Gajanan Maharaj

Who was Gajanan Maharaj?

Gajanan Maharaj from Shegaon, Maharashtra, India was a Saint from India. "Sant Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan" is the largest temple trust in the Vidarbha region.

The early life history of Gajanan Maharaj is obscure, his birthdate being unknown. His devotees believe him as incarnation of Lord Ganesha and Lord Dattatreya. Biruduraju Ramaraju has tried to establish in his collection of books called "Andhra Yogulu" that he was a Telangana Brahmin. However, in a recently published Marathi book entitled, "Shri Gajanan Maharaj Charitra Kosh" by Shri Dasabhargav some interesting facts have been revealed. This author met Shri Swami Shivanand Saraswati, who was 129 years old at Nashik. Shri Swami told the author that he was Telangi Brahmin who had met Shri Sadguru Gajanan Maharaj in 1887 in Nashik, which is a pilgrimage centre. He also clearly told that after Shri Gajanan Maharaj appeared in Shegaon and remained there, he had visited Maharaj 25-30 times. During these visits Shivanand Swami declared that he used visit Shri Dadasaheb Khaparde in Amravati and stay with Khaparde family. Thus, Shri Shivanand Swami is none other than the Telangi Brahmin whose mention has been made in the foreword of "Shri Gajanan Vijay" on his own admission. Later Shivanand Saraswati left to perform penance in Himalaya and was never spotted again. Thus, it is quite clear that Shri Gajanan Maharaj was not Telangi Brahmin as some speculate. Some speculate that he might have in fact hailed from Sajjanghad,. Das Ganu Maharaj has written a 21 chapter biography, "Shri Gajanan Vijay," of Gajanan Maharaj in Marathi. Contemporaries of Gajanan Maharaj identified him by several names like Gin Gine Buwa, Ganpat Buwa, and Awaliya Baba.