ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SAMARTH R&#256MD&#256S (1608-1681)</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="SAMARTH,RMDS,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">&#65279SAMARTH R&#256MD&#256S (1608-1681), Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789rian saint remembered as the religious preceptor of the Mar&#257&#7789h&#257 hero Chhatrapati Shiv&#257j&#299 (1627-80), was born, in 1608, the son of S&#363ryaj&#299 Pant and R&#257n&#363b&#257&#299, a Br&#257hma&#7751 couple of the village of J&#257mb, near Aura&#7749g&#257b&#257d, in Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra. His original name was N&#257r&#257ya&#7751a. His father died when he was barely seven years old. Educated in Sanskrit according to the tradition of his caste, R&#257md&#257s showed strong mystical proclivities even as a child. He left home during his adolescence to join the Vai&#7779&#7751ava centre at Pañchva&#7789&#299, near N&#257sik, where he stayed for 12 years engaged in study, reflection and devotion to Lord R&#257ma. He spent the next 12 years visiting Hindu centres of pilgrimage across the country. Returning to Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra around 1644, he established himself at the village of Ch&#257phal, in the Sat&#257r&#257 region on the Western Gha&#7789s. Here he built a temple of R&#257ma and M&#257ruti (Hanum&#257n) and founded a <i>ma&#7789h</i> or monastery which exists to the present day. The community of his followers soon expanded taking on the character of a well-marked sect, the R&#257md&#257s&#299 sect, with its own sacred texts and forms of worship. Samarth (an appellation meaning capable, powerful, mighty) R&#257md&#257s' teaching was in the Vai&#7779&#7751ava tradition with R&#257ma as the deity to be adored and worshipped, but he infused his devotionalism with Advaita philosophy and practical morality. He also preached "Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra Dharma," aggressive defence of Hindu values. It is in this regard especially that his message gained the attention of Shiv&#257j&#299 who led the Hindu "national" struggle against the "foreign" rule of the Mu<u>gh</u>als. It is noteworthy that while Br&#257hma&#7751 scholars have tended to emphasize R&#257md&#257s&#8217 influence in shaping Shiv&#257j&#299's political objectives, Mar&#257&#7789h&#257 historians argue that the two came in close contact with each other only after Shiv&#257j&#299 had fully developed his ideology.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;According to Sikh tradition based on an old Punjabi manuscript <i>Pañj&#257h S&#257kh&#299&#257&#7749</i>, Samarth R&#257md&#257s met Gur&#363 Hargobind (1595-1644) at Sr&#299nagar in the Ga&#7771hv&#257l hills. 'The meeting, corroborated in a Mar&#257&#7789h&#299 source, <i>R&#257md&#257sasv&#257m&#299's Bakhar</i>, by Hanumantsv&#257m&#299, written in 1793, probably took place in the early 1630's during Samarth R&#257md&#257s 'pilgrimage travels in the north and Gur&#363 Hargobind's journey to N&#257nakmat&#257 in the east. It is said that as they came face to face with each other, Gur&#363 Hargobind had just returned from a hunting excursion. He was fully armed and rode a horse. R&#257md&#257s expressed his surprise at a successor of the saintly Gur&#363 N&#257nak living in princely style and allowing himself to be addressed as Sachch&#257 P&#257tsh&#257h (true king). Gur&#363 Hargobind said "internally a hermit and externally a prince. Arms are to protect the poor and destroy the tyrant. B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak had not renounced the world, but had only renounced <i>m&#257y&#257</i>, i.e. illusion and ego." <i>"Yeh ham&#257re man bh&#257vat&#299 hai</i> (this appeals to my mind)," said R&#257md&#257s. This encounter between Gur&#363 Hargobind and Samarth R&#257md&#257s is prominently mentioned in modern Sikh historiography.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Samarth R&#257md&#257s died in 1681.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Hanumantsv&#257m&#299, <i>R&#257md&#257sa Sv&#257m&#299's Charitra or Bakhar</i>. Bombay, 1910<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Pañjah S&#257kh&#299&#257&#7749</i>. MS.<BR> <li class="C1"> Satb&#299r Si&#7749gh, <i>Gur Bh&#257&#7771&#299</i>. Patiala, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Paul B. Courtright<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>