The cultural-ideological battle in the nineteenth century was two-fold. Firstly,
the encounter between Western and Indigenous cultural forms impressed upon
the intellectual with reforming zeal the need to revitalise the decadent elements
of their own traditional culture. There were precedents of such reforms in pre-
colonial India from time to time and hence, it can be safely said that nineteenth
century reform and its agenda were not merely stimulated by the impact of Western
education. However, the speedy intrusion of colonial cultural and ideological
hegemony left its imprints on many cultural experiments of the nineteenth century.
In the religious domain, the reformers tried to remove idolatry, polytheism and
priestly control of rituals and scriptural knowledge. Since literacy was limited
and confined to few, the reformers made use of mass-propaganda techniques
and oral transmission of their ideas through vernacular languages in order to
break the shackles of priestly oppression and exploitation by simplifying religious
_____ ___ ______ ________ _________.
__________ _______ _____ ________ ___ _____ ___ ___ ______ ________.
____ ___ ___ _________ __________.
________ _______ ____ ____ ______.
___ ______ ___ ____ ________ ________ ______ ________ _________.
__________ ___ ___ ________ _________ ___ ____.
________ ______ ________ ____ ___ __________ ____ ____.
______ ____ _________ ______ __________ ___.
_________ __________ ______ ____ __________ _______ ___ __________ _________ ______ ___.
______ ________ ______ _________ _______ _________ ____ ________ _________.
_________ ________ _______ _______ __________ _______ _______ _____ _______ ________ _____ ________.
____ ______ __________ ____ ___ _____.
________ _________ ______ _______ _____ ___ ________.
___ __________ _____ _____ _____ __________.
____ _________ ________ ____ ___ _____ _______ ______.
___ ______ __________ ____ ____ _______.
_____ ____ __________ __________ __________ ______ _________ ___ _________.
_______ ________ __________ _______ _____ _________ ____ _________.
___ _______ ______ _______ __________ __________ _____ ___ _______ _______ _______.
______ __________ _________ _________ ____ ___ ____.
________ _____ ______ _______ ____ ____ _______ ________ ________ ______ ___.
______ _____ _____ _________ __________ ___.
___ ________ ______ ____ ____ ____ ____ __________ ________ ________ _________ _________.
________ _________ __________ _______ _______ _________ ______.
_________ ____ _______ __________ _________.
________ _________ _______ _____ _____ _________ ______ ________.
______ _____ _______ ________ _______ __________ ___ ____ _______.
_______ ______ ________ ______ __________ _______.
_________ __________ ____ __________ _______ _______ _____ _____.
_____ _____ ___ ___ _________ ______.
_________ _____ ________ _________ ___ ____ ________ ___ ________ __________.
_____ ____ _________ ______ ______ _____.
____ ________ ___ ___ _______ ____ _______ _______ ___.