The Arya Samaj was founded on 10th April 1875 at
Bombay with the following rules governing it functioning:
"There shall be in each province a principal Samaj,
of which the others shall be branches. The branches. The branch
Samajas shall be managed on the lines of the principal Samaj. Each
Samaj shall have a president and secretary (both men and women). The
president shall look after the affairs of the Samaj, and the secretary
maintain members' register and take care of correspondence. Those
people who are truthful, upright, and have good moral character and
good of the world at heart shall be enlisted as members of the Samaj.
The President and other members shall practice friendliness and
helpfulness towards each other.
Every eight* day the president, the sectary, and
the members shall gather in the Samaj hall, and they shall give this
function precedence over all other work. Decisions of the Samaj shall
be made with justice and careful consideration for the good of one and
all. The decisions shall be made known to all the members.
Each member shall contribute to the Samaj fund one
- hundredth part of his honest earnings for the running and progress
of the Samaj, the schools, and the periodical. The person who hehaves
according to these rules, and is religious and virtuous, shall be made
a memberof the higher order of the Samaj. The rest shall be ordinary
members. A wicked person shall be expelled from the Samaj but this
shall be done only after due deliberation on the part of the mebers,
not otherwise.
The President and other members shall do their
utmost to promote the Arya Samaj, the schools run by it and its
periodical, and the Arya Samaj fund.
The Samaj proved to be a popular organization with
the people. In a short span of time, about 131 branches were
established in the lifetime of Swami Dayanand himself. A state-wise
break-up of these Samajas is as follows:
Numbers of Branches in each states Uttar Pradesh
- 74 Punjab - 35 Rajasthan - 8 Madhya Pradesh - 5 Bihar - 4
Maharashtra - 2 Karnataka - 1 Bengal - 1 Assam - 1 ---- Total: 131
The great reformer died in 1883 but the work of the Samaj did not stop as usually happens with most of such institutions.
His dynamic followers carried his message to the people with great
enthusiasm and force and soon afterwards the number of the Samajas
actually increased manifold.
A modernized, workable organizational apparatus
were created for the Samaj in 1886 which was, briefly, as follows:
General
The most striking features in connection with the
Arya Samaj, which makes it at once the most powerful and the most
influential of all reformmovements in the country, is its complete and
unique organization. Every Arya Samaj is a unit in itself. Generally,
there is one in every city or village which has come under its
incluence, but in some cities there are morel, either because of the
distances separating the different parts of the same city, or of some
slight variations in principle. The latter distinction is mostly
confined to the Punjab.
Membership
Effective membership involves (a) the acceptace of
the Ten Principles; (b) the payment of one per cent of one's income,
either monthly or yearly, towards the revenues of the Samaj; (c)
attendance at meetings; (d) upright conduct.
Weekly Services
The Samaj meets once a week for congregational
service, which consists generally of (a) Homa; (b) singing of hymns;
(c) prayer and sermon; (d) lecture. The service can be conducted by
any member, regardless of caste, whom the offcicers of the Samaj
select for the purpose. The Samaj does not ordain ministers or
priests. Any layman can officiate at the services or at ceremonies and
be asked to lecture. The weekly service meetings are open to the
public, and no distinction is made between membercs and non-members,
or between Hindus and non - Hindus. Anybody can come into the Church
of God and occupy whatever seat he likes.
Executive Committee
The affairs of each Arya Samaj are controlled by an
executive committee comprising elected officers and as many members as
may be elected in proportion to the size of the Samaj. Only effective
members can vote in the election of officers and the committee. The
officers are: (a) President; one or more Vice- Presidents; (c) one or
more Secretaries; (d) Accountant; (e) Librarian. They must be
effective members themselves. They are elected for the year at an
annual meeting convened for the purpose, where the voting is by
ballot. At this annual meeting the outgoing officers and the committee
render to the general body an account of the income and expenditure of
the Samaj during the year together with a report of the year's
working: after which the meeting proceeds to elect officers and
committee for the coming year. The outgoing officers and committee are
eligible for re-election. In the larger Samajas, the general body of
members is divided into groups of ten, for electing representatives on
the committee. This is in addition to a few members, not exceeding
five, who are elected by the whole body of members. The Samaj may meet
for the transaction of such business as may be referred to it by the
committee, ior by the officers, or on the requisition of a certain
number of members, for the consideration of such proposals as they
wish to bring under purview by the general body. Failure to pay the
stipulated one per cent of income, or any other misconduct, may lead
to suspension of a member by the Samaj, or to the removal of his name
altogether from the register of effective members. This is no bar to
readmission at the at the discretion of the committee, from whose
decisions in all matters there is, moreover, the right of appeal to
the general body. Neither the committee nor the general body is
empowered to make changes in the creed, or the constitution, of the
Samaj.
Meeting Places
Every Arya Samaj has its meeting place. In the
principal cities all over India, it owns palatial buildings,
containing lecture halls, committee rooms, etc. In smaller places it
hires rooms for meetings. The young men's Arya Samajs generally use
the premises of the main body, but occasionally have separate rooms of
their own. In some places the premises are utilized for daily prayers
and for club amenities as well. Every Arya Samaj is supposed to
arrange for the teaching of Hindi and Sanskrit to such members as are
unacquainted with those languages.
Arya Samajas organized on the above lines
progressed very well. But this did not satisfy the Aryas. The
provincial level organization as provided by Dayananda in the
beginning had not yet been established. In consequence, a voice was
raised for creation of provincial level organizations in late eighteen
eighties.
After some serious efforts the dream was realized
and the provincial apex bodies, called Prantiya Sabhas (Provincial
Associations) or Pratinidhi Sabhas (Representatives' Associations)
were formed in different provinces. To run its affairs, each Sabha
had: 1 President; 1 or more vice-presidents; 1 secretary; 1 or more
join secretaries; 1 treasurer, 1 librarian, and 7 to 21 members of the
executive committee who were elected periodically by the elected
delegates of all the Samajas in the province (state).
The office bearers and the executive committee
conducted the affairs of the Samaj at the provincial level the way the
individual Samajas conducted their affairs in their respective
villages, towns or cities. The sabhas controlled and supervised the
affiliating Arya Samajs and gave them directions whenever needed. They
took care of the province level problems concerning the Samaj and its
members. They organized research activities of the Samaj, appointed
preachers and published periodicals/newspapers and literature for
popularizing it among the masses. By 1902, Pratinidhi Sabhas had been
established in most of the provinces (stats). There was a phenomenal
growth in membership of the Samaj. It grew 131 per cent in the first
ten years (from 1891 to 1901). The position improved still further in
the succeeding decade when the growth rate reached 163 per cent. In
subsequent years even this limit was crossed. Although no figures are
given in the census reports after 1931, yet it could be guessed that
the Aryas in 1947 were over two million mark. The total number of
Samajs all over the country was over 2,000.