ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>DEV SAM&#256J</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="DEV,SAMJ"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279DEV SAM&#256J, a religious and social reform society, was founded on 16 February 1887 in Lahore by Pa&#7751&#7693it Shiv N&#257r&#257ya&#7751 Agnihotr&#299 (1850-1929). The story of the Dev Sam&#257j is in essence the story of its founder. Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299 was born in the village of Akbarpur, in Uttar Pradesh, on 20 December 1850. At sixteen he went to Thomson College of Engineering at Roorkee. In November 1873, he moved to Lahore taking a position as drawing master at the Government College. Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299, who had already begun seriously to question orthodox Hinduism through the influence of Munsh&#299 Kanhay&#257l&#257l Alakhdh&#257r&#299 and his personal <i>gur&#363</i>, Pa&#7751&#7693it Shiv Day&#257l, soon joined the Lahore Brahmo Sam&#257j. He was a dramatic and effective speaker, a prolific writer of tracts and pamphlets and a successful journalist. In all, he wrote nearly 300 books and pamphlets during his lifetime.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Initially Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299 accepted the rational, eclectic, and reformist ideology of the Brahmo Sam&#257j. He wrote and spoke in favour of marriage reform, against the evils of child marriage, and supported vegetarianism. In 1877, he met Sw&#257m&#299 Day&#257nand and although they agreed on many of the values commonly shared, Day&#257nand and Agnihotr&#299 clashed persistently. In the years that followed, Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299 defended Brahmo ideals in opposition to the new &#256rya Sam&#257j. Agnihotr&#299 also defended Sikhism against attacks made by the &#256rya Sam&#257j in 1888-89.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Agnihotr&#299 dedicated more and more of his energy to the Brahmo cause. He became a Brahmo missionary travelling extensively throughout the Punjab and, finally, on 20 December 1882, he took <i>sanny&#257s</i> with the new name, Saty&#257nand Agnihotr&#299. He decided to devote his entire life to religious pursuit and social service. Factional strife, competition for leadership, differences over beliefs and the resulting tensions began to impinge on Agnihotr&#299's commitment to the Brahmo Sam&#257j. He found himself less and less comfortable within the Brahmo movement, and finally resigned from the Punjab Brahmo Sam&#257j in 1886.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The founding of the Dev Sam&#257j in 1887 provided Agnihotr&#299 with a new opening. By the end of 1887, he and his new organization began to move away from the central ideology of the Brahmo Sam&#257j. In place of the eclectic rationalism of the Brahmos based on a reinterpretation of traditional Hindu texts, the Dev Sam&#257j made the 'Gur&#363' Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299, and his own personal revelations the central principle. "Book revelations" whether &#256rya, Brahmo, Christian, or Islamic were rejected; the 'gur&#363' became all. In 1892, Agnihotr&#299 initiated a policy of dual worship, both of himself and of God. Three years later the worship of God ended, leaving only the 'Gur&#363' Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299 as the focus of worship and of all ideological innovation.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Although the Dev Sam&#257j followed patterns of leadership and legitimization different from those of other reform movements within Punjabi Hinduism, its ideology remained similar. As with the Brahmos and &#256ryas, the Dev Sam&#257j rejected contemporary Hinduism. Its rituals and deities were replaced by worship of the true 'Gur&#363, ' Dev Bhagv&#257n &#256tm&#257. All caste restrictions were rejected. Members of the Dev Sam&#257j were expected to practise interdining and intercaste marriage. Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299 also sought to change the role of women through the elimination of child marriage; he set the approved age of marriage at twenty for boys and sixteen for girls. He discouraged excessive dowries, <i>pardah</i>, and the traditional mourning rites carried out by Punjabi women. Agnihotr&#299 taught that widow marriage was acceptable and married a widow himself following the death of his first wife. The Dev Sam&#257j maintained that women as well as men should be educated and, to further this end, it opened a co-educational school at Mog&#257 on 29 October 1899. This later became the Dev Sam&#257j High School, and in 1901 the Sam&#257j opened a separate girls' school, the Dev Sam&#257j B&#257lik&#257 Vidy&#257lay&#257. Over the years the Dev Sam&#257j founded other schools and colleges in many parts of the Punjab.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Above all else, the Dev Sam&#257j taught a strongly moral doctrine. Its members were urged to be completely honest in both their public and private lives. They should not lie, steal, cheat, accept bribes, or gamble. They should take neither liquor nor drugs and should practise strict vegetarianism. The Sam&#257j members were divided into three classes, Sah&#257yaks, or sympathizers and Navaj&#299van Y&#257ft&#257s, those who had found a new life. The former joined the Dev Sam&#257j, paid Rs 10 per year, and accepted the leadership of Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299. The latter members were expected to follow the strict moral code of the Dev Sam&#257j, to reject all "false" religious symbols and to donate one-tenth of their income to the Sam&#257j. A third section of members included those who had taken a strict religious vow dedicating themselves to the pursuit of Dev Dharam.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The strict moral code of the Dev Dharam appealed to educated Punjabis, who came to make up the membership of the Sam&#257j. Dev Sam&#257j&#299s were almost all educated, literate men and even a large percentage of their women were literate. Their position in society gave the movement far greater influence than sheer numbers would allow. The Sam&#257j was always an elite organization even at its peak during the 1920's. Following the death of Pa&#7751&#7693it Agnihotr&#299 the movement declined, but did not disappear. Partition saw the loss of its properties in Lahore and as a result the centre of the movement shifted to the Mog&#257-F&#299rozpur area where it still continues to adhere to the <i>Vigy&#257n M&#363lak Dharam</i>, the Science Grounded Religion of Pa&#7751&#7693it &#346hiv N&#257r&#257ya&#7751 Agnihotr&#299.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Kanal, P. V. , <i>Bhagwan Dev Atma</i>. Lahore, 1942<BR> <li class="C1"> Farquhar, J. N. , <i>Modern Religious Movements in India</i>. Delhi, 1977<BR> <li class="C1"> Jones, Kenneth W. , <i>Arya Dharm</i>. Delhi, 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Mittal, K. K. , <i>Perspectives of the Philosophy of Devatma</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Kenneth W. Jones<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>