Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati

Mains level: Not Much

dayanand

PM inaugurated celebrations commemorating Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati’s 200th birth anniversary.

Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883)

Dayanand Saraswati (born Mool Shankar Tiwari) was a religious leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement in the nineteenth century.
He was a profound scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language.
Dayanand was a great scholar, and was well-versed in the Vedas and the Upanishads.
He was also proficient in Sanskrit grammar, philosophy, religion, politics and other sciences.

Notable works

(1) Literary works

He wrote several books, including the Satyarth Prakash, which became the moral and spiritual foundation of the Arya Samaj.
This book was translated into many languages, including Hindi, English and Urdu.

(2) Freedom movement

He was the first to give the call for Swaraj as “Indian for India” – in 1876, a call later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.
Subsequently, the philosopher and President of India, S. Radhakrishnan, called him one of the “makers of Modern India”, as did Sri Aurobindo.

(3) Religious reform

Denouncing the idolatry and ritualistic worship prevalent in Hinduism at the time, he worked towards reviving Vedic ideologies.
He believed that the Vedas should be interpreted in the light of reason and not of blind faith.
He also campaigned against animal sacrifice and the worship of idols.

(4) Social reform

Dayanand was a staunch advocate of women’s rights.
He believed in the equality of all human beings and advocated the abolition of the caste system.

(5) Education

Dayanand was an ardent believer in the power of knowledge and education.
He established the Gurukul system of education, which provided free education to all, irrespective of caste or gender.
Based on his teachings, in 1885 the first DAV School was established at Lahore which was subsequently upgraded to become the first DAV College.
In 1886 the DAV College Trust and Management Society was established and registered.

Try this PYQ:

Which among the following event happened earliest?

(a) Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj

(b) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan

(c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath

(d) Satyendranath Tagore became the first India to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination.

Post your answers here.
1
Please leave a feedback on thisx