Mahipati

Mahipati (1715 - 1790) [1][2] was an 18th century Marathi language hagiographer who wrote biographies of prominent Hindu Vaishnava sants who had lived between the 13th and the 17th centuries in Maharashtra and other regions of India.[3][4]

Early life

Mahipati was born in a Marathi Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin family of Shakala Shakha and Vasishta gotra[5] to Dadopant Kamble who was the hereditary Kulkarni (record keeper) of Taharabad in present day Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Dadopant and his wife were devotees of Vithoba of Pandharpur.[6][7][8] After his father's death, he inherited the job of Kulkarni for Taharabad. He also worked for a local Mughal landlord. After falling out with his landlord, Mahipati devoted the rest of his life to performing Kirtans on lives of saints, collecting information on these saints and writing their hagiographies.[4]

Works

During his life, Mahipati played down his abilities, his hagiographies of the Varkari saints are considered to be the most authoritative.[3] Mahipati claimed Varkari sant Tukaram as the inspiration for his writings.[9] Although in early part of his literary career he relied on works by Nabha Dass and Uddhava Ciddhan for his biographies, he soon realized shortcomings in their accounts of the saints and started collecting information himself. Mahipati, at times, during his life wrote multiple biographies of the same saint. He included any new information he obtained about the saint in his newer biographies. He also believed that the lives of the revered saints can not be grasped in a single sweep. Callewaert et al , therefore call the later biographies as the "revised editions of the old books. [4] Mahipati wrote his biographies in the Ovi metre.[7] Christian Lee Novetzke considers Mahipati's work to be a kind of transcribed kirtan. Indeed during his life mahipati, per Novetzke, was known as a kirtankar (Kirtan performer) rather than a writer. [10]

Selected Works[7]
WorkChaptersNumber of OvisYear of Composition
Bhaktavijaya5799161762
Kathasaramrita (1765)1272001765
Santalilaamrit (1757)3552591757
Bhaktalilaamrit (1774)51107941774
Santavijayaश्26 (incomplete)46281796
Pandharimahatmya12--
Anantvratkatha-186-
dattatryeya janma-112-
tulasi Mahatmya5763-
Ganeshpuran4 (Incomplete)304-
Pandurang stotra-308-
Muktabharan vrat-101-
Rishpanchami vrat-142-
Apradh nivedan stotra-101-
Sphut abhang and stotre---

Legacy

  • An English translation of Bhaktavijaya, originally written by Mahipati around 1762,[3] was published under the provisions of the will of American Missionary, Justin E. Abbott in 1933.[11][4]
  • Mahipati's town of Tahrabad has declared as a pilgrimage site by the government of Maharashtra. A pilgrim guest house has been constructed in the town for Mahipati devotees.
  • The pilgrimage complex in tahrabad includes his house, a Vitthal temple and a memorial to Mahipati consisting of a Tulasi Vrindavan.
  • Mahipati used to perform the annual Pandharpur Wari during his lifetime. The tradition continues with his symbolic sandals taken to Pandharpur from Tahrabad by his followers.

References

Notes

    Citations

    1. ↑ Lutgendorf, Philip (2007). Hanuman's tale the messages of a divine monkey ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0195309225.
    2. ↑ Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The illustrated encyclopedia of Hinduism (1st. ed.). New York: Rosen. p. 409. ISBN 9780823931798.
    3. 1 2 3 Novetzke, Christian Lee (1969). Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India. New York Chichester: Columbia University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0231-14184-0.
    4. 1 2 3 4 Winand M. Callewaert; Rupert Snell (1994). According to Tradition: Hagiographical Writing in India. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 162–166. ISBN 978-3-447-03524-8.
    5. ↑ Justin Edwards Abbott; Narhar R. Godbole (1988). Stories of Indian Saints: Translation of Mahipati's Marathi Bhaktavijaya. Motilal Banarsidass Publications. p. xxxii. ISBN 9788120804692.
    6. ↑ Kincaid, C.A., 1919. Tales of the Saints of Pandharpur. Humphrey Milford, Bombay.
    7. 1 2 3 Appaji Kashinath Kher (1895). A Higher Anglo-Marathi Grammar Containing Accidence, Derivation, Syntax on a New Plan with the Analysis of Sentences ... pp. 451–.
    8. ↑ Justin Edwards Abbott; Narhar R. Godbole (1988). Stories of Indian Saints: Translation of Mahipati's Marathi Bhaktavijaya. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 40. ISBN 978-8120804692.
    9. ↑ Abbott, Justin E. (1933). Stories of Indian Saints: An English Translation of Mahipati's BhaktiVijaya , Volume 1. Motilal Banarasidass Publishers. pp. Chapter 9, 34–45. ISBN 8120804694.
    10. ↑ Christian Lee Novetzke (1 July 2008). Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India. Columbia University Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-231-51256-5.
    11. ↑ Abbott, Justin E. (1933). Stories of Indian Saints: An English Translation of Mahipati's BhaktiVijaya , Volume 1. Motilal Banarasidass Publishers. pp. Chapter 9, 34–45. ISBN 8120804694.


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