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Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Swami Dayananda (1824–83), originally from Gujarat, began his public career as a monk (sannyasin) of the Dandi order founded by Shankara.¹ His guru, Swami Virjananda, had fought—in the Spirit of Shankara—against the division of Hinduism into sectarian groups and for a return to the Vedas.² Dayananda pursued this goal too, but in a more militant manner, after his meeting with Brahmos—including Keshab Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore—in Calcutta, where he went in 1873. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 in Punjab.³ (The Bengali elite had already established the Brahmo Samaj.⁴ ) The Arya Samaj marked the transition of neo-Hinduism from reformism to revivalism, as is evident from Dayananda’s book, Satyarth Prakash (The Light of Truth), which was published in 1875, in Benares. This book, mostly written in the form of a dialogue, was translated from Hindi—the language Dayananda had chosen to use, though his mother tongue was Gujarati—into English in 1908. This version was revised in the 1940s by Pandit Ganga Prasad Upadhyaya and a new edition was published in 1946—the one from which the following excerpts are taken.

The extracts make it clear that Dayananda favoured a degree of Western-inspired social reform. While he criticized the Indian intelligentsia’s copying of European dress and manners, he admits that ‘The Europeans are very dutiful and well disciplined’ and that ‘these qualifications and deeds have contributed to their advancement . . .’.⁵ Dayananda accepted Western criticism of Hindu forms of worship and the role of Brahmins as intermediaries between man and god, but he argued that in the Vedic era Hinduism had been free of the blemishes for which it was now being condemned (idolatrous polytheism, castebased social hierarchy, etc.). According to him, in that period the deity was worshipped in the form of an abstract Absolute—something that Arya Samaj ritual tried to restore—and, above all, no system of hereditary endogamous castes, or jatis, was admitted. Society recognized only varnas by which children were to be classified by gurus according to their individual qualities. Therefore Dayananda rejected the social system (by which he meant jati) that British observers had represented as backward, urging that it be replaced by the ‘traditional’ varna system, and emphasizing its compatibility with the individualistic values of Europeans. This was his way of seeking to make Hindus regain their self-esteem. His reinterpretation, in fact, enabled him to rehabilitate a social system of ritual hierarchy in the guise of the so-called ancestral varna system. Even though he considered Brahmins responsible for superstition and the decline of Hindu society, the alternative social model he proposed was based largely on the traditional—mainly Brahminical—worldview, as his recommendations relating to the strict endogamy of the varnas indicate. He considered, within his organicist perspective, that such an arrangement ‘will maintain the integrity of each varna as well as good relations’.

Dayananda goes one step further than the Brahmos here since he not only outlines an idealized, monotheist version of Hinduism but also an idealized version of Hindu society. He is then in a position to invent his Vedic golden age. The Aryans of the Vedic era are therefore described as the chosen people to whom ‘the formless God revealed perfect knowledge of the Veda’. Some time after the Creation, they apparently came down from Tibet into Aryavarta—virgin territory between the Himalayas and Vindhya mountains, the Indus and the Brahmaputra—and then became the ‘sovereign lords of the earth’, whose inhabitants they instructed in Sanskrit, the ‘mother of all languages’, ⁶ before falling into a decadent state characterized by the basest superstitions and idolatry. The proto-nationalist ethnic pride inherent in Arya Samajist ideology was combined with an overt stigmatization of the Others, whom the Arya Samaj nonetheless emulated, principally in order to resist them more efficiently, as evident from the last two chapters of The Light of Truth, which Dayananda devoted to a critical study of the Bible and the Koran. He dislikes the idolatry of the Old Testament,⁷ and the weakness of the Prophet—‘that God’, he says, ‘is not omniscient’.⁸ All this notwithstanding, Dayananda was not a proponent of Hindu nationalism. Arya Samaj members, until the beginning of the twentieth century, preferred to stress their specificity and distinction from Hinduism, which they saw as a degraded form of the Vedic religion. In 1891 the movement’s leadership in the Punjab called on its members to declare themselves ‘Aryas’ and not Hindus, during the census.⁹

Two Extracts from The Light of Truth (Satyarth Prakash)¹⁰

66. Q.—In whose minds and when were the Vedas revealed? [. . .]

A.—To the heart of Brahma it was transmitted by Agni and others. Look at what Manu says: ‘Agni-vayu-ravibhyastu trayam brahma sana-tanam. Dudoha yajna siddhyarthamrg-yajuh-sama laksanam’ (Manusmrti, I.23).

In the beginning of the Universe, God first created men and then revealed the four Vedas to Agni, Vayu, Aditya and Angiras. These sages transmitted the Vedas to Brahma. Thus Brahma learnt (literally milked) the Vedas from Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angiras.

67. Q.—Why did He reveal the Vedas only to these four? Why not to others? This makes God partial.

A.—These four were the purest of all men, none else were like them. Therefore, the sacred Word was revealed to these only.

68. Q.—Why were the Vedas revealed in Sanskrta? Why not in the language of some one country?

A.—If God had sent this revelation in the language of some one country, He would have been guilty of being partial, as the learning of the Vedas would have been easier to the people of that country and more difficult to others. Therefore, the revelation was made in Sanskrita which belongs to no country. Besides, the Vedic language is the source of all languages. In that very language were the Vedas revealed. Just as the earth and all other creations of God are meant for all countries and their people and are equally the source of their art and craft, similarly the language of God’s teaching should also be the same so that people of all countries have equal difficulty in acquiring the knowledge of the revelation and God may have no charge of partiality against Him.

69. Q.—How do you prove the Vedas to be God-revealed and not man-composed?

A.—God is holy, all-knowing, pure in nature and just, merciful, etc. in quality. The book that describes God exactly as He is, is God’s not others [sic]. That book is God’s in which there is nothing against laws of nature, or evidences such as perception, authority etc. God’s knowledge is infallible and therefore, the teachings of God’s book should also be equally infallible. In God’s book there should be the same order of things as exists in nature, the same description of God, soul, creation, its cause etc. as they actually are. The Vedas are such books. There is nothing in them which might be contradictory to the laws of nature or invalid according to the laws of logic. The Bible and the Qoran do not stand this test and are not therefore, God’s books . . .

70. Q.—What is the need of positing that the Vedas are from God? Men increase their knowledge step by step and in the long run succeed in composing books.

A.—They can never do so. There can be no effect without a cause. The men living in jungles cannot be learned by mere observation of nature. They can be learned only when someone gives them education. Even in these days nobody becomes learned without receiving education. In the same way, had not God taught the sages the Vedas, and they to others, there would have been no educated man today. If anybody is put in a secluded place in the midst of the ignorant or of animals, he will remain ignorant like his associates. Bhils and other forest tribes corroborate our statement. So long as education was not introduced by the people of India, Egypt, Greece and Europe were quite ignorant. Similarly so long as Europeans like Columbus had not gone to America, the Americans too were devoid of education for hundreds and thousands of years; when they got education, they become learned, similarly in the beginning of the universe men got knowledge from God and in due course raised their qualifications step by step.

Sa purvesamapi guruh kalenanavacchedat (Yoga Sutra, Samadhipada Sutra, XXVI).

Just as we, these days, acquire knowledge by reading with our teachers, similarly, God is the teacher of those, Agni and other sages who were born in the beginning of the universe. The soul becomes unconscious during Dissolution and sound sleep, God does not. His knowledge is imperishable. It follows, therefore, that no effect is possible without a cause.

71. Q.—The Vedas were revealed in Sanskrta. Agni etc. did not know that language. How did they then understand the Vedas?

A.—It was the Supreme Being who made it known to them. And whenever virtuous men, yogins, sages, etc. went into communion with God, expressed an eagerness to understand the Vedas, God helped them to do so. When the Vedas became known to many, those sages wrote commentaries and historical books. These books came to be known as the Brahmanas or notes on Brahma, i.e., Vedas . . .

73. Q.—Which books are called the Vedas?

A.—The Rg, the Yajur, the Sama, the Atharva—only the mantra portion (collections of the mantra).

Q.—Are the Vedas eternal or non-eternal?

A.—Eternal. God being eternal, His knowledge is also eternal. Eternal substances have eternal qualities, activities and nature. Non-eternal things have non-eternal qualities etc.

76. Q.—Are these books also eternal?

A.—No. A book is made of paper, ink etc. How can it be eternal? But words and their relation with the things they stand for are eternal.

Q.—God might have given knowledge to those sages and they might have composed the Vedas.

A.—There is no knowledge without the knowable. There is none except the omniscient God who might have the ability of composing Gayatri and other verses having Gayatri and other metres and accents such as sadja long, short or balanced notes.

77. The rishis have composed books on grammar, philosophy, prosody etc., after having read the Vedas. If God had not revealed the Vedas, nobody could have composed anything. Therefore, the Vedas are the books of God. All persons should act according to their injunctions. If anybody asks them what religion they belong to they should say their religion is Vedic.

78. So much has been said about God and the Vedas. In the next chapter we shall deal with creation.

43. Q.—Were men and other creatures born young, grown up or old in the beginning of the Universe?

A.—Fully grown-up.

Had they been born young, they should have required parents to bring them up. If they had been created old, sexual intercourse being impossible, there would have been no reproduction.

44. Q.—Has this universe any beginning or not?

A.—No. Just as night precedes day and day precedes night, or day follows night and night follows day, just so dissolution precedes creation and creation precedes dissolution, or dissolution follows creation and creation follows dissolution. This cycle has been going on from eternity. It has neither beginning nor end. But as you see the beginning and end both, of every day and every night, similarly every creation and every dissolution has its beginning and its end. God, soul and materiaradica, these three are eternal by themselves (i.e., individually). But the creation and life of the universe are cyclically eternal. By cyclical eternity, we mean stream-like continuity. The stream of a river is ever continuous. It may dry up in the summer but in the rainy season it again begins flowing. Just as attributes, activities and nature of Godare beginningless, so are the creation, sustenances and dissolution of His world. Just as there is no beginning or end of God’s attributes, activities and nature, similarly there is no beginning or end of the actions, which, of necessity, emanate from Him.

45. Q.—God has given some souls the life of man; some cruel bodies of lions etc.; some, those of deer, cow, and other animals; some, those of trees, insects, worms, moths etc. This imputes partiality of God.

A.—No. This inequality is due to the inequality of action in the previous cycle of creation. If God had given them these lives irrespective of their actions, God would have been partial.

46. Q.—Which is the place where man was first created.

A.—In Trivistapa, which is now known as Tibet.

Q.—In the beginning was there one caste (class) or many?

A.—Only one-man-class. Later on, according to the saying of Rgveda (1, 51, 8) ‘Vijani hyaryyan ye ca dasyavah’ (distinguish the Aryas from those who are Dasyus), there became two classes, Arya, i.e., learned and virtuous and Dasyus, i.e., evil doers and the ignorant. According to the Atharvaveda (uta sudra utarye) the Aryas were divided into four classes, Brahmana, Ksattriya, Vaisya, and Sudra. The twiceborn or educated persons came to be known as Aryas and the ignorant as Sudra or anadi (=anarya or non-Arya).

47. Q.—How did they then come here?

A.—There arose constant quarrels between the Devas or Aryas who were educated, and Asuras or Dasyus who were uncultured When troubles increased, the Aryas selected this part of the globe as the most excellent and settled in it. Since then it is called by the name Aryyavartta.

48. Q.—What are the geographical boundaries of the Aryyavartta?

. . . 1. The Himalayas in the north, the Vindhya in the south; and ocean on the east and the west.

2. Or in the west the Sarasvati (river Attak or Sindh), in the east, the Drsadvati (Brahmaputra) which rises in the eastern hills of Nepal and flowing in the east of Bengal and Assam, and in the west of Burmah falls into the southern sea (Bay of Bengal). The Aryyavartta is the name of the country lying between the northern mountains called Himalayas and the southern mountains called Vindhyas stretching right up to Ramesvaram in the south. This Aryyavartta was colonizedby the devas or Aryas, i.e., cultured and was called Aryyavartta because the Aryas or cultured people dwelt herein.

49. Q.—What was its previous name and who dwelt here?

A.—No name at all. Nor there lived any people here before the Aryas. The Aryas came to this country direct from Tibet shortly after the dawn of the creation.

50. Q.—Some say that these people came from Iran (Persia) and therefore, they were called Aryas. Previously here lived aborigines called Asuras and Raksasas. The Aryas called themselves Devas (gods). When there arose wars between them, these wars came to be known as Devasura- Sangrama or god-demon-wars in folklore.

A.—It is absolutely wrong.

Vijanihyaryanye ca dasyavo barhismate randhaya sasad avratan (Rgveda, 1, 51, 8). Uta sudra utarye (Atharvaveda, IX, 62.1). We have already written that ‘Arya’ is the name of virtuous, cultured and reliable persons, and ‘Dasyu’ of those who were just the reverse, thieves, vicious, unrighteous and uncultured. The Brahmanas, Ksattriyas, and Vaisyas (who are twice-born educated) are called Arya and the Sudras or uneducated as Anarya or non-Arya (ignorant). When the Vedas say so, how can we accept the idle talks of the foreigners? In the hilly tracts of the Himalayas there was war between the Aryas and Asuras or Mlecchas. In this war the Kings of the Aryyavattra, such as Arjuna and Dasaratha came to the help of the Aryas and contributed to their victory over the Asuras. It shows that outside the boundaries of the Aryyavartta the tracts lying East, East-South, South, South-West, and North-West, North, and North-East were inhabited by the Asuras and whenever these people fought with the Aryas, the royal families of the Aryyavartta proceeded to their succour. The war between Rama and Ravana which took place in the south is not called Devasura Sangrama. It is called the war between the Aryas and the Raksasas. No Sanskrta work writes that the Aryas came from Iran, and after defeating and driving out the aborigines became the rulers of this country. How can we, then, accept the statements of foreigners?

51.—Mleccha-vacas-caryavacah sarve te dasyavah smrtah (Manu-smrti. X.45).

Mlecchadesastu atah parah (Manusmrti. II.23).

The countries outside that Aryyavartta are called Dasyu-desa or Mleccha-desa. This is another testimony to the fact that Dasyu, Mlecchaor Asura is the name of the people living outside the Aryyavartta towards the East, North-East, North, North-West, and West, and Raksasa the name of those who lived in the South-West, South and South-East. Even now the Abyssinians have frightful shapes as those imputed to the then Raksasas in the books. The people of the country just down the Aryyavartta on the other side of the globe were called Nagas and their country was called ‘Patalas’ because they were, so to speak, below the feet of the Aryas. They were called Nagas because they were the descendants of some ancestor of the name Naga. Ulopi, the wife of Arjuna, was the daughter of one of the kings of this dynasty. From Iksvaku to the times of the Kauravas and the Pandavas we find Arya dynasties ruling over the whole world, and the Vedic religion partially prevailing in all the countries outside the Aryyavartta. It is proved by the fact that Virata was the son of Brahma, Manu of Virata, Marici etc. ten sons of Manu, and Svayambhava etc. seven kings were the descendants of this dynasty. Iksvaku was a descendant of these. These were the early kings who colonized the Aryyavartta. Now due to ill-luck and idleness, vanity, as well as mutual animosities, the Aryas have come to such a pass, that, not to speak of ruling over foreign countries, they do not enjoy at present the indivisible, independent, free and fearless sway even over their own homes. Whatever little is left is also downtrodden by the outsiders. Very few rulers are independent. When evil days come country-men have to suffer all sorts of troubles. Whatever one may do, indigenous rule is always the best. Foreign government cannot be perfectly beneficial even when it is free from religious bias, race-prejudice, and imbued with parental justice and mercy. It is very hard to shake off linguistic differences, cultural angularities, and estrangement due to customs and manners . . .

1 K.C. Yadav, ed., Autobiography of Swami Dayanand Saraswati (New Delhi: Manohar, 1976), p. 21.

2 J.T.F. Jordens, Dayananda Saraswati—His Life and Ideas (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 37.

3 On the Arya Samaj in Punjab, the best source remains K. Jones, Arya Dharm—Consciousness in Nineteenth-Century Punjab (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976).

4 K. Jones, ‘The Bengali Elite in Post-Annexation Punjab: An Example of Inter-Regional Influence in Nineteenth-Century India’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, vol. 3, no. 4, December 1966.

5 Swami Dayananda, The Light of Truth, English translation of Satyarth Prakash by Pandit Ganga Prasad Upadhyaya, 1875; revised edn, 1946 (Allahabad: Dr Ratna Kumari Svadhyaya Samsthana, 2nd edn, 1981), p. 484.

6 Cf. The Light of Truth, pp. 248, 277–9 and 341–5.

7 See, for instance, ibid., p. 623.

8 Ibid., p. 681.

9 K. Jones, ‘Religious Identity and the Indian Census’, in N.G. Barrier, ed., The Census in British India (New Delhi: Manohar, 1981), p. 87.

10 First extract from Chapter VII: ‘God and the Vedas’, Satyarth Prakash (The Light of Truth), English translation from the Hindi by Ganga Prasad Upadhyaya (Allahabad: Dr Ratnakumari Svadhyaya Samsthana, 1981), 2^nd edn, pp. 246–53; second extract from Chapter VIII: ‘Creation’, ibid., pp. 276–9.