Dayanand Saraswati was born in 1824 in Gujarat. He was unaware of the English language and was also unaffected by western civilization and the Christian religion. His aim was to establish the superiority of Hindu religion and to remove the evils of the Hindu religion. Dayanand Saraswati has done works relating to social reform, religious reform, literary and academic reform, to improve Hinduism, as described below.
Work of Social reform –
The caste system has been prevalent in Indian society for centuries. This caste system has been protected the Hindu religion on the one hand and on the other hand, it was responsible for the political and social decline of the Hindus. The ancient caste system was based on birth, which Swamy Dayanand had bitterly criticized. According to him, no person should be deprived of reaching a higher place on the basis of birth in society. He raised voice for untouchables and for the prohibition on travel by sea. He rebuttal the caste system.
On the basis of the social structure of the Vedic period, the Arya Samaj tried to give women a higher status in society. In the Vedic period, women had the right to receive higher education and participate in social life. Therefore, the Arya Samaj gave special attention to women education. The condition of women in society was extremely lamentable. The reason for this was polygamy practice and child marriage custom. These practices were not prevalent during Vedic period, so women’s position was very high in society. Therefore, the Arya Samaj opposed child marriage, polygamy, Parda custom and stressed on widow-marriage and women’s education. They tried to ban the marriage of girls under 16. The Arya Samaj described Sati pratha as a sin and cruelty and stressed the equality of women in society. Swami Dayanand Saraswati also said that the women have the equal right to study the Vedas as men have. According to the prevailing Hindu belief, women also have the right to wear a sacred thread (yajnapoveet).
Shuddhi Movement-
Arya Samaj gave birth to the Shuddhi movement. Shuddhi means that the sacrament in which, non-Hindus, untouchables, Dalits, and Hindus who were converted to Christians and Muslims were again accepted into Hinduism. The result of the efforts of the Arya Samaj is that till now millions of Hindus who had become Muslims and Christians had been purified and recalled back to Hinduism and they are fully respected in society. Arya Samaj organized the Hindu society, thereby the spirit of self-confidence and self-respect awakened in the Hindu society.
Religious reform work-
The Arya Samaj protested against idolatry, ritualism, balipratha, fantasy of heaven and hell and belief in fate. They claimed the superiority of the Vedas, and on the basis of this, they emphasized on havan, yajna, chanting, karma, etc. They believed that God is formless, therefore idol worship is nonsensical. They opposed polytheism and avatars. Swami Dayanand condemned the mythological connotations and beliefs in his speech. He supported the salvation of Hindus and told that salvation can be achieved by following the worship of God, good deeds and Brahmacharya fast.
He explained the Vedas in such a way that the Vedas can be regarded as the source of scientific, social, political and economic principles. The Arya Samaj had a strong belief that there is no such knowledge which we can not get from the Vedas. Therefore, we do not need to look towards Islam and Christianity or western civilization. The Arya Samaj achieved success in saving the Hindu religion from the invasions of Islam and Christianity on the basis of the superiority of the Vedas. The Arya Samaj not only defend the Hindu religion but also attacked the hypocrisy of Christianity and stopped the evil of Hindu religion.
They opposed the Shraddha of the dead and said that the idea of giving everything to the deceased in Parlok by giving food or donation is silly. Swami Dayanand Saraswati did not hate any religion, but when he saw hypocrisy, untruth, and conceit, he could not stop himself to raise voice against it. He used to remind the Hindus of their ancient religion, glorious truth and ideal and make them self-reliant.
Work of literary and academic reforms-
Swami Dayanand Saraswati and his followers and Arya Samaj, founded by him, have done important work in literary and academic fields. Swami Dayanand contributed to the development of Nation-language by writing his books in Hindi. Swami Dayanand emphasized on the importance of Sanskrit and stressed for its study and teaching. The main purpose of Arya Samaj was to remove illiteracy and disseminate knowledge, so he re-established the ancient Ashram system and stressed for its study and teaching. He introduced the ancient Gurukul system of education, where the students can study in the ashram of the Guru by following Brahmacharya. It was the Arya Samaj that disturbed the fascination of the enchanted Indians with the Maya of Macaulay.
At that time, the atmosphere against women education was prevalent among Hindus and it was considered unfair in the society to teach women and it was taboo for women to read the Vedas. The harsh Parda pratha in women was also an obstacle in the education of women. Arya Samaj raised voice for women’s education.
National reform work-
The Arya Samaj has had a significant contribution in creating political awakening among the people of India. The result of social and religious reforms work of Arya Samaj was that self-confidence and self-reliance developed among the Indians.How could the British administrators like the development of confidence and self-reliance in Indians. Therefore, some English writers, officials, and Christian preachers have made wrong propaganda in the context of the Arya Samaj. Valentine Shirol said that the aim of the Arya Samaj was to liberate Hindu religion from foreign influence rather than reform. Lala Lajpat Rai has effectively replied to these allegations of Shirol in his book History of the Arya Samaj.
In fact, the Arya Samaj encouraged the development of self-reliance while discussing the ancient glory of India. This gave rise to the spirit of nationalism and love for the country. A writer has written in the biography of Swami Dayanand Saraswati that Dayanand’s main goal was political independence. In fact, he was the first person who boycotted foreign goods and used indigenous items. He also accepted Hindi as the national language.
Dayananda called Vedic India glorious because India was self-governing at that time. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who led the national movement of India, were influenced by Arya Samaj. The Arya Samaj prevalent the famous word Namaste for mutual greetings, which is popular today not only in India but also abroad.
After the death of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the development of his movement got a shock because due to differences on some subjects, in 1892 two groups of Arya Samajis were formed but each party strengthened this movement on the basis of its method and ideology. Western education was promoted with the Vedic principles under the leadership of Lala Hansraj. Mahatma Munshiram established Gurukul Kangdi near Haridwar which was the first university in the country, where higher education was given successfully through Nation language Hindi. Further, Mahatma Munshiram was famous as Shraddhanand. He worked tirelessly to popularize the Shuddhi movement of Arya Samaj.
Reference :https://www.indiaolddays.com/
