Arya Samaj was founded on April 7th, 1875 at Bombay, India, by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati. He was a renouncer who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The purpose was to move the Hindu Dharma away from all the fictitious beliefs, and go back to the teachings of Vedas. Arya Samaj rejects all forms of ritualistic superstition such as idolatry, ancestor worship, pilgrimage and animal sacrifice, as well as all forms of social oppression such as the caste system, untouchability and child labor. It proclaims equal entitlement under the law between men and women, strives to reduce poverty and to protect the weak and the disadvantaged, denounces the consumption of meat as well as the use of intoxicants and recreational drugs, and promotes healthy community, family and private life in tune with the cycles of nature.