Sant Dnyāneshwar (or Sant Jñāneshwar) (Marathi: संत ज्ञानेश्वर) (1275–1296) is also known as Jñanadeva (Marathi: ज्ञानदेव).

He was a 13th century Maharashtrian Hindu saint (Sant - a title by which he is often referred), poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath tradition whose works Bhavartha Deepika (a commentary on Bhagavad Gita, popularly known as "Dnyaneshwari"), and Amrutanubhav are considered to be milestones in Marathi literature.

According to Nath tradition Sant Dnyaneshwar [1] was the second of the four children of Vitthal Govind Kulkarni and Rukmini, a pious couple from Apegaon near Paithan on the banks of the river Godavari. Vitthal had studied Vedas and set out on pilgrimages at a young age. In Alandi, about 30 km from Pune, Sidhopant, a local Yajurveda brahmin, was very much impressed with him and Vitthal married his daughter Rukmini.

After some time, getting permission from Rukmini, Vitthal went to Kashi(Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India), where he met Ramananda Swami and requested to be initiated into sannyas, lying about his marriage. But Ramananda Swami later went to Alandi and, convinced that his student Vitthal was the husband of Rukmini, he returned to Kashi and ordered Vitthal to return home to his family. The couple was excommunicated from the brahmin caste as Vitthal had broken with sannyas, the last of the four ashrams. Four children were born to them; Nivrutti in 1273, Dnyandev (Dnyaneshwar) in 1275, Sopan in 1277 and daughter Mukta in 1279. According to some scholars their birth years are 1268, 1271, 1274, 1277 respectively. It is believed that later Vitthal and Rukmini ended their lives by jumping into the waters at Prayag where the river Ganges meets Yamuna hoping that their children would be accepted into the society after their death.

Lata Mangeshkar (born September 28, 1929) is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi. She is the elder sister of singer Asha Bhosle, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. She is the second vocalist to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. The claim was that she had recorded approximately 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974. Over the years, while several sources have supported this claim, others have raised concerns over its veracity, claiming that this number was highly exaggerated and that Mangeshkar's younger sister, Asha Bhosle, had more song recordings than she had. In 2011 Guinness officially acknowledged Bhosle as the most recorded artist in music history.

Shahu Modak (1918–1993) was an Indian actor who acted in many Hindi as well as Marathi movies. Shahu Modak was mostly famous for the mythological characters that he played. He mostly played the roles of Lord Krishna and Sant Dyaneshwar.

Shahu Modak was born in Ahmednagar in 1918. He was from a Marathi Christian family. He was a renowned astrologer as well, and it is said that he knew his day of judgment in advance. His wife is Pratibha Modak, who was earlier Jain sadhvi. When Shahu Modak had met her, he had predicted with his palmistry skills that one day she will leave her sainthood.

Shahu Modak died in 1993.

Shahu Modak acted in numerous films from 1932 to 1986. He played lord Krishna's character in around 30 movies. He also sang two songs for movie Bharat Milap.

The Rangat Sangat Pratishthan gives this award since 2001 to a senior artist who has been associated with Shahu Modak as an actor. This award is given at the hands of police commissioner since Shahu Modak played the role of a police in film Manoos. Baby Shakuntala, Asha Kale and Sulochana has been some of the recipients of this award.

Shri Sant Savata Mali - Hindu bhakti Saint born into the (Gardener) Mali community from 13th century, he was contemporary of Sant Namdeo. He was a great devotee of Lord Vitthal (Pandharpur), while working on his field he sang the glory of vithalla. Lord vitthal came to meet him in village Aran since he never able to go to Pandharpur like other devoter does. Only a Saint savata Mali was the devoter to whom lord Vitthal came to meet in his village. There is a temple of Shri Sant Savata Mali at Pabal (18°50′11″N 74°03′05″E / 18.83639°N 74.05139°E / 18.83639; 74.05139). history of village aran (There is a temple of saint Savata Mali, :Kanda mula bhaji avaghi Vithabai majhi"(Onions, radish, vegetables these are my Vithabai (Vitthal)) - said Savata Mali His character details can be found in Bhaktivijay by Mahipati. his grandfather Devu Mali belonged to Auseygaon of old Miraj province. He shifted to Arangaon/Aranbehndi, Near Mothinimb, Solapur district due to his financial conditions. He had two sons i.e. Parasu (Savata's father)and Dongre. Parasu married Nangitabai and lived in very poor conditions. They were great Bhagwat followers. Even after crossing middle age he had no child and wanted a one to inherit there clan. They had a son around ~1250 who is Savata Mali. Savata grew up in religious surroundings since childhood. He got married to Janabai, from a nearby village, who was also a real religious companion. Once he was so busy in his bhakti that didnot bothered about Janabai's parent side relatives who came to see him. Janabai turned angry at this behaviour but only to be cooled down by Savata's speech. Savata died in Hindu calender year Shaka 1217 on Ashad14th in Arangaon.