The second half of the nineteenth century was marked by a strong wave of reforming activities in India. There was a general recognition of the existing evils and abuses in society and religion. But, as usual, the reforming zeal followed diverse channels. Some were lured by the Western ideas to follow an extreme radical policy and this naturally provoked a reaction, which sought to strengthen the forces of orthodoxy. Between these two extremes were moderate reformers, who wanted to proceed forward more cautiously along the line of least resistance.
We have to appraise correctly the value of the different force that was at work and of the consequences that flowed from them. It would be right here to review the chief movements. The Brahma Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj were largely products of ideas associated with the west, and represent the Indian response to Western rationalism. Far different in character were two other reforming movements which took their inspiration from India's past and derived their basic principles from her ancient scriptures, the foremost of these was the Arya Samaj and was the Ramkrishna Mission.
The Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1824-1883). He was a good Sanskrit Scholar but had no English education. His motto was "Go back to the Vedas". He wanted to shape society on the model of the Vedas. He believes in one God and decried polytheism and the use of images. He established the Arya Samaj first at Bombay in 1875. He traveled all over India to propagate his views and established Arya Samaj organizations at different places for the same purpose.
The Arya Samaj did remarkably useful work for reforming the society and religion. Two basic concepts of the Arya Samaj were largely responsible for its success. One, it provided equal status to all its members. There remained no place for casteism in the Arya Samaj. Second, Dayanand Saraswati also began the Suddhi Movement i.e., conversion of Non-Hinduism to Hinduism which as since become an important feature of the Hindu reform movement. The Suddhi Movement was undoubtedly meant "to realize the ideal of unifying India nationally, socially and religiously". Dayanand published his views through printed books, his most famous work being Satyartha Prakash', which expounded his doctrine. Unlike previous reformer, however, Dayananda preached directly to the masses, and did not confine his teachings to an intellectual elite. As a result, his followers rapidly increased in number and his teachings took deep root, especially in the Punjab and the United Provinces. It should be clearly understood that Dayananda's slogan of 'Back to the Vedas' was a call for revival of Vedic learning and Vedic purity of religion and not revival of Vedic times. He accepted modernity and displayed patriotic attitude to national problems.
Dayananda Saraswati claimed that 'any scientific theory or principle which is thought to be of modern origin may be proved to be set forth in the Vedas'. On an ultimate analysis his general principle amounts to this, that "the Vedas, contain all the truth". The interpretation of Dayananda, however, differs widely from the traditional Hindu as well as the modern Western exegensis.
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