Eknath

Eknath was a prominent Marathi sant, scholar, and religious poet of the Varkari sampradaya. In the development of Marathi literature, Eknath is seen as a bridge between his predecessors—Dnyaneshwar and Namdev—and the later Tukaram and Ramdas.

The precise dates of his life are uncertain but it is traditionally held that Eknath lived during the last three-quarters of the sixteenth-century CE. Legend also says that he was born to a Brahmin family at Paithan, that his parents died while he was young and that he was then raised by his grandfather, Bhanudas, a hero of the Varkari sect. Some sources say that Bhanudas was his great-grandfather. It is possible, but not certain, that his guru, Janardan, was a Sufi.

He wrote a variation of the Bhagavata Purana which is known as the Eknathi Bhagavata, and a variation of the Ramayana which is known as the Bhavarth Ramayan. Eknath wrote Rukmini Swayamwar Hastamalak, which was comprised 764 owees and based on a 14-shlok Sanskrit hymn with the same name by Shankaracharya.

His other works were the Shukashtak (447 owees), the Swatma-Sukha (510 owees), the Ananda-Lahari (154 owees), the Chiranjeewa-Pad (42 owees), the Geeta-Sar, and the Prahlad-Wijaya. He introduced a new form of Marathi religious song called Bharood, writing 300 of them.

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