Kenya: What I saw at Nairobi will remain unforgettable.

If you want it from the heart, then nothing is impossible in this world, one’s faith is the basis of his life. I have recently seen this basic mantra of life with my own eyes in the East African country Kenya and returned. Actually, in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, on the occasion of the series of programs of Maharishi Dayanand ji’s 200th birth anniversary, the 121st Foundation Day of Arya Samaj Nairobi and the 106th Foundation Day of Arya Stree Samaj were celebrated with great pomp. It was a proud moment to be present in the daily yagya amidst a large number of people offering sacrifices, with the Vedic mantras resonating on the African land, five thousand eight hundred km. away from India.

All this was happening in that country and land where about 85 percent of the population follows Christianity and 10 percent follows Islam. We can also say this in that country where only thousands of Indians live. Those people of Indian origin whose ancestors left India due to circumstances but did not leave their Vedic religion and traditions associated with it. Rather, they kept the banner of the proud Om flag flying on African soil.

Even though this was the 121st foundation day of Arya Samaj Nairobi, but when I went there and saw the history, I realized that the devotees of Maharishi Dayanand ji laid the foundation of Arya Samaj and Vedic religion here with very little resources. Because after going there, I got the good fortune of performing Yagya at the place where the ancestors of our Arya Samaj performed the first Yagya on African soil. I was surprised to hear its history, because the name of this place is Man Eaters, that is, the one who eats humans. Actually, in March 1898, as part of the construction of the railway connecting Uganda to the Indian Ocean at Kilindini Harbor, the British started the construction of a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. More than 20,000 workers and engineers had gone from India to work on the railway. But one by one they began to disappear as the bridge was being built. During the next nine months of construction, the lions would drag workers from their tents at night and eat them. The workers tried to scare the lions away and built barbed wire fences around their camps to keep the man-eaters away, but to no avail; the lions would jump over the barbed wire fences or crawl into the camps and drag them into a cave and eat them. As the attacks increased, hundreds of workers fled Tsavo, halting construction on the bridge. Eventually, Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson took charge and, with the help of Indians, killed the lions.

The exact number of people killed by the lions is not clear. Patterson gave various figures, claiming that a total of 135 people were killed. After the lions were killed, the African Christians and European officials said their silent prayers and went to sleep. There in this dreadful jungle of Kenya, our great men associated with the Arya Samaj, including Jismu Lalchand Sharma, Mahashya Badrinath Arya, Mathura Das Kapila, Inder Singh Kent, Baisakhi Ram Bhardwaj and Fakir Chand, among others, felt a strong desire to perform a havan. So, they dug a square pit in the ground and made a havan kund and filled it with dry wood selected from the jungle. Taking the ingredients of kitchen ghee and dried wild flowers, some gathered around the sacred fire and performed the havan. 126 years ago this havan was the first havan performed on the soil of East Africa and all of Africa and this was the time when the seeds of our Arya Samaj movement were sown in Kenya – a moment that laid the foundation of a spiritual and cultural movement that has flourished for more than a century.

Today, 126 years later, performing the yagna at the same place was a moment of pride and glory for me, which I cannot express in words even if I wanted to. Imagine, today, 126 years later, when I reached near that cave, my heart started pounding. Who knows how many disciples of Swami Dayanand ji must have lost their lives inside that cave. After the completion of the railway in 1901, our Arya Samaj forefathers started propagating the ideas of Swami Dayanand ji and on 5th July 1903, Arya Samaj Nairobi was established. Look at the faith in Swami Ji that there was no building to establish, so on 5th July 1903, 45 people attended the meeting at the house of Jai Gopal Ji who had gone from India to Nairobi. The reason was that Arya Samaj Nairobi did not have any building. Therefore, weekly satsangs and meetings were organized at the residence of the members. After this, the need was felt and Arya Samaj Nairobi was established or say, the foundation of Swami Dayanand Ji’s messages was laid on African land. When it became difficult to organize meetings at the residence of the members due to the increasing number of Arya Samaj members, it was decided in the meeting of the intimate assembly to buy one acre of land for the construction of a building for the Arya Samaj.

On 5th July, the idea was considered and on 11th September 1903, the foundation of the first Arya Samaj building in East Africa was laid. Today there is a seven-storey building at this place which is known as Vedic House. Not only Nairobi, Arya Samaj was established in Mombasa, the second largest city of Kenya, 483 km away from this city, the next year in 1904. A temple was built, a youth wing was established, weekly havan and satsang were organized, a nursery and a school were built there and an Aryan club was established. Along with this, the work of spreading the message of Vedas was started by forming the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of East Africa. Among them, Shri Inder Singh Kent became the President, Shri Kishan Chand became the Vice President, Shri Badri Nath Ji Arya became the Secretary, Shri Amar Nath became the Joint Secretary, Shri Jal Gopal became the Treasurer, Shri Laxman Das became the Librarian, Shri Mool Chand became the Member, Shri Mathura Das Kapila became the Member, Shri Ram Ratan became the Member.

The Arya brothers of East Africa were as enthusiastic in those days as those of North India. Every Arya member was a preacher of Vedic religion and was ready to do anything for the Arya Samaj. But their path was not free from obstacles. The number of Muslims in Nairobi was considerable. Their organization Anjuman-e-Islam could not tolerate the establishment of Arya Samaj and its members accused Arya Samaj in open meetings. Without being disturbed by this, Shri Salig Ram Sharma and Shri Bihari Lal gave a befitting reply to their allegations. As a result, Anjuman-e-Islam became ineffective and the flag of Arya Samaj flew proudly.

Today, there is a building of Arya Samaj Nairobi in Parkland, a beautiful place in Nairobi. The statue of Nanjibhai Kalidas Mehta ji is installed in this building. Its history is also a matter of pride in itself. Actually, whatever Nanjibhai Kalidas did for Arya Samaj is an invaluable contribution and history in itself. If seen in this context, he also made a huge contribution in Kenya. Because the Parkland where the huge building of Arya Samaj Nairobi stands today, this six acre land belonged to Shri Nanji Kalidas Mehta ji, which he donated to Arya Samaj. Along with this, he also donated six thousand Kenyan currency shillings. Later, Shri Nanji Bhai Kalidas Mehta donated ten thousand shillings and with some more money collected from the public, a big hall was built and about three acres of land was repurchased. Parkland Arya High School Shraddhanand Arya Nursery School is being run in the name of Swami Shraddhanand ji. Nanji Bhai was a staunch follower of Maharishi Dayanand ji and a supporter of Vedic principles. He did not believe in the caste system. He proved this when he invited a girl from the untouchable caste for the Bhoomi Pujan of Arya Kanya.

Arya Kanya School was established in the year 1949 at a distance from Arya Samaj Mandir Nairobi and Arya Vedic Academy School was also built. Even today thousands of Indian and African children are getting education in all these schools. Not only are they getting education, but in schools, children are getting Vedic education along with the local education.

Undoubtedly, this 121st Foundation Day program of Arya Samaj Nairobi was completed successfully, but I can say this much that the hardships that the Arya people went there in the beginning and the time spent in pain, seeing the great honor they got today, my heart was filled with pride. In the end, I will definitely say that heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all the workers of Arya Samaj Nairobi including the head of Arya Samaj Nairobi, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Saini ji for the successful program. Certainly, what I saw in the Arya Samaj program in Kenya will remain unforgettable.

Vinay Arya