"This book analyses and evaluates the mystical trends observable in the writings of mystics in Medieval India with particular emphasis on the mystics of Maharashtra. We get a fair idea of the spiritual heaven introduced into Indian thought by the writers such as Ramananda, Kabir, Gauranga, Jnanesvara, Namadeva, Ekanatha, Tukarama, Ramadasa and others. The list exhausts all types of mysticism that are known to exist. The book is rather a study of comparative mysticism and it draws striking parallelism between the mystics of Maharashtra and the Western mystics like Plotinus, Eckhart, Dante and others."
Mysticism in India is a complete and informative description of the teachings, works, and lives of the great poet-saints of Maharashtra written by a scholar and professor who was also a mystic. Jnaneshwar, Namadev, Tukaram, Eknath, Ramdas, and the other saints discussed belonged to the great devotional religious movement that spread through medieval India. With the exception of Ramdas, they all belonged to the tradition of the Varkaris, the most popular sect in contemporary Maharashtra. Their compositions exemplify the universality of their faith and practice, and are recognized as literary treasures. Ranade was primarily interested in the poet-saints as mystics--teachers of the perennial philosophy--whose experiences have general metaphysical and religious implications. At the heart of his classic is a comprehensive, objective presentation of the thought of these saints, augmented by a deep appreciation of their value and relevance to present-day scholars and seekers. Mysticism in India is the only major study in English of medieval Indian religious literature. The book's enduring value has been enhanced by the addition of a foreword by a scholar currently working in Marathi literature, and a preface by a present-day poet-saint of Maharashtra.
Presents the multi-faceted Hindu deity Dattatreya from his Puranic emergence to modern times. This book presents the multi-faceted Hindu deity Dattatreya from his Puranic emergence up to modern times. Dattatreya's Brahmanical portrayal, as well as his even more archaic characterization as a Tantric antinomian figure, combines both Vaisnava Saiva motifs. Over the course of time, Dattatreya has come to embody the roles of the immortal guru, yogin and avatara in a paradigmatic manner. From the sixteenth century Dattatreya's glorious characterization emerged as the incarnation of the trimurti of Brahma, Visnu, and Siva. Although Maharastra is the heartland of Dattatreya devotion, his presence is attested to throughout India and extends beyond the boundaries of Hinduism, being met with in Sufi circles and even in Buddhism and Jainism via Nathism. The scarce attention which most Western scholars of Indian religions have paid to this deity contrasts with its ubiquitousness and social permeability. Devotion to Dattatreya cuts through all social and religious strata of Indian society: among his adepts we find yogis, Brahmans, faqirs, Devi worshippers, untouchables, thieves, and prostitutes. This book explores all primary religious dimensions: myth, doctrine, ritual, philosophy, mysticism, and iconography. The comprehensive result offers a rich fresco of Hindu religion as well as an understanding of Marathi integrative spirituality: precisely this complexity of themes constitutes Dattatreya's uniqueness. "I learned a great deal from this book. Although I had known about Dattatreya as an important figure in Hinduism, I had never realized the richness and complexity of this truly Protean deity. As Rigopoulos notes, Dattatreya has been largely neglected by scholars, and this book makes you wonder why, since he is so intriguing. I suspect that this will become a classic in its area, since there really is no comparable work which does so much relating to Dattatreya. In a way, to read the history of Dattatreya as presented by Rigopoulos is to engage the history of Hinduism! Virtually all of the major historical phases and issues are there, from the Vedic period up to the last decade." -- Glen Hayes, Bloomfield College
This Volume, the second part, on the Devotional Poets and Mystics, offers another fourteen of them; five from the Hindi speaking areas; three from western India (Gujarat and Maharashtra), one from the east (Bengal), a group of saints, the Hari-dasas of Karnataka; two from Tamil Nadu and one each from Sindh and Andhra Pradesh. The book is edited by Dr. V. Raghavan, an eminent Sanskrit scholar and Indologist.
The Present work is devoted to the philosophical teachings of Jnanadeva the well-known 13h century saint and genius of Maharashtra in whom we find a rare combination of poetry, philosophy and deep religious experience. The author has based his work mainly on Jnanadeva`s Amrtanabhava, but he has also taken into consideration other works of Jnanadeva. He gives a clear and lucid exposition of Jnanadeva's theory of Chidvilasa, which is approached by him through an acute criticism of the theory of Avidya. He also shows how Jnanadeva's philosophy culminates in his conception of natural devotion and forms a firm foundation of the Bhakti-cult in Maharashtra. The views of Jnanadeva are also compared with those of Eastern and Western thinkers. This is the first attempt to present in English the Philosophy of Jnanadeva in a systematic form and to convey a clear vision of his lofty and integral idealism.
Mokashi is a Marathi novelist of the post-independence generation of "Realists." This is a vivid account of his day-by-day experience on the Warkari pilgrimage from Alandi to Pandharpur on foot. Pilgrimage is one of the most visible and pervasive features of Hinduism. Every year the Warkaris carry palanquins, called palkhis, bearing sandals representing the feet of their saints from various towns to Pandharpur in Maharashtra--to the Temple of Vitoba. Mokashi accompanied the oldest and most revered of the palanquin processions, the palkhi of Jnaneshwar Maharaj, on its two-week journey. His account is the only sustained view of the pilgrimage in any language.
