Brahmanand Swami

Brahmananad Swami (Devnagari: ब्रह्मान्द स्वामी) (1772-1832) was a saint of the Swaminarayan Sampraday and one of Swaminarayan's Paramahamsas.[1][2]

Contents

Biography

Brahmanand Swami was born Ladudan to Gadhavi Shambhudanji Aashiya and Laluba Charan in Khan village, at the foot of Mount Abu, in sirohi district of Rajasthan in 1772.

At a young age In the royal court he sang poems in Gujarati. The Rana of sirohi, impressed with him, directed to be taught Pingal (science of constructing poetry) to the child at the cost of the state, hence Ladudan was well educated and later became a part of King of Udaipurs court. Ladudan learnt pingal and Sanskrit scriptures from Ladhaji Rajput of Dhamadka, becoming a scholar in Pingal, poetry and scriptures. Ladudan earned fame and wealth by visitng stately courts of Jaipur, Jodhpur among others, which were impressed by his poetry.[3]

Initiation as Sadhu

Ladudan was in Bhuj where he had heard about Swaminarayan and went to meet him. Swaminarayan was addressing a gathering in Bhuj. Ladunan was attracted to him. Swaminarayan returned to Gadhada with poet Ladudan. Ladudan lived a majestic and royal life befitting a courtier. He was always clad in most precious attires and was adorning jewellery befitting royalty. Swaminarayan did not like such luxurious life style but instead of preaching directly he changed Ladudan. He did so and became an ascetic. On the way from Gadhpur to Siddhapur, there is one small village named Gerita. Swaminarayan stopped at Gerita and administrated Bhagwati Deeksha (initiation as sadhu) to Ladudan by giving sainthood name 'Shrirangdasji.' After some time, he renamed him as Brahmanand Swami.[3]

Works

Like Muktanand Swami, Brahmanand Swami was an excellent poet. His skills and brilliance in temple building is evident in temples like Muli, Vadtal and Junagadh. Besides the construction of great temples in Muli, Vadtal, Junagadh etc, Brahmanand Swami had written scriptures in Hindi and Gujarati. 'Brahmanand Kavya' is the collection of his works, a copy of which is preserved in the British Museum in London.[1][1][4]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Williams 2001, pp. 189
  2. ^ Behramji Merwanji Malabari, Krishnalal M. Jhaveri, Malabari M. B (1997), Gujarat and the Gujaratis, Asian Educational Services, ISBN 8120606515, http://books.google.com/?id=Lyd8jPbN218C&dq=muktanand+swami, retrieved May 21, 2009  Page 263 - 269
  3. ^ a b Brahmanand Swami, http://vadtal.com/our-saints-3.html 
  4. ^ James Fuller Blumhardt (1915), Catalogue of Marathi and Gujarati printed books in the library of the British museum, B. Quaritch, http://books.google.com/?id=oHsqAAAAMAAJ&dq=karamsi+damji, retrieved May 21, 2009  Page 112

References

External links

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