Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati
Birth- 12 Feb 1824
Birth Place- Tankara, Gujarat, India
Death- 30 Oct 1883 (age 59 at Ajmer)
Parents: Karshanji Lalji Tiwari, Yashodabai
Founder of: Arya Samaj
Popular Works- Satyarth Prakash, Sanskar Vidhi, Rigvedaadi Bhashya Bhumika, Rigved Bhashyam, Yajurved Bhashyam, etc.
Popular Quotes: “Back to the Vedas”, “India for Indians”, etc.
Those who were influenced by and followed Dayananda included – Madam Cama, Pandit Lekh Ram, Swami Shraddhanand, Shyamji Krishna Varma, Kishan Singh, Bhagat Singh, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Bhai Parmanand, Lala Hardayal, Madan Lal Dhingra, Ram Prasad Bismil, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Ashfaqullah Khan, Mahatma Hansraj, Lala Lajpat Rai, Vallabhbhai Patel and others.
He educated from Guru Virjanand Ji in Mathura and understood the root cause of misery is the prevalence of wrong facts in place of correct meaning of Vedas. Because of that, the trap of religious pomp, superstition, social evils has spread in the society & despite being our own country, we are slaves of others. Seeing the country’s poverty, illiteracy, plight of women, destruction of language and culture, Maharishi Dayanand has deeply moved. After traveling in the Himalayas for some time and with penance, he participated in Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. He was a Hindu devotee and tried to establish the truth by forcefully debating with the opponents. He also gave a motivational slogan should be ready to accept the reliability and leave the untruth. He composed a classic book, “Satyarth Prakash” to express his point of view on religious, social, political subjects. He toured the whole country, Punjab, Bengal, Maharashtra and especially Uttar Pradesh was his work area. He created this awareness for the first time in the context of cow protection, Hindi protection, utility of Sanskrit language, Swadesh, Swadeshi, Swabhasha, and self-respect. Knowing that life is not immortal, he established Arya Samaj in Mumbai in 1875 for continuous expansion his work.