समाजसंस्कारे आर्यसमाज तथा स्वामी दयानन्द सरस्वती
(samājasaṃskāre āryasamāja tathā svāmī dayānanda sarasvatī)


Author(s): Sampa Sarkar
Assistant Professor
Bijoy Krishna Girls College, Howrah, West Bengal, India.
E-mail ID: ssampa915@gmail.com
Page No: 16-20


Abstract:  Swami Dayananda Saraswati is one of the foremost pioneers of modern India`s social reform and progressive religious thought. Emerging as a response to the impact of Western Education and Christian missionaries, Dayananda appeared to remove the social life of India from decay and unconsciousness. He launched an unprecedented nationwide purification movement to free the Hindu society of that time from all kinds of superstitions and guide them to the traditional Vedic path. Swami Dayananda Saraswati was a great revolutionary and social reformer. He established the Arya Samāj to convey the elevated standards and essential messages of the Vedic tradition to the times and circumstances. The Arya Samāj was able to bring various cultures to Indian society. He was the first to present the concept of “Swarāj” as “India for Indians”. Later, contemporary freedom fighters like Lokmanya Tilak adopted this idea. Swami Dayananda tried to revive Vedic jurisprudence. His main objective to make human life pleasant in all its forms was to prepare the knowledge prescribed in the Vedas to the entire human race. In this paper, I will discuss the contribution of Swami Dayananda Saraswati to the social reformer movement.
Keywords: Dayananda Saraswati, Swarāj, Arya Samāj, Vedic Tradition.