Arya Samaj — Definition

Definition

Arya Samaj is a reform movement founded by Dayanand Saraswati in Bombay in 1875. It invoked the authority of the Vedas to challenge practices that Dayanand regarded as later distortions, including image worship and excessive priestly control.

Its activities connected religious argument with education, social reform and public debate. The movement’s later educational institutions included DAV and Gurukul approaches with different emphases. Arya Samaj therefore illustrates how an appeal to an ancient source could support a programme of change.

It should not be treated as a defence of every inherited custom or confused with other nineteenth-century reform organisations.