Sant Gadge Baba Information

 

Sant Gadge Baba

Early Life

Sant Gadge Baba was born on 23rd February, 1876, in the district. Born at Amravati, Shendgaon. His full name is Debuji Zingaraji Janorkar, his mother's name is Sakhubai. For public awareness, he spent his life chanting and wandering around the countryside. He always wore a blanket and a clay pot , broom in his hand. Therefore, he was nicknamed 'Godhadibaba' or 'Gadgebaba' by the people and became famous by that name. 

Sant Gadge Baba

       He was from the Parit community. The Civilization was extremely backward at 

Time . His father was a hardworking farmer. suffered a lung disease, which caused him to lose his home, land, and money. In 1884, he went dead. His mother then experienced a major setback. Later she took Debuji (Gadge Baba) and came to Dapura village in Murtijapur taluka at her Father's House.

 Debuji(Gadge Baba) grew up in the house of grandfather (Hambirrao) and uncle (Chandrabhanji). He used to get up every morning to clean the cow and buffalo herd.

                 Gadge baba was Born in the Parit community. Gadge Baba got married to Kuntabai in 1892, he was not educated but Gadge Maharaj is a well-known Marathi social reformer. He was aware of the public's difficulties and worked to help the poor and needy. he saw that the society around him was drowning in ignorance, superstition and addiction . He felt bad, so he decided to create awareness through kirtan for the salvation of the society. 

Social Work

He devoted his entire life to eradicating ignorance, blind faith, naïve assumptions, and inappropriate traditions from society. 

He noticed that the society around him was immersed in superstition, ignorance, and addiction. He felt sad, hence he decided to raise awareness through kirtan for the sake of society's salvation.  During his Kirtan, he would question the audience to make them aware of their ignorance, undesirable characteristics, and behavioral habits. His advice was simple and straightforward. He served a sweet lunch to the protesters instead of a non-vegetarian meal after the birth of his daughter. It was a huge retaliation at the time. Gadge Baba is a person who wanders around in short slippers, a little gadge (small clay pot) on his head, and rags on his body.

In his Kirtanas, he covered simple lessons like don't steal, don't take loans from moneylenders, don't become addicts, don't butcher animals in the name of god and religion, and don't follow caste discrimination and social quarantining . sometime he asked tough questions to the listeners. He went to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka and helped the people. He attempted to instil in the common man's mind the belief that God resides in human people rather than a stone idol. He looked up to Saint Tukaram Maharaj, whom he saw as his Guru. Simultaneously, he would assert that he was not a Guru to anyone and that he had no students. He would employ everyday language, particularly the Vidharba language to communicate his message to the common man.

                  During the anti-Dowry movement, he decided to get married on "Zhunka Bhakri" without getting out of debt and explained that he should not bring poverty in the house.

One day while the kirtans was going on, the postman brought an emergency letter and Baba was engrossed in the kirtan …but that letter was the death knell for their son. The postman shouted, "Baba, your Govinda is dead!"  Baba heard these words, Baba became silent for a moment!  Then, he continued his Kirtan , He was not living for himself.  He was  showing everyone the way to a stable state. Dr. B R Ambedkar had a big impact on Gadge Baba. This was due to the fact that Dr. Ambedkar was using politics to carry out the same social reform work that he was undertaking by preaching to the people through his "kirtan." . Donations began to stream in from all across the world. This was used for operations involving construction. He created a Dharamshalas for Untouchables in Pandharpur, Nasik, Pune, Alandi, and Dehu after realising their situation. He created a cattle house facility in many villages to reduce animal slaughter. He established food donation facilities for the needy and disabled. He constructed dwellings for the older who had nowhere to live. He also sought to improve the lives of persons who had leprosy. .

               In Indian history, Gadge Maharaj became a Great saint. He erected many Dharamshalas, Cattle Houses, Vidyalayas, Clinics, and Hostels in Maharashtra. He built all of these structures with donations, but he did not construct a house for himself.

Sant Gadge Baba spent his entire life in social reform. 

Read Bal Gangadhar Tilak

It is stated that Saint Dnyandev created the foundation for Maharashtra's saint Tradition, and Saint Tukaram lay the last brick. With his lifetime achievements, Saint Gadgebaba raised the Karmayog flag (an ascetic who demonstrated the road to God through social service) on this foundation in the twentieth century. 

He passed away on December 20, 1956 in Amravati while performing kirtan with Warakaris. Amravati University is Known as Sant Gadge Baba University In his honour, the Indian Government launched the ‘Sant Gadgebaba Swachta Abhiyan' . This programme rewards residents who keep their villages clean.