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Sant Dnyaneshwar
संत ज्ञानदेव
The boy-saint who wrote the Gita in the language of the people
Years
1275 – 1296
Known as
Sant Dnyaneshwar — the founder of the devotional tradition of Maharashtra
Birthplace
Alandi, Maharashtra
Field
Saints & Sages
“I bow to my own self — for within me dwells the Lord of the universe.”
— The opening of the Dnyaneshwari
The Story
Born in 1275 at Alandi, Dnyaneshwar was the eldest of the four children of the excommunicated Vithalpant and his wife Rukmini. After a childhood shadowed by the family's suffering, the young Dnyaneshwar and his brothers were vindicated by the Brahmins of Paithan — a triumph of wit and wisdom over orthodoxy.
In his teens Dnyaneshwar composed the Dnyaneshwari, a commentary on the Gita in verse that is one of the supreme masterpieces of the language — bringing the deepest philosophy of the Upanishads to the common people in their own tongue, with matchless poetry and insight. He also wrote the Amrutanubhava and the devotional songs that founded the devotional movement of the land.
He died at Alandi in 1296, at the age of just twenty-one, entombing himself in a samadhi by his own will. The tradition he founded flowered into the great chain of saints — Namadeva, Eknath, Tukaram — and his samadhi at Alandi remains one of the most sacred places of Maharashtra.
Core Ideas
The Dnyaneshwari
The Gita in Marathi — one of the supreme works of the language.
The Boy Saint
He wrote his masterpiece before he was sixteen.
The Language of the People
He carried philosophy to the common folk.
The Founder
He began the great devotional tradition of Maharashtra.
The Samadhi at Alandi
He chose his end at twenty-one, still venerated.
Why it matters today
Sant Dnyaneshwar is the founder of the devotional tradition of Maharashtra and one of the greatest poets of the language. His Dnyaneshwari is read in every Marathi home, his samadhi is a living shrine, and his life — the boy who gave the people the Gita — remains the wonder of the devotional history of Bhārat.