Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]

Janabai

2021-06-06T09:59:23Z

2409:4042:4E90:597:0:0:60B:8512:

{{short description|Indian poet and saint}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2018}}
'''Milan Mohanta Janābāi''' was a [[Marathi people|Marāthi]] religious poet in the [[Hindu]] tradition in India, who was born likely in the seventh or the eighth decade of the 13th century. She died in 1350.<ref>{{cite book|title=Women and the Law|page=18|author=Dalbir Bharti|publisher=APH Publishing|year=2008}}</ref>

Janabai was born in [[Gangakhed|Gangākhed 1258-1350]], [[Maharashtra|Mahārāshtra]] to a couple with first names ''rand'' and ''Karand''. Under the [[Caste System in India|caste system]] the couple belonged to the bhavsar. After her mother died, her father took her to Pandharpur. Since her childhood, Janabai worked as a maidservant in the household of ''Dāmāsheti'', who lived in [[Pandharpur]] and who was the father of the prominent [[Marathi people|Marathi]] religious poet [[Namdev|Nāmdev]]. Janabai was likely a little older than Namdev, and attended to him for many years.

Pandharpur has high religious significance especially among Marathi-speaking Hindus. Janabai's employers, Damasheti and his wife, ''Gonāi'', were very religious. Through the influence of the religious environment around her and her innate inclination, Janabai was always an ardent devotee of Lord [[Vitthal]]. She was also a talented poet. Though she never had any formal schooling, she composed many high-quality religious verses of the ''[[abhang]] (अभंग)'' form. Some of her compositions were preserved along with those of Namdev. Authorship of about 300 ''abhang'' is traditionally attributed to Janabai. However, researchers believe that quite a few of them were in fact compositions of some other writers.

Along with [[Dnyaneshwar|Dnyāneshwar]], [[Namdev|Nāmdev]], [[Eknath|Eknāth]], and [[Tukaram]], Janabai has a revered place in the minds of Marathi-speaking Hindus who belong especially to the ''[[Warkari|wārakari]] (वारकरी)'' sect in Maharashtra. In accord with a tradition in India of assigning the epithet ''sant (संत)'' to persons regarded as thoroughly saintly, all of the above religious figures including Janabai are commonly attributed that epithet in Maharashtra. Thus, Janabai is routinely referred to as ''Sant Janabai (संत जनाबाई)''.

==See also==
* [[Backward-caste Hindu Saints]]
* [[Warkari|Wārakari]]
* [[Women in Hinduism]]
* [[Bhakti movement]]
* [[Namdev]]
* [[Nivruttinath]]
* [[Dnyaneshwar]]
* [[Tukaram]]
* [[Eknath]]
* [[Sopan]]
* [[Muktabai]]
* [[Chokhamela]]
* [[Sant Soyarabai]]
* [[ Gadge Maharaj ]]
* [[Sant Mat]]
* [[Pandharpur Wari]] – the largest annual pilgrimage in Maharashtra that includes a ceremonial ''[[Palkhi]]'' of Tukaram and Jñāneśvar.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/J/Janabai/index.htm Janabai: Poems and Biography]

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Medieval Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:1350 deaths]]
[[Category:Poets from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Warkari]]
[[Category:Hindu female religious leaders]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Women mystics]]
[[Category:Marathi Hindu saints]]

Chokhamela

2021-06-06T09:56:43Z

2409:4042:4E90:597:0:0:60B:8512:

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox Hindu leader
|name= Sant Chokhamela
|image= Sant Chokhamela.jpg
|caption = Statue of Sant Chokhamela at his [[Samadhi]] in [[Pandharpur]]
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
|birth_place= पौष शु.२ १२७३ Mehuna Raja, [[Deulgaon Raja]] Taluka, [[Buldhana district]].
|death_date= वैशाख कृ.५ १३३८
|death_place=
|philosophy=
|honors= ''[[Sant (religion)|Sant]]'' (संत) in Marathi, meaning "Saint"
|literary_works =
|footnotes=
}}
[[File:Pandharpur Vithoba temple.jpg|thumb|The chief gate of [[Vithoba temple, Pandharpur]]. The small blue temple in front of the gate is saint Chokhamela's memorial (samadhi).]]

'''Chokhamela''' was a [[saint]] in [[Maharashtra]], [[India]] in the 14th century. He belonged to the [[Mahar]] [[caste]],{{request quote|date=May 2021}} one of the [[Untouchability|untouchable]] castes in India. He was born at Mehuna Raja, a village in [[Deulgaon Raja]] Taluka of [[Buldhana district]]. He lived at [[Mangalvedha]] in [[Maharashtra]]. He wrote many [[Abhanga]]s. He was one of the first low-cast poets in India.
Chokhamela lived with his wife Soyarabai and son [[Karmamela]] in Mangalvedha. Chokhamela's task was to guard and work in farms of upper caste people.

His family also followed [[varkari]] sect.<ref name=ZelliotA>
{{cite book
|last=Zelliot|first=Eleanor
|authorlink=Eleanor Zelliot
|chapter=Chokhamela, His Family and the Marathi Tradition
|title=From Stigma to Assertion: Untouchability, Identity and Politics in Early and Modern India
|editor1-first=Mik'''ael|editor1-last=Aktor
|editor2-first=Robert|editor2-last=Deliège
|year=2008
|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press
|location=Copenhagen
|isbn=8763507757
|pages=76–85
}}</ref>

* [[Sant Soyarabai|Soyarabai]] - Wife<ref name=ZelliotB>
{{cite book
|chapter=A Historical Introduction to the Warakari Movement
|title=Living Through the Blitz
|first=Tom
|last=Harrisson
|isbn=9780002160094
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|year=1976
|page=[https://archive.org/details/livingthroughbli0000harr_f9s9/page/40 40]
|url=https://archive.org/details/livingthroughbli0000harr_f9s9/page/40
}}</ref>
* [[Sant Nirmala|Nirmala]] - Sister and her husband [[Sant Banka|Banka]] (who is brother of Soyarabai)<ref name=ZelliotA/>{{rp|84}}<ref name=ZelliotB/>
* [[Karmamela]] - Son<ref name=ZelliotB/>

He was initiated into bhakti spirituality by the poet-saint [[Namdev]] (1270-1350). Once when he visited Pandharpur, he listened to Sant Namdev's kirtan. Already a devotee of Vitthal alias [[Vithoba]], Chokha was moved by Namdev's teachings.

Later, he moved to [[Pandharpur]]. The traditional story is that the upper castes here did not allow him to enter the temple,<ref name=prasad>{{cite book|title=Dalit Literature|first=Amar Nath|last=Prasad|pages=10–12|isbn=978-81-7625-817-3|year=2007}}</ref> nor did they allow him to stand in the door of the temple, so he instead built a hut on the other side of the river [[Bhima River|Chandrabhaga]].

While working on construction of a wall in Mangalvedha, near Pandharpur, the wall fell down, crushing some workers. Chokha was one of them. His tomb is in front of the Vitthal temple, Pandharpur, where it can be seen to this day. According to a legend the bones of the dead Chokhamela were still chanting ''Vitthal , Vitthal'', apparently yearning to visit the Vitthal temple. The bones were buried at the footsteps of the Vitthal temple. In early 20th century, the [[Dalit]] leader [[B. R. Ambedkar]] attempted to visit the temple, but was stopped at the burial site of Chokhamela and denied entry beyond that point for being a [[Mahar]].<ref name=lele>{{cite book
|title=Tradition and Modernity in Bhakti movements
|first=Eleanor|last=Zelliot
|chapter=Chokhamela and Eknath: Two Bhakti Modes of Legitimacy for Modern Change
|editor-first=Jayant|editor-last=Lele
|pages=136–142
|year=1981
|publisher=Brill
|location=Leiden
|isbn=9004063706
}}</ref>

==Books==
*''On the Threshold: Songs of Chokhamela'', translated from the Marathi by Rohini Mokashi-Punekar.
*[[B. R. Ambedkar]] dedicated his book ''The Untouchables: Who are They and Why They Became Untouchables'' to the memory of Chokhamela, [[Nandanar]] and [[Ravidas]].
*''One Hundred Poems of Chokha Mela'', translated from Marathi by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre. {{ISBN|978-93-5212-597-5}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070701040109/http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cms/punekar.pdf Chokhamela (PDF) by Punekar]
* [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kLs3AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA136&dq=Chokhamela&ots=ctHKQ-KA92&sig=ad4SJ7oDbYj3vINGtnF2qeNOSeI Chokhamela and Eknath: Two Bhakti Modes of Legitimacy for Modern Change - Zelliot]
* [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cW8SR26tnVYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=Chokhamela&ots=0kwAfDVfqR&sig=xkiyaf03n7QsSgWRhnPDe0D5haE Chokhamela: The Pioneer of Untouchable movement in Maharashtra - Prof. Nimavat]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180726040906/https://marathiinfopedia.co.in/2018/05/23/sant-chokhamela-maharaj/ Sant Chokhamela] information in Marathi

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Medieval Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:Warkari]]
[[Category:Dalit saints]]
[[Category:Dalit Hindu saints]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian scholars]]
[[Category:Scholars from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Vaishnava saints]]
[[Category:Marathi Hindu saints]]

Sopan

2021-06-06T09:38:04Z

2409:4042:4E90:597:0:0:60B:8512:

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
[[File:Dnyaneshwar humbles Changdev.jpg|thumb|The siblings [[Muktabai]], Sopan, Jñāneśvar and [[Nivruttinath]] seated on the flying wall greet [[Changdev Maharaj]] seated on a tiger. In the centre, Changdev bows to Jñāneśvar.]]
'''Sant Sopandeo''' was a [[Sant (religion)|sant]] of the [[Varkari]] and also the younger brother of [[Dnyaneshwar]].

Sopan(19 November 1277 A.D- 29 December 1296 A.D),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mysticisminindia0000rana|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/mysticisminindia0000rana/page/31 31]|title=Mysticism in India: The Poet-Saints of Maharashtra|publisher=State University of New York|year=1983}}</ref> attained [[samadhi]] at Saswad near [[Pune]]. He wrote a book, the ''Sopandevi'' based on the Marathi translation of the ''Bhagavad Gita'' along with 50 or so [[abhang]]s.

==Siblings==

#[[Nivruttinath]]: The eldest brother of Sopan, Nivrutti was an authority on the philosophy of the [[Nath]]. Gahininath, one of the nine Nath gurus, accepted Nivrutti as his disciple and initiated him into the Nath sect, instructing him to propagate devotion to Shri [[Krishna]]. Dnyaneshwar accepted his elder brother as his own guru. After the early samadhi of Dnyaneshwar, Nivrutti travelled with his sister Muktai on a pilgrimage along the [[Tapti River]], where they were caught in a thunderstorm and Muktai was swept away. Nivrutti obtained samadhi at Tryambakeshwar. Around 375 abhangs are attributed to him but the authorship of many of them is disputed due to the difference in writing style and philosophy.

# Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296): The second of the siblings was a 13th-century [[Marathi people|Marathi]] ''[[Sant (religion)|sant]]'', poet, philosopher and [[yogi]] of the [[Nath]] tradition whose ''[[Jñānēśvarī]]'' (a commentary on the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'') and ''[[Amrutanubhav]]'' are considered to be milestones in [[Marathi literature]].

# Muktabai: His younger sister, Muktabai wrote forty-one [[abhang]]s throughout her lifespan.

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Marathi-language writers]]
[[Category:Warkari]]
[[Category:Marathi Hindu saints]]

{{Hindu-bio-stub}}