Dayānanda Sarasvatī

Dayānanda Sarasvatī (born Mūlśaṅkar Tiwārī, 1824–1883) was a Hindu reformer and founder of the Ārya Samāj (1875), one of the most influential reform movements of nineteenth-century India. Born in Tankara, Gujarat, he left home at twenty-one to become a wandering ascetic, studied grammar and the Vedas under the blind teacher Virajānanda at Mathurā, and began preaching against idol-worship, the authority of the Purāṇas, caste by birth, child marriage and the ban on widow remarriage. His slogan was “Back to the Vedas”: only the four Vedic saṃhitās are revealed scripture, and they teach the worship of one God, rational ethics and a social order (varṇa) based on merit, not birth. His Satyārth Prakāś (“Light of Truth”, 1875) sets out his views and criticises other religions. The Ārya Samāj founded hundreds of schools and colleges (the DAV institutions), promoted education for women and Hindi, and launched śuddhi (purification) campaigns to reconvert Hindus who had become Muslims or Christians. Dayānanda’s interpretation of the The Ṛg Veda as monotheistic and scientific was influential, though rejected by academic Indologists. He died in 1883, reportedly poisoned.