Swami Dayanand Saraswati, also known as "Nāri-Shudra-Vedoddharak Maharashtra Dev Dayanand Saraswati founder of the Arya Samaj and a Hindu reformer, defined "swaraj" as the "administration of self" or "democracy". Swami Dayanand Saraswati, beginning with the premise that God had created people free to perform any work they were inclined to choose, then questioned the legitimacy of the foreign British occupation to make the Indian nation slaves on their own land? In the Swami's view, "swaraj" was the basis for freedom fighting. Dadabhai Navroji said that he had learnt the word "swaraj" from the "Satyarth Prakash" of Saraswati.