Brahma Samaj

Since times immemorial, religion has played a important role in the Indian society. In
course of time many abuses had entered in the religious and social life of the people. Many
ill practices like child marriage, sati, polygamy, etc had crept in the society and such, women
were subjected to inhuman treatment They were forced to practice sati and purdah system
The lower sections of the society- Sudras were treated as untouchables and were denied
basic amenities like schooling, using public properties and so no. However, with the
changing times, various socio- religious movements came up with the intension to reform
the Indian society and restore the lost glory of rich Indian culture and civilization.
In 1814, Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Atmiya Sabha and fourteen years later in
1828 he founded the Brahmo Samaj or the Soceity of God. It was started at Calcutta on 20
August 1828 as refomation of the prevailing Brahmanism of the time. Since its inception,he
made it clear that his idea was to estabhish the principles of One Supreme Being and
brotherhood of man. He was well learner man and developed a very liberal outlook. He was
convinced that the existing Hindu practices was declining because of neglect of practices of
Shastras and Rishis. It discards Hindu rituals and adopts some Christian practises. The new

organisation was meant to be an assembly of all who believed in the unity of God and
discarded the worship of images. After Raja Ram Mohan Roy left for England and his
subsequent death in 1833 brought about a steady decline of the organisation.

Big vaccum had been createdby his absence in the organisation which was very
soul and it faced slow decline.
difficult to fill the gap. The Samaj was left without a guiding
However in 1843, Devendranath Tagore joined the Samaj and it infused new life to the
Samaj. Another prominent leader who joined the Samaj at this crucial time was Keshav
Chandra Sen. It was left to these leaders to bring the almost defunct organisation to become
active again. The twoleaders stress more importance to reason than on mysticism. They
raised their concerned against the evil practices in the society. Influenced by Islam and

Christianity, it denounces the caste system, idolatry, rituals and superstitions which were
obstacles for the beautiful growth of the society
all over India through his
Keshap Chandra Sen had popularised the movement
Hence by 1866 the Samaj had thirty four
dedication, enthusiasm and wonderful eloquence.
branches in Calcutta itself, fifty in otherparts
of Bengal, two in north west provinces and
one each in Punjab and Madras. Undpportunely, there was rift between Debendranath and
of sacred thread, chanting of prayers
Keshap Chandra regarding intercaste marriage, holding
in Bengall, etc. which had a bad effect in the smooth functioning of the organisation
The main objective of Brahma Samaj was to make sincere effort to reform Hindu

religionby taking corrective measures. It believed in the worship of one God and on
the
teachings of the Vedas and Upanishads. But,it should be noted that it was against the
doctrine of infallibility of the Vedas. Most importantly, t laid emphasis on human reason to
decide what was right or wrong in religious practices. It strongly opposed to idolatry,
superstitious practises and meaningless rites and rituals. According to them, there was no

need for priestlyclassto regulate or supervise the religious practices The Samaj alo forbade
 Arya Sama

Arya Samai was founded 1875 by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a Brahmin from
in
Gujarat. He was a great visionary who wanted to reshape the deterioting Indian soclety. He
was a great Sanskrit scholar without English education. He rejected the western ideas and
sought to revive the ancient religion . He looked for inspiration from india's past
a c h e i v e m e n t s . His m o t t o w a s " Go back to Vedas" and to create classless soceity. He

challenged the authority of of all sacred books of Hindus except for Vedas. He argued that
evil practices had entered Hindu society were not found in the Vedas but because of the
Hindu scriptures like Puranas. He believed in one God and decried Priesthood and the
worship of ldols. He protested against the practice of caste system, child marriage,
prohibition on sea voyage and encourages female education and remarriage of the widows.
Unlike other reformers, he did not confine his teachings to an intellectual elite class only but
extended to the masses. As a result, his followers increased and his teachings became
popular with the common people.
The most important contribution ofthe Arya Samaj was in the field of social reforms
and spread of education. It condemned Idol worship, worthless animal sacrifices,
pilgrimages, child marriage, offering in temples, etc, which had led to decline of Indian
society. The Samaj estabhished large number of educational institutions which rendered
valuable service to the downtrodden section of the society. Some of the institution like
D.A.V. institutions or commonly krnown as the Dayananda Anglo- Vedic Education
society
managed a chain of more than 800 educational insitutions. The orthodox Arya Samajist
wanted to revive the Vedic ideal in modern life and set up Gurukula Pathsala at Hardwar in
1902.
However, the chief significance of the Arya Samaj was that it created a feeling of self-
confidence and self reliance amongst the Hindus. It helped a lot in breaking a feeling of
superiority of western races and culture. Another worth mentioning was that it aroused the
feeling of intense patriotism. The Samaj leaders also played a leading role in the political
movement of the country. The Samaj had produced prominent leaders like Lala Hans,
Raj
Pandit, Guru Dutt, Lala Lajpat Raj etc who provide much needed leaderships during our fight
for independence.
Inspite of his limitations, Swami Dayananda proved a great force in Hindu society. He
started the 'Suddhi Movement', that is conversion of non- Hindus to Hinduism and to
unifly
India as one nation with one religion. His greatest success lies in raising the social status of
the depressed classes and preventing them from leaving Hinduism and joining other
religious denominations. To be fair to the great leader, when he started the movement his
intention may not be to divide india but it had played a geat part in dividing india and
disturbedthe growing unity among the Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs and Christians
in the 21" century, we are sorry to witness the fruits of this organisation and thereby,
creating disrespect for other religions and disharmony among the Indian
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