A History of the Mahrattas v1.c5.s4.9.1

v1.c5.s4.9.1

Jnānēshvar is declared by tradition to have been born in A.D. 1271 at Apegāon, and lived most of his life at Alandi in Poona District, where his tomb and temple still exist and attract thousands of people annually to a great fair held in his honour. He was the son of a Deshasth Brahman, named Vithalpant, who had become a Sanyāsī, but subsequently reverted to the life of a Grihasta or householder, thereby incurring the displeasure of the Brahmans of Apegāon, who excommunicated him and his family. Vithalpant had two other sons, Nivrittināth and Sopāndēv, born respectively in 1268 and 1274, and a daughter, Muktabāi, born in 1277. Many legends have grown up around the name of Jnānēshvar, which testify to his divine powers and saintliness; and while his sister Muktabāi was popularly regarded as an incarnation of the goddess of learning, he and his two brothers were declared to be an incarnation of the Hindu Trimūrti or ‘ Triad of gods,’ viz. Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu. Among the various literary works attributed to Jnānēshvar, by far the most important is the Jnānēshvarī or Jnānadēvī, which is an elaborate commentary in the Ovi metre on the Bhagavad Gīta; and if the traditional date of his birth be accepted Jnānēshvar must, according to Professor Patvardhan, have composed this great expositional poem of about 10,000 verses at the age of sixteen.