A Brief History of Arya Samaj

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:

The great reformer died in 1983 but the work of the Samaj did not stop as usually happens with most of such institutions. His dynamic followers carried his message

Annual report