Sarla Bedi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sarla Bedi

• Sarla Bedi was an Indian was an Indian female priest who established Arya Samaj, a reformist faction of Sanatan Dharma, in Toronto, Canada. She was known as the Arya Samajist of Canada. She died on 15 November 2013 in Toronto, Canada, after suffering from Arthritis.

• Sarla and her family moved to Kenya from India when she was young, during the Great Depression. She spent her upbringing in a segregated colony, where she learned to paint and took part in debates and lectures about the Indian independence cause.

• Sarla had to abandon her dream of studying law in England due to her mother’s bad health and her father’s employment difficulties.

• Sarla decided to go to Toronto, Canada, in 1972, in response to South Africa’s political upheaval and rising violence against Indians.

• Sarla took over home tasks when she was 18 years old.

• She became a teacher in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, to support her family and educate her two younger brothers. She continued to take part in public debates about Indians’ efforts for independence and social issues.

• She relocated to Toronto, Canada, in 1972 following which Sarla and her husband founded Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement founded in 1875 by Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, in Canada. Their organization supported social concerns and assisted Indian immigrants in settling in.

• Sarla became Ontario’s first female Hindu priest in 1976.

• Sarla was regarded as a trusted spiritual and social advisor. She began organizing community holy baptisms, mixed-faith weddings, and burials.

• By 1996, Arya Samaj, founded in Canada, had constructed a Vedic Cultural Centre in Markham, which today serves as a center for a variety of cultural and community activities for both older residents and children.

  

• Sarla enjoyed Indian delicacies such as gulab jamun in addition to eating a nutritious diet.

• Sarla Bedi was one of six members regarded on 21 November 2009 at the Vedic Cultural Centre in Markham for their outstanding achievements and services to the growth of the Arya Samaj in Canada.