The Arya Samaj Movement

The word “Arya”means a noble human being— one who is thoughtful and charitable, who thinks good thoughts and does good actions–he or she is an Arya. The universal Arya Samaj (Vishwa Arya Samaj) is a gathering of such people.

Swami Dayanand founded Arya Samaj on two basic tenets. They were

• Infallible authority of the Vedas
• Monotheism

He has explained these two principles in his book Satyartha Prakash that he published in 1874 from Allahabad. The primary mission of the Arya Samaj is to eradicate Ignorance (Agyan), Indigence or Poverty (Abhav) and Injustice (Anayay) from this earth. This mission is enshrined in the ten Niyama’s or Principles (see Ten Principles of the Arya Samaj). The four Vedas, Rig-Veda, Yajur Veda, Sam Veda and Atharva Veda, are the Source of Guidance (described in the Invocation section). Arya Samaj believes in One God, known by the name of “Om”, who is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, source of all Intelligence and Bliss, Merciful and Just. All the different names are but different aspects of the one universal God.

Swami Dayanand held the Vedas not only as the infallible authority of Hinduism but for rest of humanity as well. He believed that the four Vedas are words of God. They are absolutely free from error and an authority into themselves. They do not stand in need of any other book to uphold their authority. He held Brahman as the most highest or Paramatman the supreme spirit who permeates the whole universe; who is personification of Sat-Chit-Ananda;,who is Omniscient, Formless, All Pervading, Unborn, Infinite Almighty; who creates, sustains and dissolves the universe and who awards all souls the fruit of their deeds in accordance with the requirements of absolute justice. One can attain salvation through the worship of God.

There are three elements Stuti, Prarthna and Upasana. Stuti or glorification consists in praising the attributes and powers of God with a view in fixing them in our minds and cultivating love towards God. Prarthana is praying to God for the gift of the highest knowledge and other blessings. Upasana or communion consists in conforming to the Divine spirit in purity and holiness and in feeling the presence of the Deity in our heart through the practice of Yoga, which enables us to have direct cognition of God. He believed that the revitalization of the Hindu religion and society could be achieved by purifying the religion and uniting the Hindu society. He believed that the purification of religion could be achieved by purging the religion of its impurities like polytheism and idolatry. So, he attacked these two things and advocated a monotheism worship of the formless Brahman.

Swami Dayananda desired that society emerges as a moral society. So, he preached that the Hindu’s should observe dharma in their life. Dharma is a practice of equitable justice together with that of truthfulness in word, deed and thought and like virtues as embodied in the Vedas. He believed in the doctrines of karma and rebirth; stressed the old ideals of brahmacharya and sannyasa, insisted on the efficacy of samskaras and rite of upanayana and agnihotra (Hawan/Homa), upheld the sanctity of the cow, condemned animal sacrifices, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priest-craft, untouchability and child marriage as lacking Vedic sanction. After his death the leaders of the Arya Samaj accepted his sayings and teachings as the doctrines of Samaj and tried to spread the activities of the Samaj all over the country and the world at large.

One of the main missions of the Arya Samaj has been education. Arya Samaj is one of the largest providers of education in India, from pre-school to graduate level. Arya Samaj especially emphasizes the education of women. As Indians moved away from the borders of India to settle in other lands, several carried with them the principles of Arya Samaj. They established branches of Arya Samaj in their adopted countries in order to continue the good work, to educate their offspring about the rich history, cultural heritage and traditions of India, and to inspire them to carry on the beliefs and practices of Arya Samaj.

“The Prime object of the Samaj is to do good to the world, i.e. to improve physical, spiritual and social standards of all persons.”

Some of the Major contributions by the Samaj in the Social field are:

Untouchability: Swamiji was deeply perturbed by the attitudes of Orthodox Brahmins towards the depressed class of the Hindus, known as Dalits, Outcaste or Untouchables. They were not allowed to enter Hindu temples, homes and Brahman rituals. They were prohibited to fetch water from the village wells. Their children were not allowed to study in the village school with other children. Swamiji was first to declare equal rights for lower caste, the right for education, right for reciting Ved mantras, right for inter-dining, right for marriage and right to fetch water from common wells. Swami Shraddhanand (formerly known as Lala Munshi Ram) spent his whole life for the upliftment of the lower class. This cause was taken up by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party during freedom movement. Thanks to Swamji that in 1950, The Indian Constitution adopted to provide equal social, religious and Cultural rights to the Dalits or Harijans. For the last 30 years Swami Agnivesh has been fighting an uncompromising fight against untouchability.

Caste System: The Sanskrit word for the caste is Varna or Jati which means a group of people having a specific social rank. It also means “ colour”. Some authors believe that the Aryan (being fair in complexion) wanted to maintain their distinction from Dravidians (dark complexion) and used the colour to segregate them. According to Dr Karve, Varna is used in Vedas to denote class or category rather than colour. The Varna system allows us to see how a system can survive for several million years. With the evolution of society, in order to maintain law and order and to govern effectively, it became essential to classify people not only in terms of their different qualities but also with respect to their different privileges. Each class thus, had a specific role to play in society as well as a unique function. Thus, the four castes developed out of necessity. The Varna of Brahmins commonly identified with the learned ones. The Varna of Kshatriyas, associated with Ruler and Warriors. The Varna of Vaishyas, associated with Commercial livelihood. The Varna of Sudras, associated with physical Labour. All were interlinked and functioned in close co-operation. There are thousands of Vedic mantras where we pray to GOD to let all live together, eat together, enjoy together, pray and progress together, fight the evil together and work for global peace together. Vedas also teach us that in the sight of GOD, all are equal and the colour or country makes no difference. There is no such thing as a superior race. The Arya Samaj has been propagating and implementing this in eradicating Caste system based on birth.

Status of Women: During the Vedic period, women were greatly honoured and enjoyed equal status with men. They were active participants in all fields of life. During the post-Vedic period, women started losing their status in society. The women were not eligible for the study of Vedas, nor for use of mantras in performing sacraments except marriage. She lost her identity after marriage. During the Moghul rule, women suffered further degradation. Since polygamy was a norm during the Mughal era, they picked up any woman they wanted and kept her in their “harems”. Indian women started using “Purdah” –a veil to protect themselves. Parents started marrying their daughters at an early age. Some began to consider a girl as misery and a burden which has to be shielded and protected from the eyes of intruders and needed extra care. On the other hand, a boy did not need any such protection. Thus, a vicious circle started in which the women were at the receiving end. All this culminated into new evils such as Child marriage, Sati, Jauhar and restriction on girl education.

Maharishi Swami Dayanand was deeply perturbed with this sad plight of Indian women. He was the first to roar like a lion in public platforms for female education giving evidences of admirable type women Rishis like Gargi and Maitriya. Around 1870, Swamji opened several Patashalas (schools) at Farrukabad, Kashi, Kasganj and Challsan. He also initiated a Kanya Patashala ( a girl school) at Meerut. After Swamiji’s death, the Arya samaj movement under the leadership of teachers like Swami Shraddhanand, Lala Dev Raj etc, continued to establish many girl schools.

Indian women are indebted to Swamji and the Arya samaj for restoring their rights so that they can become the President, the Prime-Minister of India and can compete with men as equals in every field of life.

As a whole, it can be said that the reforms of Arya Samaj are of great significance and have made huge impacts on the contemporary Hindu society. The Arya Samaj has become a major acculturative movement with its purified Hinduism. (Refer to Vedic Wisdom Tab for more insight into the Vedas)