Life of Ahmad — Page 77
as AFTER HIS FATHER’S DEATH 77 but the treatment gave him immediate relief and he recovered in a few minutes. AHMAD’S as APPEARANCE IN PUBLIC When the views of Day a nand Saraswati, a Gujerati Brahman, (born in Kathiawar in 1824 and died at Ajmer on October 30th, 1883) met with scanty acceptance among the Brahmans to whom he introduced them, he turned to the masses and established Sam a jes in various parts of India; the first being at Bombay in 1875. In spite of his strenuous efforts to familiarise the people of Bombay and the U. P. with the doctrines of his faith, success worth the name did not crown them. But in the Punjab the case was different. Within two months the movement began to spread among all classes. Rich and poor, says one of his historians, literate and illiterate, atheist and agnostic, were one and all influenced by the Swamiji’s teachings. He visited several towns in the Punjab in 1877, including Multan, Gurdaspur, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Lahore, Amritsar, Jullundur, Ludhiana and Ferozepur. Wherever he went, he delivered lectures and held debates, and, as a result, many Sam a jes were established. 13 This is the reason why Ahmad as devoted most of his attention in these days to the A rya Sam a j. 13 The A rya Sam a j was properly established in Lahore, Amritsar and Rawalpindi in 1877 Jhelum Mlultan, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur in 1878 Gujrat and Peshawar in 1881. Delhi, Ludhiana, and Batala in 1882.