5.2   Hindu Revivalism

(a) Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Arya Samaj In the Punjab, the reform movement was spearheaded by the Arya Samaj. It was founded ( ) by a wandering ascetic in the western Gangetic plain, Swami Dayanand Saraswati ( – ). Swami Dayanand later settled in the Punjab to preach his ideas. His book, Satyarthaprakash , enjoyed wide circulation.

He declared the practices such as child marriage, the prohibition of widow remarriage, and the alleged polluting effects of foreign travel had no scriptural sanction. The positive principles enunciated by Dayanand were: strict monotheism, condemnation of idolatry, and rejection of Brahman domination of ritual and social practices. He also rejected superstitious beliefs in Hinduism and his cry was “go back to Vedas.” Arya Samaj attempted to check the incidence of religious conversion in British India. One of its main objectives was counter- conversion, prescribing a purificatory ceremony called suddhi, directed at Hindus who had converted to Islam and Christianity.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Social and Religious Reform Movements in the 19th Century