The colonial rule saw the emergence of grew class whose members came mostly from the newly educated sections and the professionals created by the colonial establishment. This class is not attached to any royal court or religious establishment and was entirely on its own, except that it depended on the new colonial economy for its sustenance. Well versed; in their own traditions, this class encountered the full blast of the new ideas shaping the west, equipping them to view their own society and its institutions on their own merit.

They found that-infanticide polygamy, sati, practice of untouchability, prohibition of female education and widow remarriage, and absence of any critical knowledge system characterised their society. Further, religious and social practices were inseparable, legitimising all inhuman practices through recourse to religion. Education in the classical mode imparted in Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian was devoid of any critical component. It was also based on caste and gender discriminations-non-Brahmins and women were not allowed Sanskrit education