Namdev

Namdev (occasionally Nam Dev or Sant Namdev) (c.1270-c.1350 C.E.) was a prominent Bhakti poet of Maharashtra and among the earliest of those who wrote in the Marathi language. Renowned as a devotee of Sri Purandara Vitthala of Pandharpur, Namdev is also important to the Sikh tradition, since several of his compositions are enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib.

Sant Namdev was born in the village of Naras-Vamani, located now in the Satara District of Maharashtra, India, to a tailor named Damashetti and his wife Gonabi (Gunabai). His full name was Namdeo Relekar. He was married before the age of eleven to Rajabai, daughter of Govindashetti Sadavarte. They had four sons and one daughter. To this date the Relekar family, his descendants reside near the Shri Vithoba temple, in Pandarpur.

Sant Namdev was known to have seen the appearance of Shri Vitthal in his original form^{[citation needed]}, as he waited and fasted for god to eat the nived (food offerings) placed at the Shri Vithoba temple in Pandarpur. Witnesses said Sri Vitthala finally came and ate with the young boy, Namdev, who had not eaten for many days. The very place where he waited in the temple has been marked and called the Namdev Pairi (steps of Sant Namdev).

Sant Namdev has a prominent place among the Sants who roamed about the country reciting poems and compositions. Outside of Maharashtra he is also the best known Maharashtrian sant. He is said to have lived for more than twenty years at the village of Ghuman in Gurdaspur district in Punjab, where a memorial commemorates his sojourn.

Sant Namdev had much influence on Sant Tukaram ^{[citation needed]} - to the extent that some scholars consider him to be Sant Tukaram's Guru. Both his compositions and those of Sant Tukaram are 'gathas' 'abhangas'.

Namdev's abhangas or devotional lyrics became very popular and have been collected in Namdevachi Gatha, which also includes the long autobiographical poem Tirathavah. The fact that he occasionally wrote in a form of early Hindi, combined with his extended visits to the Punjab, carried Namdev's fame far beyond the borders of Maharashtra. As many as sixty-one of his hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Namdev did not initiate any religious institution or movement; he exemplifies the archetypical Bhakti saint, a solitary soul in search for God.

See also

• Vithoba
• Eknath
• Backward-caste Hindu Saints

Bibliography

• J.R.Puri, and V.K.Sethi, Saint Namdev (Punjab: Radha Soami Satsang Beas, 1975)
• M.A.Karandikar, Saint Namdev (New Delhi: Maharashtra Information Centre, 1985)
• Nirmal Dass (trans & intro), Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000) ISBN 0-7914-4683-2

Official Website of Namdeo Shimpi Samaj

• Saint Namdeo & about his Community

External links

• The Great Saint Nama Deva
• The wandering minstrel article by French scholar Guy Deleury

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