Chapter 7 – Women, Caste and Reform questions and answers

Content Structure

A. Exercise questions & answers
B. Additional questions & answers
- Multiple Choice questions & answers (MCQs)
- Fill in the blanks
- True or False
- Short-type questions & answers
- Long-type questions & answers

A. Exercise questions & answers

1. What social ideas did the following people support.
Rammohun Roy
Dayanand Saraswati
Veerasalingam Pantulu
Jyotirao Phule
Pandita Ramabai
Periyar
Mumtaz Ali
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar
Ans:

Rammohun Roy	He fought against Sati (the burning of women) and for girls to be allowed to go to school.
Dayanand Saraswati	They said that people should follow the Vedas, be equal for everyone, and let girls go to school.
Veerasalingam Pantulu	They wanted women to get married again and girls to go to school.
Jyotirao Phule	They worked against caste rules and opened schools for girls and people from lower castes.
Pandita Ramabai	Helped girls and widows get respect and an education.
Periyar	He said that men and women of all castes should be treated equally.
Mumtaz Ali	He said Muslim women should be allowed to study and should have equal rights.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar	He helped to establish schools for young women and advocated for widows to remarry..

2. State whether true or false:

(a) When the British captured Bengal, they framed many new laws to regulate the rules regarding marriage, adoption, inheritance of property, etc.
Ans: True.
Statement: The British made new laws about marriage, adoption, and property in Bengal.

(b) Social reformers had to discard the ancient texts in order to argue for reform in social practices.
Ans: False.
Statement: Reformers used old books to support their plans for change.

(c) Reformers got full support from all sections of the people of the country.
Ans: False.
Statement: Some people were against the reformers and didn’t agree with them.

(d) The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1829.
Ans: False.
Statement: There was no Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1829. It was passed in 1929.

3. How did the knowledge of ancient texts help the reformers promote new laws?
Ans: They used old Indian texts to show that unfair things like Sati and child marriage were not really part of Indian society. This helped people agree that the new rules were right and fair.
For example, Rammohun Roy used old texts to show that Sati was bad, which helped get the act banned in 1829.

4. What were the different reasons people had for not sending girls to school?
Ans: Many people believed that schools would keep girls away from household work. They also feared that girls traveling outside was unsafe. Because of this, most girls studied at home, taught by their fathers, husbands, or themselves.

5. Why were Christian missionaries attacked by many people in the country? Would some people have supported them too? If so, for what reasons?
Ans: Christian missionaries were attacked by many people because

Some people thought that spreading Christianity was a threat to their own religions.
Some people were angry that they said bad things about Indian customs like child marriage and caste.
People were afraid that running schools would change Indian customs.

Some people supported them because

They opened schools for girls and kids from lower castes and taught them.
Sati and child marriage were stopped as part of their work for change in society.
They helped the poor and gave them medical care.

6. In the British period, what new opportunities opened up for people who came from castes that were regarded as “low”?
Ans: During British rule, lower-caste people got education, government jobs, legal protection, and support from reformers that making their lives better.

Schools for All – Little kids from lower castes were allowed to go to school.
Government Jobs – They could work in the police, army, and railways.
New Laws – The British made laws against treating people differently because of their caste.
Help from Reformers – Leaders like Periyar and Jyotirao Phule pushed for their rights.

7. How did Jyotirao, and other reformer justify their criticism of caste inequality in society?
Ans: Jyotirao Phule said that Aryans took over and hurt people from lower castes. He thought that peasants were equal rulers before the Aryans came. He told Shudras and Ati-Shudras to work together to stop discrimination based on caste. Besides fighting for equal rights, he started the Satyashodhak Samaj to help women from higher castes and poor workers.

8. Why did Phule dedicate his book Gulamgiri to the American movement to free slaves?
Ans: Phule wrote Gulamgiri about unfair treatment based on caste in 1873. Poor people in India were treated like slaves in the U.S., so he dedicated it to Americans who fought against slavery.

9. What did Ambedkar want to achieve through the temple entry movement?
Ans: Ambedkar started the temple entry movement in 1927 to allow Dalits to enter temples, which they had not been able to do before. Priests from higher castes were against this. To fight for Dalit rights and equality, he lead three temple entry movements.

10. Why were Jyotirao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker critical of the national movement? Did their criticism help the national struggle in any way?
Ans: Jyotirao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker did not fully support the national movement because they felt upper-caste leaders ignored lower-caste people. Naicker even saw caste discrimination inside the Congress Party. Their criticism helped because it made leaders understand that freedom should be for everyone, not just for the upper castes. This helped in making India fairer for all after independence.

B. Additional questions & answers

Multiple Choice questions & answers (MCQs)

1. Who started the Brahmo Samaj?
(a) Dayanand Saraswati
(b) Raja Rammohun Roy
(c) Jyotirao Phule
(d) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Ans: (b) Raja Rammohun Roy

2. Raja Rammohun Roy supported:
(a) Sati rules
(b) Caste discrimination
(c) Child marriage rules
(d) Women’s education and social reforms

Ans: (d) Women’s education and social reforms

3. When was the Sati system banned?
(a) 1829
(b) 1827
(c) 1825
(d) 1819

Ans: (a) 1829

4. Who supported widow marriage?
(a) Rammohun Roy
(b) Dayanand Saraswati
(c) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
(d) Jyotirao Phule

Ans: (c) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

5. When was the Widow Remarriage Act passed?
(a) 1859
(b) 1856
(c) 1855
(d) 1959

Ans: (b) 1856

6. Who founded Arya Samaj?
(a) Dayanand Saraswati
(b) Raja Rammohan Roy
(c) Jyotirao Phule
(d) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Ans: (a) Dayanand Saraswati

7. Who formed a widow remarriage group in the Madras Presidency?
(a) Jyotirao Phule
(b) Rammohun Roy
(c) Veerasalingam Pantulu
(d) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Ans: (c) Veerasalingam Pantulu

8. Who started schools for girls in Bombay and Calcutta?
(a) Jyotirao Phule
(b) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
(c) Rammohun Roy
(d) Both A and B

Ans: (d) Both A and B

9. Which woman secretly learned to read and write at night?
(a) Savitribai Phule
(b) Pandita Ramabai
(c) Rashsundari Debi
(d) Sarojini Naidu

Ans: (c) Rashsundari Debi

10. Where did Arya Samaj start schools for girls?
(a) Punjab
(b) Calcutta
(c) Bombay
(d) Madras

Ans: (a) Punjab

11. Where did Jyotirao Phule open schools?
(a) Gujarat
(b) Maharashtra
(c) Tamil Nadu
(d) West Bengal

Ans: (b) Maharashtra

12. Which book helped Muslim women in education?
(a) Vedas
(b) Koran
(c) Bible
(d) Gulamgiri

Ans: (b) Koran

13. Who established schools for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta?
(a) Pandita Ramabai
(b) Savitribai Phule
(c) Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
(d) Mumtaz Ali

Ans: (c) Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

14. Who founded a girls’ primary school in Aligarh in the early 1900s?
(a) The Begums of Bhopal
(b) Mumtaz Ali
(c) Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
(d) Savitribai Phule

Ans: (a) The Begums of Bhopal

15. Who wrote Stripurushtulna?
(a) Pandita Ramabai
(b) Tarabai Shinde
(c) Savitribai Phule
(d) Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Ans: (b) Tarabai Shinde

16. Who supported women’s equality and freedom?
(a) Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel
(b) Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
(c) B.R. Ambedkar and Rammohun Roy
(d) Dayanand Saraswati and Jyotirao Phule

Ans: (b) Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose

17. Where was Paramhans Mandali started?
(a) Calcutta
(b) Madras
(c) Bombay
(d) Delhi

Answer: (c) Bombay

18. Who opened schools for tribal and lower-caste children?
(a) Arya Samaj
(b) Christian missionaries
(c) Brahmo Samaj
(d) Congress Party

Ans: (b) Christian missionaries

19. Who started the Satnami Movement?
(a) Rammohun Roy
(b) Jyotirao Phule
(c) Dayanand Saraswati
(d) Ghasidas

Ans: (d) Ghasidas

20. Where did Jyotirao Phule study?
(a) Christian Missionary School
(b) Government School
(c) Gurukul
(d) Brahmo Samaj School

Ans: (a) Christian Missionary School

Fill in the blanks

1. ____________ people were often considered untouchables.
2. Sati was banned in ____________.
3. Arya Samaj was founded in _______________.
4. ________________ were the first to open schools for lower-caste and tribal children.
5. B.R. Ambedkar belonged to the __________________________.
6. Self-Respect Movement was led by ______________________.
7. In 1873, the first Singh Sabha was set up in ________________.
8. _____________ promoted modern education for Muslims.
9. ________________ started it in Aligarh movement in 1875.
10. Chennai’s old name is ________________.

Ans:
1. Dalits
2. 1829
3. 1875
4. Christian missionaries
5. Dalit Caste
6. Periyar E.V. Ramasamy
7. Amritsar
8. Aligarh Movement
9. Sayyid Ahmed Khan
10. Madras.

True or False

1. A widow home was established at poona by Pandit Ramabai.
Ans: True.

2. The Begum of Bombay played a vital role in promoting education among women.
Ans: False.

3. Raja Rammohan Roy was well versed in Sanskrit, Persian and several other Indian and Europe language.
Ans: True.

4. The Mohammedan Anglo-Orizental College was opened by Khizr Khan.
Ans: False.

5. Peasanta and artisans referred to as Shudras.
Ans: True.

6. The Brahamo Samaj was founded by Vivekananda.
Ans: False.

7. Madigas were an important untouchable caste of present day Andhra Pradesh.
Ans: True.

8. Periyar founded Temple entry movement.
Ans: False.

9. The Satnami movement was founded by Sayad Ahmed Khan.
Ans: False.

10. Tarabai Shinde published a book named Stripurushtulna.
Ans: True.

Match the following

Colunmn A	Column B
1. The Brahamn sabha	(a) Madras
2. The Brahamo samaj	(b) 1897
3. The Singh Subhas	(c) Bombay
4. The Veda Samaj	(d) 1875
5. The Prarthana Samaj	(e) 1873
6. The Aligurah Movement	(f) Amritsar
7. Gulamgiri	(g) Bengal
8. Jyotirao Phule	(h) 1927
9. Ram Krishna Mission	(i) Sayyid Ahmed Khan
10. Temple entry movement	(j) Born in 1827

Ans:

Column A	Column B
1. The Brahamn sabha	(c) Bombay
2. The Brahamo samaj	(g) Bengal
3. The Singh Subhas	(f) Amritsar
4. The Veda Samaj	(a) Madras
5. The Prarthana Samaj	(c) Bombay
6. The Aligurah Movement	(i) Sayyid Ahmed Khan
7. Gulamgiri	(e) 1873
8. Jyotirao Phule	(j) Born in 1827
9. Ram Krishna Mission	(b) 1897
10. Temple entry movement	(h) 1927

Short-type questions & answers

1. How did reformers bring changes in society?
Ans: Reformers stopped unfair things like child marriage, Sati, and discrimination based on race. They helped make life fair for everyone by bringing new ideas, starting schools, and changing the law.

2. What is the meanings of Sati?
Ans: Sati was an old Hindu practice where a widow was forced to burn herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. Raja Rammohan Roy opposed it, and it was banned by the British in 1829.

3. Who were Shudras?
Ans: Shudras were the lowest caste in the traditional Hindu social order. They worked as laborers, farmers, and service providers.

4. Who was Mumtaz Ali?
Ans: Mumtaz Ali was a social reformer who used the Koran to argue in favour of women’s education and rights in Muslim society.

5. Who were Ati shudras?
Ans: Ati Shudras were considered lower than Shudras in the caste system. They were called “untouchables” and faced severe discrimination from the upper castes.

6. Who were known as a Vaishyas?
Ans: Traders and moneylenders are known as a Vaishyas.

7. What is written in the book Stripurushtulna?
Ans: Stripurushtulna, which was written by Tarabai Shinde, is about how women were treated differently than men. It asked why men had more rights than women and asked for equal rights for both.

8. Described the Satyashodhak Samaj?
Ans: The Satyashodhak Samaj was created by Jyotirao Phule in 1873 to fight for everyone’s rights. It helped women and people from lower groups get an education and stopped discrimination based on caste.

9. Which Hindu scripture criticise by Periyar?
Ans: Periyar criticized Hindu texts like the Manusmriti, Bhagavad Gita, and Ramayana because they supported caste discrimination and male dominance.

10. What did the New York Herald say about Swami Vivekananda’s speech in 1893?
Ans: The speech that Swami Vivekananda gave at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 was praised by the New York Herald. Others said he was “the greatest speaker” and that his words impacted people. He talked about peace, respecting all faiths, and India’s knowledge.

11. What did Christian Missionaries do to spread education among tribal groups and lower castes?
Ans: Christian Missionaries started schools for kids from lower castes and tribes. They taught them new things and how to read and write, which helped them get better jobs and make their lives better.

12. Why did people look down on leather workers?
Ans: In the past, people thought it was dirty to touch dead animals, so they looked down on people who worked with leather to make shoes and other things made from animal skin. In the caste system, they were also seen as lower caste and not allowed to touch anyone.

13. Why did E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker leave the congress?
Ans: E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) left the Congress because he saw that upper-caste leaders in the party discriminated against lower castes.

14. When did establish the Ramkrishna Mission?
Ans: The Ramakrishna Mission was established in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda.

15. What did Raja Rammohan Roy do to end the practise of sati?
Ans: Raja Rammohan Roy fought Sati by protesting in public, writing against it, and asking the British to make it illegal. By working hard, he stopped Sati in 1829.

16. Why did Dr. Ambedkar criticize caste prejudice?
Ans: Dr. Ambedkar spoke out against social prejudice because it was unfair to people from lower castes. They couldn’t go to public places, schools, or churches.

17. Who worked to support widow marriage in India?
Ans: Reformers fought hard for widows to get married again:

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar worked to get the Widow Remarriage Act established in 1856.
Veerasalingam Pantulu led a movement in South India for widows to get married again.
Pandita Ramabai and Jyotirao Phule fought for the rights of widows and their children’s schooling.

Long-type questions & answers

1. What were the contributions of Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Mission to India’s spiritual and social growth?
Ans: The Ramakrishna Mission was started by Swami Vivekananda to help people and share spiritual ideas. He spread nationalism, unity, and India’s knowledge around the world, which motivated people to work for growth and a better future.

Ramakrishna Mission – It was named after Swami Vivekananda’s teacher Ramakrishna Paramhansa and was set up to help people and spread spiritual ideals.
Swami Vivekananda – He was born in 1863 as Narendra Nath Dutta and updated Ramakrishna’s lessons. He also taught all of the world about India’s spiritual knowledge.
Chicago Speech (1893) – surprised people with how much he knew about Vedanta. The New York Herald said that India did not need preachers and praised him.
Concern for India – He wanted to end poverty and bring Indians together to work for the growth of the country.
Vision of Nationalism – They thought that nationalism should bring people together and that countries should treat each other fairly. inspired young people to make the future better.

2. Write a short note about Derozio and Young Bengal.
Ans: Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, a professor at Hindu College, Calcutta, started the Young Bengal Movement in the 1820s. He encouraged students to think freely, question traditions, and speak against injustice. His students challenged old customs, demanded education for women, and fought for freedom of thought and speech. The movement played an important role in spreading modern ideas and social reform in India.

3. How did Jyotirao Phule fight against caste discrimination, and what were his contributions, including his book Gulamgiri?
Ans: Jyotirao Phule fought against caste discrimination by starting the Satyashodhak Samaj and writing Gulamgiri, comparing lower castes to slaves. He also worked for women’s rights, poor workers, and left a legacy continued by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker

Fight Against Caste Discrimination: Jyotirao Phule believed that low castes were the actual children of the land and should be treated equally, fighting caste inequality.
Satyashodhak Samaj: He started the Satyashodhak Samaj to work for social justice and make sure that people from all classes had the same rights.
Gulamgiri (1873): Phule compared how lower classes were treated in India to slaves in the U.S. in his book Gulamgiri, which showed how important it was for everyone to be treated equally..
Support for Women and Workers: Phule also worked for the rights of poor workers and women from higher castes, fighting for their education and fair treatment.
Legacy: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker continued his work and carried on his goal of social justice and equality.