Samarth Ramdas
Samarth Ramdas
Born	1608 Jamb, Jalna District, Maharashtra, India
Died	1681 Sajjangad
Birth name	Narayan Thosar
Titles/honours	Sant in Marathi, meaning "Saint"
Literary works	Shri Manāche Shlok, Shrimat Dasbodh

Ramdas (Marathi: समर्थ रामदास, Rāmdās) (1608–1681) was a prominent Marathi saint and religious poet in the Hindu tradition in Maharashtra, India.^[1] Samarth Ramdas was a devotee of Lord Hanuman and Lord Rama. His birth name was Narayan Suryajipant Kulkarni Thosar.

Early life[link]

Ramdas Swami was born in a Deshastha Rugvedi Bramhan family to Suryāji and Rānu-Bāi Thosar in Jāmb in Jalna District of Maharashtra on Ram Navami (the birth festival of Lord Ram), 1530 according to "Shāliwāhan Shak" calendar. His given name was Nārāyan.

As a child, Ramdas showed an inclination toward metaphysical contemplation and religion. When Ramdas was eight, his father died; and when he was 18, his mother arranged his marriage. However, he wanted to pursue a monastic life. He ran away in the middle of the wedding ceremony, before the marriage vows were exchanged.

During the Hindu marriage ceremony, the last word which seals the marriage is "Saavdhan" meaning, 'be careful'. Swami Ramdas interpreted that word to mean that he had to be careful not to get entangled in the bonds of Maya, and must seek Self realization.

Residences[link]

Ramdas moved around quite a lot, and in the process, used several Ghal (Marathi: घळ), which are small caves used for meditation. The famous ones include: ^[2]

• Ramghal, on Sajjangad
• Morghal, at Morbag village near Sajjangad
• Tondoshi Ghal, North of Chaphal
• TaakLi, near Nashik
• Chandragiri, opposite Vasantgad, near Karad
• Helwak, near Helwak village
• Shiganwadi, near Chandragiri
• Shivthar Ghal, near Mahad

Spiritual Development[link]

Hanuman

For the next twelve years, Ramdas devoted himself to studying Hindu religious books, to meditation, and to prayers in a place named Panchavati, near Nashik on the banks of the Godavari River. At age 24 he took the name "Ramdas", meaning "servant of Lord Ram," an incarnation of God.

Ramdas practised physical yoga exercises as well as meditation. The Surya Namaskara or Sun Salutation was his favourite as it involves every part of the body. It is said that he would do 1,200 Sun Salutations every day, believing that no spirituality could be attained if the physical body was not strong.

In addition to his veneration of Ram, Ramdas worshipped Ram's divinely strong servant Lord Hanuman. He established 11 temples of Hanuman in Maharashtra and promoted physical exercise to develop a healthy society.

Writings[link]

Ramdas Swami was a gifted composer. He produced considerable literature in verse form in Marathi. Among his works, two compositions particularly stand out: A small book of meditations, Shri Manāche Shlok, advises ethical behaviour and love for God, and a large volume, Dasbodh, provides advice on both spiritual and practical topics. Apart from Dasbodh, Ramdas also wrote the Shri Māruti Stotra, a poem in praise of Hanuman, the AatmaaRaam, 11-Laghu Kavita and Raamayan (Marathi-Teeka).

His most popular composition is the Marathi song/prayer to Lord Ganesh Sukhkartā Dukhhartā Vārtā Vighnāchi. He also composed several other prayers such as Satrane Uddane Hunkaar Vadani to Lord Hanuman and Panchanan haivahan surabhushan lila to Lord Khandoba.

Disciples[link]

Samarth Ramdas had many disciples.Kalyan Swami worked as a writer for Ramdas, recording his songs and prayers. Ramdas tested him in many ways before giving him this responsible position. Other noteworthy disciples included

• Kalyan Swami
• Udhhaw Swami
• Vena Swami
• Akka Bai
• Bhim Swami
• Diwakar Swami
• Dinkar Swami

He is considered as the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It is said that Shivaji Maharaj requested Shri Ramdas swami to move his residence to a fort named Parali & establish his permanent monastery there. The fort was subsequently renamed Sajjangad (सज्जनगड) - Fort of the sacred.^[3]

In the 20th century, Nana Dharmadhikari undertook to spread the philosophy of Samarth Ramdas.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• "Shakti Saushthava शक्ती सौष्ठव" by D. G. Godse
• "Vinoba Saraswat" by Vinoba Bhave (edited by Ram Shewalkar)
• "Rajwade Lekhsangrah" by Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade (edited by Tarkatirth Laxmanshastri Joshi)
• "Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar Nivadak Lekhsangrah" by T S Shejwalkar (collection- H V Mote, Introduction- G D Khanolkar)

External links[link]

• • दासबोध
• www.samarthramdas400.in
• santvenaswami.com
• www.sadgurubhagwanshreedharswamimaharaj.com
• [1]
• मराठीचे मानदंड स्वामी समर्थ रामदास महाराज
• स्वामी
• दासबोध
• 'आठवणीतली गाणी.कॉम' या संकेतस्थळावर समर्थ रामदास यांचे अभंग
• Speech given by Dr. Shivajirao Bhosale on Samartha Ramdas in Marathi
• Letter of Ramdas Swami to Shivaji Maharaj

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ( pronunciation (help·info)); February 4, 1922 – January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana (school), he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He was the most recent recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008.^[1]

Early life[link]

Joshi was born into a Kannadiga family in the town of Ron, which was then in Dharwar, District in northern Karnataka state of India.^[2][3] His father, Gururaj Joshi, was a school teacher. Bhimsen was the eldest in a family of 16 siblings. Some of the siblings still live in their ancestral home in Gadag.^[4] Bhimsen lost his mother when he was young, and his step mother then raised him. His parents lived initially with his grandfather as tenants of a Kulkarni household, but then moved to Gadag (now a district headquarter).

As a child, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's craving for music was evident to his family as he managed to lay his hands on a 'tanpura' used by his 'Kirtankar' grandfather, which had been kept away from his gaze at home. Music had such a magnetic pull over him that a 'bhajan singing' procession or just 'azaan' from a nearby mosque was said to draw him out of house.^[5]

Musical training[link]

Joshi got his first basic foundation in music from Chinnappa, a local musician who was a family washerman in profession. [1] The one and only unique vigorous style of rendering he developed along with advanced trainings by other teachers is attributed to the basic training he received. Until the first half of the 20th century, khyal was principally taught in the Guru Shishya (master-disciple) tradition. Bhimsen's guru Sawai Gandharva was the chief disciple of Abdul Karim Khan, who along with his cousin Abdul Wahid Khan was the founder of the Kirana Gharana school of Hindustani music.

Search for a guru[link]

Joshi heard a recording of Abdul Karim Khan's Thumri "Piya Bin Nahi Aavat Chain" in Raga Jhinjhoti when he was a child, which inspired him to become a musician. In 1933, the 11-year-old Joshi left Dharwad for Bijapur to find a master and learn music.^[3] With the help of money lent by his co-passengers in the train Bhimsen reached Dharwad first and later went to Pune. Later he moved to Gwalior and got into Madhava Music School, a school run by Maharajas of Gwalior, with the help of famous sarod player Hafiz Ali Khan. He traveled for three years around North India, including in Delhi, Kolkata, Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur, trying to find a good guru.^[6] Eventually, his father succeeded in tracking him down in Jalandar and brought young Bhimsen back home.

Sawai Gandharva[link]

In 1936, Rambhau Kundgolkar (alias Sawai Gandharva), a native of Dharwad, agreed to be his guru. Bhimsen Joshi stayed at his house in the traditional guru-shishya (teacher-student) tradition, gleaning knowledge of music from his master as and when he could, while performing odd-jobs in his house. Another renowned vocalist from the Kirana Gharana, Gangubai Hangal, was a co-student of Bhimsen during this time. Joshi continued his training with Sawai Gandharva till 1940.

Career[link]

Joshi first performed live in 1941 at the age 19. His debut album, containing a few devotional songs in Kannada and Hindi, was released by HMV the next year in 1942. Later Joshi moved to Mumbai in 1943 and worked as a radio artist. His performance at a concert in 1946 to celebrate his guru Sawai Gandharva's 60th birthday won him accolades both from the audience and his guru.^[7]

Hindustani classical music[link]

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Bhimsen Joshi's music was hailed by both the critics and the masses. His performances were said to have been marked by spontaneity, accurate notes, dizzyingly-paced taans which make use of his exceptional voice training, and a mastery over rhythm. The Hindu, in an article written after he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, said: Bhimsen Joshi was ever the wanderer, engendering brilliant phrases and tans more intuitively than through deliberation.^[8] Joshi occasionally employed the use of sargam and tihaais, and often sang traditional compositions of the Kirana gharana. His music often injected surprising and sudden turns of phrase, for example through the unexpected use of boltaans. Over the years, his repertoire tended to favor a relatively small number of complex and serious ragas; however, he remained one of the most prolific exponents of Hindustani classical music. Some of Joshi's more popular ragas include Shuddha Kalyan, Miyan Ki Todi, Puriya Dhanashri, Multani, Bhimpalasi, Darbari, and Ramkali. He was considered a purist and has not dabbled in experimental forms of music, except for a well-known series of Jugalbandi recordings with the Carnatic signer M. Balamuralikrishna.

Apart from stalwarts of the Kirana Gharana, Bhimsen Joshi's singing was thought to have been influenced by many musicians, including Smt. Kesarbai Kerkar, Begum Akhtar and Ustad Amir Khan. Joshi assimilated into his own singing various elements that he liked in different musical styles and Gharanas.

Devotional music[link]

In devotional music, Joshi was most acclaimed for his Kannada, Hindi and Marathi Bhajan singing. His commercially successful CDs Daaswani and Enna Paliso included Kannada Bhajans, and Santawani included Marathi Abhangs.

Patriotic music[link]

Bhimsen Joshi was widely recognized in India due to his performance in the Mile Sur Mera Tumhara music video (1985), which begins with him. The video was created for the purpose of national integration in India, and highlights the diversity of Indian culture. Bhimsen Joshi was also a part of Jana Gana Mana produced by A. R. Rahman on the occasion of 50th year of Indian Republic.

Playback singing[link]

Joshi sang for several films, including Basant Bahar (1956) with Manna Dey, Birbal My Brother (1973) with Pandit Jasraj, and Kannada films like Sandhya Raaga and Nodi Swami Naavu Irodhu Heege. He also sang for the films Tansen (1958) and Ankahee (1985) where latter fetched him National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.^[9]

Sawai Gandharva Music Festival[link]

Joshi organized the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival as an homage to his guru, Sawai Gandharva, along with the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal in 1953, marking Gandharva's first death anniversary. The festival has been held ever since, typically on the second weekend of December in Pune, Maharashtra and has become not only a cultural event for the city, but an annual pilgrimage for Hindustani Classical Music lovers all over the world. Joshi conducted the festival annually since 1953, until his retirement in 2002.

Students[link]

Joshi taught many students, several of whom have gone onto commercial success.

• Madhava Gudi
• Shripati Padegar
• Shrikant Deshpande
• Pandit Vinayak Torvi
• Rajendra Dixit
• Shrinivas Joshi, Joshi's son.
• Ashutosh Bharadwaj
• Anand Bhate
• Pandit Upendra Bhat

Legacy[link]

Bhimsen Joshi was known for his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals, representing a subtle fusion of intelligence and passion that imparted life and excitement to his music.^[5] A classicist by training, and temperament, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was renowned for having evolved an approach that sought to achieve a balance between what may be termed as "traditional values and mass-culture tastes" and as such he went on to have supposedly the largest commercially recorded repertoire in Hindustani vocal music. Pt. Joshi's iconic status in the music world has earned him a whole generation of suni shagirds who by merely listening to him have picked up his style and not through any formal tutelage. His greatest endeavour in perpetuating his legacy could be the Sawai Gandharva Festival held at Pune. annually since the year 1953 which seeks to promote a certain music culture.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Bhimsen Joshi was well known to have a passion for cars. He was known to be an expert swimmer, a keen enthusiast of yoga and a football player in his younger days. He had acknowledged his weakness for alcohol but left it in 1979 after it started affecting his career.^[5]

Illness and death[link]

Joshi was admitted to Sahyadri Super Speciality Hospital on December 31, 2010 with gastrointestinal bleeding and bilateral pneumonia. Due to difficulty in breathing, he was put on ventilator support. He suffered convulsions and was put on dialysis too during his stay in hospital. Though he recovered briefly for three days when he was taken off the ventilator, his condition deteriorated thereafter. He died on 24 January 2011 at 08:00 am (IST), 11 days before his 89th birthday.^[10] He was cremated at Vaikunth Crematorium in Pune with full state honors.^[11]

Awards and recognitions[link]

• 1972 - Padma Shree^[12]
• 1976 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award^[12]
• 1985 - Padma Bhushan^[12]
• 1985 - National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1986 - "First platinum disc"^[13]
• 1999 - Padma Vibhushan^[12]
• 2000 - "Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Puraskar"^[14]
• 2001 - "Nadoja Award" from Kannada University^[15]
• 2002 - Maharashtra Bhushan^[16]
• 2003 - "Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram" by Government of Kerala^[17]
• 2005 - Karnataka Ratna^[12]
• 2008 - Bharat Ratna^[12]
• 2008 - "Swami Haridas Award"^[18]
• 2009 - "Lifetime achievement award" by Delhi government^[19]
• 2010 - "S V Narayanaswamy Rao National Award" by Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Nadkarni, Mohan (1983). Bhimsen Joshi: the man and his music. Prism Communications. 
• Nadkarni, Mohan (1994). Bhimsen Joshi: a biography. Indus, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7223-126-1. 
• Majumdar, Abhik (2004). Bhimsen Joshi: A Passion for Music. Rupa & Co. ISBN 81-291-0354-0. 

External links[link]

• Bhimsen Joshi
• Bhimsen Joshi Picture Album
• Bhimsen Joshi: List of Classical Vocal Recordings
• A Films division documentary on Bhimsen Joshi

v t e Bharat Ratna laureates Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) C. Rajagopalachari (1954) C. V. Raman (1954) Bhagwan Das (1955) Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya (1955) Jawaharlal Nehru (1955) Govind Ballabh Pant (1957) Dhondo Keshav Karve (1958) Bidhan Chandra Roy (1961) Purushottam Das Tandon (1961) Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1962) Dr. Zakir Hussain (1963) Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963) Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) Indira Gandhi (1971) V. V. Giri (1975) K. Kamaraj (1976) Mother Teresa (1980) Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) M. G. Ramachandran (1988) B. R. Ambedkar (1990) Nelson Mandela (1990) Rajiv Gandhi (1991) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1991) Morarji Desai (1991) Abul Kalam Azad (1992) J. R. D. Tata (1992) Satyajit Ray (1992) A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1997) Gulzarilal Nanda (1997) Aruna Asaf Ali (1997) M. S. Subbulakshmi (1998) Chidambaram Subramaniam (1998) Jayaprakash Narayan (1998) Ravi Shankar (1999) Amartya Sen (1999) Gopinath Bordoloi (1999) Lata Mangeshkar (2001) Bismillah Khan (2001) Bhimsen Joshi (2008)