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DAYANANDA
AND
ARYA SAMAJ
Indian religious thought raised a purely Indian
Samaj against Keshab's Brahmo Samaj and against
all attempts at Westernisation, even during his
life-time, and at its head was a personality of the
highest order, Dayananda Saraswati (1824-1883).'
This man with the nature of a lion is one of
those, whom Europe is too apt to forget when she
judges India, but whom she will probably be forced
to remember to her cost; for he was that rare
combination, a thinker of action with a genius for
leadership.
' His
real
name, abandoned by himself, was
Mulshanker Saraswati was the
surname
of his Guru, whom
he regarded as his true father. For Dayananda's life it is
necessary to consult the classical book of Lajpat Rai (the great
nationalist Indian Leader); the Arya Samaj, with an
introduction by Sidney Webb, Longmans, Green and Co.,
London, 1955.