Kabir
Kabir also known as Kabira, was a mystic poet and sant of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. The name Kabir comes from Arabic al-Kabīr which means 'The Great' – the 37th name of God in Islam.Kabir was influenced by the prevailing religious mood of his times, such as old Brahmanic Hinduism, Tantrism, the teachings of Nath yogis and the personal devotionalism of South India mixed with the imageless God of Islam.The influence of these various doctrines is clearly evident in Kabir's verses. Eminent historians like R.C. Majumdar, P.N. Chopra, B.N. Puri and M.N. Das have held that Kabir is the first Indian saint to have harmonised Hinduism and Islam by preaching a universal path which both Hindus and Muslims could tread together.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave
Acharya Vinoba Bhave was one of the most prominent humanist and social reformers of modern India. He was born on 11 September 1895 to Narahari Shambhu Rao and Rukmini Devi into a Brahmin family in Gagode village, Raigad district, Maharashtra. His real name was Vinayak Rao Bhave; at a very age, he was highly inspired by Bhagavad Gita’s teachings.The most significant contribution of Vinoba Bhave was his Bhoodan (land gift) Movement started at Pochampally, Telangana on 18 April, 1951. Slowly this movement gained momentum; Vinobaji travelled all over the country asking landlords to donate lands their landless brethren. After getting lands as gift, he donated the same among landless poor people to cultivate. Thus, his Bhoodan Movement was one of the unique methods of providing social justice to the masses.
Dr.Bhimrao Ambedkar
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891 in Mhow (presently in Madhya Pradesh). Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is viewed as messiah of dalits and downtrodden in India. He was the chairman of the drafting committee in 1947. Bhimrao Ambedkar experienced caste discrimination right from the childhood.he was the first who reduce the bridge between tribal & non-tribal.
He founded Bahishkrit Hitakarni Sabha on 20 July 1924 at Bombay with the objective of creating socio-political awareness among untouchables and also for making Government sensitive towards their issues; he called upon the dalits and untouchables to “Educate, Agitate and Organize” for their rightful place in the society.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was one of the most remarkable social reformers of 19th century. He was born on 26 September 1820 in Paschim Midnapur District of Bengal to Thakurdas Bandhopadhyaya and Bhagwati Devi.His early childhood was spent in poverty without much of the basic necessities. But Vidyasagar was a brilliant student; he used to study under street lamps because at home there were no lamps.By performing exceptionally at schools and colleges he received various scholarships; also he used to do part-time teaching jobs to support his studies and family. At Sanskrit College, Calcutta he studied Literature, Sanskrit Grammar, Law and Astronomy etc. He persuaded the British government to make a law legalizing widow remarriages; thus the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856 was passed which gave rights to widows to marry again and child born out of such marriages were also considered to be legal.
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born on 11 April 1827 in Satara, Maharashtra in a family of vegetable vendors. He could not complete his education due to family’s poor condition but later completed it with the help of a few persons who had recognized his potential.Jyotirao was married at the age of 12 with Savitribai Phule. His life changed when he was insulted by one of his Brahmin friend and then he realized the caste divide and discrimination present in the society. This event proved a turning point in his life.He began to realize and observe various types of social evils being practiced in the society and decided to fight against them. A book by the writer Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, gave him further push to start a movement against prevailing social evils such as caste system, untochability, women’s pathetic condition, poor condition of peasants etc. Jyotiba was also actively involved in the emancipation of so-called lower castes and especially the Untouchables; in fact he was perhaps the first person who gave untouchables the name Dalit as signifying someone who is broken, depressed or exploited and is outside the so-called Varna system.
Medha Patkar
Medha Patkar was born in Mumbai. On 28 March 2006, Patkar started a hunger-strike to protest against the decision of the authorities to raise the height of the Narmada Dam. She ended her 20-day fast on 17 April 2006, after the Supreme Court of India refused the Narmada Bachao Andolan's appeal to stop the construction of the dam. She was held by the police at Singur on 2 December 2006 after protesting against the acquisition of farmland. She is a great social Reformer & social Activist.
Namdeo Dhasal and J V Pawar
Dalit Panthers is a revolutionary anti-caste organization, founded by Namdeo Dhasal and J V Pawar on 29 May 1972 in Maharashta.Later on many dalit-Buddhist activists mainly from Mahar caste which are now converted to Buddhist religion joined this organization, but Namdeo Dhasal,Raja Dhale.J V Pawar and Arun Kamble were the original leaders of Dalit Panther, which saw its heyday in the 1970s and through the 1980s.The Dalit Panther emerged to fill the vacuum created in Dalit politics of Maharashtra with the Republican Party of India founded by Ambedkar splitting into many factions. The Dalit Panthers led to a renaissance in Marathi literature and arts. They advocated and practised radical politics outside the framework of both parliamentary and Marxist–Leninist politics, fusing Ambedkar, Phule and Marx. Crucially, the Dalit Panthers helped popularise the term 'Dalit' to refer to untouchable communities. Their influence was strongly felt in Karnataka and many other states. This manifesto issued in 1973 combines the Ambedkarite spirit with a broader Marxist framework and heralds the rise of autonomous Dalit perspective in post-Independence India.
Baba Amte
Baba Amte was one of the most prominent social reformers of modern India; born to Devilal Singh and Laxmibai Amte, his childhood name was Murlidhar. He was born on 26 December 1914 in Wardha District of Maharashtra.His father was a high profile British Government officer, thus, his was a wealthy family and he lead a luxurious life in his young days. But Baba Amte was always a liberal in his thinking and used to be with friends of all castes and religions.His most important contribution to India and its society is his work for the care, empowerment and rehabilitation of people sufferings of leprosy. Leprosy is a kind of disease which has a lot of stigma attached to it, even more in those days than now. Baba Amte vehemently tried to spread awareness about the disease that it’s not contagious and once allowed virus from a leprosy patient to be injected into him to prove his point.For treatment, care and rehabilitation of leprosy patients disowned by their family and society, he founded three Ashrams in Maharashtra. He also established a Hospital for the same purpose on 15 August 1949 in Anandvan.
Gopabandhu Dash
Gopabandhu Dash (1877–1928) known as Utkal Mani (Gems of Odisha) was a defining social worker who excelled in the field of politics as well as literature. Gopabandhu was a legend in the Indian culture. He served his people even at the cost of his family. During his study period, he started Kartavya Bodhini Samiti (Duty Awakening Society) to encourage his friends to do their duty as citizens and take on social, economic and political problems. He was leading a team to aid flood victims, when he heard of his son's serious illness but remained to serve the locals rather than return home to his son. he became the founder president of Congress in Odisha.
Jamnalal Bajaj
Jamnalal Bajaj (4 November 1884 – 11 February 1942) was an industrialist, a philanthropist, and Indian independence fighter. Gandhi is known to have adopted him as his son. He is known for his efforts of promoting Khadi and village Industries in India. With the intent of eradicating untouchability, he fought the non-admission of Harijans into Hindu temples. He began a campaign by eating a meal with Harijans and opening public wells to them. He opened several wells in his fields and gardens. Jamanalal dedicated much of his wealth to the poor. He felt this inherited wealth was a sacred trust to be used for the benefit of the people. In honour of his social initiatives a well known national and international award called Jamnalal Bajaj Award which has been instituted by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation.
Mahrshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde
Mahrshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde (23 April 1873 – 2 January 1944) was one of the most important social and religious reformers in Maharashtra, India. He was prominent among the liberal thinkers and reformists in India, prior to her independence. His greatest contribution was to attempt to remove the practice of untouchability and bring about equality to the depressed classes in Indian society.After returning from England in 1903, he devoted his life to religious and social reforms. He continued his missionary work for the Prarthana Samaj. His efforts were devoted mainly to the removal of untouchability in India. In 1905 he established a night school for the children of untouchables in Pune, and in 1906 he established the Depressed Classes Mission in Mumbai (Bombay). In 1922 the mission’s Ahalyashram building was competed at Pune. In 1917 he succeeded in getting the Indian National Congress to pass a resolution condemning the practice of untouchability.
Kandukuri Veeresalingam
Kandukuri Veeresalingam (16 April 1848 – 27 May 1919) was a social reformer who first brought about a renaissance in Telugu people and Telugu literature. He was influenced by the ideals of Brahmo Samaj particularly those of Keshub Chunder Sen. He got involved in the cause of social reforms. In 1876 he started a journal and wrote the first prose for women. He encouraged education for women, and started a school in Dowlaishwaram in 1874. He started a social organisation called Hitakarini (Benefactor).
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was a distinguished judge, writer cum social reformer of India during the pre-independence era. Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was a judge, politician, writer cum reformer of India. Politically, Ranade established the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and was also among those who played a phenomenal role in setting up the Indian National Congress party. Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was also an active reformer. He set up the Social Conference movement, which worked against infant marriages, widows remarriage, spending heavily in marriages and other social functions. Ranade advocated for widow remarriage and female education.
Kabir also known as Kabira, was a mystic poet and sant of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. The name Kabir comes from Arabic al-Kabīr which means 'The Great' – the 37th name of God in Islam.Kabir was influenced by the prevailing religious mood of his times, such as old Brahmanic Hinduism, Tantrism, the teachings of Nath yogis and the personal devotionalism of South India mixed with the imageless God of Islam.The influence of these various doctrines is clearly evident in Kabir's verses. Eminent historians like R.C. Majumdar, P.N. Chopra, B.N. Puri and M.N. Das have held that Kabir is the first Indian saint to have harmonised Hinduism and Islam by preaching a universal path which both Hindus and Muslims could tread together.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave
Acharya Vinoba Bhave was one of the most prominent humanist and social reformers of modern India. He was born on 11 September 1895 to Narahari Shambhu Rao and Rukmini Devi into a Brahmin family in Gagode village, Raigad district, Maharashtra. His real name was Vinayak Rao Bhave; at a very age, he was highly inspired by Bhagavad Gita’s teachings.The most significant contribution of Vinoba Bhave was his Bhoodan (land gift) Movement started at Pochampally, Telangana on 18 April, 1951. Slowly this movement gained momentum; Vinobaji travelled all over the country asking landlords to donate lands their landless brethren. After getting lands as gift, he donated the same among landless poor people to cultivate. Thus, his Bhoodan Movement was one of the unique methods of providing social justice to the masses.
Dr.Bhimrao Ambedkar
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891 in Mhow (presently in Madhya Pradesh). Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is viewed as messiah of dalits and downtrodden in India. He was the chairman of the drafting committee in 1947. Bhimrao Ambedkar experienced caste discrimination right from the childhood.he was the first who reduce the bridge between tribal & non-tribal.
He founded Bahishkrit Hitakarni Sabha on 20 July 1924 at Bombay with the objective of creating socio-political awareness among untouchables and also for making Government sensitive towards their issues; he called upon the dalits and untouchables to “Educate, Agitate and Organize” for their rightful place in the society.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was one of the most remarkable social reformers of 19th century. He was born on 26 September 1820 in Paschim Midnapur District of Bengal to Thakurdas Bandhopadhyaya and Bhagwati Devi.His early childhood was spent in poverty without much of the basic necessities. But Vidyasagar was a brilliant student; he used to study under street lamps because at home there were no lamps.By performing exceptionally at schools and colleges he received various scholarships; also he used to do part-time teaching jobs to support his studies and family. At Sanskrit College, Calcutta he studied Literature, Sanskrit Grammar, Law and Astronomy etc. He persuaded the British government to make a law legalizing widow remarriages; thus the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856 was passed which gave rights to widows to marry again and child born out of such marriages were also considered to be legal.
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born on 11 April 1827 in Satara, Maharashtra in a family of vegetable vendors. He could not complete his education due to family’s poor condition but later completed it with the help of a few persons who had recognized his potential.Jyotirao was married at the age of 12 with Savitribai Phule. His life changed when he was insulted by one of his Brahmin friend and then he realized the caste divide and discrimination present in the society. This event proved a turning point in his life.He began to realize and observe various types of social evils being practiced in the society and decided to fight against them. A book by the writer Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, gave him further push to start a movement against prevailing social evils such as caste system, untochability, women’s pathetic condition, poor condition of peasants etc. Jyotiba was also actively involved in the emancipation of so-called lower castes and especially the Untouchables; in fact he was perhaps the first person who gave untouchables the name Dalit as signifying someone who is broken, depressed or exploited and is outside the so-called Varna system.
Medha Patkar
Medha Patkar was born in Mumbai. On 28 March 2006, Patkar started a hunger-strike to protest against the decision of the authorities to raise the height of the Narmada Dam. She ended her 20-day fast on 17 April 2006, after the Supreme Court of India refused the Narmada Bachao Andolan's appeal to stop the construction of the dam. She was held by the police at Singur on 2 December 2006 after protesting against the acquisition of farmland. She is a great social Reformer & social Activist.
Namdeo Dhasal and J V Pawar
Dalit Panthers is a revolutionary anti-caste organization, founded by Namdeo Dhasal and J V Pawar on 29 May 1972 in Maharashta.Later on many dalit-Buddhist activists mainly from Mahar caste which are now converted to Buddhist religion joined this organization, but Namdeo Dhasal,Raja Dhale.J V Pawar and Arun Kamble were the original leaders of Dalit Panther, which saw its heyday in the 1970s and through the 1980s.The Dalit Panther emerged to fill the vacuum created in Dalit politics of Maharashtra with the Republican Party of India founded by Ambedkar splitting into many factions. The Dalit Panthers led to a renaissance in Marathi literature and arts. They advocated and practised radical politics outside the framework of both parliamentary and Marxist–Leninist politics, fusing Ambedkar, Phule and Marx. Crucially, the Dalit Panthers helped popularise the term 'Dalit' to refer to untouchable communities. Their influence was strongly felt in Karnataka and many other states. This manifesto issued in 1973 combines the Ambedkarite spirit with a broader Marxist framework and heralds the rise of autonomous Dalit perspective in post-Independence India.
Baba Amte
Baba Amte was one of the most prominent social reformers of modern India; born to Devilal Singh and Laxmibai Amte, his childhood name was Murlidhar. He was born on 26 December 1914 in Wardha District of Maharashtra.His father was a high profile British Government officer, thus, his was a wealthy family and he lead a luxurious life in his young days. But Baba Amte was always a liberal in his thinking and used to be with friends of all castes and religions.His most important contribution to India and its society is his work for the care, empowerment and rehabilitation of people sufferings of leprosy. Leprosy is a kind of disease which has a lot of stigma attached to it, even more in those days than now. Baba Amte vehemently tried to spread awareness about the disease that it’s not contagious and once allowed virus from a leprosy patient to be injected into him to prove his point.For treatment, care and rehabilitation of leprosy patients disowned by their family and society, he founded three Ashrams in Maharashtra. He also established a Hospital for the same purpose on 15 August 1949 in Anandvan.
Gopabandhu Dash
Gopabandhu Dash (1877–1928) known as Utkal Mani (Gems of Odisha) was a defining social worker who excelled in the field of politics as well as literature. Gopabandhu was a legend in the Indian culture. He served his people even at the cost of his family. During his study period, he started Kartavya Bodhini Samiti (Duty Awakening Society) to encourage his friends to do their duty as citizens and take on social, economic and political problems. He was leading a team to aid flood victims, when he heard of his son's serious illness but remained to serve the locals rather than return home to his son. he became the founder president of Congress in Odisha.
Jamnalal Bajaj
Jamnalal Bajaj (4 November 1884 – 11 February 1942) was an industrialist, a philanthropist, and Indian independence fighter. Gandhi is known to have adopted him as his son. He is known for his efforts of promoting Khadi and village Industries in India. With the intent of eradicating untouchability, he fought the non-admission of Harijans into Hindu temples. He began a campaign by eating a meal with Harijans and opening public wells to them. He opened several wells in his fields and gardens. Jamanalal dedicated much of his wealth to the poor. He felt this inherited wealth was a sacred trust to be used for the benefit of the people. In honour of his social initiatives a well known national and international award called Jamnalal Bajaj Award which has been instituted by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation.
Mahrshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde
Mahrshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde (23 April 1873 – 2 January 1944) was one of the most important social and religious reformers in Maharashtra, India. He was prominent among the liberal thinkers and reformists in India, prior to her independence. His greatest contribution was to attempt to remove the practice of untouchability and bring about equality to the depressed classes in Indian society.After returning from England in 1903, he devoted his life to religious and social reforms. He continued his missionary work for the Prarthana Samaj. His efforts were devoted mainly to the removal of untouchability in India. In 1905 he established a night school for the children of untouchables in Pune, and in 1906 he established the Depressed Classes Mission in Mumbai (Bombay). In 1922 the mission’s Ahalyashram building was competed at Pune. In 1917 he succeeded in getting the Indian National Congress to pass a resolution condemning the practice of untouchability.
Kandukuri Veeresalingam
Kandukuri Veeresalingam (16 April 1848 – 27 May 1919) was a social reformer who first brought about a renaissance in Telugu people and Telugu literature. He was influenced by the ideals of Brahmo Samaj particularly those of Keshub Chunder Sen. He got involved in the cause of social reforms. In 1876 he started a journal and wrote the first prose for women. He encouraged education for women, and started a school in Dowlaishwaram in 1874. He started a social organisation called Hitakarini (Benefactor).
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was a distinguished judge, writer cum social reformer of India during the pre-independence era. Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was a judge, politician, writer cum reformer of India. Politically, Ranade established the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and was also among those who played a phenomenal role in setting up the Indian National Congress party. Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was also an active reformer. He set up the Social Conference movement, which worked against infant marriages, widows remarriage, spending heavily in marriages and other social functions. Ranade advocated for widow remarriage and female education.
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