How the efforts of Swami Dayanand Saraswati revolutionised Indian society?

Swami Dayanand Saraswati made efforts to revolutionise Indian attitude religion and is considered as one of the ‘Makers of Modern India’.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati and his efforts

• He was the founder of the Hindu reform organisation Arya Samaj. He has left a deep impact on the Indian society and the concept of religion.
• Arya Samaj was based on the foundations of God, soul and nature.
• He made conscious efforts to bring immense changes in the religious perceptions of Indians.
• He was opposed to the principles of following dogmatic rituals of revering idols and symbols. He emphasised that all actions should be performed with the prime objective of benefiting mankind.
• He gave the call for Hindus to go back to the roots of their religion, which are the Vedas.
• He strived to uplift the Hindus from the depressive religious, social, political, and economic conditions prevailing in the country at the time.
• His logical, scientific and critical analysis of faiths like Christianity and Islam as well as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism sowed the seeds for the modern India.
• He was the first to give the call for ‘Swarajya’. He emphasised on the idea of India for Indians in 1876 which was later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.
• His most influential works Satyarth Prakash contributed to the Indian independence movement.
• He strived to completely overhaul the education system of India by introducing Anglo-Vedic schools to offer students an updated curriculum and imparting both the knowledge of the Vedas and contemporary English education.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s thoughts were ahead of the time. He strived to induce rationalism into religion. Through his logical, scientific and critical analysis of the Indian society he laid the foundation of the modern India. Hence he is also referred as one of the ‘Makers of Modern India’.