New History of the Marathas v1.c5.63

v1.c5.63

This Haripāldev, newly named Chakradhar by his guru, toured through Mahārāshtra and by his earnest oratory and forceful reasoning, collected round himself a large number of disciples, mostly learned Brahmans from different places. He possessed a wonderful mastery over the Marathi language and explained through its medium the best thoughts in the Upanishads and other old philosophical works, exposing the incongruities that existed between the real ideals and the actual practice of the Hindus of his time. Chakradhar soon came to be worshipped and respected by large masses of people as the very incarnation of God wherever he went. Thus a new sect came into existence, although Chakradhar himself never avowed that he was preaching a new religion. He is credited with an abnormally long life of more than a century, 1153 to 1276 A.C., which he spent in passionate preaching and enforcing rigid discipline upon his followers in every minute detail of conduct and worship. He did not confine his activities to Mahārāshtra only, but travelled over wide regions outside, extending roughly from the river Krishna in the south to the bank of the Indus in the north, a unique performance in the history of religious movements. Chakradhar’s successes extended even beyond the Indus to Peshawar and on to Kabul, where his followers read and recited the sacred texts in the language.