Swami Keshwanand

Swami Keshwanand (1883–1972) was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer.

Born at village Magloona in Sikar district of present-day Rajasthan in 1883, Swamiji, whose actual name was Birama, was the son of Thakarsi, a penurious camel-driver, and his wife Saran. The family were Hindu and belonged to the Dhaka gotra and the Jat clan. When Birama was five, his family left Magluna for the nearby town of Ratangarh. Thakarsi, who used to escort prosperous Seths (Businessman) from Ratangarh to Delhi on his camel, died in 1890 when Birama was seven. This put paid to Birama's already slim chances of gaining an education; it is said that for a prolonged period, his mother had perforce to move from place to place in search of shelter and fodder for her animals. Mother and son finally settled at village Kelania in present-day Sri Ganganagar district in 1897. However, this was not the end of their misfortunes: Rajasthan was then headed for one of its periodic famines. By one account: "There was no vegetation left on the ground. There was no drop of water. All the animals died for want of fodder. People survived on grasses and the bark of "Khejri" trees. Even that also became scarce. There was nothing like governance. The ruling Samants were least bothered for the poor people....". It was in these circumstances that Birama's mother Saran died in 1899 at village Kelania.

The famine of 1899 forced the 16-year-old Birama to leave the desert region and move to Punjab in search of livelihood. Circumstances had induced in him an ineffable spiritual quest. He approached Mahant Kushaldas of the Udasin sect, to whom he expressed the desire to learn Sanskrit, to be able to study the higher Hindu scriptures from primary sources. Noting that Birama belonged to the Jat caste, who were customarily precluded from studying the higher scriptures or even the liturgical Sanskrit language, Mahant Kushaldas advised him to become a sannyasi, or renunciate, which would render him eligible to learn Sanskrit. Accordingly, Birama became a sannyasi in 1904, was inducted into the Udasin sect, and commenced his education at the Sadhu Ashram Fazilka, a Hindu seminary located in Punjab. He learned the Hindi and Sanskrit languages and the Devanagari and Gurmukhi scripts at the Ashram. At the Kumbha Mela held at Prayag in 1905, Mahatma Hiranandji Avadhut conferred on Birama the new name "Swami Keshwanand".

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