Devotional poet of Maharashtra; about sixty hymns in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Bhagat Namdev
A devotional poet of Maharashtra who wrote in Marathi and Hindi and moved from worship of an image to devotion to the formless God. Tradition makes him the son of a tailor, and Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji's verse names him as a cloth printer. Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji holds about sixty of his hymns, spread across eighteen raags. His life story rests mostly on later tradition.
Life, as tradition tells it
Tradition places Bhagat Namdev's birth in 1270 at Narsi Vamani, to Damasheti, a tailor, and his wife Gonabai. Macauliffe warns that most accounts of him are unreliable. He prefers the Gatha collection of Marathi verse, while admitting that it also exaggerates.
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he married Rajabai before the age of eleven and had five children. Under the influence of the saint Jnanadeva he turned to Vitthal of Pandharpur and spent his days singing in worship. It also reports a long stay in the Punjab, more than twenty years at Ghuman in the Gurdaspur district. A shrine there was built by Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, and Rani Sada Kaur had the adjoining tank repaired.[EoS][Macauliffe]
Hymns in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
BaniDB lists sixty hymns under his name, from ang 345 to ang 1351. The largest groups are in Bhairao (12), Gond (7), Asa (5), Dhanasari (5) and Ramkali (4). The others are in Gauri, Gujri, Sorath, Todi, Tilang, Bilaval, Mali Gaura, Maru, Basant, Sarang, Malar, Kanara and Prabhati.
The Encyclopaedia notes that these hymns praise the One God, unlike the image worship visible in some of his earlier verse. He also appears in the verse of others. A hymn of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji at ang 487 calls him a humble cloth printer whose love of God made him priceless. Bhagat Ravidas names him at ang 487 and ang 1106. Two saloks among Bhagat Kabir's at ang 1375 stage a short exchange between him and Bhagat Trilochan.[DB][EoS][EoS][EoS]
What the sources disagree on
- Number of hymns
BaniDB lists sixty separate hymns under his name. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism gives sixty-one.[DB][EoS]
- Place of passing
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism reports two traditions, Pandharpur and Ghuman. Macauliffe follows Marathi chronicles, which name Pandharpur.[EoS][Macauliffe]
- Trade
Macauliffe and the Encyclopaedia's life of him describe his father as a tailor. The Encyclopaedia's entries on Bhagat Trilochan and Bhagat Dhanna describe Bhagat Namdev himself as a printer of cotton cloth, as the hymn at ang 487 does.[Macauliffe][EoS][EoS][EoS][DB]