ARYA SAMAJ
ARYA SAMAJ Arya Samaj, (Sanskrit: ‘Society of Nobles’) vigorous reform sect of modern Hinduism, founded in 1875 by Dayananda Sarasvati, whose aim was to reestablish the Vedas, the earliest Hindu scriptures, as revealed truth. He rejected all later accretions to the Vedas as degenerate but, in his own interpretation, included much post-Vedic thought, such as the doctrines of karman (effect of past deeds) and of rebirth. The Arya Samaj has always had its largest following in western and northern India. It is organized in local ‘ samajas’ – societies that send representatives to provincial samaja s and to an all-India ‘samaja’ and local ‘samaja’ elects its own officers in a democratic manner. This opposes idolatry, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship, a caste system based on birth rather than on merit, untouchability, child marriage, pilgrimages, priestly craft and temple offerings. It upholds the infallibility of the Vedas, the doctrines of karman and rebirth, the sanctity of the cow,