Samarth Ramdas

Narayan Thosar was born at Jamb on Ram Navami, and the best-known account of his youth is that he slipped away from his own wedding at the word “savadhan”, be alert, and left home. For twelve years he did tapas at Takli near Nashik, at the meeting of the Nandini and the Godavari, standing in the river and repeating the thirteen-syllable mantra “Shri Ram Jay Ram Jay Jay Ram”. Then he walked the length of India for twelve more years, seeing the condition of the people. He came back to the Krishna valley and founded mathas and Maruti temples, with Hanuman as the model of a strong, disciplined and devoted life; the eleven Marutis he set up are still a pilgrimage. He wrote the Dasbodh, a long guide to spiritual and practical life; the Manache Shlok for ordinary households; Karunashtakas to Rama; and aartis, among them “Sukhakarta Dukhaharta”, sung at every Ganesh puja in Maharashtra. Tradition links him with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who gave him the fort of Parli, renamed Sajjangad; his letter praising Shivaji, “nishchayacha mahameru”, is often quoted. He took samadhi at Sajjangad in 1682, on the day now kept as Dasa Navami.