History

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj, never visited any foreign country. As such, he did not come to Mauritius to launch the Arya Samaj movement. Instead, it was his magnum opus, the Satyartha Prakasha (The Light of Truth) that did so. This masterpiece of Swamiji reached our shores way back in 1898 and stimulated a handful of progressive people to set up a branch of the Arya Samaj on our soil.

 

Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1824 - 1883) founded the Arya Samaj in Mumbai in 1875. He was a sanyasi (one who has renounced all worldly possessions and relations) from his boyhood. He was an original scholar, who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Maharishi Dayananda advocated the doctrine of karma, skepticism in dogma, and emphasised the ideals of brahmacharya (celibacy and devotion to God). The Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj were united for a certain time under the name Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj.