Fresh!

The Arya Pratinidhi Sabha (APS) South Africa, an eighty five year old religious and cultural organisation, has elected Professor Usha Desai as its first women President.  Prof Desai a retired academic from the Department of Indian languages at the University of KwaZuluNatal,will lead the reformist Arya Samaj Hindu organisation over the next twelve months. She is the daughter of PanditNardev Vedalankar, who played a defining role in building the Arya Samaj movement in this country between 1948 and 1994.  She has therefore been schooled in the Arya Samaj religious tradition and is well placed to lead the organisation.  Prof Desai’s own contribution to the Arya Samaj, serving as a Deputy Vice-President and an Executive Committee member of the APS, as the Chairperson and member of the Veda Niketan - the APS’s religious propagation body, as well as many other roles within the Arya Samaj movement over the past two three decades, through which she has rendered selfless community service has prepared her for this important role.  Prof Desai also continues to play a central role in the propagation of the Gujarati language through her involvement as a convenor of the Education Committee of the Gujarati  HinduSanskruti  Kendra.

The Arya Samaj movement was started by Swami Dayanand in the late 19th Century as a reformist movement to reconnect Hinduism and Hindu religious practice to its source scriptures, The Vedas, thus dissociating itself from superstitious beliefs, unequal status of women, animal sacrifices and the abhorrent caste system. It lends its full support to vegetarianism and advocates a way of life that is rational, scientific, modern, enlightened and progressive. The Arya Samaj movement in India was an integral part of the struggle for independence from British rule.  It was therefore not surprising that it continued this tradition by being part of the struggle against oppression in South Africa and has a proud legacy of association with the forces of democracy and non-racialism. Swami BhawaniDayal, one of the stalwarts of the Arya Samaj, was also the President of the Natal Indian Congress in 1938. The Arya Samaj gave its full support and actively participated in the anti-pass campaigns, the passive resistance campaigns, the freedom charter campaign, the UDF and various other resistance activities. A number of members of the Arya Samaj played leading roles in the struggle for a democratic South Africa.

The Arya Samaj trains its own priests to conduct the various Hindu Sanskars or sacraments.  It is the only Hindu religious organisation that also includes in its training the training and ordaining of female priests to perform various ceremonies and offer counselling services to those in need. The pioneers of the Arya Samaj have also been the founding fathers of the Aryan Benevolent Home, which is a household name in the community. The Aryan Benevolent Home has branches in Gauteng, Western Cape, Glencoe and the south of Durban and offers services such as aged and disabled care, youth services, family violence counselling, crèche service, and a fully accredited Nursing School. The Arya Samaj has partnered with the Ethekwini municipality to offer a primary health care facility at the Narain Jeawon Vedic Centre in the Sea Cow Lake area which services an informal settlement of more than ten thousand people. It also offers a chiropractic and dental service at the Centre run by volunteers. The Arya Samaj also runs a weekly feeding scheme for indigent people in the Carlisle Street area.

Prof Desai has committed to continuing this proud tradition of Arya Samaj during her tenure as President.  Her vision is to strengthen the Arya Samaj movement in South Africa by reviving commitment to the ten principles of the Arya Samaj so that all Arya Samajists live by these principles, doing so within the context of building a non-racial democratic South Africa. This will also mean building strong co-operative relationships with other Hindu and other religious groupings focussing on the moral regeneration of society in general.  In the spirit of the Arya Samaj belief that religion is a way of life she will also be broadening the community service projects, like the primary health care services at the Narain Jeawon Centre to other projects aimed at improving the quality of life of fellow South Africans especially the poor. Prof Desai intends doing this by building on the success of the recent Celebration of the Legacy of Indians in SA and their 150 years in this country, and drawing on the contribution and commitment of the many volunteers, to build these programmes which will strengthen the practice and understanding of the religious principles of the Arya Samaj.

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