Question

Demands for equality and justice in india ncert class 8

Answer 1

Demands for Equality and Justice

During the second half of the nineteenth century, people from within the "lower" castes began organising movements against caste discrimination, and demanded social equality and justice.


                                                           Guru Ghasidas
 


Guru Ghasidas

Ghasidas founded the Satnami movement in Central India. He belonged to the ‘lower caste’, and worked among the leatherworkers and organised a movement to improve their social status.

Haridas Thakur worked among the "low" caste Chandala cultivators in eastern Bengal. He questioned the Brahmanical texts that supported the caste system.

                                                        Shri Narayana Guru


Shri Narayana Guru

Shri Narayana Guru was a guru for the ‘low’ caste Ezhavas in Kerala. He proclaimed the ideals of unity of all people within one sect, a single caste and one guru.

All these leaders came from "low" castes and worked amongst them. They tried to change those habits and practices among "low" castes which provoked "upper" castes’ contempt. They tried to create a sense of self-esteem amongst the lower castes.