Prathana Samaj
Prarthana Samaj, or “Prayer Society” in Sanskrit, is a movement for religious and social reform in Maharashtra based on previous reform movements and traditions of Maharashtra. The direct predecessor of the Prarthana Samaj in Mumbai was the Paramahamsa Sabha, a secret society for the furtherance of liberal ideas formed in 1849 by Ram Balkrishna Jaykar and others in Mumbai. It was secret in order to avoid the wrath of the powerful and orthodox elements of society. Meetings were for discussion, the singing of hymns, and the sharing of a communal meal prepared by a low-caste cook. Members ate bread baked by Christians and drank water brought by Moslems[1].
Religious Reform
Like the parallel Brahmo Samaj of Bengal, the Prarnatha Samaj represented an Indian response to European liberalism, including the ideals of rational or theistic belief and social reform. The Prarthana Samaj(ists) are followers of the great religious tradition of the Maratha Sant Mat like Namdev, Tukaram and Ramdas(the guru of Shivaji). The Brahmo Samaj founders examined many world religions including ancient Vedic texts which subsequently were not accepted to be infallible or divine. Although the adherents of Prarthana Samaj were devoted theists, they also do not regard the Vedas as divine or infallible. They drew their nourishment from the Hindu scriptures and used the hymns of the old Marathi “poet-saints” in their prayers[2]. Their ideas trace back to the devotional poems of the Vitthalas[3] as part of the Vaishnava bhakti devotional movements of the thirteenth century in southern Maharashtra[4]. The Marathi poets had inspired a movement of resistance to the Mughals. But, beyond religious concerns, the primary focus of the Prarnatha Samaj was on social and cultural reform.
Social Reform
Prarthana Samaj critically examined the relations between contemporary social and cultural systems and religious beliefs and gave priority to social reform as compared with the political changes already initiated by the British government. Their comprehensive reform movement has led many impressive projects of cultural change and social reform in Western India, such as the improvement of the lot of women and depressed classes, an end to the caste system, abolition of child marriages and infanticide, educational opportunites for women, and remarriage of widows. Its success was guided by Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, a noted Sanskrit scholar, Dr. Atmaram Pandurang, Narayan Chandavarkar, and Justice Mahadev Govinda Ranade. Ranade emphasized that “the reformer must attempt to deal with the whole man and not to carry out reform on one side only”. “The social organism in India,” according to Ranade, “shows a growth which should not be ignored and cannot be forcibly suppressed.” Later Prarthana Samaj, in Pune, continued the reforms of the caste system and untouchability. Maharshi Vithal Ramji Shinde championed the complete eradication of caste and untouchability. He founded the first depressed classes mission.
History
Two secret societies preceded the Prarthana Samaj. The Paramahamsa Sabha established by Ram Balkrishna Jaykar and others followed this in 1849. Members had to eat bread baked by Christian and drink water brought by a Moslem. Orthodox opposition resulted in the documents being stolen in 1860 and the names of the members being made public. This caused panic. Some members became Christian, while others held to their convictions. Those who held to their convictions became the founders of the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay in 1867. These were educated Indians from Bombay and their leader was Dr. Atmaram Pandurang (1823-1898), a personal friend of Dr. Wilson, founder of Wilson College in 1835.
The Brahmo Samaj made an important impression on these men. In 1872 one of the great Brahmo, Pratap Chandra, stayed for six months at the invitation of the Prarthana Samaj. During his visit there was a plan to make Prarthana Samaj a branch of Brahmo Samaj. This was prevented by Mahadeo Ranade pointing out the splits among the Brahmos of Bengal that might be echoed in Bombay, while Dr. Bhandarkar did not approve of the extremism and Christian bias of Keshub. Similarly, when Dayanand came to Bombay in 1874, there was great interest in his lectures and the next year he founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay. However, his ideas on the Vedas stopped the Prarthana Samaj from joining him.
So the Prarthana Samaj continued as an independent reform movement. In Bombay this was the most important and well-organized movement of the time, being sponsored by leaders of society. P.C.Mazoomdar came from Calcutta in 1872 for six months and increased the worshippers, started night schools for workers, and also a journal, the Subodh Patrika. Their own building was erected in 1874 at Girgaum, Bombay. The mildness of the Prarthana Samaj has meant that there have never been groups of missionaries as in the Brahmo Samaj. With only one or two missionaries the movement has not spread widely. However, the mildness of the Samaj has been attractive in the South, in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where the Prarthana Samaj is the most popular of the Samajas.
The Samaj runs the Young Theists Union, the Postal Mission to send religious literature, the Subodh Patrika, night schools, and a Ladies Association. It is also associated with The Students Brotherhood, an Orphanage and Foundling Asylum in Pandharpur, and the organization of the Social Reform Movement and the Depressed Classes Mission. Every year both the Brahmo and Prarthana Samajas attend an All-India Theistic Conference.
