The establishment of the Arya Samaj in Mauritius
Swami Dayānanda 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 Satyārtha Prakāsh (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.
How the Satyārtha Prakāsh reached Mauritius makes very interesting reading indeed. The story goes to the effect that in 1898 a troop from Bengal came to Mauritius. Among the Bengali soldiers was one Shri Bholānāth Tiwaree who had two books in his possession – the ‘Satyārtha Prakāsh’ and the ‘Sanskāra Vidhi’. While he was planning to leave Mauritius in 1901, he handed the two books to Mr Bhikharisingh, a resident of Vacoas.
The latter was not able to understand the language of these books. He passed them on to Pandit Meghvarna. From him the books reached Messers Khemlal Lallah and Ramsurrun Moti respectively. Both went through their contents and were deeply impressed. They showed the Satyārtha Prakāsh to their friend, Mr Guruprasad Daljeetlal. The latter read it with keen interest and in turn, showed it to Mr Jugmohan Gopal who was equally overwhelmed.
Consequently, they started regular ‘satsangs’ on the Satyārtha Prakāsh which eventually led to the establishment of the Arya Samāj Movement in Mauritius in 1903 at Curepipe Road. The first President, Secretary and Treasurer were Messrs Khemlal Lallah, Guruprasad Daljeetlal and Jagmohan Gopal respectively.
The Second Arya Samaj
In 1907, the Arya Samāj rose from its ashes and started functioning again in Curepipe. But as the orthodox Hindus did not appreciate any reform in their way of living, the newly founded samaj could not resist their onslaughts and again died prematurely.
The Third Arya Samaj
Messrs. Khemlal, Daljeetlal and Gopal met regularly at ‘Satsangs’ where they read the ‘Satyārtha Prakāsh’ and discussed its contents. They firmly believed that if its teachings, were properly disseminated and followed, many evil practices would be eliminated. Therefore, the Arya Samaj was again established on December 1st 1910 in an empty house of Mr Jankee, in Abée Laval Street, Curepipe with the help of a dynamic group of forty eight members.
Port Louis Arya Samaj
The Port Louis Arya Samaj’ was founded on 17th April 1911, in the Hindu Hotel, at Prince Regent Street in the presence of 17 people, including Manilal Doctor. The office-bearers were : Khemlal Lallah, President; Guruparsad Duljeetlall, Secretary; Khersingh, Treasurer and Pandit Gayasingh, book keeper, and the members were Pandit Juganauth, Pandit Rammanohar. Jugmohun Gopal, Hurnam Singh, Madho Lall, Govind Gopal, Juglal Luggeram, Saddiram, Mahavir and Madholal.”
Registration of Arya Paropkarini Sabha
Though the Arya Samaj was established in 1911 in Port Louis, it was registered in 1913 under the appelation ‘Arya Paropkarini Sabha’.
After its registration, the Arya Paropkarini Sabha started functioning as a small society,but thanks to the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of the early members, it gathered momentum and quickly developed into an important reformist movement.
