Satyarth Prakash


Satyarth Prakash is a 1875 book written originally in Hindi by Dayanand Saraswati, an influential religious and social reformer and the founder of Arya Samaj. It is considered one of his major scholarly works. The book was subsequently revised by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1882 and has now been translated into more than 20 languages including Sanskrit and several foreign languages like English, French, German, Swahili, Arabic and Chinese. The major portion of the book is dedicated to laying down the reformist advocacy of Swami Dayanand with the last three chapters making a case for comparative study of different religious faiths. Satlok Ashram leader Rampal criticized sections of the book in 2006 which led to clashes between followers of Arya Samaj and Satlok Ashram and one person died in that violence.

The book

Overview

During the Middle Ages of Indian history, many faiths and sects sprang up in religious and social spheres of Hindu society. Their practitioners slowly migrated away from the teachings of the Vedas attaching greater significance to their founders and their preachings. From then onwards polytheism commenced. Great differences developed among the different sects and divided and weakened Hindu society. The caste system based on birth became strong and gave rise to further fragmentation. Like with any aging society without reforms, the customs gave way to superstition and ignorance wherein practice superseded reason and the spread of blind faith threatened degradation of "Hindu" society. The word Hindu is an improper word or misnomer- the correct word is Vedantic or Sanathana Dharma, a religion based upon the Vedas. The word Hindu does not appear any where in the Vedic texts or even the Bhagavad Gita. The word Hindu is a Persian word, used by the Muslims and the renaming of the Vedantic religion to "Hindu" demonstrates the level of weakening to the Vedantic faith. "Hinduism" needs reforms.
It was at this time that Swami Dayanand wrote Satyarth Prakash in order to spread the knowledge of the Vedas and to educate people on the true qualities of God. The Satyarth Prakash contains exposition and clarifications of Vedic principles. The book advocates Vedic monism based on Advaita Vedanta. Some of the important topics in the Satyarth Prakash include worship of one God, explanation of the main principles of the Vedas, the relationship between religion and science and between devotion and intellect, elimination of the caste system and of different religious beliefs for the strengthening of society, eradication of superstitions, false notions and meaningless customs, shunning narrow-mindedness and promoting the brotherhood of man.

Contents

The book contains fourteen chapters, the contents of which are detailed below:
ChapterContent
1The first chapter is an exposition of “Om” and other names of God.
2The second chapter provides guidance on the upbringing of children.
3The third chapter explains the life of Brahmacharya, the duties and qualifications of scholars and teachers, good and bad books and the scheme of studies.
4Chapter 4 is about marriage and married life.
5Chapter 5 is about giving up materialism and starting to carry out community service.
6Chapter 6 is about Science of Government.
7Chapter 7 is about Veda and God.
8Chapter 8 deals with Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution of the Universe.
9Chapter 9 deals with knowledge and ignorance, and emancipation and bondage.
10Chapter 10 deals with desirable and undesirable conduct and permissible and forbidden diet.
11Chapter 11 contains criticism of the various religions and sects prevailing in India.
12Chapter 12 deals with the Charvaka, Buddha and Jain religions.
13Chapter 13 has his views on Christianity.
14Chapter 14 has his views on Islam.

Editions

The book was originally written in Hindi by Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati in 1875 CE. After detecting omissions, language and printing mistakes in the first edition, after making corrections at Navlakha Mahal inside Gulab Bagh and Zoo at Udaipur, he published a second revised edition in Samvat 1939. The book has been translated into twenty-three different languages. Navlakha Mahal is presently the office of Shrimadd Dayanand Satyarth Prakash Nyas, which after detecting in 2004 that the book has been printed by many unathorised entities in different versions, appointed an authentication Committee of Vedic scholars, and started to publish authenticated version of the book.
S.No.LanguageAuthor/ TranslatorPublication Year
1Hindi 1st EditionSwami Dayanand Saraswati 1875 in Ajmer
1 aHindi 2nd EditionSwami Dayanand Saraswati 1882
2English
Dr. Chiranjiva Bharadwaja
Master Durga Prasad
Pt. Gangaprasad Upadhyay
Vandemataram Ramchandra Rao
1906,
1908,
1946,
1988
3SanskritPandit Shankardev Paathak1924
4Urdu
1. Aatmaram Amritsari, Bhakt Raimal & Naunihaal
2. Jivandas Pensioner,
3. Pandit Chamupati,
4. Mehta Radhakrishna
1.1898
2.1899
3.1939
4.1905
5SindhiJeevanlal Arya1912
6PunjabiAatmaram Amritsari1899
7Bengali1.Motilaal Bhattacharya 2.Shankarnaath 3.Gaurmohandev Verman1.1901 2.1911 3.???
8Marathi1.Shridaas Vidyarthi 2.Shripaad Damodar Saatavlekar 3.Snaatak Satyavrat 4.Shripaad Joshi1.1907 2.1926 3.1932 4.1990
9Telugu1.A. Somnaathan Rao "Updeshak" 2.Pt. Gopadev Sastry1.1933 2.???
10Tamil1.M.R Jambunaathan 2.Kannaiyaa 3.Shuddhanand Bhaarti1.1926 2.1935 3.1974
11Malayalam1.Brahamchaari Lakshman 2.Acharya Narendra Bhooshan1.1933 2.1978
12Gujarati1.Manchaa Shankar, Jaishankar Dvivedi 2.Mayashankar Sharma 3.Dilip Vedalankar1.1905 2.1926 3.1994
13Kannada1. Bhaaskar Pant 2.Satyapaal Snaatak 3.Sudhakar Chaturvedi1.1932 2.1955 3.1974
14NepaliDilusingh Raaee1879
15German1. Dr. Daulatram Devgram, Borikhel, 2. Arya Divakar1. 1930, 2. 1983
16Swahili
17Odia1.Shrivatsa Panda 2.Lakshminarayan Shastri1.1927 2.1973
18AssameseParmeshwar Koti1975
19ArabiKaalicharan Sharma???
20BurmeseKittima???
21ChineseDr. Chau1958
22Thai
23FrenchLui Morin1940

Reception

praised the book, saying that "It contains the wholly rationalistic view of the Vedic religion."
Satyartha Prakash was banned in some princely states and in Sindh in 1944 and is still banned in Sindh. In 2008 two Indian Muslims, Usman Ghani and Mohammad Khalil Khan of Sadar Bazar, Delhi, following the fatwa of Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, the Imam of Fatehpuri Masjid in Delhi, urged the Delhi High Court to ban Satyarth Prakash. However, the court dismissed the petition and commented "A suit by Hindus against the Quran or by Muslims against Gita or Satyarth Prakash claiming relief... are in fact, meant to play mischief in the society."

Citations