Shri Purohit Swami
Encyclopedia
Shri Purohit Swami was a Hindu
teacher from Maharashtra
, India
.
Purohit was born in Badnera, Vidarbha, India to a wealthy Maharashtran Brahmin family. His parents gave him the name Shankar Gajannan Purohit.
As a child he became proficient in Marathi, English, and Sanskrit. He was well educated, obtaining a B.A. in philosophy at Calcutta University in 1903 and a law degree from Deccan College and Bombay University.
As a teenager, he decided to be celibate, but in 1908 he accommodated his parents' wishes and married Godu Bai. After the birth of daughters in 1910 and 1914 and a son in 1915, he resumed his vow of celibacy.
A year or two before his marriage, he met a young man only four years older than himself named Natekar. Purohit says this meeting "was love at first sight," and Natekar, who later took the monastic name Bhagwan Shri Hamsa, became Purohit's guru.
In 1923 his guru directed him to embark on a mendicant pilgrimage the length and breadth of India. Begging bowl in hand, he passed several years in this way.
Purohit is known in the West principally for his work on translations of major Hindu texts, and his Autobiography of an Indian Monk (1932). He travelled to Europe on an extended visit in 1930.
He translated the Bhagavad Gita
into English. He also worked with W. B. Yeats during 1935 and 1936, on Majorca on the translations in The Ten Principal Upanishads (1938, Faber and Faber
). Yeats included him in the Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935.
He represents a very important but largely unremembered link between the generation of Swami Vivekananda
and the Post World War II society in which eastern thought has become an accepted element of spiritual life.
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
teacher from Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Purohit was born in Badnera, Vidarbha, India to a wealthy Maharashtran Brahmin family. His parents gave him the name Shankar Gajannan Purohit.
As a child he became proficient in Marathi, English, and Sanskrit. He was well educated, obtaining a B.A. in philosophy at Calcutta University in 1903 and a law degree from Deccan College and Bombay University.
As a teenager, he decided to be celibate, but in 1908 he accommodated his parents' wishes and married Godu Bai. After the birth of daughters in 1910 and 1914 and a son in 1915, he resumed his vow of celibacy.
A year or two before his marriage, he met a young man only four years older than himself named Natekar. Purohit says this meeting "was love at first sight," and Natekar, who later took the monastic name Bhagwan Shri Hamsa, became Purohit's guru.
In 1923 his guru directed him to embark on a mendicant pilgrimage the length and breadth of India. Begging bowl in hand, he passed several years in this way.
Purohit is known in the West principally for his work on translations of major Hindu texts, and his Autobiography of an Indian Monk (1932). He travelled to Europe on an extended visit in 1930.
He translated the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
into English. He also worked with W. B. Yeats during 1935 and 1936, on Majorca on the translations in The Ten Principal Upanishads (1938, Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
). Yeats included him in the Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935.
He represents a very important but largely unremembered link between the generation of Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
and the Post World War II society in which eastern thought has become an accepted element of spiritual life.