ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>N&#256MDEV (1270-1350)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="NMDEV,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279N&#256MDEV (1270-1350), saint of Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra who composed poetry of fervent devotion in Mar&#257&#7789h&#299 as well as in Hindi. His Hindi verse and his extended visit to the Punjab carried his fame far beyond the borders of Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra. Sixty-one of his hymns in fact came to be included in Sikh Scripture, the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. These hymns or <i>&#347abdas</i> share the common characteristic of lauding the One Supreme God distinct from his earlier verse which carries traces of idolatry and <i>sagu&#7751a bhakt&#299</i>. In the course of his spiritual quest, N&#257mdev had, from being a worshipper of the Divine in the concrete form, become a devotee of the attributeless (<i>nirgu&#7751a</i>) Absolute.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to the generally accepted version of the current traditions, N&#257mdev was born in AD 1270 to D&#257m&#257she&#7789i, a low-caste tailor, and his wife, Gon&#257b&#257&#299, in the village of Naras&#299-V&#257man&#299, in Sat&#257r&#257 district of Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra. Jan&#257b&#257&#299, the family's maidservant and a <i>bhakta</i> and poetess in her own right, records the tradition that N&#257mdev was born to Gon&#257b&#257&#299 as a result of her worship of Vi&#7789&#7789hala in Pa&#7751&#7693harpur. N&#257mdev was married before he was eleven years of age to R&#257j&#257b&#257&#299, daughter of Govindashe&#7789i Sad&#257varte. He had four sons and one daughter. Under the influence of saint Jñ&#257nadeva, N&#257mdev was converted to the path of <i>bhakt&#299</i>. Vi&#7789&#7789hala of Pa&#7751&#7693harpur was now the object of his devotion and he spent much of his time in worship and <i>k&#299rtan</i>, chanting mostly verses of his own composition. In. the company of Jñ&#257nadeva and other saints, he roamed about the country and later came to the Punjab where he is said to have lived for more than twenty years at Ghum&#257n , in Gurd&#257spur district, where a temple in the form of <i>sam&#257dh</i> still preserves his memory. This temple was constructed by Sard&#257r Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh R&#257mga&#7771h&#299&#257 and the tank by its side was got repaired by R&#257&#7751&#299 Sad&#257 Kaur, mother-in-law of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. In his early fifties, N&#257mdev settled down at Pa&#7751&#7693harpur where he gathered around himself a group of devotees. His <i>abha&#7749gas</i> or devotional lyrics became very popular, and people thronged to listen to his <i>k&#299rtan</i>. N&#257mdev's songs have been collected in <i>N&#257mdev&#257chi G&#257th&#257</i> which also includes the long autobiographical poem T&#299rath&#257val&#299. Tradition ascribes more than two thousand hymns to him, but the actual number does not seem to exceed one hundred and fifty, counting those preserved in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N&#257mdev died in AD 1350 &#8212 according to one tradition at Pa&#7751&#7693harpur and according to the other at Ghum&#257n, in the Punjab.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Macauliffe, Max Arthur, <i> The Sikh Religion </i>. Oxford, 1909<BR> <li class="C1"> Macnicol, N., <i> Psalms of Maratha Saints </i>. Calcutta, 1919<BR> <li class="C1"> Missa, Bhag&#299rath and R&#257jnar&#257yan Maurya, <i>Sant N&#257mdev k&#299 Hind&#299 Pad&#257val&#299</i>. Poona, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Chaturved&#299, Para&#347ur&#257m, <i> Uttar&#299 Bh&#257rat k&#299 Sant Par&#257mpar&#257 </i>. Prayag, 1951<BR> <li class="C1"> &#346arma, Vinay Mohan, <i> Sant N&#257mdev </i>. Delhi, n.d.<BR> <li class="C1"> M&#257chwe, Prabh&#257kar, <i> Hind&#299 aur Mar&#257&#7789h&#299 k&#257 Nirgu&#7751 Sant K&#257vya </i>. Varanasi, 1962<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Penderal Moon<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>