Bhagat Namdev Ji: the saint of Maharashtra and Ghuman in Punjab

This day celebrates the birth of Bhagat Namdev Ji, the saint-poet of Maharashtra whose bani is included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. He lived about two centuries before Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and his life joins the devotional traditions of Maharashtra and Punjab.

The calico printer

Namdev Ji was born in 1270 at Narsi Bamani, in today's Hingoli district of Maharashtra, into a family of tailors and calico printers, a caste of low standing. He grew up near Pandharpur, and from childhood was absorbed in devotion. Stories remember him being turned away from a temple because of his caste, and the temple itself turning to face him as he sang outside. Sikh teaching tells such stories to show that the Divine answers love, not birth.

His bani

Sixty-one shabads of Bhagat Namdev Ji are included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, in eighteen raags. They speak of the One Divine present everywhere, reject caste and empty ritual, and are full of the warmth of a devotee who speaks to the Divine as a friend. Several are sung often in kirtan. The Gurus refer to him again and again as an example of a low-born devotee raised up by devotion.

Ghuman

In his later years Namdev Ji travelled north and spent about twenty years in Punjab, at the village of Ghuman in Gurdaspur district, where he preached and is believed to have passed away in 1350. Gurdwara Bhagat Namdev Ji at Ghuman marks the place, and a mela is held there every year.

How the day is observed

Sangats mark the day with kirtan of his shabads and Ardas, above all at Ghuman, and at Pandharpur, where his memory is honoured by the Warkari tradition.