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Template:Infobox religious biography Devraha Baba (died 19 June 1990), also spelled Deoraha baba[1] was an Indian Siddha Yogi saint who lived beside the Yamuna river in Mathura. He was known as "ageless Yogi".
Life
Little is known about the early life of Devraha Baba, beyond that in the first half of the 20th century he visited Maiel, a town 20 km south west of Salempur, Deoria Uttar Pradesh. Here he started living atop a machan, a high platform made of wooden logs, situated 3 km from the town on the banks of Sarayu river. The place was near chilma Bazar Basti District, thus local people started calling him Devraha Baba , Baba being an honorific for saints or old men. Thereafter he shifted to Vrindavan, where again he lived atop a machan on the banks of Yamuna river for the rest of his years.[2][3]
Devraha Baba was a hermit from Vrindava.[4] He was considered to be a "spiritual guide to everyone from a pauper to the most powerful ... above narrow confines of caste and community."[5] Village people as well as important personalities waited for hours to have a glimpse or darshan of him.[6] He received visits from politicians seeking his blessings at the time of general elections, including Indira Gandhi, Buta Singh,[6] and Rajiv Gandhi.[7] Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi visited his ashram on the eve of the 1989 elections.[8] He used to bless the devotees with his feet.[9]
He lived on a Template:Convert wooden platform near the river and wore a small deerskin.[10] A barricade of wooden planks hid his semi-naked body from his devotees, and he came down only to bathe in the river.[11]
Notes
- ↑ Lutgendorf, Philip p. 296
- ↑ Personalities: Devraha Baba. Deoria district official website.
- ↑ Cohen, Lawrence, p. 284
- ↑ Religion, caste, and politics in India{{#if:Jaffrelot|, Jaffrelot}. Primus Books(2010). ISBN 9789380607047
- ↑ Devraha Baba's indictment enrages seers in Ayodhya. The Times of India(2 December 2009).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cohen Lawrence pp. 283–285
- ↑ Beyond the Old Books – Modern India and the discourse of faith. The Telegraph (Calcutta)(11 December 2009).
- ↑ Sonia, a biography{{#if:Kidwai|, Kidwai}. Penguin Books India(2003)
- ↑ The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives{{#if:Jaffrelot|, Jaffrelot}. Routledge(2012). ISBN 9781136298066
- ↑ The Penguin book of Indian journeys{{#if:Tully|, Tully}. Penguin India(2004). ISBN 9780141007649
- ↑ India to Begin Voting ; Today on Fate of the Nation and the House of Nehru. The New York Times(November 22, 1989).
References
- No Aging in India: Alzheimer's, The Bad Family, and Other Modern Things{{#if:Cohen|, Cohen}. University of California Press(2000). ISBN 0-520-22462-0 - Total pages: 367
- Hanuman's tale: the messages of a divine monkey{{#if:Lutgendorf|, Lutgendorf}. Oxford University Press(2007). ISBN 978-0-19-530921-8 - Total pages: 434
- Living with the Himalayan masters: spiritual experiences of Swami Rama{{#if:Rama|, Rama}. Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Sciences & Philosophy(1978) - Total pages: 490