Swami Dayanand, Aryasamaj and his contribution in Dalit upliftment

 Swami Dayanand, Aryasamaj and his contribution in Dalit upliftment

Dr Vivek Arya

Swami Dayanand, great scholar of his times who started reformation movement in our country in view of degradation of Vedic values and propagation of various myths on name of dharma. Child marriage, polygamy, casteism, Brahmins supremacy, ignorance towards Vedic scriptures, killing of cow, lack of education, poverty, unemployment, superstitions etc. were common and widely prevalent during his time. Worst among them was Casteism or Jativad which had created differences between humans. Almighty God gave birth to all of us; the humans degraded themselves by claiming themselves as superior or inferior on basis of birth in certain caste. During his times a rigid caste system was in practice, the Brahmins enjoyed supremacy over others. The condition of the shudras was deplorable and womanhood was also considered as inferior. The Muslims and Christians were proselytizing the Hindus and consequently the Hindu fold was becoming thinner day by day. Dayanand minutely observed these ill practices and founded that casteism was not even mentioned in Vedas and whatever thing was anti Vedic was false for Dayanand.

Casteism denied a great number of shudras from social justice. It caused a great loss to society. Casteism had shut the door to competition and had given rise to class jealousies and animosities.

Swami Dayanand was first in modern India to claim that we all are one Jati i.e. humans and there exists no castes, what exists is Varn Vyastha which is entirely based on qualities, merits of any person not on basis of birth.

Ignorant pundits started misinterpretations of famous mantra of purush sukt to prove casteism in Vedas. The mantra was translated as “Brahmans were born out of the Brahma’s mouth, Kshatriyas out of the arms, Vaishyas out of his stomach and Shudras out of Brahma’s feet. ” so, Shudras being Brahma’s feet are inferior in society.

Swami Dayanand, great Vedic scholar propagated that Brahmins are like head as they guides the society, Kshatriyas are like arms as they protects the society, Vaishyas are like stomach as they prospers the society and Shudras are like feet as they serves the society. This classification is based on actions not on the basis of birth.

Swami Ji acknowledged the division of society into four classes. He in chapter four of his famous work Satyarth Prakash writes that a Brahmin must be righteous, truthful, learned of the Vedas and of all knowledge. A Kshatriya must be endowed with the virtue of protecting people, fearlessness, boldness and dutifulness. A Vaishya should serve society by doing business, going overseas, farming etc. A shudras should serve Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya without disrespect, jealousy and conceit and they all must respect each other with equal honor and rights.

All these are Varna’s not castes and they are not based on basis of birth. The individuals should be placed in different classes according to their qualifications, accomplishments and character. According to Swami Dayanand shudras can be promoted to Brahmins on basis of his qualities. A person who is born to a Brahmin and if engaged in meat eating, adultery and is uneducated is a Shudra while a person born to a Shudra and is educated, qualified and learned in Vedas should be promoted to be a Brahmin. In olden days there was no casteism and society was based on Varn Vyastha and so our country Aryavrata was supreme in the world. Later on when people left learning Vedas, few Brahmins started this ill practice of casteism. They even confined the Vedic knowledge to their own families only so that no others will ever know the truth.

Swami Ji holds that people will advance by adopting this system as higher class will be in constant fear of their sons being degraded into lower classes whilst the lower class will be promoted to exert them to enlist into the superseding classes. He also exhorted the rulers and responsible persons to see that all the four classes performed their duties honestly. The caste system according to swami ji was not religious or natural distinction but a socio-economic institution, castes were not created by god. The Varn Vyastha is a social order for better discharge of different functions.

Swami Ji was so much perturbed by the degrading condition of the depressed classes that he sometimes spent sleepless nights worrying over their lot. “The Christians are doing all they can to convert the kolis and bhils, depressed classes of the Hindus, while the religious leaders of the Hindus are sleeping like kumbhkaran.” He condemned the atrocious treatment meted out to the lower classes and publically declared that all men are equal. He taught the truth that none was born to rule and none to be ruled. He explained that crores of people had become Muslims or were being converted to Christianity and unless the nation was aroused by candid advice and unless the society was purged of evils, there was little doubt that the Hindu race would die. He advocated that Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas should eat food cooked by shudras.

Swami Ji life history gives us many examples that although he was himself born in a Brahmin family he rejected casteism. In 1867 we find swami ji eating half bread from hands of a manjhi (boatman). In 1869 in farrukhabad we find him eating from hands of Shri Sukhwasilal sadh. In 1872 in Anoop sahar we find him eating from hands of a barber in general public. In pune when shri Govind Mang, Gopal Chamar, Raghu Mahar requested him for a lecture in Sudra school on Vedas he willingly accepted their proposal and went for lecture on Vedas on 16th July 1875. In 1879 in a during a public lecture a Muslim postman criticized a majhabi Sikhs presence among general public calling him as shudras are not allowed among high castes. Swami Ji called that person and asked him to daily attend his lectures. In 1878 in Ajmer when swami ji got news that the huts of poor Chamars near Anasagar lake had burned he urgently appealed to public to collect funds for the poor one so that they could rehabilitate, his appeal was widely accepted by all Hindus.

In 1880 in Banaras one Brahmin debated with swami ji giving a 

shalok from Mahabharata 4/1/48 that Brahmin caste is based on knowledge, practice and birth. Even if a person is having no knowledge and no practice he can be Brahmin on basis of his birth. Swami ji replied a shalok from Manu Smriti 2/157 that as a toy made of wood in form of elephant , as toy made of leather in form of deer are name sake toys only similarly an uneducated person is a Brahmin by name sake only.

In Banaras again when a person debated with him on casteism on basis of birth he said if two sons of a Brahmin are not considered as Brahmin if they are converted to Islam or Christianity then how you could say that son of a Brahmin is a Brahmin.

In a letter dated 13th November 1903 Pandita Ramabai accepted that I was disciple of swami ji in 1880 in Meerut and I was deeply impressed from his teaching as his teachings allows reading of Vedas by womanhood.

In brief Swami Dayanand had propagated the following measures for Dalit upliftment

Swami Ji was first in modern times to raise voice for right of women and shudras to chant Gayatri mantra. The ignorant Brahmins had banned women and shudras to listen Vedic mantras from centuries.

Swami Ji was first in modern times who advocated right of wearing yagnopavit for women and shudras.

Swami Ji was first in modern times who advocated right to perform yajnas by shudras and women hood.

Swami Ji was first in modern times who advocated inter-dinning of all high castes with shudras.

Swami Ji was first in modern times who advocated 100% education for all irrespective of caste or gender or status in society. He even advised that those parents who did not admit their kids to schools for education must be punished by the king. He even advised that son of a king and son of a poor should be given same cloths and same facilities in his teaching Gurukul.

Swami Ji was first to advocate that marriage of a girl and boy must be done on basis of their qualities not on basis of their caste.

Swami ji was first to reject interpolations in Manu smriti. He said I do not believe in interpolations in Manu smriti which supports casteism and inferior status for womanhood and are thus not in accordance with the Vedas. This stand of swami Dayanand on Manu smriti is also applies on other texts like Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas.

Due to his demise swami Dayanand was not able to do much work at ground level for Dalit upliftment but his writings, his speech, his organization Aryasamaj caused great consciousness among general public and the organization Aryasamaj and its leaders carried his agenda of Dalit upliftment to ground level.

DALIT UPLIFTMENT WORK BY ARYASAMAJ

After swami Dayanand leaders of Aryasamaj paid special attention or upliftment of depressed classes.

The first notable worker in this field was pundit Ganga Ram of Muzaffargarh. He started work in odes, a low caste. He offered sacred threads to them and opened a school name Arya Dalitoddhar Pathshala.

Lala Munshi Ram later Swami Sharddhananda was forerunner among Vedic missionaries. He first started eradication of untouchability from his own home. In 1910 He married his own daughter Amrit Kala out of caste despite objections from his own family.

Swami Sharddhananda opened Gurukul Kangri near Hardwar in view of fulfilling the dreams of Swami Dayanand that son of a king or a poor farmer should get education from one common platform with equal facilities for both and without any discrimination of caste. He got his both sons admitted in the same Gurukul. Later thousands of Gurukul were established all over country following his example which imparted education of Vedas and other streams for all irrespective of castes.

In 1920 Swami Sharddhananda most important work among untouchables was to secure for them permission to draw water from wells. Swami Ji went with his several followers and untouchables in a procession outside Ajmeri Gate at the Angoori wala well. His procession was first attacked by both castist Hindus and Muslims but with his continuous effort many wells and temples were opened for untouchables.

In 1921 Swami Sharddhananda established Dalitoddhar Sabha at Delhi. Its aim was to preach true conduct among the untouchables, to safe guard them from onslaughts especially from Christians and Muslims, to make them offer the right hitherto lost by them, to open Pathshala for them and to educate them. The biggest problem was of unemployment which was mostly in Zamindari areas. Zamindars treated the depressed classes very badly. This Sabha severely denounced this atrocity and succeeded a great deal in diminishing the misery of the depressed classes.

In 1924 a great conference was organized in Delhi which was attended by thousands of people. Ten proposals in connection with social reforms were passed by this conference. At the end, a big feast was organized in which the leading public men of the city participated and partook the food cooked by Bhangis, Chamars and Jatavas. Dalitoddhar Sabha instigated the untouchables to draw water from wells; where this was not possible new wells were constructed.

In 1923 in Bulandsahar Pundit Sohan Lal Gaur got depressed classes to join Ramlila Procession. The sweepers offered arti to Lord Ram with singing of bhajans.

On 4th Jan 1924 in Palwal a great panchayat was organized in which depressed classes pledged not to touch meat and wine and also not to eat food cooked by Muslims.

In 1924 in Raysina Valmiki Aryasamaj Chaudhary Jai mal Singh Gujar, a rais of dist. Saharanpur permitted the Jatavas to draw water from his three wells even in the teeth of the opposition of the others.

In 1926 in fifth Dalitoddhar conference presided by Motilal Nehru, pundit Nehru said “none else, before Aryasamaj, had taught of making an attempt to eradicate this inequality.”

Mahashaya Ramchandra was great social worker among untouchables in Jammu region. His work was not appreciated among high caste Hindus. They attacked him with sticks and beat him to death on 20th Jan 1920. His death changed the mind of all high caste Hindus. They adopted the mission left by him and started upliftment work in his memory among dalits. Several Pathshala were opened in Jammu, Butcher and Udhampur for educating dalits.

In 1922 at famous freedom fighter Bhai Parmanand residence in Lahore Jat Pat Todak Mandal was established with Bhai Parmanand, Swami Bhuamanand and Pundit Sant Ram as its prominent members. The aim was to promote intercaste marriages among different castes so that the conflict of castes could be eradicated. The Mandal was able to perform thousands of intercaste marriages.

In 1941 census Sardeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha the apex body of Aryasamaj urged to fill column of caste as Arya (Vedic dharmi) to discard casteism.

His highness maharaja of Baroda Sayaji Rao Gaekwad 111 was deeply impressed by Dalit upliftment work of Aryasamaj. He was personally impressed by Swami Nityanand of Aryasamaj and did constitutional amendment to give equal rights for all dalits as higher caste in his reign. He also opened schools and hostels for free education of dalits. His reformation drive was criticized by upper caste Hindus. The biggest problem was that no upper caste Hindu was ready to teach Dalit students in those schools. The Muslims and Christians teachers were more interested in conversion of poor dalits in way of education. Maharaja of Baroda discussed this problem with Swami Nityanand ji. Nityanand ji send master Atma ram Amritsari from Amritsar for Dalit upliftment work. Master Atma ram was appointed as warden of Dalit hostel and inspector to all schools for dalits. Despite being upper caste Hindu master Atma ram faced social boycotts by high caste Hindus being inspector to Dalit schools. He was constantly denied accommodation in high caste communities. At last he made his office in a building which was considered as ghost house from decades. With his missionary reformation work he succeeded despite many difficulties. The high caste students in different schools insulted him by verbal abuse for his missionary work but he ignored all of them. Well known writer Saint Nihal Singh was so much impressed from master Atma ram work that he got some articles printed in British newspapers praising Atma ram’s work. 

Pundit Atma ram get students who had passed primary classes to admit for higher classes in cities and few of his students became even engineers. Once maharaja Baroda sends Mr. Shinde his officer for reposts of Dalit schools and hostels. Mr. Shinde reported that all the food was being cooked by Dalit girls and Dalit boys were seen chanting Vedic mantras. The person whom you had appointed as inspector is true Dalit sympathizer in every sense. Master Ji success can be easily understood by the fact that number of schools he opened was 400 in number with over 20000 dalits as students including both boys and girls. Pundit ji family also continued his work his daughter Smt. Sushila kumar was president of first Bhangi parishad of Baroda.

Master Atma ram ji is considered as forefather of Dalit upliftment work in Gujarat.

Kohla pur Naresh Chatrapati Rajshri Sahu ji Maharaj adopted similar measures in his state after inspiring from views of swami Dayanand. Sahu maharaj is credited with doing much to further the lot of the lower castes, and indeed this assessment is warranted. He did much to make education and employment available to all: he not only subsidized education in his state, eventually providing free education to all, but also opened several hostels in Kolhapur for students hailing from many different non-Brahmin communities, thereby facilitating the education of the rural and low-caste indigent. He also ensured suitable employment for students thus educated, thereby creating one of the earliest affirmative action programs in history. Many of these measures were affected in the year 1902.

Shahu’s other initiatives included restricting child marriage in his state and the encouragement of intercaste marriage and widow remarriage. He long patronized the satya shodhak samaj but later moved towards the Aryasamaj. Under the influence of these social-reform movements, Sahu arranged for several non-Brahmin youths to be trained to function as priests, in defiance of timeless convention which reserved the priesthood for those of the Brahmin caste. However, he faced opposition from many, including Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak , the very famous patriot of that time.

In 1911 a thread giving ceremony was performed among Vashisht, a Dalit community in khairpur, nathamshah in Sind. The upper caste Hindus out casted many Aryasamaj members and they branded one vashistha with symbol of sacred thread with hot iron. Aryasamaj condemned this animal act on national level in its newspapers.

The education work of Aryasamaj also got large success in whole country. In Bombay presidency in 1912 there were 27 educational institutions working in Dalit societies with 1231 students enrolled.

Four middle schools and over thirty five upper and lower primary schools, a few girl schools and a few night schools for adults were running to impart education to the namasudra and other communities in districts of Dacca, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Chittagong, Jessore and Barisal.

In Punjab region hundreds of schools were established under D.A.V. school chain which imparted education to thousands of pupils from each fraction of society.

In Jalandhar pundit Somdat started Dalit upliftment work. He was socially boycotted from Brahmin community and denied use of water from well. He started using impure water from river. His mother fell ill. Doctors advised use of clean water from well. He was in confusion what to do. One is way to say sorry to his community members and stop all Dalit upliftment work. But his own consciousness does not permit to stop this mission. But life of own mother is also important. His mother understood whole situation and asked her to carry his mission saying that one day she have to die why he stops his mission because of her. She sacrificed her life but Dalit upliftment work was not stopped. How great mother she was.

Nayak community in united provinces engaged their daughters in prostitution. Aryasamaj distributed pamphlets to stop this evil. Aryasamaj married those girls in respectable families and send other girls to schools. It offered scholarships to boys to educate them. Nayak girl’s protection act was passed by efforts of Thakur Mashal Singh and just whole community was uplifted with efforts of Aryasamaj.

Reforms were done in so called criminal tribes in united provinces. More than fifty thousand criminal tribe members were rehabilitated outside luck now in colony name Arya nagar settlements. They were educated and a dispensary was also opened.

The reformation drive by Aryasamaj also influenced others. In kumbh fair of 1927 Pundit Madan Mohan Malviya in All India Sanatan Dharma Sabha passed proposal of permission of all untouchables to go to temples and also to draw water from public wells.

On 17th April 1927 an All India achhutoddhar conference was organized under the president ship of Lala Lajpat Rai wherein he appealed to the people to allow the untouchable to draw water from public wells.

On 17th July 1932 the untouchability removal day was celebrated at Bombay by Aryasamaj. The untouchables drew water from the wells and the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas drank it willingly.

On 19th sept 1933 at a grand meeting organized at Bombay Aryasamaj appealed to the people to treat untouchables as their equal and to assure them that they were parts of Hindu community only.

Swami Sharddhananda and congress

Since his joining politics Swami Sharddhananda was continuously motivating Indian national congress to deal with the problem of untouchability at national level with extensive measures. In his chairman address of Amritsar congress (1919) he strongly expressed his feelings as “Is it not true that so many among you who make the loudest noises about the acquisition of political rights, are not able to overcome their feeling of revulsion for those sixty millions of India who are suffering injustice, your brothers whom you regard as untouchable ? How many are there who take these wretched brothers of theirs to their heart?…give deep thought…and consider how your sixty million brothers-broken fragments of your own hearts which you have cut off and thrown away- how these millions of children of mother India can well become the anchor of the ship of a foreign government. I make this one appeal to all of you, brothers and sisters. Purify your hearts with the water of the love of the motherland in this national temple, and promise that these millions will not remain for you untouchables, but become brothers and sisters. Their sons and daughters will study in our schools, their men and women will participate in our societies, in our fight for independence they will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us, and all of us will join hands to realize the fulfilment of our national goal” (Quotations from original Hindi texts of the swami’s Amritsar conference address obtained from Gandhi memorial museum, Delhi)

Swami Ji difference with Gandhi Ji increased with the passage of time when he draw attention of the congress towards the harassment of Christian Chamars by police in environs of Delhi who had accepted Shuddhi and returned back to Hinduism by Aryasamaj. In April 1919 he published a booklet of eighty pages entitled ‘jati ke dinon ko mat tyago’ (do not abandon the poor of our nation). Books first seventy pages dealt with the methods used by Christian missionaries in India. Nearly half of the book was taken up by translations from an article in the theosophist about the nefarious activities of Portuguese missionaries and the inquisition, followed by an indictment of protestant missionary work, in particular that of the Delhi Cambridge mission. Thus nearly ninety percent of the pamphlet was aimed at demonstrating missionaries had always used unfair, immortal and underhand mean. The last ten pages deled with constructive point. Since the untouchables were becoming Christians for other than religious reasons, the way to prevent those happenings was by educating their children, by protecting them from the police, and by helping them to achieve social uplift. Since the orthodox would not take up that task, it had become a duty of the aryas to be a crucial one because the greatest danger of the conversion of the untouchables to Christianity was that they became denationalized and supporters of the raj. The swami wrote “if the seven crores of untouchables of India, exasperated by the attitude of the twice born, become Christian , then our orthodox leaders, supporters of independence, will not be able to do anything, except be very sorry.” (Jati ke dinon ko mat tyago. P-72)

In 1920 Calcutta congress session Swami Ji proposed three-point program with special section on the untouchables, but congress declared consideration of this inopportune.(shraddha 13 august,14,17 sept. 1920). Swami Ji writes in liberator that “even Mahatma Gandhi had not realized its importance and was taken up with his resolution of non-violent non-cooperation resolution had been passed by the khilafat committee and Mahatma Ji threatened to sponsor it outside the congress, if it was not passed there. I thought it to be a misfortune if Mahatma Ji would be obliged to sever his connection with the oldest political movement in India” (INCON-p 121)

Swami Ji was surprised on hearing Maulana Shaukat Ali’s doings in Calcutta session in hearing of more than 50 persons, while the merits of non-violence were being discussed. Maulana said “Mahatama Gandhi is a shrewd bania. You do not understand his real object. By putting you under discipline, he is preparing you for guerrilla warfare. He is not such an out-an-out non-violencist as you all suppose” (INCO P-122) Swami Ji forwarded his message to Gandhi Ji secretary that his motives were being misrepresented by his trusted colleagues. The next year 1921 Nagpur session Swami Ji again noticed the same pranks being played by the big Ali brothers. In Delhi the Aryasamaj had been working for the depressed classes, and the swami tried to get the local congress to allow them access to the wells. But it was in vain………..

Swami Ji reached Delhi on 17th august, 1921 and found that the question of removal of untouchability was becoming very acute. He called a few of chief chaudharies and asked the full story. They gave the following story- “The secretary of the Delhi congress committee called the chaudharies of the Chamars and requested them to give to the congress as many as four-Anna paying members as they could. The reply of the elders was that unless their grievance as regards the taking of water from the public wells was removed, they could not induce their brethren to join the congress. The secretary was a choleric man of hasty temper and said they wanted Swarajya at once but the grievance of the Chamars could wait and would be removed by and by. One of the young men got up and said-our trouble from which we are suffering for centuries must wait solution, but the laddu of Swarajya must go into your mouth at once! We shall see how you obtain Swarajya immediately!!”

He wrote to Gandhi Ji after Nagpur session in sept. 1921-

“I wired from Lahore that I would apply for financial aid through the Delhi provincial congress committee but on reaching the deli I found that the uplift of the depressed classes through the congress was difficult. The Delhi and Agra Chamars simply demand that they be allowed to draw water from wells used by the Hindus and Mohammedans and that water be not served to them through bamboos and leaves. Even that appears impossible for the congress committee to accomplish. Not only this; a Muslim trader of sadr went to the length of saying that even if Hindus allowed (these man) to draw water from common wells, the Muslims would forcibly restrain them from drawing water because they (the Chamars) ate carrion. I know that there are thousands of these Chamars who do not either drink wine or eat flesh of any kind and few of them who eat carrion are being weaned by the aryasamajists from that filthy habit. But I ask – do Hindu and Muslim meat eaters devour flesh of living cattle? Do they not eat the flesh of the cattle when they are dead?

At Nagpur you laid down that one of the conditions for obtaining Swarajya within 12 months was to give their rights to the depressed classes and without waiting for the accomplishment of their uplift, you have decreed that if there is a complete boycott of foreign cloth up till 30th September, Swarajya will be an accomplished fact on the 1st of October. The extension of the use of Swadeshi cloth is absolutely necessary but as long as six and half crores of our suppressed classes are taking refuge with the British bureaucracy so long will the extension of Swadeshi be impossible”. (INCO.P-134,135)

Swami Ji in his letter dated June 30th 1922 wrote to general secretary of all India congress committee that the following demands of the depressed classes ought to be complied with at once namely that -

1. They are allowed to sit on the same carpet with citizens of other classes

2.They get the right to draw water from common wells and

3.Their children get admission into national schools and colleges and are to mix freely with students drawn from the so-called higher castes.

Swami Ji went to the Luck now A.I.C.C. meeting of June 1922 especially to push a plan of action for the removal of untouchability. His proposal to appoint a sub-committee on untouchability was accepted, but some parts of it were amended. The sum of two lakhs of rupees was first substituted for the original five lakhs proposed and then even that was watered down by substituting the phrase ‘as much as could be spared’. But misunderstandings kept cropping orally, but when he started preparatory work and asked for some money, he was informed that the working committee had appointed until a report had been received from the sub-committee. It was all a sorry mess, letters came and went, nothing was being done, and the swami resigned in disgust. His postscript to the whole story as follows- The subcommittee did no business in placing the annul report of the congress before its session at Gaya; the secretary simply remarked that no work could be done by the sub-committee as no substitute for Swami Shraddhananda could be found. (INCO.P-181) Swami Shraddhananda did not receive any support from the congress and Mahatama Gandhi for eradicating the sin of untouchability. Instead of that he received the message from cocanada session of congress in which Maulana Mohammad Ali the president of that session proposed to divide the so-called untouchables in equal halves between Hindus and the Muslims. (INCO.p-188)

Palghat court verdict

On 13th Nov. 1925 name of aryasamaj and swami ji published in all major newspapers of south India. On the opening day of car festival the divisional magistrate promulgated an order prohibiting aryasamaj converts from entering the orthodox Hindu streets. This led to a public protest meeting, which passed among others the following resolution. That “this meeting begs to express its unqualified condemnation of the utterly illegal procedure and policy of religious interference adopted by the madras government in extending its order of prohibition to the aryasamaj converts from the depressed classes while such converts to Christianity and Mohammedanism are not so prohibited ” (leader 19.nov,1924)

The leader of 21st Nov., 1925 condemned the intolerant and wholly short sighted attitude of the orthodox Hindus and praised Swami Sharddhananda for taking up their cause and valiantly leading the movement.

Swami Ji in response started a new weekly name liberator in English for special purpose of communicating his views to the intelligentsia of south India where the evil of untouchability existed in most objectionable and inhuman form (leader 5, April 1925) Its aim was strongly stated by swami ji- The uplift of the untouchables and their assimilation in the Hindu polity is the very plinth on which alone the edifice of free India can be constructed. Therefore, the liberator will make the cause of the so-called untouchables its main concern. This doctrine of untouchability is the gangrene of Hindu polity. Diehard vanity, deep- rooted prejudice, degenerating ignorance and doping superstition are the germs that feed this gangrene. Each one of these has to be attacked for getting rid of this gangrene. (Leader 4, April 1926)

Thus we reach an inference that the later part of swami ji life was devoted entirely for the upliftment of the depressed Hindus.

The above mentioned are few glimpses of work of aryasamaj and its great leaders after Swami Dayanand. The foremost point is that many those who were born in high castes were out casted, faced social boycott, physical and death threat, prevented from using wells , prevented from marrying in community , they faced all sort of consequences but did not stopped their missionary work. They were true soldiers of Swami Dayanand. Many reformers had arrived in last centuries to eradicate the evil of untouchability like Jyotiba Phule, Dr Ambedkar etc but most unique about soldiers of swami Dayanand is that they are only examples of high caste Hindu working for down trodden and untouchables.