DAV Movement’ Founded in 1886 by Lala Lajpat Rai, picked up momentum due to the arduous efforts of Mahatama Hans Raj, PanditGurudattVidhyarthi and many other dedicated AryaSamaj activists. The First D.A.V. School was started at Lahore on 1st June 1886 in the memory of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, a versatile genius, social reformer, educationist, a benefactor of humanity and a harbinger of the national movement. The school received tremendous success in imparting education to the Indian students. Since its inception over a century ago, the D.A.V. institutions have played a significant role in the education and cultural rejuvenation of India.
The D.A.V. Schools have endeavoured to provide education that is a unique synergy of values from Vedas and modern educational methodologies and technologies. Presently, D.A.V. Organization is the largest Non-Government Organization in the country managing over more than 700 educational institutions with rare values of national and global level.
The aim of the D.A.V. Schools is to inculcate in students a thirst for knowledge, devotion to duty, honesty and a patriotic fervour besides humanism. DAV institutions have rendered a unique service, in not only dispelling ignorance and illiteracy but also in producing patriots, freedom fighters, social reformers, intellectuals, thinkers, legal luminaries, scientists, doctors, engineers and sports persons of unparalleled merit, integrity and calibre.
Mahatma Hansraj (19th April 1864 – 15th Nov. 1938)
LalaHansraj is rather a metaphorical designation among the cultural think tank of Vedic Aryans. Characterized by different stands of human values aiming at the creation of the proud India of noble souls, Hansraj was a committed educationalist, devout, spiritualist, and above all a great humanitarian. Mahatma Hansraj was one of the early Aryans to disseminate throughout the world Swami Dayanand’s message of “Back to the Vedas” to save the culture and enable us to raise our heads up as Aryans. He, in fact, was greatly influenced by the principles of Dayanand since his very student life and his tribute to him resulted in the historic establishment of D.A.V. High School at Lahore on 01.06.1986 after the demise of Swami Dayanand. He was the founder of the Non-Government Educational Organization now in the world in the form of a chain of Dayanand Anglo Vedic Schools and colleges spread throughout the country and even extending its branches abroad.
His uncanny vision and undying urge to see India as an “Unageing Monument of Intellect” found expression in the total submission of his life to benevolence. Beginning his odyssey from a barefooted student to the Nobel president of D.A.V.C.M.C, Mahatma Hansraj weathered many a storm and emerged as a champion at all stages. He set up the very ideals of humanity and framed the fine texture of nobility, He was a sacred soul dressed in utter simplicity fighting for the cause of welfare, abandoning all mundane pleasures. He had a rock-solid faith in Vedic Dharma and had a patriotic feeling for the mother tongue “Hindi”. He came forward for the betterment of the suffering people and bravely combatted the crisis caused by natural calamities such as famine, earthquakes, floods etc. campaigning programmes and collecting funds.
Mahatma Hansraj was thus an institution in himself. The views of the supreme court in terms of education are relevant to justify the tenets of Hansraj as an educationist.
“Victories are gained, peace is preserved, progress is achieved, civilization is built up and history is made not on the battlefields, not in the council chambers, not even in factories, but in educational Institutions which are the seed-beds of culture, where children, in whose hands alter the destiny of the future, are trained…..Education is a preparation for a living and for life, here and hereafter”.
This immortal son of India was an epitome of self-sacrifice, penance, dedication and selfless service rolled into one. He was the one who lived up to the standards of morality, humanity, spirituality and divinity. Eventually, he breathed his last on the 15th of Nov. 1938. Indeed, he justified humanity as the gorgeous flowers justifying the muddy roots from which they sprout.
MAHATMA N. D. GROVER (15th Nov. 1923 – 6th Feb. 2008)
Mahatma Narayan Das Grover was born on 15th November 1923 at Isakhel in Pakistan. Having obtained a master degree in Chemistry from Punjab University, he joined as a lecturer in D.A.V. College, Lahore in 1945. After partition, he resumed his service in DAV College, Ambala City and served there till 19860. He had the proud privilege to be the founder Principal of D.A.V. College, Abohar, Distt. – Ferozepur, Punjab. During his tenure, from 1960 to 1977, he established several educational institutions in its campus.
He served as principal of Dayanand Post Graduate College, Hissar (Haryana) from 1977 to 1982. He adopted the life membership of DAV Society, the rare one given to the only dedicated soul of Arya Samaj, in 1957. He also served as Vice-President of DAVCMC, New Delhi.
Deeply influenced by Gandhiji in thought and philosophy, he led an exemplary austere and simple life with a sole motto to spread the light of education in every nook and corner of the region wherever he worked. To accomplish his dream he moved from place to place and established schools and colleges in Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, M.P., Orissa and West Bengal. He was lovingly called ‘Jholewala Baba’ and reverently ‘Karmyogi’.
He was not only an inventive educationist but also a social reformer, who strived throughout his life to uplift the standard of the poor and destitute. He stretched his helping hand to all those needy who came in his contact. This ‘Jholewala Baba’ showered his fatherly affection on the children who lost their parents in the super cyclone of Orissa by establishing an orphanage named ‘Vedic Bal Ashram’. He started “SANKALP SARV SHIKSHA" centres for the eradication of illiteracy amongst the poor and needy. He organized “Free Eye Camps” every year for Adivasis and founded "SWAMI DAYANAND NETRALAYA" in Khunti, Jharkhand where advice gets free treatment and medicines.
This true Karmyogi foresaw the pivotal role which women can play in the 21st Century and worked for the empowerment of women by dispelling the darkness from their lives through the torch of education. He promoted ‘Women Education’, especially in Adivasi Rural Areas. He worked on the self-dependence of women and initiated ‘Vocational Training for them to ‘Learn and Earn’.
He was a great teacher who by his intuitive acumen and a deep sense of duty left an everlasting imprint in the minds of intellectuals and instilled the lesson of moral character in his pupils. He was a committed worker of Arya Samaj, the true follower of Maharshi Dayanand and above all, the embodiment of selfless service, free from all narrowness, truthful in thought and fearless in action.
He left for his heavenly abode on 6th February 2008 at Chandigarh after a brief illness. It was the end of an epoch-a memorable epoch the has bequeathed an undying legacy to posterity to wonder whether such a man has moved in flesh and blood on this earth.