Sant Eknath
Sant Eknath
by
Rupa Abdi
For all those who equate organised religion to dharma and who, due to
their narrow mind set, are compelled to box pluralistic saints like Kabir and
Shirdi Sai baba into Hindu/Muslim categories, for them, Sant Eknath is an
enigma, an embarrassment. His Guru Swami Janardan, is claimed, by
some scholars, to be a Sufi Many of his bharuds (devotional songs) are in
Hindustani and can often be mistaken to be written by a Sufi. He spoke of
finding parallels in Hinduism and Islam, his followers belonged to different
castes and creeds and according to one legend he even led Muslim armies
on one occasion. Little wonder then that recent Marathi writers, have
tried to recast him as a saviour of Hinduism from Islam although available
literature proves something altogether different!!
The story of sant Eknath is a story of a scholarly Brahmin whose
compassion and wisdom allowed him to rise above caste distinction and
even engage Muslims in his spiritual dialogues.
Sant Eknath (1533-99 C.E.) was born to a Brahmin family in the holy city
of Paithan, known as the Benaras of Maharashtra, which stood on the
banks of Godavari. He was the grandson of Sant Bhanudas- a devout
Warkari sant who is credited with returning the idol of Vithobha from
Hampi to Pandharpur, its original home. It had been taken from
Pandharpur by Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar in 1951. Spiritually inclined
from a very early age, Sant Eknath was allowed by his guru, Swami
Janardhan to lead a life of a house holder. Sant Eknath carried forward the
tradition of social reform of Sant Gyaneshwar and Sant Namdev by
rejecting all distinctions of caste and creed and the relevance of ritual and
rites. For this he won many opponents among the high caste Hindus.
He composed numerous religious songs in Marathi called abhangs, owees
and bharuds. He wrote a commentary in Marathi on the Bhagvad Purana
known as Eknath Bhagwat and also began writing Rukimini Swayamvara
which, after his death, was later completed by one of his disciples. His
works brought the highest of religious truths and moral guidance to the
common people. He was a renowned kirtankaar giving birth to a unique
style of Marathi kirtan singing called Eknath kirtan. He collected all the
versions of Gyaneshwars Gyaneshwari and produced a critical edition of
it.
However his unusual contribution to Marathi Bhakti literature is his
empathy with the dalits. Out of the three hundred bharuds (drama poems)
that he has written, about fifty are from the perspective of a Dalit. In forty
seven of which the protagonist is a Mahar and in one a Mang is the central
character. Both these castes are considered among the lowest in
Maharshtra and elsewhere in India. These characters in Eknaths drama
poems, preach morality, the righteous path, the importance of a Guru and
how the Bhakti marg liberates us from the cycle of death and rebirth. He
mocks at the so-called learned Brahmins and fake gurus in the following
Bharud: