The AryaSamaj is a progressive faith and a way of life. It was founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. The great saint, Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was born in 1824 in village Tankara in Gujarat.

He was a great thinker and social reformer. In the 19th century, he saw Indian society in the grip of age-old customs, superstitions and beliefs. He propounded the slogan 'Back to the Vedas’ to help people get rid of false beliefs and adopt an objective, rational and progressive way of life. He openly stood up against all the social evils such as discrimination on grounds of caste, creed, sex, economic status, social bigotry, male chauvinism and religious dominance of higher castes over the backward castes and classes.

By propagating Vedic knowledge he ushered in a social renaissance in Indian society. He strongly advocated the eradication of ignorance and illiteracy through the education of persons belonging to all castes, high or low. He encouraged the education of women and promoted widow-remarriage. Rarely in history has one single person come to be so totally identified with the social and moral revival of the nation as Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

Thus AryaSamaj aims at making man a good human being and achieving two-fold development i.e. the spiritual upliftment and social upliftment.

10 Principles of Arya Samaj

1. God is the efficient cause of all true knowledge and all that is known through knowledge.
2. God is existent, intelligent and blissful. He is formless, omniscient, just, merciful, unborn, endless, unchangeable, beginning-less, unequaled, the support of all, the master of all, omnipresent, immanent, unaging, immortal, fearless, eternal and holy, and the maker of all. He alone is worthy of being worshiped.
3. The Vedas are the scriptures of all true knowledge. It is the paramount duty of all Aryas to read them, teach them, recite them and to hear them being read.
4. One should always be ready to accept the truth and to renounce untruth.
5. All acts should be performed in accordance with Dharma that is, after deliberating what is right and wrong.
6. The prime object of the AryaSamaj is to do good to the world, that is, to promote the physical, spiritual and social good of everyone.
7. Our conduct towards all should be guided by love, righteousness and justice.
8. We should dispel Avidya (ignorance) and promote Vidya (knowledge).
9. No one should be content with promoting his/her good only on the contrary, one should look for his/her good in promoting the good of all.
10. One should regard oneself under restriction to follow the rules of society calculated to promote the well-being of all, while in following the rules of individual welfare all should be free.