Quiet Reformers

Jul 19, 2010 Editorial

Guyana is famously known as a “land of six peoples”. But what is not so appreciated is that within these broad groupings there are countless sub-groupings coalesced around a host of characteristics. They enhance the Guyanese mosaic. Take the Indians that came as indentured labourers from the sub-continent between 1838-1917. Their north-south origins never really persisted because of the vast preponderance of the northerners. Most would acknowledge that the majority were Hindus with the remainder, Muslim. With Christianity as the dominant and state-sanctioned religion, it was not long that some Indians converted and a Christian sub-group was formed. While Indians were acknowledged as an “ethnic group” it was acknowledged that they had religious cleavages.

The imperative for further cleavage was not always from without. Most Guyanese, informed this week that “the Arya Samaj movement is celebrating their 100th anniversary” must be wondering what exactly is this group and what has it been doing in Guyana for 100 years. The Arya Samaj (literally the “Noble Society”) is a movement within Hinduism that arose in India in 1875 as a response to the European-driven modernisation critique that “natives” across the world were forced to confront.

Led by a Hindu monk, Swami Dayanand, the movement rejected the European claim of Hindu backwardness by demonstrating that their oldest and most sacred texts (the Vedas) were of far greater antiquity that Christianity’s and was of the highest moral, philosophical and ethical sophistication. It accepted that over the millennia, mainly because of foreign invasions and conquests, many corrupt practices had crept into the practices of Hindus even though they were not part and parcel of the religion per se. The Swami defined his and his organisation’s mission “not to found a new religion” but to return Hinduism to its original path. A threshold issue, they proposed, was the removal of the British from India, since this represented one more disruptive invasion.

The organisation distilled ten guiding principles – most concerned with social reform – and in short order became a vibrant force across North India, especially the Hindi belt from where the Guyana- bound Indian indentureds originated. It is certain that some of these immigrants would have been familiar with the tenets of the Arya Samaj and would have articulated their disagreement with some of the social arrangements – such as hereditary caste privileges – that persisted in Guyana. However, what the local representatives are citing as the “beginning” of the Society’s work in Guyana acknowledges the visit of Bhai Parmanand in 1910.

Parmanand was an Arya Samaj freedom fighter for India’s independence – as was the entire top tier of the society in India – and had spectacularly escaped from British imprisonment occasioned by his “free India” activities. While he would have sparked interest in his organisation’s social mission within the Hindu fold, he undoubtedly would also have sensitised his audience to the need for confronting British colonial rule. The Samaj’s work really took off, however, after the extended stay and work by an official emissary Professor Bhaskaranand. A highly educated individual in English – a barrister with a string of higher degrees – Bhaskaranand was an indefatigable worker and by the time he returned to India in the 1940’s the Samaj was institutionalised in Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname.

In Guyana it was known as the American Aryan League – which eventually became the present Central Arya Samaj – with its headquarters in Georgetown and temples in most Indian villages along the Coast. It sponsored the Guiana Oriental College in Georgetown and pioneered the benefits of education in the Indian populace. Its social criticism precipitated far reaching reforms in the exclusivist practices of mainstream Hinduism and its nationalist outlook ensured that most of the vibrant Indians responding to Dr Jagan’s call for anti-colonial activities – such as Balram Singh Rai and Pandit Sama Persaud – were Arya Samajists.

As Guyana moves further into this new millennium and seeks to define its identity as a multi-religious, multicultural society it is important that we acknowledge the contributions of all individuals and groups that have contributed to its broad-based overall development. The Arya Samaj movement must be commended for their sterling contributions. Happy 100th Anniersary.

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