{"id":136,"date":"2019-08-23T06:07:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T06:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icp03.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=136"},"modified":"2019-08-23T06:08:03","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T06:08:03","slug":"arya-samaj","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/icp03\/chapter\/arya-samaj\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0100rya Sam\u0101j"},"content":{"raw":"
\"epgp<\/a>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Creation of a modern and progressive India was the paramount objective of the social reform movements in the Renaissance period of India. The reformers aimed at making India an active, enterprising, a free and moral nation. The greatness of the 19th century reformers was that they were the trend setters in making India a new nation. Their thought and activity centered around reconstruction of India. They contributed in different ways to the furthering of Indian Renaissance. Their contact with Western civilization gave rise to a number of reform movements in India. After Brahmo Samaj and several of its different dispensations \u0100rya Sam\u0101j was one such reform movement which made an indelible impact on the people of India. Arya Samaj was founded on the bedrock of the Vedas. Unlike the Brahmo Sam\u0101j and its offshoots, Arya Samaj was not influenced by Christianity and so was considered to be militantly Hindu. It passionately advocated a return to the pristine purity of the Vedic Hinduism. Swami Dayanada Saraswati was its founder. He was a dynamic humanist who shook the structure of established Hinduism to its foundations and infused into it new blood and fresh vigor. \u0100rya Sam\u0101j founded by him became a potent factor in the socio-political\u00a0<\/span>awakening of modern India. As a powerful religious force the Samaj still remains a source of unifying India socially, religiously and nationally.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

2. Sw\u0101mi Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati\u2019s was born in 1824 in the state of Morvi, Kathiawar as the son of Amba Shankar, a wealthy Brahmin and well-to-do banker. Dayanada\u2019s original name was Mulshankar. His father was a Jamindar of the town and an ardent and faithful worshipper of \u015aiva. Like his father, Mulshankar was a man of strong will. His father wanted Mulshankar to become a religious man and he was careful to give him a Hindu education. His education was in vernacular, and by the time he was fourteen, he had learned by heart large pieces of Sanskrit religious literature and had a brief idea of S\u0101\u1e45skrit grammar. He never learned English. Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati\u2019s biographers pointed out three instances of special reference in his life (1824-1845) which had a great effect on his life and philosophy. First, on his initiation at the age of fourteen in the temple of \u015aiva, on a \u015aivar\u0101tri day while he was fasting, he saw mice running over the image of \u015aiva and so lost faith in the worship of idols. Second, at the age of eighteen the death of his sister and uncle affected him. Third, at the age of twenty-one he fled from home in order to escape from the entanglement of marriage. Because of these three instances he had developed a negative determination of eschewing idolatry, a positive determination of seeking deliverance or <\/span>mukti<\/em> and a firm resolution to allow no such entanglement as marriage to interfere with this supreme purpose.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

The period between 1845-1863 may be said to constitute the second stage of the life of Mulshankar. It was a period of his mendicant wanderings and deep religious studies. In his wanderings, he met a number of ascetics who received him into their order. In the process he happened to mee a <\/span>sany\u0101si,<\/em> named, Brahmanand who convinced him of the truth of the Vedanta doctrine of the identity of his own soul and God. He had discourses and discussions with Ved\u0101ntic teachers, and received initiation into the Saraswati Order of \u015aa\u1e45kara Dandis.As a result he was rechristined with the new name as Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati. But, soon, he gave up the Ved\u0101nta stand point. Nevetheless, he always remained an ascetic and to the end retained the new name Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati. For the next eight years, he pursued the study of yoga, both classical and tantric. He regarded yoga as the proper means for reaching emancipation which was his aim. But later he became skeptical and suspicious about many books on yoga. It is said that once he pulled a dead body floating down the river and cut it open to examine the so-called <\/span>Chakras<\/em>. Thereby he convinced himself that many\u00a0<\/span>books on yoga, especially, which gave descriptions of nerve circles and nerve centers, were false. After a practical experience along he threw the idea of <\/span>Chakras<\/em> into the river along with the dead body.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Another landmark event took place in Dayanada\u2019s life in1860. He came across a blind Brahman, Sw\u0101mi Vir\u0101jananda of Mathura, and became his disciple for two and half years. He studied P\u0101nini\u2019s grammar and the <\/span>Ved\u0101ntas\u016btras<\/em> with him. His master wanted Day\u0101nanda to \u2018spread knowledge of the true <\/span>\u015b\u0101stras<\/em> and fight against the prevailing false sects.\u2019 But, in 1863, he took leave his master and began his wanderings once more. When he started out, he was a devotee of \u015aiva. But in the course of his wanderings his mind experienced a change of clearly recognizing \u015aiva as only one of the many names of the Supreme. Thereby, he began ardently worshipping Shiva. By 1868 he felt that it was his duty to give a public exposition of his ideas. He went on tours preaching throughout India, holding public discussions with pundits, <\/span>maulavies<\/em> and missionaries on religious, philosophical and literary works. He published a number of books and went from town to town delivering lectures in S\u0101\u1e45skrit on the right interpretation of the Vedas. He was successful in his attempt as he could draw huge audiences wherever he went. He still lived like a <\/span>sany\u0101si<\/em>, wearing only minimum of clothing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Another important event took place in Dayananda\u2019s life in 1872. That is, he happened to go to Calcutta and meet the leaders of Brahmo Samaj,namely, Keshub Chandra Sen, Devedranath Tagore and Sri Ramakrishna. As consequence, the Sam\u0101j exercised great influence on Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati. As a result, Sw\u0101mi Day\u0101nanda began to wear regular clothes. He also gave up using S\u0101\u1e45skrit in his public lectures and spoke in Hindi like the Brahmo leaders. His fame and influence continued to spread and his wisdom became deeper as he taught throughout North India. At Allahabad in 1874 he completed his most important work, <\/span>Saty\u0101rtha Prak\u0101\u015ba<\/em> (<\/span>Light of Truth<\/em>). In the end of 1874, he went to Bombay where he came in close touch with both the Hindu community and the new organization called Pr\u0101rthana Sam\u0101j. As he was well received and very successful there, he launched in Bombay his great foundation, namely, \u0100rya Sam\u0101j in 1875.The main features of this new society were modified in accordance with the ideals of the Brahmo Samaj and Pr\u0101rthana Sam\u0101j. But, their organic union of these organizations was prevented by Day\u0101nanda\u2018s conviction of the infallibility of the Vedas and the truth of transmigration. In 1877, Sw\u0101mi Dayananda visited Punjab and his visit particularly to Lahore was a great success. So the headquarters of the Arya Sam\u0101j was moved to Lahore from Bombay. After this for the next\u00a0<\/span>six years, Day\u0101nanda lived and worked, touring throughout North India and steadily extending presence and the activities of the Sam\u0101j. A little later there developed a partnership between \u0100rya Sam\u0101j and the Theosophical society. In 1878, the founders of the Theosophical Soceity, Col. Olcott and Madam Blavatsky, wrote to Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati and suggested a union of the two movements on the ground that their aims were the same. Day\u0101nanda accepted the proposal. The Theosophist leaders came to India in January 1879 and unified the two organizations but their union continued only until 1881. Their partnership was dissolved over the question of the personality of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Sw\u0101mi Day\u0101nanda passed away on the 30th of October 1883, at the age of fifty nine at Ajmer. He was a man of great strength of will and absolutely fearless. He strived hard to stem the tide of pessimism affecting the people of India by recovering the Vedic optimism. He was progressive and he attacked superstitions, denounced polytheism and promoted mass education. He was an ardent champion of the untouchables and opened the doors of the \u0100rya Sam\u0101j to them. His message of <\/span>swar\u0101j<\/em> and <\/span>swadeshi<\/em> became a part of the national consciousness of Indians. He was not only a religious reformer but also a national and social reformer. He propounded a theory of nationalism based on spiritualism and laid stress on moral and mental improvement rather than on material prosperity. He led the revolt against the blind acceptance of western ideas and ideals. The \u0100rya Sam\u0101j founded by him became a potent factor in the religious, political and social awakening of India. It helped in expanding the consciousness of the Indian people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

3. \u0100rya Sam\u0101j<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

\u0100rya Sam\u0101j is the product of a typical Hindu reform movement founded by Sw\u0101mi Day\u0101nanda Sara\u015bwati in 1875. It literally means \u2018Society of the Nobles\u2019 and believed in the infallibility of the Vedas and its slogan was \u2018back to Vedas.\u2019 It is an offspring of a peculiar interpretation of the Vedas and upheld their absolutism. It believes that the Vedas contain the seeds of all sciences and knowledge. Everything worth knowing, even the most recent inventions of modern science, were alluded to in the Vedas. Religiously, \u0100rya Sam\u0101j was against idol-worship, animal sacrifices, ancestor worship, priest craft, offerings made in the temples. Socially, it denounced the caste system, untouchability, child marriages and discrimination against women on the grounds that all these lacked Vedic sanction and accepted women as leaders in prayer meetings and preaching. It is the only stream of Hinduism that allowed and encouraged converts to Hinduism. It accepted as <\/span>dharma\u00a0<\/em>whatever is in full conformity with the Vedas. D<\/span>harma<\/em> is that which is impartial, just, truthfulness and that which is not opposed to the teachings of God as embodied in the Vedas.\u2019 According to the Samaj, the authority of Vedas should remain supreme and it should pave way for the social regeneration of Hindu society. Thus, \u0100rya Sam\u0101j was a revolutionary movement both religiously and socially showing the purity and scientific background of the Vedas. Its main aim was to save Hinduism from the onslaught of Christianity and Islam.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

4. Religious Reforms<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Along with Brahma Samaj, it played a vital role in the resurgence of Hinduism. But in the realm of religious and social reforms, the approach of the \u0100rya Sam\u0101j was basically different from Brahmo Sam\u0101j and other reform movements in India. The other reform movements did completely rely on reason to the exclusion of faith or disregard for the past traditions of the country. The difference between Arya Samaj and other reform movements lies in their objectives and vision of the future Indian society. The basic objective of the others was the unity of all religions on the basis of theism and the establishment of a just, tolerant and democratic socio-political set up. But Arya Samaj stressed on theism of Vedic Hinduism though not on the unity of religions. It intended to check the growth of Islam and Christianity. It wanted to discover the indigenous monotheism with its virility and militant character. It wanted to create a distinctly Indian monotheism, not like that of the Brahmo Sam\u0101j with its international platform and all-embracing creed. It interpreted the many Gods of the \u1e5agveda as diverse names for the one God. It firmly stood for the restoration of the \u0100ryan culture with all its ancient institutions and practices. It intended the restoration of the Vedic values and practices in their pristine purity. This is mostly because, unlike Ram Mohan Roy and other reformers, Sw\u0101mi Day\u0101nanda was not at all familiar with English or Western civilization and culture.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Arya Samaj depended on the Sanskrit scriptures and regarded Islam and Christianity as false religions and Muslims and Christians are the enemies of \u0100ryan culture. According to it, even Brahmo Sam\u0101j was unpatriotic as it was inspired by Islam and Christianity. Arya Samaj offered a bold and straight forward monotheism and rejected all scriptures other than the Vedas. It provided the individual with a creed that one could carry out and hope of salvation as a result of right conduct. Its preaching and activity were at once protest and restorative. \u0100rya Sam\u0101j held that every human being has a right to study the scriptures and that the restrictions imposed by the ecclesiastical system on the study of the Hindu scriptures should\u00a0<\/span>be removed. It did not want the Vedas remain a sealed book but the word of God should be spread among God\u2019s sons, irrespective of caste, creed and color. Following are the five principles that the Members of Samaj should daily practice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n