UPSC Civil Services Model Paper 3

● Arya Samaj was established by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875 at Bombay .
● Lahore became the centre of Arya Samaj.
● Arya Samaj had similarities with the Brahmo Samaj in its ideology and the mode of operations.
● The Arya Samaj upholds the sanctity of the cow, Samakars, oblations to fire, and social reform, including the education of women.
● It launched a frontal attack on the various evil practices like idolatry , polytheism , belief in magic , animal sacrifices , feeding the dead through shraadhs etc.
● It supports the doctrine of ‘Karma’ and rejected the idea of destiny .
● The Samaj initiated the Shuddhi Movement by which the non-Hindus could be converted to Hinduism.
● After Dayanand’s death in 1883 , the Samaj lay scattered.
● In 1893 , the Arya Samja split on the two issues of meat-eating vs vegetarianism and Anglicized vs Sanskrit-based education .