 According to the census of 2012 the number of Ārya Samājĩs is 16,661.The arrival of Arya Samaj preachers in Suriname, in 1929, caused a rift in the Hindu community, between the followers of Sanatan Dharm and the Ārya Samāj.The Ārya Samāj was initially established in Suriname in 1911, when Professor Bhai Parmānand, a Vedic missionary from India, visited the West Indies.