The grand old face of progressiveness; Image Source: Public Domain

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To stan or not to stan- is a question that boggles almost everyone when they come across change-makers from history. Ideas related to social justice, morality, progressiveness keep changing with time and what can be classified as cultural blasphemy a few years ago is now something normal as society becomes more inclusive.

In this great debate about appropriateness or not, social reformers find an extremely special place. What they did for society in their times remains remarkable but not all of their ideas reach the threshold of what’s right. 

> For instance, many of our freedom fighters who also happened to have a lot of ideas about how Indian society should function had problematic views regarding women. Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak believed that the age of consent for married girls should not be raised from 10 to 12 as it would destroy the country’s cultural values.

Indians, on one hand, were trying to resist western ways of living and modernize the society on the other and a reformer, Sri Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar too, was stuck in this dilemma.

Born on 6 July 1837, Bhandarkar was a social reformer with an orientalist point of view. Orientalism can be classified as a study of cultures of the East that often feature imperialist notions and racist stereotypes. The influence of these ideas can be seen in his life as well.

As a son of a Brahmin family, Bhandarkar got the opportunity to study easily. He was a part of the first batch of Bombay University Graduates. Acquiring a Ph.D. was a rare feat in those days and he got one from the  University of Göttingen.

> From beginning his career as a professor and retiring as the Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University, his stance kept becoming more and more liberal. It looked like Gopal finally chose a side of the debate to be at.

Even though he was an orientalist scholar, his writings constantly critiqued the caste system. Further, Bhandarkar was also a proponent of widow remarriage and women’s education.

This progressive flavour in his opinion was a consequence of him joining the Paramhansa Sabha when he was a student. It was a secret socio-religious group headed by Dadoba Pandurang that wanted to purge Indian society of its regressive practices. 

> Bhandarkar aligned himself with the values of this group that believed in women's emancipation, caste equality and wanted to stop child marriages. For them, religious change was the catalyst for social change. The group eventually transformed into the Prarthana Samaj.

Gopal, an educationist, decided to put his ideas into tangible action and he established Maharashtra Girls Education Society alongside like-minded associates. 

> They opened Pune’s first native girls’ high school, Huzurpaga. This step received a lot of criticism from nationalists as they did not think it was appropriate for girls to receive education in subjects like mathematics and science.

Tilak’s publication constantly opposed this institute but Bhandarkar did not budge. He took his education-related reforms to another level when he was elected to the council of India in 1903.

The life and legacy of Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar prove that absolving people of their wrong and not critically analysing them just because “people are a product of their times” is a poor excuse. At each point in history, many like him went against the current of society and didn’t let anything come in their way.

The 19th century marked a period of metamorphosis for Indian society. Waves of social reform changed the sphere of religion and how it interacted with the cultures and costumes. One of the flag bearers of this change, Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar was born today in 1837.