>Marcocapelle at 20:03, 17 June 2021

2021-06-17T20:03:56Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2016}}
[[File:Kailash Ashram, Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh.jpg|thumb|right|Kailash Ashram, Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, established by Dhanraj Giri, the first Abbott.]]
'''Dhanraj Giri''' (1811–1901)<ref name="(Swami.)Giri1976">{{cite book|author1=Sadānanda Giri (Swami.)|author2=Swami Sadānanda Giri|title=Society and Sannyāsin: A History of the Dasnāmī Sannyāsins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQgaAAAAMAAJ|page=80|year=1976|publisher=Giri}}</ref> was the [[abbot]] of Kailash Ashram, an [[ashram]], which he established in 1880 at [[Muni Ki Reti]], [[Rishikesh]].<ref name="NandKumar1989">{{cite book|author1=Nitya Nand|author2=Kamlesh Kumar|title=The Holy Himalaya: A Geographical Interpretation of Garhwal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wmNGKpcE83cC&pg=PA372|year= 1989|publisher=Daya Publishing House|isbn=978-81-7035-055-2|pages=372–}}</ref> It was one of the first large ashrams to be established in Rishikesh, prior to which it was mostly as a place for individual seekers, or pilgrims to stop over on way to Char Dham temples pilgrimage.<ref name="Strauss2005">{{cite book|author=Sarah Strauss|title=Positioning Yoga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=osrMSkvx4fgC&pg=PA30|year=2005|publisher=Berg|isbn=978-1-85973-739-2|pages=30–}}</ref> He was a famous monk in Northern India and was a scholar in [[Vedanta]] philosophy. He was well acquainted with spiritual luminaries of nineteenth century India like [[Swami Vivekananda]].

==Biography and legacy==
{{Hinduism}}
Dhanraj Giri as part of his wanderings had come to Rishikesh from [[Varanasi]] and had put up in Surat Giri Bangla ashram in [[Kankhal]]. Subsequently, he started an open-air education centre for [[Vedanta]] studies to which many students joined. In 1880, the king of [[Tehri]] region granted him a piece of land for setting up an [[ashram]] and a university for studying ancient Indian scriptures, especially Vedanta. This monastery came to be known as Kailash Ashram.<ref name=sarada/>

[[Swami Vivekananda]], as part of his travels in [[North India]], went to Rishikesh and also went to Kailash Ashrama. Giri was a prominent [[Advaita Vedanta|Advaita Vedant]]ist of the period, and [[Swami Abhedananda]], another prominent monastic disciple of [[Ramakrishna]] studied Vedanta in Kailsha Ashrama under Dhanraj Giri as a resident student for many months.<ref name=sarada>
{{cite web | title = Kailash Ashrama|publisher=Ramakrishna Sarada Ashrama Devprayag| url = http://rksaradadprayag.org/new-page.htm | accessdate = 2014-02-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Life of Swami Abhedananda | publisher = Ramakrishna Vedanta Math | url = http://www.ramakrishnavedantamath.org/swamij.html | accessdate = 2014-02-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140220183509/http://ramakrishnavedantamath.org/swamij.html | archive-date = 20 February 2014 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="(Swami)1970">{{cite book|author=Abhedananda Swami|title=Complete works of Swami Abhedananda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KhpIAAAAMAAJ|pages=222, 320|year=1970|publisher=Ramakrishna Vedanta Math}}</ref>

In the early part of twentieth century, when the two monastic disciples of Vivekananda, [[Kalyanananda]] and [[Nischayananda]], had established the [[Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankhal]], they faced discrimination in the hands of local orthodox monks for their service to the sick and poor, as such activities were considered of low grade by orthodox monks. Dhanraj Giri, who wielded considerable influence among the monks and who regularly used to feed the monks from his Ashrama, provided full support to the service activities conducted by the two disciples of Swami Vivekananda and gave them special respect and importance in front of all other monks, which gradually ensured the acceptance of their work in the wider community.<ref name="Monastic Disciple of Swami Vivekananda p. 266">{{cite book|last=Abjajananda|first=Swami|title=Monastic Disciples of Swami Vivekananda|publisher=Advaita Ashrama|location=Mayavati|isbn=9788175052468|page=266|year=2003}}</ref>

Today, the ashram he established continues to be a noted centre for [[exegesis]] of Hindu [[shastra]]s, and Vedantic study and scholarship.<ref name="Jacobs2010">{{cite book|author=Stephen Jacobs|title=Hinduism Today: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5732hIV03kC&pg=PA55|year= 2010|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-3065-6|pages=42, 55}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giri, Dhanraj}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1901 deaths]]
[[Category:Scholars from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Rishis]]
[[Category:Vedanta]]
[[Category:Indian Hindu monks]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:19th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians]]
[[Category:History of Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:People from Rishikesh]]

Dhanraj Giri - Revision history

>Marcocapelle at 20:03, 17 June 2021