Savarkar, Shuddhi and Swami Dayanand

Savarkar, Shuddhi and Swami Dayanand

Dr. Vivek Arya

It was year 1913. Vinayak Savarkar, the great patriot was imprisoned in the Andaman Jail of Port Blair. Savarkar found a very strange pattern of discrimination in Jail. The higher officials in Jail were mainly British while the junior ranks were occupied mostly by Pathans from North West Frontier Province. It was usual for Muslim Pathans to use abusive language for Hindu prisoners because they consider them as Kafirs. They never hesitated to steal the weekly milk quota and roti’s of Hindu Prisoners earned by strenuous hard work on oil mills and rope making. Most of time they It was common for them to beat and physically abuse Hindus to satisfy their religious quest and prove themselves as true and devoted practitioners of Islam.

Savarkar was disturbed when he came was informed about coercive conversion to Islam in prisons. In Jail there was separate kitchen for Hindus and Muslims with separate cooking staff. Savarkar came to know about conversion of any prisoner when any prisoner would start dining in the Muslim only Kitchen along with Pathans and obviously it was forbidden food. Savarkar registered his complaint with the Jail authority. The superintendent asked him why he could not reconvert them back to Hinduism. First he replied that Hinduism did not believe in the concept of reconversion but his views changed when he came to know about the Shuddhi ceremonies being carried out by Aryasamaj in Northern India especially in Punjab.

Reconversion of Shuddhi was pioneered by Swami Dayanand and Aryasamaj. Swami Dayanand had striven to revitalize Hinduism and return its religious practices back to its Vedic origins. He advocated Shuddhi or reconversion of former Hindus back into its fold. Following Swamiji message Savarkar started Shuddhi Ceremony in Andaman Prison. His efforts were strengthened when Bhai Parmanand, Aryasamaj scholar and revolutionist along with other prisoners from Punjab belonging to Gadar Party arrived in Andaman. Their experiences and clear concepts helped Vinayak to carry Shuddhi ceremony with full confidence. Vinayak decided to utilize the same practice of Shuddhi for the many converts. There were asked to bathe, put on new cloths, made to eat leaves of the sacred Tulsi plant, hear and recite verses from Bhagvat Gita, and then read a chapter from the Ramayana. This completed the simple reconversion process that ended with the distribution of sweets. They could get back their original Hindu names and, after a lot of convincing from Vinayak and others, to dining with their co-religionists.

But the opposition from the Hindu warders and the prisoners to Vinayak’s blasphemous act was fierce. They ridiculed him often as ‘Bhangi Babu’ or someone who had lost his caste and become untouchable. But none of this deterred Vinayak.

Slowly he gained confidence and success. Many convicts who were transferred from Andaman to Indian Jails later took this message of Shuddhi along with them. The seeds of social reform, love for one’s religion and protecting it against such avaricious attempts had thus been sown. This was a great achievement of the Shuddhi movement in that part of World due to Swami Dayanand, the rescuer. Interestingly we found that Hindus prisoners were lured in Jails of Nizam of Hyderabad to accept Islam. Aryasamaj in its Hyderabad agitation of 1939 raised voice against this propaganda in Jails.

Hindus of today must display respect and praise for Swami Dayanand who as a fearless champion opened the locked doors of Shuddhi for the Hindus. No reformer in modern era was able to dare what Dayanand had done for the Hindus. Hindus who were so anemic that if anyone by mistake would eat food prepared or touched by a Muslim was forced to convert to Islam. Now they dares to invite born Muslims to convert from Islam to Hinduism. The transformation was taught by none other than Swami Dayanand.

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