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4 Dayanada
and Arya Samaj
It marked the beginning of a terrible struggle
between father and son. Both were of an unbending
and autocratic will, which barred the door to any
mutual concession. At nineteen Dayananda ran
away from home to escape a forced marriage. He
was caught and imprisoned. He fled again, this time
for ever (1845). He never saw his father again.
For fifteen years this son of a rich Brahmin,
despoiled of everything and subsisting on alms,
wandered as a sadhu clad in the saffron robe along
roads of India. Dayananda went in search of learned
men, ascetics, studying here philosophy, there the
Vedas, learning the theory and practice of the Yoga.
He visited almost all the holy places of India and
took part in religious debates. He suffered, he braved
fatigue, insult and danger. However, Dayananda
remained far from the human masses through which
he passed for the simple reason that he spoke
nothing but Sanskrit throughout this period.
Dayananda did not see, did not wish to see, anything
round him but superstition and ignorance, spiritual
laxity, degrading prejudices and the millions of idols
he abominated. At length about 1860 he found at
Mathura an old Guru even more implacable than