Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
He used the ancient texts to suggest widows could remarry and this suggestion was adopted by the Britishers and a law was passed in 1856 permitting widows to remarry. Many people opposed and boycotted this change.
By the second half of the 19th century, the movement in favor of widow remarriage spread to other parts of the country as well. In Madras Presidency, Veeresalingam Pantulu formed an association for widow remarriage. In the North, Swami Dayanand Saraswati also supported widow remarriage. However, many sections of society continued to be against this practice of widow marriage.
CBSE Class 8 History Chapter 8 – Women, Caste and Reform
Even after independence from British rule, women still hadn’t achieved independence and are struggling for it. But reformers have tried to reform our society and have succeeded to a large extent.
Differences were not only in gendered context but people were also divided along caste lines and certain castes were considered “polluting” and “untouchables”. They weren’t allowed to enter temples, or draw water from wells and were seen as inferior humans. Over the years many of these norms and perceptions have changed slowly.