Arya Samaj
Swami Dayananda's creations, the Arya Samaj, unequivocally condemns idol worship, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priest craft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability, child marriages and discrimination against women on the grounds that all these lacked Vedic sanction. The Arya Samaj discourages dogma and symbolism and encourages skepticism in beliefs that run contrary to common sense and logic. To many people, the Arya Samaj aims to be a "universal society" based on the authority of the Vedas.
However, Swami Dayananand showed extreme rationalism and paradoxically made many assumptions while interpreting the Veda. Thus, he posited that Brahman could be the only god, and denied the existence of the lower gods. He also partially accepted the authority of the Shastras, the commentaries of Sayana. It is a matter of surprise that he denied the authority of the shastras, while accepting part of them to be true thus accepting the upanayana and disallowing the Shraddha and Ashvamedha ( The spirits, when summoned, according to him were a bad omen and ashva did not mean 'horse') . In order to get around the shastras, he wrote a treatise on Sanskaras.
The shastras, much like the vedas according to the Sanatana dharma, are correct because of the yogaja pramana of the rishis. The gods cannot either be discovered by the senses or by reason.
Read more about this topic: Dayananda Saraswati