A mahant (English pronunciation: /məˈhʌnt/) is a religious superior, in particular the chief priest of a temple or the head of a monastery. The Hindi word mahant is from Prakrit mahanta-, from Sanskrit mahat "great". The priest, pundit, gyani, or pastor of any well-known religious place would be a mahant. In Swaminarayan Hinduism, the mahant is an ascetic who is the head and leader of the temple and has religious responsibilities as a preacher.

Shastriji Maharaj (Gujarati: શાસ્ત્રીજી મહારાજ) (31 January 1865 – 10 May 1951), born Dungar Patel and ordained Shastri Yagnapurushdas, was the third spiritual successor of Swaminarayan in the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. Born in a family of farmers in central Gujarat, India, he became a sadhu within the Vadtal diocese of the Swaminarayan Sampraday at the age of 17 where he was given the name Yagnapurushdas Swami. The prefix Shastri was later added in recognition of his eminent scholarship in Sanskrit and the Hindu scriptures. He established and nurtured a nascent BAPS after a doctrinal split from the Vadtal diocese of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya.

Shastriji Maharaj is credited with establishing BAPS on 5 June 1907 CE in Bochasan, Gujarat to propagate the Akshar-Purushottam Upasana (philosophy), which, he explained, had been revealed by Swaminarayan. A staunch proponent of this philosophy, he consecrated the sacred images of Swaminarayan (as a manifestation of Purushottam) and Gunatitanand Swami (as a manifestation of Akshar) in the central shrines of major mandirs in the towns of Bochasan, Sarangpur, Atladra, Gondal and Gadhada in Gujarat, India.

Vaishnavi or Vaishnavi Mahant is an Indian actress who is best known for playing Geeta Vishwas in Mukesh Khanna's television series Shaktiman telecasted on Doordarshan. She also acted in various Bollywood films such as Bambai Ka Babu opposite Saif Ali Khan, Laadla, and Baabul.

Vaishvani was born in Madhya Pradesh, India. Her father is a Vaishnav Brahmin (the reason she took the screen name Vaishnavi), while her mother is Christian. As a child she moved to Hyderabad where she decided to become a scientist. However, while vacationing in Mumbai she had the opportunity to appear in the Ramsay Brothers' horror film Veerana and decided to pursue acting as a profession. She subsequently appeared in Barsaat Ki Raat, Bambai Ka Babu, Ladlaa,Daanveer and oru mutham mani mutham(1997 malayalam film with actor mukesh). In 1998 she replaced Kitu Gidwani as the main female lead in the superhero series Shaktiman on Doordarshan. When her journalist character Geeta Vishwas was written out of the series fan protests prompted the producers to bring her back.