Major works and achievements of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati

  1. First proclamation of independence and freedom
    Maharshi Dayanand was the pioneer among Indians who awakened the light of freedom among the Indian people who had accepted slavery as their destiny after centuries of slavery. Swamiji denounced the foreign rule and said that Self-rule, even if not so good, is always better than any good foreign rule. During the British rule, the countrymen learned words like Swarajya only from the Literature of Maharshi Dayanand.
  2. Call for Swadeshi
    Maharshi Dayanand was the first to inspire the people of India to use indigenous products, thereby waking the people from deep slumber to fight for freedom.
  3. Inspiration to revolutionaries
    Inspired by the revolutionary lectures, and views expressed through books written by Maharshi Dayanand, thousands of people jumped into the freedom movement. The historical sacrifices of these revolutionaries further inspired millions of countrymen to come forward in the struggle for freedom. Not only in India, the followers of Maharshi Dayanand actively participated in the freedom struggle of countries like Nepal, Mauritius, Suriname etc. List of disciples of Maharshi Dayanand
  4. Motivation to go abroad for freedom
    Maharshi Dayanand entrusted his disciples with the task of going abroad and finding opportunities for India’s independence. The name of Shyamji Krishna Verma is worth mentioning in this context. Later, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose also took inspiration from this and formed Azad Hind Fauj with the help from foreign countries.
  5. Revival of Vedas
    In his mission to find the true meaning of Shiva, Swami Dayanand studied all the Vedas in depth and understood their true meaning. But on ground, he found that the Vedas were being propagated wrong and distorted meanings amongst the people due to which people of India were trapped into various kinds of heresies and superstitions contrary to the Vedas in the name of religion. At this juncture, Maharshi Dayanand declared the Vedas to be the divine knowledge. He declared Vedas to be the
    book and supreme proof of all the truth and truthful knowledge. The texts contrary to Vedas were declared to be inauthentic.
  6. Revival of Shastrartha tradition
    Maharshi Dayanand’s supreme goal was to establish truth by defeating untruth through the correct interpretation of the Vedas. For this he challenged the scholars of different sects and participated in many debates. Description of debates done by Maharshi Dayanand.
  7. Propagation of Vedas across the country
    Following his ascetic religion, Maharshi Dayanand never stayed at one place for long and used to travel across the country propagating the true Sanatan Vedic religion. Details of Maharshi Dayanand’s travels
  8. Promotion of Sanskrit literature
    Maharshi Dayanand considering the Vedas as the crown of jewels, accepted the scriptures written by the sages, from Maharshi Brahma to Maharshi Jaimini, as the ultimate proof of divine knowledge. It includes the Brahmin texts of the four Vedas, six Angas, six Upangas, four Upavedas, eleven Upanishads, Smriti list etc.
  9. Inspiration to royal men
    Although, after the unsuccessful freedom struggle of 1857, there were kings with limited rights in the Indian princely states. But still they had special respect among their local people. Seeing this, Maharshi Dayanand started inspiring royal men. And thus, many kings, maharajas and royal employees became his disciples. List of disciples of Maharshi Dayanand
  10. Restoration of monotheism
    The different sects prevalent in India had created their own favorite deities of their own sects and eachsect considered its favorite deity to be the supreme and the deities of other sects as inferior. Due to this, on one hand, the public turned away from the true form of Almighty God and on the other, there was animosity between the sects. In order to drive the people away from such trauma, Maharshi Dayanand declared the existence of only one omnipresent God according to the Vedas with no need to worship the dieties.
  11. Establishment of Arya Samaj
    Maharshi Dayanand founded Arya Samaj in Bombay on the 10th of April 1875. By the time of his death, Arya Samaj temples had been established in about 79 cities. At present Arya Samaj has expanded around the world to about 42 countries and more than 10,000 Arya Samaj temples have been established.
  12. Restoration of Hindi language
    At a time, when Persian, Urdu and English, the languages of the invaders, were prevalent among the common people, Sanskrit was considered only a language of rituals and Hindi was almost dead. At such a time, Maharshi Dayanand proclaimed that only Hindi language can unite India. Despite being a scholar of Sanskrit and his mother tongue being Gujarati, he lectured and debated in Hindi and also scripted his books in Hindi.
  13. Vedas Explained
    Maharshi Dayanand started translating and describing the correct meanings of the Vedas with the comments and explanations in Hindi language in order to make the knowledge of Vedas accessible to the general public. Before commenting on the Vedas, he expressed his objectives and methodology regarding the Vedas in the book entitled ‘Rigvedadibhashyabhumika (an introduction to the translations of Rigveda etc.)’. During his lifetime he had completed the work of commenting/ translating Yajurveda. He started with the work of translations with comments of Rigveda. But before it could be completed he passed away.
  14. Establishment of Vedic Workshop.
    Ever since Swami Dayanand started writing and publishing Vedabhasya and other texts at a rapid pace,
    Swamiji felt the need to start his own publishing house. Finallyon Magh Shukla 2, Vikrami 1936,on Thursday i.e. 12th February 1880, Vedic Yantralay was established at the place of Maharaja Vijayanagaradhipati situated at Lakshmikund of Kashi. Initially it was named ‘Prakash Yantralaya’, but later the name was changed to Vedic Yantralaya. After some time this Yantralay (Workshop/ press) was shifted to Ajmer.
  15. Creation of the revolutionary book Satyarth Prakash
    To present the true picture of Sanatan Vedic Dharma, Maharshi Dayanand wrote his most acclaimed and acknowledged book named Satyarth Prakash. This is considered to be his most outstanding work. In this book he has also given an unbiased review ofthe then prevalent sects, religious beliefs and opinions. Satyarth Prakash is the first book in Sanskrit based standard Hindi.
  16. Composition of other texts
    Maharshi Dayanand composed many books with the aim of refuting hypocrisy and superstitions. And in turn promoting true religion. Apart from this, he also composed educational text books.
  17. Science Sector
    Maharshi Dayanand declared the Vedas to be synonymous with science. He first refuted the theory of evolution and proved through the Vedic scriptures, the process of creation of the Universe. In the books scripted by him, he has thrown light on many scientific topics such as aeroplanes, spacecraft, multiple solar systems, aliens, atoms, prohibition of endogamy (marriages within the same Gotra), etc. He also examined a human cadaver to understand the physiological mechanisms of a human body.
  18. Restoration of Gurukul education system
    Maharshi Dayanand re-established the Gurukul system of education. He established the first Sanskrit and Vedic school at Tokaghat in Farrukhabad.
  19. Campaign for cow protection
    Protection of mother cow was possible only when it could be made an integral part of the economy. Withthis thinking, he promoted cow-based agriculture and economy. He also established India’s first Cow Shelter at Rewari for the helpless and old cows.
  20. First refutation of the Aryan invasion theory
    To enhance their acceptance, the invading Christians (Britishers) conspired to portray the Aryans, the foundation of Indian culture, as foreign invaders. Its objective was also to divide Indians in the name of Arya-Dravida. Maharshi Dayanand was the first who strongly refuted this theory.
  21. Establishment of the first Hindu orphanage
    At that time, there was no provision for orphan Hindu children and they were handed over to Christianorphanages. Maharshi Dayanand saw this mischievous system of conversions and established the first Hindu orphanage in Ferozepur, Punjab.
  22. Home-Returning (Purification)
    There was no way for the people who abandoned their religion due to fear of atrocities by the people of own religion and the heretics or due to greed, to come back to their religion. To bring such people back to the religion of their ancestors, Maharshi Dayanand opened the door of purification (Shuddhi).
  23. Establishment of successor assembly
    Maharshi Dayanand first established the Parokarini Sabha in Meerut. A Will was written ad-hoc on 16 August 1880 and it was registered in the Sub-Registrar office of Meerut on the same day. He gave ownership of his clothes, money, books and machinery etc. to this assembly. Later, when Swamiji came to Udaipur in the beginning of 1883 AD, he not only reorganized the Paropkarini Sabha by writing another Will (acceptance letter) but also got it registered by the Mahadraj Sabha, the supreme
    administrator of the Udaipur state, on Falgun Krishna Panchami 1829 V. (27 February 1883 AD) and was also registered.
  24. Ultimate Sacrifice for truth
    Maharshi Dayanand lived for the propagation of truth and was sacrificed for the cause of truth. During his twenty-year tenure, his opponents made approximately 44 attempts to kill him. But he was saved every time by his power of celibacy and yogic prowess. But the 44th attempt proved fatal and he breathed his last remembering God in a calm and peaceful state of mind. Gurudutt, an atheist youth, became a believer of God on watching the scene of his death.