Context:
200th birth anniversary of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati:
- Birth – 12th February 1824 in Gujarat
- Vision –
- Aimed for a classless and casteless Indian society
- He subscribed to the Vedic notion of chaturvarna system in which a person was not born in any caste but was identified as a brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra.
- Envisioned an India free from foreign rule
- First to give the call for Swaraj as “India for Indian” in 1876.
- He took inspiration from the Vedas and considered them to be ‘India’s Rock of Ages’
- Gave the slogan “Back to the Vedas”
- Establishments – Arya Samaj
- Work – Satyarth Prakash (The True Exposition)
- Contribution to Education system – DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) schools came into existence in 1886 to realize the vision of Swami Dayanand Saraswati
- Followers – Sri Aurobindo and S. Radhakrishnan.
Arya Samaj:
- Established in – 1875 in Mumbai
- Objective – Revivalist movement aiming to re-establish the Vedas
- Activities –
- Opposes worship of murtis (images), animal sacrifice, shraddha (rituals on behalf of ancestors)
- Upholds the infallibility of the Vedas, the doctrines of karma
- Upholds the sanctity of the cow
- Worked to further female education and intercaste marriage
- Famous for – Shuddhi Movement aiming to bring the converted Hindus back to the community
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Which among the following events happened earliest?
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2018 Prelims]
(a) Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj
(b) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neel Darpan
(c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath
(d) Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination
Answer: (b)
