Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission and the Theosophical Society

The Arya Samaj of Dayanand Saraswati, the Ramakrishna Mission of Vivekananda and the Theosophical Society of Annie Besant renewed Hinduism and gave Indians pride in their culture.

Arya Samaj (1875)

• Founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824 to 1883), born as Mool Shankar in Tankara (Gujarat), at Bombay in 1875. The headquarters later moved to Lahore (1877).
• Satyarth Prakash (1875, in Hindi) is his main work. The slogan was "Go back to the Vedas".
• Beliefs: Vedas are infallible; one God; opposed idol worship, caste by birth, child marriage and untouchability; supported widow remarriage and women's education.
• Shuddhi movement: the reconversion of those who had left Hinduism.
• Education: DAV schools and colleges (first at Lahore, 1886; Lala Hans Raj and Lajpat Rai). Swami Shraddhanand founded Gurukul Kangri (1902) at Haridwar.
• It was strong in Punjab, the United Provinces and Gujarat, and produced nationalists such as Lajpat Rai.

Ramakrishna Mission (1897)

• Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836 to 1886, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay), priest at Dakshineswar, taught the unity of all religions and service of man as service of God.
• Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta, 1863 to 1902) spread his message. He attended the Parliament of Religions, Chicago (September 1893) and founded the Ramakrishna Mission (1 May 1897) at Calcutta. The Belur Math was set up in 1899. His journals were Prabuddha Bharata (English) and Udbodhan (Bengali).
• Message: "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached". Served the poor with education, health and relief work. Sister Nivedita (Margaret Noble) joined him in 1898.
• He inspired young nationalists with a feeling of self-respect and strength.

Theosophical Society

• Founded in New York (1875) by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel H.S. Olcott. Its headquarters moved to Adyar (Madras) in 1882.
• Annie Besant (came to India 1893) became its leader and president in 1907. She founded the Central Hindu College, Benares (1898), which became the nucleus of Banaras Hindu University (1916). She also started the Home Rule League (1916).
• The Society praised Hindu religion and philosophy and restored Indian confidence.