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Dayanada and Arya Samaj 7
the Vedas, while the burning vehemence of his words
brought his adversaries to naught. They likened him
to a flood. Never since Sankara had such a prophet
of Vedism appeared. The orthodox Brahmins,
completely overthelmed, appealed from him to
Benares their Rome. Dayananda went there
fearlessly, and undertook in November, 1869, a
Homeric contest before millions of assailants, all
eager to bring him to his knees, he argued for hours
together alone against three hundred pandits—the
whole front line and the reserve of Hindu
orthodoxy) He proved that the Vedanta as practised
was diametrically opposed to the primitive Vedas.
He claimed that he was going back to the true word.
They had not the patience to hear him out. He was
hooted down and excommunicated. A void was
created round him, but the echo of such combat in
the style of the Mahabharata spread throughout the
country, so that his name became famous over the
whole of India.
' A Christian missionary present at this tournament
had left an excellent and impartial account of it,
reproduced by Lajpat Rai in his book. (Christian
Intelligence, Calcutta March, 1870.)