''Satyarth Prakash'' (; '; ) is an 1875 book written originally in Hindi by
Dayanand Saraswati, a religious and social reformer and the founder of
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s.
Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...
. The book was subsequently revised by Saraswati in 1882 and has been translated into more than 20 languages including
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
and foreign languages, including English, French, German,
Swahili,
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
and Chinese. The major portion of the book is dedicated to laying down the reformist advocacy of Swami Dayanand with the last four chapters making a case for comparative study of different religious faiths.
Some of the 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
A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...
and critical analysis of different religious beliefs and other religions in the World in the light of the Vedas, 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.
Editions
The book was originally written in
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
by Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati in 1875 CE. After detecting omissions, language and printing mistakes in the first edition, after making corrections at Israr Mahal inside
Ramapur at
Kashi, he published a second revised edition in
Samvat 1939 (1882-83 CE). The book has been translated into twenty-four 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 unauthorised entities in different versions, appointed an authentication committee of Vedic scholars, and started to publish authenticated version of the book.
Reception and criticism
S. Rangaswami Iyengar praised the book, saying that "It contains the wholly rationalistic view of the Vedic religion."
Satyartha Prakash was
banned in some Indian princely states and in the
Sind Province
Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind or Scinde) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest provin ...
of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
(now
Sindh
Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
, Pakistan) in 1944; and it remains banned in Sindh. This ban was condemned by
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
.
In 2008 two Indian Muslims, Usman Ghani and Mohammad Khalil Khan of Sadar Bazar, Delhi, following the
fatwa
A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...
of Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, the Imam of
Fatehpuri Masjid in Delhi, urged the
Delhi High Court
The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...
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."
References
Citations
External links
Read & download ''Satyarth Prakash ~ Light of Truth'' online in English translated by Dr. Chiranjiva BharadwajaRead ''Satyarth Prakash'' online (in English, Malayalam, Hindi, German, Bengali and Urdu)
(in eighteen different languages)
at Krantikari
{{Depictions of Muhammad
Hinduism in India
1875 non-fiction books
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