After the death of Dayananda in 1883, the work of the samaj was carried on by illustrious members. Education was an all-important field for the samaj.  

• The Dayananda Anglo- Vedic (D.A.V.) College was established in 1886 at Lahore. But a difference of opinion between two groups in the samaj arose over the curriculum of the D.A.V. College.  

• One group was known as the College Party (some sources say ‘Culture’ Party), among whose leaders were Lala Hansraj, Lala Lal Chand and Lala Lajpat Rai, and the other was the Mahatma (later Gurukul) Party led by Guru Datta Vidyarthi and Lala Munshi Ram (who later came to be known as Swami Shraddhanand).  
• While the College Party favoured the government curriculum and English education to meet economic and professional needs, the Mahatma Party was interested in introducing the study of Sanskrit and Vedic philosophy in the tradition of ancient gurukuls.  
• Later, the issue of vegetarianism also became a point of contention: the College Party had nothing against non-vegetarianism, claiming that diet was a personal choice and it was not mentioned in the principles of the samaj;  
• The Mahatma Party was in favour of all the Aryas being strict vegetarians. In the end the Arya Samaj split in 1893 over these issues.