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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“The religious reform movements of the 19th century were “endeavours to recast the old religion (Hinduism) into a new form suited to meet the needs of the new society.” Comment.

  • UPSC 1996
  • Social and Religious Reform Movements in Bengal and Other Areas

Because religion and social structure were organically interwoven in India as nowhere else, reforming Hindu society necessarily meant re-reading Hinduism itself — recasting, not abandoning, the old religion.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Ram Mohan Roy: Reform Through Vedantic Rationalism
  • Dayanand Saraswati: "Back to the Vedas" as Aggressive Recasting
  • Prarthana Samaj: Gradualist Recasting Within Tradition
  • Neo-Hinduism: Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, and the Theosophists
  • The Underlying Logic: New Society, New Religion

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