prashant singh

1. Dayanand Saraswati, original name Mula Sankara, (born 1824,
Tankara, Gujarat, India—died October 30, 1883,Ajmer,
Rajputana), Hindu ascetic and social reformer who was the
founder (1875) of the Arya Samaj (Society of Aryans [Nobles]), a
Hindu reform movement advocating a return to the temporal
and spiritual authority of the Vedas, the earliest scriptures of
India.

2.  Dayananda received the early education appropriate to a young
Brahman of a well-to-do family. At the age of 14 he accompanied
his father on an all-night vigil at a Shiva temple. While his father
and some others fell asleep, mice, attracted by the offerings
placed before the image of the deity, ran over the image,
polluting it. The experience set off a profound revulsion in the
young boy against what he considered to be senseless idol
worship. His religious doubts were further intensified five years
later by the death of a beloved uncle. In a search for a way to
overcome the limits of mortality, he was directed first
toward Yoga (a system of mental and physical disciplines). Faced
with the prospect of a marriage being arranged for him, he left
home and joined the Saraswati order of ascetics.

3.  For the next 15 years (1845–60) he traveled throughout India in
search of a religious truth and finally became a disciple of Swami
Virajananda. His guru, in lieu of the usual teacher’s fees,
extracted a promise from Dayananda (the name taken by him at
the time of his initiation as an ascetic) to spend his life working
toward a reinstatement of the Vedic Hinduism that had existed
in pre-Buddhist India.

4.  Dayananda first attracted wide public attention for his views
when he engaged in a public debate with orthodox Hindu
scholars in Benaras (Varanasi) presided over by the maharaja of
Benares. The first meeting establishing the Arya Samaj was held
in Bombay (now Mumbai) on April 10, 1875. Although some of
Dayanand’s claims to the unassailable authority of the Vedas
seem extravagant (for example, modern technological
achievements such as the use of electricity he claimed to have
found described in the Vedas), he furthered many important
social reforms. He opposed child marriage, advocated the
remarriage of widows, opened Vedic study to members of
all castes, and founded many educational and charitable
institutions. The Arya Samaj also contributed greatly to the
reawakening of a spirit of Indian nationalism in pre-
Independence days.

5.  Dayananda died after vigorous public criticism of a princely
ruler, under circumstances suggesting that he might have been
poisoned by one of the maharaja’s supporters, but the accusation
was never proved in court.