The DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) Movement commemorates and perpetuates the philosophy and work of one of the greatest social and religious reformers - who appear but rarely on the stage of the world - Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati. Born in the 19th century, at a time when the Hindu society had become completely oblivious of its ancient spiritual and cultural heritage and caught up inextricably in the meshes of superstition born of intellectual poverty and false beliefs, meaningless rituals and such pernicious practices as untouchability, child marriage and inhuman treatment of women.
Maharshi Dayanand raised his irrepressible voice against all these vices and shook the society to its very foundation by espousing fearlessly and relentlessly the cause of the emancipation of women, the abolition of casteism, pursuit of Swaraj and the popularisation of Hindi. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore considered him to be the “great path maker of modern India”. He drew his inspiration and strength from the vedas which he exhorted his fellow countrymen to study and regard as with their most precious treasure.
Maharshi Dayanand, with his uncanny power of observation and deduction, knew that the evils rampant in the Hindu Society could be wiped out only by the all sweeping tide of intellectual enlightenment. That is why, among the ten principles of Arya Samaj laid down by him, the most important place is held by eradication of ignorance and illiteracy through spread of. To translate this cherished dream of the great mentor into reality, the D.A.V. College Trust and Management Society, registered in 1885, laid the foundation of the first D.A.V. School at Lahore in 1886 with Mahatma Hansraj - the very soul of humility and self-abnegation as its Headmaster.
“From a tiny acorn the mighty oak tree grows - this humble beginning made more than a hundred years ago has now flowered into a vigorous movement taking in its embrace some 600 educational institutions, spread all over the country, comprising colleges offering Arts, Science, Commerce, Education, Law, Ayurvedic medicine, Technical and Vocational Institutions and Public Schools. Under the guidance of the DAV College Managing Committee the number of Public Schools have shown a phenomenal growth in the last decade