Arya Samaj

Arya Samaj (Sanskrit ārya samāja आर्य समाज "Noble Society" Hindi आर्य समाज, Punjabi ਆਰੀਆ ਸਮਾਜ, Gujarati આર્ય સમાજ) is an Indian religious reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 7 April 1875. He was a sannyasi who promoted the Vedas. Dayananda emphasised the ideals of brahmacharya (chastity) for priests. This practise was done by Yogi Munsi Lala Dai who inscripted and gave everyone values in form of the valuable language Bujjamprati.

History

Arya Samaj was formally established in Bombay at 10 April 1875 by Dayanand Saraswati. The group found most of its support in Punjab.

Foundation

Vedic schools

Between 1869 and 1873, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a native of Gujarat from the Kathiawar region, made his first attempt at reform in India. This attempt took the form of the establishment of "Vedic Schools" or "Gurukuls" which put an emphasis on Vedic values, culture, and religion or satya sanatan Dharma to its students including boys and girls separately as on ancient Vedic pattern.The first was established at Farrukhabad in 1869 in up state, with 50 students enrolled in its first year. This initial success led to the founding of four additional gurukuls in rapid succession at Mirzapur (1870), Kasganj (1870), Chhalesar (Aligarh) (1870) and Varanasi (1873) all in Uttar Pradesh.

Arya Samaj in Fiji

The Arya Samaj was the first religious, cultural and educational Fiji Indian organisation established in Fiji. From its inception, in 1904, it attracted the young, educated and progressive Hindus into its fold. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, it was the sole voice of the Indian community in Fiji, and as Fiji Indians won political rights, it was not surprising that first Indian members of the Legislative Council were all Arya Samajis. The influence of Arya Samaj over the Indians in Fiji gradually waned as other organisations representing Indians were established but it remained the dominant force in politics until 1959. The modern day Arya Samaj in Fiji still speaks out on issues affecting its members and its activities are visible through the numerous educational institutions that it manages.

History of Arya Samaj in Fiji

As far back as 1893, learning centres had been established by small groups of people who had organised themselves into Samajs. With the arrival of Shiu Datt Sharma from India, in 1902, a temple was established in Samabula, near Suva, which also acted as a school attended by about 60 boys and girls.

Arya`

Arya` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.

References

Aryan

"Aryan" (/ˈɛəriən, ˈɛərjən, ˈær-/) is a term meaning "noble" which was used as a self-designation by ancient Indo-Iranian people. The word was used by the Indic people of the Vedic period in India to refer to the noble class and geographic location known as Āryāvarta where Indo-Aryan culture was based. The closely related Iranian people used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures, and the word forms the etymological source of the country Iran. It was believed in the 19th century that it was also a self-designation used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory that has now been abandoned. Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.

Drawing on misinterpreted references in the Rig Veda by Western Scholars in the 19th century, the term "Aryan" was adopted as a racial category through the work of Arthur de Gobineau, whose ideology of race was based on an idea of blonde northern European "Aryans" who had migrated across the world and founded all major civilizations, before being degraded through racial mixture with local populations. Through Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Gobineau's ideas later influenced the Nazi racial ideology, which also saw "Aryan peoples" as innately superior to other putative racial groups. The atrocities committed in the name of this racial aryanism caused the term to be abandoned by most academics; and, in present-day academia, the term "Aryan" has been replaced in most cases by the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Indo-European", and "Aryan" is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term of the "Indo-Aryan languages".

Aarya (film)

Aarya is a 2007 Tamil film directed by Balasekaran. The film starred Madhavan, Bhavana, Prakash Raj, Vadivelu, Praveen Kumar, Tejashree and Devan in major roles. The film's music was composed by Mani Sharma. It was dubbed in Hindi as My Dear Big B.

Plot

Deepika (Bhavana) is an arrogant rich girl. A medical college student, she dictates terms at the college. Sister of local don Kasi (Prakash Raj), she is feared by students, professors and even the Dean of the College. Enter Aariya (Madhavan), a final year student who comes to Chennai Medical College from Coimbatore. A soft-spoken Aariya runs into Deepika. They develop cold shoulders. In a fit of rage, she kidnaps Aariya's sister. But Aariya faces her challenges daringly. However, she soon falls in love with him.

But he is not ready to marry the sister of a ruffian. The remaining story tells us how the brother and sister put pressure on Aariya to become a rowdy so that Aariya's status is equal enough as Kasi's status so that Aariya can marry Kasi's sister Deepika.