Tukaram
Jagatguru Sant Tukaram
Born	1608 Dehu, near Pune, India
Died	c. 1650 indrayani, Maharashtra
Titles/honours	Sant in Marathi, meaning "Saint"
Sect associated	Varkari
Literary works	Abhanga devotional poetry

Sant Tukaram (1608–1650) was a prominent Varkari Sant (Saint) and spiritual poet during a Bhakti movement in India.

Sant Tukaram^[1] was born and lived most of his life in Dehu, a town close to Pune in Mahārāshtra, India. Kumar,^[2] Munshi, ^[3] Kincaid and Parasanisa,^[4] consider him to be of the Vani or grocer caste. In accordance with an ancient Indian tradition, Tukaram's family name is rarely used in identifying him. His real name is Tukaram Vhilhoba Aambe. Rather, in accord with another tradition in India of assigning the epithet "sant" (संत) to persons regarded as thoroughly saintly, Tukaram is commonly known in Maharashtra as Sant Tukaram (संत तुकाराम). He is known as Bhakta Tukaram to southern Indian people.

Scholars assign various birth years to Sant Tukaram: 1577, 1598, 1608 and 1609 CE. The year of Sant Tukaram's death —1650 CE— is much more certain.^[5]

Sant Tukaram's first wife, Rakhumābāi, died in 1602 in her early youth. Sant Tukaram and his second wife, Jijābāi (also known as Āvali), had three sons: Santu or Mahādev, Vithobā, and Nārāyan.

Dilip Purushottam Chitre, a well known Marathi Scholar, identifies Tukaram as the first modern poet of Marathi. Chitre believes that Tukaram was the second saint after Sant Dnyaneshwar who denied caste hierarchy in Hindu religion and attacked rituals present in Hindu Dharma.

Spiritual life and poetry[link]

Tukaram leaves for Vaikuntha, abode of Vishnu.

Sant Tukaram was a devotee of god Vitthala or Vithoba, a form of Krishna.

Sant Tukaram is considered to be the climactic point of the Bhagabata Hindu tradition, which is thought to have begun in Maharashtra with Namdev. Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath, and Tukaram are revered especially in the Varkari (वारकरी) sect in Maharashtra. Most information about the lives of the above saints of Maharashtra comes from the works Bhakti-Wijay and Bhakti-Leelāmrut of Mahipati. Mahipati was born 65 years after the death of Tukaram, (Tukaram having died 50 years, 300 years, and 353 years after the deaths of Ekanath, Namdev, and Dnyaneshwar, respectively.) Thus, Mahipati undoubtedly based his life sketches of all the above "sants" primarily on hearsays.

Namdev as Guru[link]

Saint Tukarm accepted Sant Namdev as his Guru. One of his abhanga is proof for this.[नामदेवे केले स्वप्नामाजी जागे....सवे पांडुरंगे येवूनिया.] Namdev gave knowledge, who came along with Lord Vitthal in Dream of Tukaram. Sant Tukaram has also mentioned in one of his abhanga that his sadguru's name is 'Babaji Chaitanya'. [बाबाजी चैतन्य सांगितले नाम, मंत्र दिला राम कृष्ण हरी]

In films[link]

Sant Tukaram was also the subject of a biopic, title Sant Tukaram, made in 1936 by V. Damle and S. Fattelal of the Prabhat Film Company, starring Vishnupant Pagnis as the lead, and released on December 12, 1936 at the Central Cinema in Mumbai. The film was a big hit, and broke all previous records by running continuously for 57 weeks.^[6] It also had won an award at the 5th Venice International Film Festival in 1937, and still remains a part of film appreciation courses.^[7][8][9] It is preserved at the National Film Archive of India.^[6]

The story of Tukaram was also made in Telugu as Bhakta Tukaram in 1973 by Anjali Pictures. Akkineni Nageswara Rao played the title role with great devotion.^[10]

Dr. Raj Kumar played the role of 'Santa Tukarama' in the Kannada language.

Book[link]

Renowned Indian author, poet, sculptor and painter Dilip Chitre (18 September 1938 - 10 December 2009) has translated writings of Sant Tukaram into English in the book titled Says Tuka for which he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1994. Says Tuka was later translated into other languages.^[11]

See also[link]

• Hindu reform movements
• Sant Mat

Further reading[link]

• Fraser, James Nelson; Rev. Edward Cullen (1922). The Life and Teaching of Tukārām. The Christian Literature Society for India, Madras. http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924023185857#page/n5/mode/2up. 

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ayyappapanicker, K.; Akademi, Sahitya (1997). Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 81-260-0365-0. 
• Starr, Chester G. (1991). A history of the ancient world. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506629-4. 
• Ranade, Ramchandra D. (1994). Tukaram. New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-2092-2. 
• Multiple Essays on Sant Tukaram and his work in books of M. V. Dhond
• "Shakti Saushthava शक्ती सौष्ठव" by D. G. Godse
• "Vinoba Saraswat" by Vinoba Bhave (edited by Ram Shewalkar)
• "Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar Nivadak Lekhsangrah" by T S Shejwalkar (collection- H V Mote, Introduction- G D Khanolkar)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tukaram

• Tukaram Online
• Tukaram Gatha in Marathi
• Abhang of Tukaram Maharaj
• Samadhi of Sant Tukaram

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Ramesh Hiraman Wanjale (Marathi: रमेश हिरामण वांजळे) (November 12, 1965 – June 10, 2011) was a Maharashtra politician. He was fondly known as the “gold man” in the Pune district because of his habit of sporting gold jewellery. Wanjale entered politics as a sarpanch of Ahire village and went on to become an MLA in 2009 representing the Khadakwasla constituency. Before joining the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, he was with the Congress and served as Deputy Chairman of the Haveli Panchayat Committee. He is survived by his wife, Harshada Wanjale who is also active in politics and is member of Pune Zilla Parishad and three children. He was the only MNS MLA from Pune.

External links[link]

• [1] महाराष्ट्र टाइम्स June 11, 2011
• [2] DNA June 11, 2011
• [3] The Hindu June 12, 2011

Jitendra Joshi was the first mayor of Ahmedabad. Jitendra Joshi was born on March 12, 1866 at Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation was founded by Britishers in 1902. He was elected as the first mayor of Ahmedabad for a term of four years in 1903. He died on July 4, 1940.^[1][2]

References[link]

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Radhika Apte
Born	Radhika Apte (1985-09-07) September 7, 1985 (age 26)
Occupation	actress
Years active	2005–present

Radhika Apte is an Indian film and stage actress.

Early life[link]

Apte was born on September 7, 1985 in Pune. She is an Economics graduate from Fergusson College, Pune. She is associated with Mohit Takalkar’s theatre troupe Aasakta in her hometown.

Career[link]

Actor Rahul Bose, who had seen her perform in Anahita Oberoi’s play Bombay Black, suggested her name to director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury who cast her in Antaheen along with Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose. She played the role of Brinda Roy Menon, a TV journalist, in Antaheen.^[1]

She has also done Marathi plays like Tu, Purnaviram, Matra Ratra, Kanyadaan^[2] and Samuel Beckett’s That Time with Rehan Engineer.

In Darmiyan,^[3] a short film, she played a college girl Ekta. Apte appeared as Savitri, a village girl in KBC productions'^[4] Marathi film Gho Mala Asla Hava. She appeared in a significant role in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakhtcharitra and it's sequel. She also appeared in Shor in the City under Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Films banner. She was also seen in Maneej Premnath’s thriller The Waiting Room.^[5] Apte will also star in Akash Khurana’s Life on Life, about a bunch of youngsters working in a BPO and Amol Palekar’s Marathi film, Samaantar.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Radhika Apte at the Internet Movie Database

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]

This section reads like a news release, or is otherwise written in an overly promotional tone. Please help by either rewriting this article from a neutral point of view or by moving this article to Wikinews. When appropriate, blatant advertising may be marked for speedy deletion with {{db-spam}}. (January 2011)

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)