Dayanand Saraswati, Arya Samaj, and Root of Hindu-Sikh Tension

Dayanand Saraswati (12 February 1824 – 30 October 1883) was a Hindu religious leader who founded the Arya Samaj, a Neo-Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. Dayananda emphasized the ideals of brahmacharya (abstain-ism). 

Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Founder of Arya Samaj Cult

Early Childhood

Dayanand Saraswati was born on 12 February in 1824 in a Brahmin family in the Kathiawad region (now Rajkot district of Gujarat). His original name was Mool Shankar Tiwari. His father was a follower of Shiva and taught Mool Shankar the ways to impress the Lord by idol worshiping and keeping fasts. On the occasion of Shivratri, Dayanand saw a mouse eating the offerings to the God and running over the idol's body. After seeing this, he questioned himself, if the God could not defend himself against a little mouse then how could he be the savior of the massive world. Later, the deaths of his younger sister and his uncle from cholera caused Dayanand to ponder the meaning of life and death and he started asking questions which worried his parents. He was to be married in his early teens, but he decided marriage was not for him and in 1846 ran away from home.

Mool Shankar spent nearly twenty-five years, from 1845 to 1869, as a wandering ascetic, searching for religious truth. During these years he became a disciple of a Yoga teacher Virajanand Dandeesha.

Arya Samaj

Mool Shankar gave himself a new name and title - Maharishi Dayanand "Saraswati" and established Arya Samaj formally in Bombay at 10 April 1875. The group found most of its support in Gujarat and Punjab among the urban upper caste Hindus. 

Arya Samaj

Rabid Criticism of All Other Religions

Dayanand  traveled across the country challenging religious scholars and priests and promoting his views on Sanskrit and Vedas. He was rabid in his criticism of contemporary religions of his period. He claimed that he has conducted logical, scientific and critical analyses of faiths i.e. Christianity & Islam as well as of other Indian faiths like Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. He has described these religions in the chapters of his book Satyarth Prakash in venomous language denigrating these religions and their founders in poor language and in arrogant manner.

Hinduism

Dayanand proclaimed not to be a Hindu but an Aryan. He believed that Hinduism had been corrupted by divergence from the founding principles of the Vedas and that Hindus had been misled by the priests. Veer Savarkar wrote that the Arya-Samaji refused to be called Hindus in the 1921 census and also refused to attend the Hindu temple and made their own. Arya-Samaj have many times savagely criticized Sanatana Hindu Dharma and the word 'Hindu' itself.

Christianity

He described Christianity as a "bad religion, and a 'false religion' believed in only by ignorant people". He opposed the perpetual virginity of Mary, he added that such doctrines are simply against the nature of law, and that God will never break his own law because God is Omniscient and infallible. Regarding Jesus, he wrote: All Christian missionaries say that Jesus was a very calm and peace loving person. But in reality he was a hot-tempered person destitute of knowledge and who behaved like a wild savage. This shows that Jesus was neither the son of God, nor had he any miraculous powers. He did not possess the power to forgive sins. Jesus came to spread discord which is going on everywhere in the world. Therefore, it is evident that the hoax of Christ’s being the Son of God, the forgiver of sin, has been set up falsely by his disciples. In reality, he was a very ordinary ignorant man, neither learned nor a yogi.

Islam

Dayanand viewed Islam to be waging wars and immorality. He doubted if Islam has to do anything with the God, as he questioned that why a God would be hating every non-believer, allowing slaughter of animals, non-merciful and command Muhammad to slaughter innocent people, animals. He further described Muhammad as "imposter", and one who held out "a bait to men and women, in the name of God, to compass his own selfish needs." He regarded Quran as "Not the Word of God. It is a human work. Hence it cannot be believed in."

Jainism

He regarded Jainism as "the most dreadful religion", he writes that Jains were intolerant and hostile towards the non-Jains.

Buddhism

Dayanand described Buddhism as "anti-vedic" and "atheistic." He noted that the type of "salvation" Buddhism prescribes to, is attainable even to dogs and donkeys. He further criticized the Cosmogony of Buddhism, that earth was not created.

Sikhism

He regarded Guru Nanak as "not much literate", who was quite ignorant about the Vedas, Sanskrit, the Shashtras- otherwise, according to Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Guru Nanak wouldn't be mistaken with words. A Sikh wrote a response, to which Dayanand Saraswati answered that his opinion had undergone a change after having visited the Punjab, and the remarks about Sikhism would be deleted in the subsequent edition of his work. However, these remarks were never removed after the untimely death of Dayanand Saraswati, and later editions of Satyarth Prakash were even more critical of Sikhism.

He further pointed that the followers of Sikhism are to be blamed for making up stories that Guru Nanak possessed miraculous powers and met Gods. He slammed Guru Gobind Singh, and other Gurus to have been "invented fictitious stories", although he also recognized Guru Gobind Singh to be "indeed a very brave man."

Hindu-Sikh Tension

Two years later, Swami Dayananda came to the Punjab and established the Arya Samaj at Lahore. In his discourses in the Punjab, he always praised the work of the Sikh Gurus. This attracted a number of Sikhs to the Arya Samaj. By 1875, the Arya Samaj had firmly established itself in the Sikh homeland thanks to invitation by well meaning Sikhs and and his protégés. Dayanand began to preach that Sikhism was simply a branch of Hinduism, and openly began to denounce Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the teachings of the Sikh Gurus. For sometime past there has been a good deal of misunderstanding about the origin of the Hindu-Sikh tension in the Punjab. In truth, it is a misnomer to call it Hindu-Sikh tension. It is, in fact, only Arya Samaj – Sikh tension.

Sikhs question Dayanand Saraswati

Historically speaking, the tension had its origin in the unhappy language used for Guru Nanak and his followers by Swami Dayananda, in his book the Satyarth Prakash published in 1875. The word used for the Sikh Guru therein is dhurta, which, according to Bate’s Dictionary of the Hindi language, means “rogue, cheat, fraudulent, crafty, cunning, knavish, sly, dishonest, and mischievous.” The hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture, he called mithya (falsehood), and Sikhism, a jaal (ikb - a snare) to rob and cheat simple folk of their wealth and property (dhan adik harne ke waste).

While Swami Dayananda was at Kanpur, on his return from the Punjab, Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sub-Engineer of the Ajmer Division, wrote to him in protest against his objectionable remarks in the Satyarth Prakash against the Sikhs and Sikhism. Swamiji wrote back saying that his opinion had undergone a change during his visit to the Punjab and that the remarks in question would be deleted from the next edition of the book. But nothing came to be done. It was, perhaps, due to the untimely death of Swamiji on October, 10, 1883. The second edition of the Satyarth Prakash was, perhaps, then still in the press. With the passage of time, the publication of the second edition of the Satyarth Prakash and the admission of some over-zealous youngmen into the Arya Samaj, the attitude of some of the leading Arya Samajists became increasingly hostile towards Sikhs and Sikhism. 

The second edition of the Satyarth Prakash turned out to be more disappointing and hostile. In it the attack on the Sikh Gurus, the Sikh scripture and the Sikh people in general was more direct, more biting and more painful. Guru Nanak was given out as illiterate, self-conceited and hypocrite. The Sikh scripture was insulted and the tenets and symbols of Sikhism were ridiculed. And the Sikhs in general were dubbed as arrogant and slaves to lust.

Critique of Dayanand Saraswati

This naturally disillusioned the Sikh members of the Arya Samaj or were its active supporters. They felt very much hurt and dejected. What added to the tension was the fanatical attitude of some members of the Arya Samaj who went out of their way to flash the wrongful remarks of the Satyarth Prakash and unnecessarily wounded the susceptibilities of the Sikhs. The relationship was worsened by the fire-breathing speeches of some of the leaders of the Arya Samaj at its eleventh annual session held at Lahore on Saturday and Sunday the 24th and 25th of November, 1888.

Pandit Guru Datt, the leader of the anti-modernist section of the Arya Samaj, in his speech on the morning of Sunday, the 25th of November, not only repeated the anti-Sikh remarks of the Satyarth Prakash, but also entered into odious comparisons and launched an attack on Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh. The discussions of Lala Murlidhar and Swami Swatmananda on the subject added fuel to the smouldering fire which soon burst out into flames.

Pandit Guru Datt’s speech was followed the same evening by that of Pandit Lekh Ram who spoke with still greater force and hostility against the Sikhs. Not only this. At one stage in the course of his speech, Pandit Lekh Ram physically insulted the holy book of the Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib, which had been unceremoniously placed there on the table before him. This was more than what the Sikhs present in the meeting could tolerate.

Singh Sabha Movement

Thus publicly insulted and ridiculed, the Sikhs were left with the only alternative of finally breaking with the Arya Samaj. The Sikh scholars countered the Arya Samaj propaganda by establishing Singh Sabha Lahore and Amritsar. Unfortunately, the two Singh Sabhas did not see eye to eye on some key and crucial points. While Giani Ditt Singh and Bhai Gurmukh Singh’s ‘Tat-Khalsa’ group saw the Sikh Nation as a unique entity, the Amritsar based ‘Sanatan’ group, led by Khem Singh Bedi and others had very liberal views about the distinct Sikh identity. 

The Evidence: Satyarth Prakash - Chapter 11 (Page 307-309)

Death of Dayanand Saraswati

In 1883 Dayananda was invited by the Maharaja of Jodhpur to stay at his palace.  Dayananda was bedridden and suffered excruciating pain. Maharaja quickly arranged doctor's services for him. However, by the time doctors arrived, his condition got worse and had bleeding sores. Later Maharaja arranged for Swamiji to be sent to Mount Abu upon advice of Residency, however, after staying some time in Abu, Swamji was sent to Ajmer for better medical care on 26 October 1883. There was no improvement in his health and he died on the morning of 30 October 1883 at 6:00 am.

Fellow Haryana cult leader "Sant" Rampal describes the painful death of Dayanand Saraswat in following words: