Dayananda Sarasvati

Dayananda Sarasvati

 orig. Mula Sankara

(born 1824, Tankara, Gujarat, India—died Oct. 30, 1883, Ajmer, Rajputana) Hindu ascetic and social reformer. A Brahman, he rejected what he considered idol worship at age 14 after seeing mice swarm over an image of Shiva, attracted by offerings placed before it. His religious quest led him to Yoga, and, to escape an arranged marriage, he joined the ascetic Sarasvati order. He spent 15 years traveling in search of religious truth, and in 1863 he began preaching his vision of reinstating a purified Vedic religion. He debated orthodox Hindu scholars and Christian missionaries and in 1875 founded Arya Samaj. He opposed child marriage and the ban on remarriage by widows, and he opened Vedic study to all castes.