think of the ways in which social customs and practices were discussed in the pre-printing age when books, newspapers and pamphlets were not readily available?