Dr. Vivek Arya
Swami Dayanand Saraswati(1824-1883),
the founder of Aryasamaj clearly stated in the ten principles of Aryasamaj that
the prime object of the Aryasamaj is to do good to the world, that is, to
promote physical, spiritual and social good of everyone. This message was
widely accepted by the followers of Aryasamaj. Aryasamaj indeed became the most
active religious and social organization of 19th
century which dedicated its heart and soul in the service of deprived sections
of the society particularly the women as well as dalits. Taking cue from the life and teachings of
Swami Dayanand many reforms of women empowerment and social justice were
initiated. In this regard, the prominent
stalwarts of Arya Samaj who came forward can be named as Swami Shraddhananda,
Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhai Parmanand, Sant Ram B.A., Ram Chand Mahajan, Master
Atmaram Amritsari, Mahatma Hansraj, Lala Ruliya Ram, Lala Ganga Ram, etc.
Swami Shraddhananda(1856-1926)
pointed out that fundamental reasons for the poor plight of women and
dalits were lack of education, early marriage leading to girls becoming
widow while in their childhood, obnoxious practice of untouchability as well as
poverty. In his work, 'Satyartha
Prakash' Swami Dayanand has advocated compulsory education for all irrespective
of caste, creed and religion. Based on a Shloka of Manusmriti, Swami Dayanand
also emphasized that the state must
punish those parents who do not send their children to educational institutions
for learning. Swami Ji opined that in the school-gurukul, all the students were
to be given equal facilities whether they are children of a king or that
of a poor man. This secular idea of
education was adopted by Swami Shraddhananda and given a practical shape even
before starting of his political carrier. He was instrumental in starting
Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar for Boys and Kanya Vidyalaya Jalandhar for Girls
respectively. These models of education are live examples of social awakening.
Soon, the awareness about education gained momentum throughout the country.
Educating girls was considered a taboo in those days. However, with the pioneering efforts of
Aryasamaj thousands of schools, colleges and Gurukuls for both boys and girls
were opened especially in Northern India. Undoubtedly, the credit for pioneering the idea of
educational movement goes to Maharishi Dayananda and followers of Aryasamaj.
Due to the death of a young
husband, many girls used to become widows even before they had crossed their
childhood age. The condition of the state of Bengal in this respect was
particularly very bad. So much so that
in those days, in the event of the death of an infant husband his so called
infant wife still on breast feed would be declared as a widow. According to an estimate at that time there
were about fifteen lakhs child widows in our country. Hence, Aryasamaj started campaign for the widow
remarriage. Initially this reform movement was opposed by the narrow-minded
orthodox Hindus. They considered widow remarriage as a sin. Facing all
odds, Aryasamaj got success in its
mission and gained public sympathy. The mind sets of masses started changing
gradually. The lives of widows changed from hell to heaven. They womenfolk in
India should particularly be indebted
to Swami Dayanand and his Arya Samaj
movement for bringing complete transformation in their life.
Among important pioneers who
paved the way for stopping child marriage was Hari Singh Gour, who, through his
repeated appeals to recognize the standards of modern clinical psychology, was
able to get the law passed that raised the age of consent within marriage for
girl children from 12 to 14. This
war for raising the marriage age of women and prohibition of child marriage was
carried on further by Harbilas Sarda. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, also
known as the Sarda Act, was passed on October 1, 1929.
Setting the minimum age for marriage for girls at 14
and boys at 18, it was a crowning glory for the social reform movement
in India. The fight against child marriage and the triumph in increasing the
legal marriage age of women were definitely the single greatest achievement of
Arya Samaj towards gender equality and
women empowerment.
Aryasamaj started a crusade against
Untouchability - a social evil alien to ancient Vedic culture. However, due to
mis-interpretation of the Varna Vyavastha loosely called as caste system
particularly during the medieval period,
a section of the Hindu population was mal-treated and graded as untouchables by the upper
caste. These untouchables suffered lot
of miseries at the hand of so called upper caste who believed in hereditary caste system. Swami Dayanand Saraswati who put the right
perspective of Varna Vyavastha, said that the Varna was based on worth rather
than birth and thus opened the doors for upward mobility of the persons born in
so called lower castes. According to Prof.K.V. Paliwal says it was a common
thing to change one's Varna during the Vedic period.
For ascending the social order flexibility has been shown even to a chandala
and many examples can be cited from the scriptures. Mahabharta says "A man cannot be a
brahmin on account of his family. Even a
Chandal who exercises restraint and has a good conduct is a
brahmin"(Mahabharata Van Parva). There are numerous instances of children
of non-Brahmana parents attaining the status of Brahminhood by virtue of their
merit, action, learning and temperament like Parashara who originally hailed
from a chandala family became a
Rishi. Swami Dayananda Saraswati in
Chapter IV of his magnum opus Satyartha Prakasha says Sage Matunga belonged to a very low Chandala
family but became Brahmana and called a Rishi". Likewise there are examples of downgrading a
person for neglecting his prescribed duties like 'Trishanku', originaly a king
was categorised as a Chandala.
Initially Swami Shraddhananda - a
great Sanyasi of Arya Samaj, tried to create interest of Congress leaders in
eradication of untouchability. Swami ji
advised that all Congress members should employ Dalit persons for their
household works for eradication of untouchability. His advised fell on deaf
ears. He met a delegation of Dalits for their right to fetch water from
community wells. Swami Ji proposed this matter before Congress leadership.
However, Congress party at that time did not consider this proposal seriously
beyond giving it a lip service. Swami
Shraddhanand carried out a possession in Delhi. He marched to the community
well for the right of dalits to fetch water without any discrimination.
As expected the high caste Hindus and Muslims
resisted and threw stones and mud. Muslims pointed out that as Dalits pig flesh
eaters so they were not allowed to draw water from the community well. Swami
Shraddhananda announced that due to impact of Arya Samaj, many of the Dalits
had stopped eating meat. In the end
Dalits succeeded in getting their right to fetch water from the wells. Swami ji
was hoping against hope that Congress would cooperate in this holy mission for
Dalit upliftment. However, Swami ji was proved wrong.
In a letter written to
Mahatma Gandhi is 1921 (September) Swami Shraddhananda
drew the attention of the Mahatma to the fact that in Delhi and Agra Dalits
were simply demanding their right to draw water from the wells used both
by Hindus and Muslims and water served
to them through bamboos pipes. Even
here Congress Committee failed to
accomplish this task. In a letter written In 1922 to
Congress leader Vithalbhai Patel, Swami Shraddhanand mentioned that how
Gandhiji had relegated the cause of Dalit upliftment to the background.
Swami Shraddhanand was also against the conversion of Dalits. In
this regard, Dalit’s women especially became an easy prey. Swami Ji was very
well informed about the attitude of Muslims towards Dalits. Ali brothers in
Cocanada Congress session advised to divide Dalits into two parts. One part to
Muslims and the other part for Hindus. Swami Shraddhanand criticized Ali
Brothers for their divisive approach. Soon series of riots in all parts of the
country especially in Moplah, Multan, Saharanpur and Kohat took place. It
shattered Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Hindu-Muslim unity. Swami Shraddhanda was
annoyed by the deep silence of Mahatma Gandhi on such a crucial issue. He
resigned from the congress and started Shuddhi and Hindu Sangthan movement. He
proclaimed that if Muslims had a right
to convert Hindus to their fold than Hindus also enjoyed full rights to defend themselves as well as
bring back the lost brothers through Shuddhi. Swami ji brought back thousands
of Malkana Rajputs who were converted forcibly in the past to the Hindu fold.
He also advised Hindus to get united and form Hindu Sangthan to protect
themselves.
Mahatma Gandhi opposed the
Shuddhi and Sangthan movement carried out by Swami Shraddhananda. He wrote
articles against Swami ji and Aryasamaj in Young India. Muslims got a supporter
in the form of Gandhi. Their leaders started spitting venom against Aryasamaj
especially Swami Shraddhanand. Provoked by such speeches Abdul Rashid killed
Swami ji when he was lying on his bed due to illness. Swami Shraddhanda was
paid tributes by none other than Dr. Ambedkar on his martyrdom who described
him as ‘the greatest and the most sincere champion of Dalits'. Very few people
know that it was Swami ji that coined
the term Dalit.
Aryasamaj worked for social
awakening under the British rule in our country. The British were alarmed. So
much so that from Lucknow Sir Harcourt Butler, the Lieutenant Governor of Oudh
and North West Provinces wrote to Sir Dunlop Smith in London that ‘Arya Samaj
was a dangerous movement’. Why? Because it combined ‘an appeal to national
feeling with a tendency to elevate the low castes’. Why? Because the women
education was taken up by ‘Arya Samaj’ and ‘our position in the country will be
almost hopeless, if the women are trained up in hostility to us’. There was historical precedent too, noted the
colonial administrator, ‘Shivaji did that and so has every Hindu leader…’[iii]
It’s not difficult to conclude
that, in spite of all obstacles, all opposition Aryasamaj contribution for
social awakening of our country is an inspiring story. It is a matter of proud and glory. Sorry to say that
none of the NCERT History book mentions about this inspiring and glorious
chapter of Arya Samaj and its contribution towards Dalits' upliftment.. Hope
such inspiring thoughts will get their due place in the History books.
References:
[i]
Swami Shraddhanand, Inside the Congress: a collection of 26
articles, Vol.1, Dayanand Sansthan, 1984:reprint, p.134,
pp.179-80
[ii]
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Navajivan, March 27, 1927
[iii]
Sir James Robert Dunlop Smith, Edited by Martin Gilbert, Servant of India: A
Study of Imperial Rule from 1905 to 1910 as
Told Through the Correspondence and Diaries of Sir James Dunlop Smith,
Longmans, 1966, p.97
No comments:
Post a Comment