Items used by Maharshi Dayanand
Maharshi Dayanand used various things during his lifetime, which include clothes, wooden slippers, utensils and books etc. These objects are very important from historical and archaeological point of view. We get an opportunity to know about the great man of the 19th century.
During his lifetime, Maharshi Dayanand had given the inheritance rights of his things to Smt. Paropkarini Sabha in his Will. Therefore, after he left his mortal body, most of his belongings were taken over and secured in the Paropkarini Sabha. Presently these objects are displayed in the museum of Parokarini Sabha located at Rishi Udyan, Ajmer.
In this museum, Maharshi Dayanand’s two Shawls, Metal Pot (Kamandal), Wooden Slippers (Khadau), Masipatra, Sand Clock, Knife, Mail Weighing Balance, Signature Seal, Utensils etc. are displayed. The printing machine brought from London for printing books can also be seen in this museum. It contains the things of Maharshi Dayanand as well as his manuscripts, his letters and all his books.
The details of Swamiji’s books and other materials presented by Pandit Mohanlal Vishnulal Pandya, the then Joint Secretary of Paropkarini Sabha, are as follows –
Book Collection – There were 24 Bag s of books and papers which were taken from Ajmer to Udaipur. Again, some of these books were sent to the Vedic Institute at Prayag for the use of the scholars who revised the texts. All these books were brought to Ajmer alongwith this machinery in 1891 But it is difficult to say that Swamiji’s entire book collection came to Ajmer and Pandyaji did not have any books in Udaipur. The details of these Bags are written below.
Bag 1 Rigveda Samhita Original, Verse text and Rigvedabhasya 2nd volume, it also contained a copy of the commentary named Vedarthayatna of Rigveda.
Bag 2 Yajurveda Samhita original, Verse text, index and commentary.
Bag 3 Samveda Samhita original and Verse text.
Bag 4 Atharvaveda Samhita original, verse text (up to eighth Kand), index, a handwritten copy of Atharvaveda presented by Pandya ji.
Bag 5 Shatapatha, Aitareya, Samhitopanishad, Vansh, Shadvinsh, Kaushitaki and Gopath Brahman.
Bag 6 Texts related to Vedanga, Ashtadhyayi, Nirukta, Shiksha, Pingal Sutra, Mahabhashya-Kayat with details, CharanVyuha, Pratishakhya etc.
Bag 7 Texts related to Shatdarshan, Sarvadarshan collection, Vedanta Tattvasara etc.
Bag 8 Upanishads and Aranyakas (some handwritten texts).
Bag 9 Manusmriti, Shukraneeti, Sannyasa Method (handwritten), Sanskarvidhi Gujarati commentry, Collection of useful verses of VidurPrajagar (handwritten).
Bag 10 It contained two copies of Amarkosh and Nanarthabhidhan Kosh.
Bag 11 Collection of medical related books. It also contained some prescriptions for medicines written by Swamiji.
Bag 12 Original Quran in Arabic language and Hindi translation (handwritten) of Quran prepared under the direction of Swamiji.
Bag 13 Bible 3 (vol.), Max Muller's English translation of the Rigveda.
Bag 14 Texts of Jainism - This Bag also contained a translation of Prakrit language with Sanskrit words written by Swamiji.
Bag 15 Apart from the texts of Ramsanehi, Brahma Samaj, Prarthana Samaj etc., there were some texts written by Bharatendu Harishchandra, Sanskrit texts like Chandralok, Bhoj Prabandh etc. and texts like Dayanand Digvijayark (the first published biography of Swamiji), Urdu translation of Rigvedaadibhashyabhumika etc.
Bag 16 Chaturveda subject list written by Swamiji, list of four Vedas in the order of size etc., Rigveda catalogue, list of mantras of Atharvaveda, lists of Upanishads, Aitareya, Shatpath, Nirukta, Nighantu, Dhatupath, Unadi, Vartik etc., Quran, Bible and lists of Jain texts. These were all hand written.
Bag 17 Books written and published by Swamiji.
Bag 18 Rough text of Rigveda and Yajurveda commentary written by Swamiji, that is, of researching Sanskrit and creating a language.
Bag 19 Press Copy of Rigveda and Yajurveda commentary.
Bag 20 Rigveda Bhashya including language, pure copy, rough copy of Sanskarvidhi.
Bag 21 Scrap forms of some books.
Bag 22 List of books written and printed by Swamiji.
Bag 23 Four Account books and Two notebooks.
Bag 24 Signatory letter for cow protection.
Apart from the above mentioned texts, 63 books were in the Vedic Yantralay (printing press) at Prayag. The other lists presented by Pandya ji are as follows –
- List of clothes which are in Udaipur. (number 74) (संख्या 74)
- List of clothes which are in Vedic Yantralay (Printing Press) Prayag. (number 5)
- List of utensils which are in Udaipur. (number 26)
- List of utensils which are in Vedic Yantralay (Printing Press) at Prayag. (number 18)
- List of wood which are in Udaipur. (number 7)
- List of wood which are in Vedic Yantralay (Printing Press) at Prayag. (number 2)
- List of miscellaneous things in Udaipur. (number 23)
- The list of miscellaneous things in the Vedic Yantralay (Printing Press) at Prayag. (number 3)
Thus we see that after his death, complete details of his personal items and library are available. From this it can be estimated which texts Swamiji had collected and used.
Apart from the above, the items used by Maharshi Dayanand will be safe at many places. If you have any information in this regard then please send it to thearyasamaj@gmail.com