DayanandSaraswati was philosopher and a social leader who influenced many great leaders in the country and Dr.Radhakrishanan, the second president of India called him one of the ‘makers of modern India’.
Profile
DayanandaSaraswati was born on 12th February 1824 into a Brahmin family at Tankara in Gujarat. His parents KasrhanjiLaljiKapadia and Yashodabai named their son Mul Shankar. His father was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and got his son to follow the rituals and fasts. One night of Shivarathri while he kept awake he saw a mouse eating all that was offered to Lord Shiva and it ran all over the idol. Mul Shankar started to doubt the power of the Lord if he could not protect himself from a mouse. Later the death of his sister set him thinking about life and death. His questions thereafter were profound which worried his parents and thought the best way out was to get him married. Mul Shankar realised marriage was not for him and he ran away from home in 1846. As a wandering ascetic he learnt a lot from many people and finally became the disciple of VirajanandDandeesha. His guru was extremely unhappy about the practises of Hindusim of those times and DayanandSaraswati vowed to restore the lost glory of Hinduism. That was his life mission after theat. He criticised other religions and there were many assassination attempts on him. In 1883 he visited the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Jaswanth Singh II who was eager to become his disciple. Seeing the king spend a lot of time with a dancing girl NanhiJaan, he told the king to stop it. NanhiJaan took revenge by mixing small glass pieces in his milk which soon created sores in his body. NanhiJaan confessed the crime to him and he forgave her, gave her some money and asked her to escape. Though he was treated by many he succumbed to it on 30th October 1883.
Philosophy Propounded
DayanandSaraswati wanted to revive the ancient glory of Hinduism and he based all his teachings and activities on the Vedas. He was the first one to call for ‘Swaraj’, India for Indians.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
DayanandaSaraswathi went around the country debating with religious scholars and priests and winning with the knowledge of Sanskrit and Vedas. He formed Ten Universal Principles where all were Aryas meaning noble. ‘Om” was the highest principle of God. He criticized superstitions that existed then. He founded the AryaSamaj on April 10th 1875. AryaSamajis seen all over the country. Vedic Schools and schools giving secular education were also started. The secular schools have a lot of Vedic practises followed in their campuses. Importance of cow, Hindi as national language wasideas that emanated from DayanandSaraswati. He spoke for equal rights and respect for women. In about 40 years DayanandSarawati brought about big changes in the Hindu way of life which was to stay.
