Mahanubhav refers to Hindu sects in India, started by Sarvagya Shri Chakradhar Swami in 1100-1200. Shri Chakradhar Swami propagated a religious movement, as well as social movement, in which all members were accepted irrespective of their castes, and the traditional ritualistic religion was rejected. Some sources list the founder of Mahanubhava as Govinda Prabhu and Chakradhara as its first "apostle". The religion survives to the present. It teaches that Krishna is the only God.
Code of conduct
Sarvadnya Shri Chakradhar Swami propounded his philosophy like Shri Krishna from among the "Five Krishnas". He was born in Bharuch, Gujarat. Although he was of Gujarati by birth, he had excellent command of the Marathi language. He moved among all sections of society. He discoursed his philosophy extremely effectively among the people in their own language. He used formulaic language full of meaning in a compact style. One of the most important aspects of the philosophy propounded by him is asceticism. His fourfold teachings are: non-violence, celibacy, asceticism and bhakti. And the different aspects of Gods incarnations to be worshipped are: name, form, activity, deeds, place, vachans, memories and the blessing of God incarnate. One can practice bhakti by memorising deeds of the Al-mighty. The aspirant for salvation must sacrifice his country, village and his relations and offer his life to God. Chakradhara Swami also taught the disciple of the sect when, where, how, how much alms they should be beg for. The central theme of his teaching was, "Feel the soul and not the body". Living the life of mendicant and practicing asceticism severely, the devotee should live according to principle, "God is mine and I am God’s". The core of his code of behaviour is summed up in the following line for the benefit of his followers: "Even if the head is cut off, the body should worship God". Besides teaching strict vegetarianism, the Mahanubhava Panth forbids the use of alcohol and teaches non-violence.
Literature
Mahanubhav's literature generally comprises works that describe the incarnations of gods, the history of the sect, commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, poetical works narrating the stories of life of Shri Krishna and grammatical and etymological works that are deemed useful to explain the philosophy of sect Leelacharitra is thought to be the first biography written in the Marathi language. Mahimbhat's second important literacy creation was Shri Govindaprabhucharitra or Rudhipurcharitra, a biography of Swami's guru, Shri Govind Prabhu, in the form of 325 deeds. This was probably written in 1288, soon after the death of Shri Prabhu. Apart from Leelacharitra, Keshobas alias Keshavrajsuri has collected the Swami aphoristic vachans or actually spoken words, known as Sutrapath which is always on the lips of the follower of Mahanubhav. Keshavrajsuri translated the some of "deeds" from Leelacharitra into Sanskrit in his work called "Ratnamala". Similarly he has written in Sanskrit Dristantstotarm based on Dristantpath. The first Acharya of Mahanubhava Sect is Nagdevachrya or Bhatobas. His biography was written by Narendra and Bhaidevbas in about 1308. In this manner seven works which have been written are known as satigranth and they are accepted by the follower of the sect. These works and their writers are:
Narendra : Rukaminiswayamvara
Bhaskarbhat Borikar : Shishupalvadha
Bhaskarbhat Borikar : Uddhavgita
Damodar Pandit : Vachhaharana
Ravalobas : Sahayadrivaranana
Narayanbas Bahahaliye : Riddhipurvarnana
Vishvanath Balapurkar : Janaprabodh.
History
It was Nagadeva who systematized Mahanubhava. Mahadamba was a leading poetess of the movement.
Publications
The Mahanubhava Panth publishes Mahanubhav Sandesh, a newspaper in Marathi and Hindi. There are plans to eventual expand the publication to an English edition.
