Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded Hindu reform movement 'Arya Samaj' in 1875. He was a Hindu religious leader and a renowned scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language. He was the first to give the call for Swaraj as "Indian for India" in 1876, a call later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak. Denouncing the idolatry and ritualistic worship prevalent in Hinduism at the time, he worked towards reviving Vedic ideologies. Subsequently, the philosopher and President of India, S. Radhakrishnan called him one of the "makers of Modern India", as did Sri Aurobindo.
