Bharat Ko Jano Q&A – English 08

Saints and Social Reformers

  1. Lord Budha–  Born  at  Kapilvastu  in  the  house  of  Sakya  king Shudhodhan in 600 B.C. Soon left the house and became san- yasi. Got enlightenment under a peepal tree at Gaya. Founder of Buddhism
  2. Rishabh Dev– Son of Nabhi Rai and Meru Devi. Founder of Jain- ism. 1st of 24 Tirthankers of Jains
  3. Mahavir Swami – 24th and last Tirthanker of Born at Kunda- gram or Kundalpur in the house of king Sidhartha and Trishala Devi in 599 B.C. Got enlightenment below an Ashoka tree. Died in 527-28 B.C. at Pawapuri.
  4. Aswaghosh – Famous philospher and learned poet of Sanskrit. Propagated Buddhims through poems. Author of Buddha Chari- tam
  5. Nagarjun – Famous philoshper and founder of Madhyamic He propagated the middle path of Buddhism and called Madhyamic.
  6. Vasubandhu -A famous philospher follower of Buddhism. He was called second Buddha in his era.
  7. Shankracharya – Was born at Kaladi village in the house of Shirvguru and Aryamba in 788 Saint Guru Govind Pad was his guru. Established four muths in all the four corners of India called Dhams-Jagannath Puri in East, Dwarika in West, Shringeri in South and Badrinath in North. Propagated Vedic culture throughout India. Founder of Adwaitwad. Died at the tender age of 32 years.
  8. Ramanujacharya – A great saint of 10th century who founded and propagated specified Dwaitwad. He preached sagun God. He also belonged to south India. Keshav Bhatt was the name of his father.
  9. Madhvacharya – Born in the 13th Century AD in Udupi village of Karnatak in the house of Narayan He propagated Dwaitwad philosophy.
  1. Ramanand – The work done by Ramanujacharya in south India was accomplished in north by He is at the top in Vaishnav Bhaktas. His pupils belonged to all religions and castes. Kabir was one of them.
  2. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – A great devotee of Radha-Krishna of 14th century D. Made disciples of all casts. Started kirtan as medium to worship God. His activities were limited mostly to Bengal. Founder of Gaudiya Vaishnav Sect.
  3. Kabir – A prominent disciple of Ramanand in14th century. Was weaver by profession. Made every effort to reconcile between Hindus & Muslims. Was critical of the evils of both the religions. Was a great poet. Was a devotee of the bodyless (Nirgun)
  4. Guru nanak – Founder of Sikh religion and it’s first Guru. Born at Talwandi of Punjab (now in Pakistan) in the house of Kalu Ram Mehta in 1469. He taught vedic culture through local languages. Died in 1539.
  5. Meera Bai – Born in Medta in Rajsthan in 1498. She was the daughter-in-law of Rana Sanga of Mewar. When offered she, drank a cup of poison smilingly. A great devotee of Krishna. Died in 1546
  6. Tulsidas – A great devotee of Ram, well known poet of 16th He was author of Ram Charit Manas and other books. Stimulated the minds of Hindus oppressed by Muslim rulers. He was a Sanskrit scholar, but wrote in local language.
  7. Tuka ram – A Vaishnav saint, born in Maharashtra in 17th
  8. ravi Das (raidas) – A famous saint of 16th century who was born in a cobbler’s Was a staunch follower of Swami Ramanand. Prominent Krishna devotee. Mirabai came into contact with him for some time.
  9. Ballabhacharya – Another important devotee of Krishna born in the house of Laxman Bhatt of Andhra Pradesh in 15th Studied in Kashi and lived in Brindavan also for some time. His philosophy is called Shudha Dwait according to which God takes the shape of the universe at his will.
  10. Gorakhnath – An eminent disciple of guru Matsyendra (Machhen- dra) Nath. Staunch Hath yogi, famous for his miracles. Several Mutts are spread all over India where he is
  11. Jhule lal – An honourable personality in Sindh of 10th century. He foiled the attempts of Muslim rulers to convert Hindus into Moham- medan He is immensely respected by Sindhi community.
  12. Tiruvalluvar – Born in Ist century BC. Famous Tamil Saint who hailed from a weaver His writings are edited in the famous book Tirukkaral.
  13. Kamb – Born in Tamilnadu thousand years A devotee of Ram. Wrote Kamb Ramayan in Tamil and propagated Ram Katha in south India.
  1. Basweshwar – A Shaiv saint of Karnataka who lived in 11th He is said to establish shaiva sect in Karnataka & Andhra.
  2. narsi Mehta – A staunch devotee of Krishna of 15th century who hailed from, Junagadh. The important Bhajan ” Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye” was written by
  3. Shankar Dev – Another Vaishnav Saint of 15th century born in Kamrup, Wrote many books related to Krishna devotion to uplift the religious ground of the society and propagated Bhagwat religion. Assam was his field of work.
  4. Saynacharya and Vidyaranya – Two learned brothers of 14th century who were equally bright in religious and political field. Saynachanya wrote explanatory notes on Vedas and Vidyaranya Vedant Philosophical They also prepared two brother Hari- har and Bukka Rai to establish a Hindu kingdom Vijayanagaram and strengthen it just like Chanakya did for Chandra Gupta Maurya.
  5. Gyaneshwar – Born in 12th century in Maharashtra, a nampanthi Balyogi, who wrote a book Gyaneshwari which was a poetic transta- tion of Geeta. His brothers Nivratti Nath and Sopandev and sister Mukta Bai were also learned
  6. Samarth Ram Das – Born in 17th century in the house of Suryaji Pant in Fled from the altar of marriage and meditated for many years. Led Shiva Ji to raise a Hindu kingdom against the tyranny of Mohammedan rulers.
  7. Purandar Das – Born in Karnataka in 16th century, a devotee poet, of Krishna whose religious songs are
  8. Birsa Munda – Born in Chhota Nagpur of Ranchi district in 1875, Birsa Munda organised vanvasis against English forces and struggled hard for their cause. Imprisoned at the age of 25. Van- vasis remember him as a god even
  9. Raja Ram Mohan Roy (22May,1772 – 27 September,1833)- Born in Bengal, was a religious, soical and educational Known for his efforts to abolish Sati and Child Marriage. Founded The Brahmo Samaj.
  10. Dayanand Saraswati (12 February, 1824 – 30 October, 1833) – Born in Founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. Was the first to give the call for Swarajya -“India for Indians” – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmaya Tilak. Author of the book “Satyarth Prakash”. Exhorted the Hindu nation to accept social reforms like the abolition of untouchability, sati and dowry, education of women, Swadeshi and importance of Cows for national prosperity as well as the adoption of Hindi as the national language for national integration.

Next Chapter>>

<<Back to Index

Top