The Dev Samaj

The Dev Samaj, or Divine Society, was established by Pandit Shiv Narayan Agnihotri in 1887. Agnihotri, from a Brahman family, was related with the Lahore Brahmo Samaj starting around 1873 and was particularly affected by the thoughts of Munshi Kanhaiyalal Alakhdhari. He was worried about marriage change and vegetarianism and regardless of the normal thoughts, he came to conflict with Swami Dayanand. Agnihotri continually assaulted Dayanand and the Arya Samaj over the translation of the Vedas. He composed broadly in Hindi, English, and Urdu to censure and reject the perspectives on Dayanand Due to interior issues in the Punjab Brahmo Samaj, Agnihotri left the relationship in 1886. He accepted that main a master could give guidance to salvation and considered himself that master Agnihotri believed that life was a developmental stepping stool on which the spirit of an individual went up or down. Up progress required the direction of an illuminated soul who had arrived at the highest point of the stepping stool and found ‘complete higher life. The edified soul, the master, was Agnihotri himself. In 1892 he even started double love of God and himself, and after three years shed God, leaving just himself as the sole worship of the Dev Samaj

The Dev Samaj held normal gatherings which included songs, messages, icon love, and readings from the Deva Shastra. The symbol was before long supplanted by Agnihotri or his picture. He was called Dev Bhagwan Atma. The Dev Samaj set out an overarching set of rules for its individuals which featured trustworthiness, didn’t allow infidelity, polygamy, and unnatural wrongdoings; restricted liquor and sedates, and spread vegetarianism. The Dev Samaj individuals were relied upon, to be honest, not lie, take, cheat, accept kickbacks, or bet. The devotees were to carry on with the existence of a householder and be profitably involved. Dev Samajists were hostile to standing and were to follow intercaste eating and marriage.

Pandit Agnihotri was especially worried about advancing the place of ladies. He remained against kid marriage and fixed the period of marriage at 20 for young men and 16 for young ladies. He was additionally against endowment, the seclusion of ladies inside the four dividers of the home, and exorbitant grieving customs. Widow remarriage accepted his help and he set a model by wedding a widow. Instruction of young ladies was high on his plan and he laid out a co-instructive school at Moga in 1899. Somehow or another, Agnihotri was revolutionary in his reasoning and accordingly, spoke to the informed Hindu Punjabi.

The Dev Samaj was formed largely of the upper caste, educated individuals from the Hindu people group. It was a combination of strict customs and extremist social thoughts. In 1921, there were north of 3500 individuals in the DevSamaj however after the demise of Pandit Agnihotri, the numbers before long dwindled. Because of its unpredictable perspectives, the Dev Samaj was censured by different associations, particularly the Christian evangelists, and in this, it added to the redrawing of strict limits and getting a reaction from the standard Hindus. They added to the novel thoughts and strict thinking about the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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