Social Changes In Punjab During British Rule

Abstract

Many social changes had occurred in Punjab during the years 1849-1900 AD. This led to the end of the orthodox social set-up and new social set-up emerged. Before this, many social evils were prevalent in Punjab, such as the caste-system, child marriage, the veil system, killing of the female child, and the Sati Pratha, etc. The Hindus, Muslims and the Sikhs were divided into various castes due to the caste-system. The Hindus were divided into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras and the Muslims into Sufi, Sunni, Shia and Ismailis, etc. Similarly, the Sikh religion was also divided into different castes, such as Bedis, Sodhis, Jats, Majhbis, Khatris and the Aroras. Though the Gurus had opposed the caste-system, yet it was prevalent in the Sikh religion. The people from different castes hated each other. The position of women in society was also very miserable. They were considered as wearable shoes. They were treated as slaves. The girls were killed immediately after their birth, which led to their smaller number compared to the males. They were married in their childhood. Similarly, the level of education was also very low because education was largely imparted in the Temples, Mosques and the Gurudwaras. This education could not bring awareness among the people because of its being religious in nature. Due to these evils, the society was in a pathetic shape. But when the British Government captured Punjab in 1849, the British Government and the social reformers made many efforts to eliminate these evils. The British Government negated the social evils present in society through legal measures. The British Government promulgated the Caste Disabilities Act in 1850 which was the first step to weaken the caste-system. In 1872, the inter-caste marriage was given sanction through the Special Marriage Act 1872, which weakened the caste system to an extent. At the same time, the Namdhari, the Singh Sabha and the Arya Samaj movements raised their voices against the caste-system. They campaigned widely to weaken