History and Art and Culture
Context:
The Prime Minister of India to inaugurate 200th birth anniversary celebrations of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati.
About Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883):
- He was an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of the Vedic dharma.
- He was the first to give the call for Swaraj as “India for Indians” in 1876, a call later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.
- Denouncing the idolatry and ritualistic worship, he worked towards reviving Vedic ideologies.
- Teachings and Contributions:
- He believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas and advocated the doctrine of Karma and Reincarnation.
- Among Dayananda’s contributions were his promoting of equal rights for women, such as the right to education and reading of Indian scriptures.
- He translated the Vedas and wrote three books
- Satyartha Prakash in Hindi,
- Veda Bhasya Bhumika, an introduction to his Vedic commentary, and
- Veda Bhashya, a Vedic commentary in Sanskrit on the Yajurveda and the major part of the Rig-Veda.
- He also established Vedic schools for the education of girls and boys of all castes.
Source: News on air
Previous Year Questions
Q.1) Consider the following freedom fighters:
- Barindra Kumar Ghosh
- Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee
- Rash Behari Bose
Who of the above was/were actively associated with the Ghadar Party? (2022)
- 1 and 2
- 2 only
- 1 and 3
- 3 only
Q.2) With reference to Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh, which one of the following statements is correct? (2021)
- Pingali Venkayya designed the tricolour Indian National Flag here.
- Pattabhi Sitaramaiah led the Quit India Movement of Andhra region from here.
- Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.
- Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott set up headquarters of Theosophical Society first here.
