1. Two hundred years ago things were totally different children were married off at an early age .In some parts of the country widows were praised if they chose death by burning themselves in the funeral pyre of their husbands . Differences between men and women were not the only ones in the society. Kshatriyas and brahmins considered themselves as the upper caste and considered the other peasants money lenders potters weavers as lower caste. They also considered some as untouchables as the work they did were polluting i.e. it could lead to the loss of caste status of the upper caste. Thus a change was necessary during this period.

2. From the early nineteenth century we find debates and discussions about social customs and practices taking on a new character. An important reason for this is the cheaper forms media which allows more people to access more information and express their own ideas thus this took an important turn in social reforms.

3. Sri Raja Ram Mohan Roy a social reformer born in Calcutta in 1772 initiated many debates which formed a reform group called as the brahmo Sabah. He felt that changes were necessary in society. He with he help of British abolished sati.

4. Sri Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi (Father of the Nation) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of 'satyagraha'resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violencewhich led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance

5. Basava(11341196), also known as Bhakti Bhandari Basavanna or Basaveshwara was a philosopher, Statesman and a social reformer from present-day Karnataka, India. Basava fought against the inhuman practice of caste system, which discriminated people based on their birth, and certain rituals in Hinduism. He spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna used Ishtalinga to eradicate untouchability, establish equality among all human beings and a means to attain spiritual enlightenment. These are rational and progressive social thoughts coupled with established perception of God in Hindu society. He was a great philosopher.

6. Srimanta Sankardev(14491568), was a 15th16th century Assamese polymath: a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, social-religious reformer and a colossal figure in the socio-cultural and religious history of Assam, India. . The religion he preached is practised by a large population, and Sattras (monasteries) that he and his followers established continue to flourish and sustain his legacy.

7. Kabir (14401518) was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. Kabir is the first Indian saint to have harmonized Hinduism and Islam by preaching a universal path which both Hindus and Muslims could tread together.

8. Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 4 July 1902) was the founder of Ramakrishna Mission. Swami Vivekananda was also known as a great scholar. His real name was Narendra Nath Dutta. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. He was considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America. He introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago in 1893.

9. Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline, or philosophyby one, or more, or all of theseand be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.

10. Vivekananda linked morality with control of the mind, seeing truth, purity and unselfishness as traits which strengthened it. He advised his followers to be holy, unselfish and to have raddh (faith). Vivekananda supported brahmacharya (celibacy), believing it the source of his physical and mental stamina and eloquence.He emphasized that success was an outcome of focused thought and action; in his lectures on Raja Yoga he said, "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success,

11. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (18201891) was a philosopher, academic, educator, writer, translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur, reformer, and philanthropist. His efforts to simplify and modernise Bangla prose were significant. He was a Bengali polymath and a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. Vidyasagar championed the uplift of the status of women in India, particularly in his native Bengal.

12. Unlike some other reformers who sought to set up alternative societies or systems, he sought, however, to transform orthodox Hindu society from within. Vidyasagar introduced the practice of widow remarriages to mainstream Hindu society. In earlier times, remarriages of widows would occur sporadically only among progressive members of the Brahmo Samj.

13. Ramabai was born on April 23, 1858 in Dakshina Kannada District, Mala, Gangamoola, Karn ataka. She was a social reformer who tried her level best to educate women .

14. Virchand Gandhi was from Mahuva. He advocated female education. He is a 19th-century Indian patriot who was a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and contemporary to Swami Vivekanand. He and swami vivekananda drew equal attention at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He won a silver medal in same. His statue still stands at the Jain temple in Chicago