Dayananda Saraswati and the Arya Samaj

At a Glance

• Founder Dayananda Saraswati (Mulshankar, 1824-83); Arya Samaj, Bombay, 1875
• Book and slogan Satyarth Prakash; “Back to the Vedas”
• Education D.A.V. College, Lahore, 1886; Gurukul, 1900-02
• Split and shuddhi Split in 1893; shuddhi campaign
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Reform Movements and Their Leaders

Where Does It Fit?

This is the ninth topic of the category on reform movements and their leaders. The previous topic covered Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. This topic covers the main revivalist movement of the nineteenth century. The next topic covers several smaller societies and orthodox bodies. Previous topic: Ramakrishna Movement and Swami Vivekananda.

Who Was Dayananda Saraswati?

The Arya Samaj Movement, revivalist in form though not in content, was the result of a reaction to Western influences. Its founder, Dayananda Saraswati or Mulshankar (1824-83), was born in the old Morvi state in Gujarat in a brahmin family. He wandered as an ascetic for fifteen years (1845-60) in search of truth. The first Arya Samaj unit was formally set up by him at Bombay in 1875, and the headquarters were later established at Lahore. He had received education on Vedanta from a blind teacher, Swami Virajananda, at Mathura.

What Did He Teach?

Dayananda’s views were published in his famous work Satyarth Prakash (The True Exposition). His vision of India included a classless and casteless society, a united India (religiously, socially and nationally), and an India free from foreign rule, with Aryan religion as the common religion of all. He took inspiration from the Vedas, which he called India’s Rock of Ages, the infallible and true seed of Hinduism, and gave the slogan Back to the Vedas. The slogan was a call for the revival of Vedic learning and the Vedic purity of religion, and not a revival of Vedic times. He accepted modernity and showed a patriotic attitude to national problems.

• Individual interpretation Along with Vedic authority, he stressed individual interpretation of the scriptures and the right of every person to reach God
• Later scriptures He criticised the Puranas and ignorant priests for perverting Hinduism
• Maya and moksha He criticised the escapist belief in maya and the aim of life as escape to moksha
• God, soul, matter He held that God, soul and matter (prakriti) are distinct and eternal, and each person works out salvation by eternal principles of conduct
• Karma and reincarnation He believed in karma and reincarnation, and held that good deeds should be for the good of others
• Attack on orthodoxy He attacked caste rigidities, untouchability, idolatry, polytheism, magic and charms, animal sacrifice, the taboo on sea voyages and shraddhas
• Chaturvarna He supported the Vedic chaturvarna in which a person is brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra by occupation and merit, not birth

The Arya Samaj fixed the minimum marriageable age at twenty-five for boys and sixteen for girls. Dayananda lamented that Hindus were the children of children. He met other reformers of his time, including Keshab Chandra Sen, Vidyasagar, Ranade and Deshmukh.

What Were the Ten Principles?

The social ideals included the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, equality of the sexes, and absolute justice and fair play between man and man and nation and nation. Inter-caste marriage and widow remarriage were also encouraged. The Samaj was known for social service in calamities such as earthquake, famine and floods, and for promoting education.

How Did the Samaj Grow and Split?

After Dayananda’s death in 1883, illustrious members carried on the Samaj’s work, with education as an all-important field. The Dayananda Anglo-Vedic (D.A.V.) College was established at Lahore in 1886. A difference of opinion on its curriculum led to two groups.

The Arya Samaj split in 1893 over these issues. The College Party kept control of the D.A.V. School and College. The Mahatma Party took over the Arya Partinidhi Sabha, Punjab, and a majority of the local Samaj branches. Swami Shraddhanand opened the Gurukul in 1900 at Gujranwala (now in Pakistan), and in 1902 it moved to Kangri near Haridwar, hence Gurukul Kangri. It aimed to give an indigenous alternative to Macaulay’s education policy, with Vedic literature, Indian philosophy and culture along with modern sciences and research. The Gurukul believed in radical social reform. It founded the Kanya Mahavidyalaya at Jalandhar in 1896 and sponsored education for widows.

What Was the Shuddhi Movement?

The Arya Samaj gave self-respect and self-confidence to Hindus, which helped to undermine the myth of the superiority of whites and Western culture. In its zeal to protect Hindu society from the onslaught of Christianity and Islam, the Samaj started the shuddhi (purification) movement to reconvert converts to Christianity and Islam to the Hindu fold. An aggressive campaign of shuddhi led to the increasing communalisation of social life in the 1920s, and later snowballed into communal political consciousness. The shuddhi movement also tried to lift those regarded as untouchable and outside the caste system into pure caste Hindus.

As an analytical point, the Arya Samaj is best read as a movement of two faces. It was reformist in its attack on caste by birth, idolatry and child marriage, and revivalist in its authority of the Vedas and its defensive mission. This is why it is classed as revivalist in form but not in content, as in Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Aligarh Movement Revivalist…">Two Streams of Reform: Reformist and Revivalist. Its work on caste is also noted in Struggle Against Caste-Based Exploitation.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Direct facts Founder, book, slogan, D.A.V. College and the 1893 split are standard Prelims items
• Revivalism It is the model revivalist movement in answers
• Communal politics Shuddhi appears in discussions of communalism

What Came Next?

The next topic covers several smaller societies and orthodox bodies. Next topic: Seva Sadan, Dev Samaj, Dharma Sabha, Bharat Dharma Mahamandala and Radhaswami Movement.

Key People and Terms

• Satyarth Prakash Dayananda’s main work, The True Exposition
• Back to the Vedas The call for Vedic purity of religion
• D.A.V. Dayananda Anglo-Vedic, the Arya Samaj’s school and college network
• Gurukul Kangri The Arya Samaj gurukul moved to Kangri near Haridwar in 1902
• Shuddhi The purification movement to reconvert converts
• Prakriti Matter, one of the three eternal entities in Dayananda’s thought

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for the contribution and drawbacks of the Arya Samaj. These points add depth.

• Education D.A.V. schools and the Gurukul set up two models
• Self-respect It undermined the myth of white superiority
• Communal turn Shuddhi contributed to communalisation