Arya Samaj has shaped Vedic scholarship most visibly through its sustained work of translation, commentary, and reinterpretation. Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s commentarial writings, including Satyarth Prakash and his exegesis on the Vedas, presented the Vedic corpus as monotheistic, rational, and ethical, challenging both ritualism and polytheistic readings. This approach relied heavily on grammatical and etymological analysis, drawing on traditional tools such as vyākaraṇa and nirukta, and sought to establish standardized, linguistically grounded interpretations. Subsequent Arya scholars extended this project by producing further commentaries and simplified expositions in Hindi and other regional languages, thereby opening Vedic study beyond a narrow Sanskrit-educated elite. Through these efforts, the Vedas were framed not merely as ritual manuals, but as texts rich in philosophical and moral insight.

Equally important has been the institutional framework created to sustain Vedic learning. Gurukuls such as Gurukul Kangri, along with the network of Dayanand Anglo-Vedic schools and colleges, cultivated an environment where traditional Vedic recitation and śāstra study could coexist with modern subjects. These institutions trained many Sanskrit pandits and Vedic teachers, preserving oral traditions of chant and interpretation while encouraging more systematic, critical engagement with the texts. By embedding Vedic studies within formal curricula, Arya Samaj ensured that the Vedas remained a living intellectual resource rather than a relic confined to ritual specialists.

The movement has also contributed through the wide dissemination and standardization of Vedic literature. Arya Samaj publishing efforts produced affordable editions of the Vedas, Upanishads, and related texts, often with diacritics, word-by-word meanings, and explanatory notes. Translations into Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, English, and other languages made these works accessible to a broad reading public and to scholars outside India. Critical editions and annotated publications helped stabilize certain textual recensions and offered readers tools for more precise study. In this way, Vedic literature was brought from the seclusion of manuscript and specialized tradition into the public domain of study and reflection.

Finally, Arya Samaj has kept Vedic mantras and ideas active in communal life through reformed ritual and public debate. By codifying simplified yajña and homa rites free from animal sacrifice and elaborate priestcraft, and by producing manuals for samskāras such as marriage and funerals, it created a practical field in which Vedic mantras are regularly used and contemplated. Dayananda’s bold claims—such as the sufficiency of the Vedas as the highest authority and the rejection of later mythological accretions—provoked vigorous responses from both traditionalists and modernists. This controversy drew renewed attention to the Vedas themselves, stimulating further research and reflection by supporters and critics alike. Through this combination of scholarship, education, publication, and lived ritual, Arya Samaj has kept Vedic inquiry both intellectually rigorous and spiritually engaged.