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General Studies 2021 GS Paper I 10 marks 150 words Compulsory Trace

GS Paper I — Q2

Trace the rise and growth of socio-religious reform movements with special reference to Young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj. (Answer in…

Trace the rise and growth of socio-religious reform movements with special reference to Young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

यंग बंगाल एवं ब्रह्मो समाज के विशेष संदर्भ में सामाजिक-धार्मिक सुधार आंदोलनों के उत्थान तथा विकास को रेखांकित कीजिए । (150 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

Q2 of the 2021 UPSC Mains General Studies GS Paper I, as printed
The question as printed in the 2021 General Studies paper
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Model answer

Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.

The rise of socio-religious reform in colonial Bengal was rooted in the Bengal Renaissance, where the Orientalist-Anglicist debate awakened educated Bengali youth to rational critique. Young Bengal, inspired by Henry Derozio, used the Academic Association (1828) to spread radical rationalism, meat-eating and breaking caste norms; yet it remained urban, elite and short-lived. Brahmo Samaj, founded by Ram Mohan Roy in 1828, rejected idolatry and satī; after the 1843 Tattyabodhini Sabha merger, Debendranath Tagore shaped Brahmo Dharma (1848). Keshub Chandra Sen’s radicalism produced schisms: the 1866 Adi Brahmo Samaj versus his Brahmo Samaj of India, and the 1878 Cooch Behar marriage controversy created Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. Unlike Young Bengal’s atheistic, radical individualism, Brahmo reform was theistic, institutional and gradualist, though both were class-bound. Its legacy bridged to the Indian National Congress generation: Surendranath Banerjee absorbed Brahmo ideals, while later Maharashtra-based Gopal Krishna Gokhale, shaped by Ranade and Prarthana, embodied parallel reformism.

What "Trace" is asking you to do

Follow a development through in sequence, showing what carried each stage into the next. The sequence may be historical, or in the science papers an anatomical or physiological pathway followed from origin to destination.

Structure that answers it

Point of origin → stage, with what moved it on → next stage → the turning point → where it ends and what it had become

Where marks are lost

Dates or stations listed in order with nothing joining them; the marks are on the connecting steps, not on the sequence itself.

All UPSC directive words, compared →

How this answer will be evaluated

Approach

Framework: GS1 History: Socio-Religious Reform Movements. trace: start point > the stages in sequence > end point > what changed Full marks: Clear chronological rise and growth of Young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj with socio-religious reform

Key points expected

  • Young Bengal: Henry Vivian Derozio, Radharaman Mookerjee, and the 'Young Bengal' movement
  • Brahmo Samaj: Raja Ram Mohan Roy, 1828, and the 'Brahmo Samaj' movement
  • Socio-religious reform: Sati abolition, widow remarriage, and education
  • Rise and growth: 1820s-1830s, 1830s-1840s, and 1840s-1850s

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

  1. The answer Chronological rise and growth of Young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj 10 marks · 150 words

    trace— start point → the stages in sequence → end point → what changed

    Must cover

    • Young Bengal: Henry Vivian Derozio, Radharaman Mookerjee, and the 'Young Bengal' movement
    • Brahmo Samaj: Raja Ram Mohan Roy, 1828, and the 'Brahmo Samaj' movement
    • Socio-religious reform: Sati abolition, widow remarriage, and education
    • Rise and growth: 1820s-1830s, 1830s-1840s, and 1840s-1850s

    Loses marks

    • Narrating chronology without analysis
    • Emotive words on social issues
    • Where without why

    Earns more

    • Young Bengal: Derozio's 'Hindoo College' and 'Young Bengal' movement
    • Brahmo Samaj: Raja Ram Mohan Roy's 'Brahmo Samaj' and 'Sati abolition'
    • Socio-religious reform: 'Widow remarriage' and 'Education' movements
    • Rise and growth: '1820s-1830s', '1830s-1840s', and '1840s-1850s'

    Extra mark

    • Young Bengal: Derozio's 'Hindoo College' and 'Young Bengal' movement
    • Brahmo Samaj: Raja Ram Mohan Roy's 'Brahmo Samaj' and 'Sati abolition'

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