Vishnubawa Brahmachari
Vishnubawa Brahmachari | |
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Born | Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale 1825 |
Died | 18 February 1871 Bombay, British India | (aged 48–49)
Nationality | Indian |
Other names | Brahmachari Bawa |
Occupation | Hindu missionary |
Known for | Hindu revivalist |
Title | Bawa |
Part of a series on | |
Hindu philosophy | |
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Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale (1825–1871), popularly known as Vishnubawa Brahmachari and as Brahmachari Bawa,[1] was a 19th-century Marathi Hindu revivalist. An ascetic defender of the Hindu dharma, he was known for his religious polemics, chiefly against Christianity. He was known for his "witty repartee and vigorous argument" confronting Christian missionaries and, occasionally, other Hindus. His 1857 debates in Bombay were widely publicized in English and Marathi in at least nine books. He has been described variously as "the first great revivalist of modern Maharashtra," "predecessor of the two great swamis of modern times, Dayananda and Vivekananda," and "a queer bird."[2]
Biography[]
Brahmachari was born Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale in 1825 in the village of Shiravali (near Mahad in the then Thana district) as the tenth child of a Konkanastha (Chitpavan) Brahman family.[2] Educated in a village school for a few years, he also studied the Vedas.[2] He arrived in Bombay in 1856.[2] He was the author of "The Marathi avatar of The Communist Manifesto."[2] He died on a Mahashivarathri day in the Viththal Mandir in Bombay on 18 February 1871.[3]
See also[]
- Hindu revivalism
- Dayananda Saraswati
- Swami Vivekananda
Citations[]
- ^ Kulkarni and Wagle, 1999, p. 158.
- ^ a b c d e Jones and Husdon, 1992, p. 9.
- ^ Jones and Husdon, 1992, p. 23.
References[]
- Jones, Kenneth W.; Hudson, D. Dennis (1992). Religious controversy in British India: Dialogues in South Asian languages. SUNY. ISBN 0-7914-0828-0.
- Kulkarni, A. R.; Wagle, N. K. (1999). Region, Nationality and Religion. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan. ISBN 81-7154-835-0.
- 1825 births
- 1871 deaths
- 19th-century Hindu religious leaders
- Hindu missionaries
- Hindu revivalists