Devraha Baba
Devraha Baba | |
|---|---|
 Ageless Baba | |
| Personal | |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | 19 May 1990 [1] Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh |
| Resting place | Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh |
| Religion | Siddha Yogi saint(Hindu) |
| Sect | Vadakalai Sri Vaishnavism |
| Organization | |
| Temple | Devararahi Mandir (Deoria), Sugriv Qila (Ayodhya) |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | India |
| Successor | Sri Purushottamacharyaji, Devdasji (Bade Sarkar), Devraha Hans Baba |
Devraha Baba (died 19 May 1990), also spelled Deoraha baba[2] was an Indian Siddha Yogi saint who lived beside the Yamuna river in Mathura. He was known as "ageless Yogi with a secular image".[3] He was known as a sadhu who preached harmony between religious communities.[4]
Life
Little is known about the early life of Devraha Baba, beyond that in the first half of the 20th century he visited Mael, a town 20 km. south west of Salempur, Uttar Pradesh. Here he started living atop a Machan, a high platform made of wooden logs, situated 3 km from the town on the banks of Sarayu river. The place was near Dewar in Deoria district, thus local people started calling him Devraha Baba or Deoria Baba, with Baba being an honorific for saints or old men. Thereafter he shifted to Vrindavan, where again he lived atop a machan on the banks of Yamuna river for the rest of his years.[5][6]
Devraha Baba was a hermit from Vrindava.[7] He was considered to be a "spiritual guide to everyone from a pauper to the most powerful ... above narrow confines of caste and community."[3] Village people as well as important personalities waited for hours to have a glimpse or darshan of him.[8] He received visits from politicians seeking his blessings at the time of general elections, including Indira Gandhi, Buta Singh,[8] and Rajiv Gandhi.[9] Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi visited his ashram on the eve of the 1989 elections.[10] He used to bless the devotees with his feet.[11]
He lived on a 12-foot-high (3.7 m) wooden platform near the river and wore a small deerskin.[12] A barricade of wooden planks hid his semi-naked body from his devotees, and he came down only to bathe in the river.[13]
Association with the demolition of the Babri Masjid
Devraha Baba's name was included by the Liberhan Commission on the list of those accused of demolishing the Babri Masjid, even though he died two years before the demolition of the structure.[3] Pro-Hindu organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad had been successful in persuading Devraha Baba to support their cause of building a Ram temple at Ayodhya, and indeed as a harmonious, joint effort between the various religious groups.[12] Tully also observed that some of Devraha Baba's devotees approached him for financial as well as political gains.[12]
Notes
- ^ "Baba in the report who makes Congress squirm". The Indian Express. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
- ^ Lutgendorf, Philip p.296
- ^ a b c "Devraha Baba's indictment enrages seers in Ayodhya". The Times of India. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
- ^ Subrata Kumar Mitra,, James Chiriyankandath (1992). Electoral politics in India: a changing landscape. New Delhi: Segment Books. p. 46.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Personalities: Devraha Baba". Deoria district official website. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
- ^ Cohen, Lawrence, p.284
- ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, caste, and politics in India. New Delhi: Primus Books. p. 240. ISBN 9789380607047.
- ^ a b Cohen Lawrence p.283-5
- ^ Dasgupta, Swapan (11 December 2009). "Beyond the Old Books — Modern India and the discourse of faith". The Telegraph (Calcutta). Retrieved 19 December 2012.
- ^ Kidwai, Rasheed (2003). Sonia, a biography. New Delhi: Penguin Books India. p. 131.
- ^ Christophe Jaffrelot, edited by Jacob Copeman, Aya Ikegame (2012). The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York and Oxon: Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 9781136298066.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c Mark Tully, edited by Dom Moraes (2004). The Penguin book of Indian journeys. New Delhi: Penguin India. pp. 101–105. ISBN 9780141007649.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ Crossette, Barbara (22 November 1989). "India to Begin Voting ; Today on Fate of the Nation and the House of Nehru". The New York Times.
References
- Cohen, Lawrence (2000). No Aging in India: Alzheimer's, The Bad Family, and Other Modern Things (2000 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22462-0.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Total pages: 367 - Lutgendorf, Philip (2007). Hanuman's tale: the messages of a divine monkey (2007 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-530921-9.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Total pages: 434 - Rama, Swami (1978). Living with the Himalayan masters: spiritual experiences of Swami Rama (1978 ed.). Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Sciences & Philosophy.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Total pages: 490