Sant Gora Kumbhar (also known as Goroba) was a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

'' sant'' associated with the

Bhakti movement The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th centur ...

and the

Varkari Warkari ( Marathi: वारकरी; Pronunciation: �aːɾkəɾiː Meaning: 'The one who performs the ''Wari) is a sampradaya (religious movement) within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism, geographically associated with the In ...

sect of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, India. He was a

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

by trade and devotee of Vithal. Gora Kumbhar, along with other saints, wrote and sung hundreds of Abhangs. Gora Kumbhar is traditionally believed to have lived in the village of Satyapuri, presently known as Goraba Ter in Osmanabad district of

State. He is believed to have been a contemporary of

Namdev Shri Sant Namdev Maharaj (Pronunciation: aːmdeʋ, also transliterated as Nam Dayv, Namdeo, Namadeva, (traditionally, ) was a Marathi Bahujan saint from Narsi, Hingoli, Maharashtra, India within the Varkari tradition of Hinduism. He lived a ...

. He is thought to have lived between 1267 and 1317 CE. A small temple named after him was built in the village and is visited by devotees. He died on Chaitra Krishna Triodashi, Shake 1239 (April 20, 1317). Other temples are located in Ainpur (District - Rahu (District - Pune)), Daulatabad (District - Aurangabad), Bajajnagar District - Aurangabad) Turkabad Kharadi District - Aurangabad) Kate Pimpalgaon (District - Aurangabad), Kokisare (District - Aurangabad). Satara), Kumbharli (District - Ratnagiri), Selu (District - Parbhani), Karjat (District - Raigad) are other Sant Goroba Kaka temples.

Life

Goraba Kaka's family tradition in the city of "Ter" was religious and virtuous. His family was worshipers of the village deity Kaleshwar at Ter. Both the bridesmaids were supporting their families by doing pottery and carpentry. Due to his virtuous and virtuous attitude, the villagers used to know Madhav Buwan as a 'saint' in 'Ter' village. Madhav buwa had eight children. Their children were not living. He had buried his 8 children in the graveyard near Kaleshwar. How all eight children came back to life? A legend about this is told by Mahadev Balaji Kumbhar in the chaaritrya of Saint Goroba Kaka (gora kumbhar). He says in his chaaritrya, Shri Madhav buva was worshiping Kaleshwar at Ter. He had eight sons. But they all died one by one. Later, Paramatma Pandurang came to his house in the guise of a Brahmin. When they saw the sad face, the gods asked them, "Are you sad?" Madhav buwa said, "God took all our eight children, so we are sad." Then Lord Pandurang asked Madhav buwa to show the place where all eight children's were buried. Madhav Buwa took them to the cemetery near Kaleshwar, and showed them the place where he buried all the eight children. Then Lord Pandurang told Madhav Buwa to dig up the corpses of all the children. The father removed the bodies of all the eight children in the same manner. God saw and revived the seven children by the touch of His hand and sent them to heaven, and then resurrected the eighth child.

In popular culture

Several motion pictures have been produced in India, about the life and ''bhakthi'' of Gora Kumbhar: * K. S. Gopalakrishnan directed the Telugu movie entitled ''Chakradhari'' in 1948. It starred

V. Nagayya V. Nagayya (born Vuppaladadiyam Nagayya Sarma; 28 March 1904 – 30 December 1978) also known as Chittoor Nagayya was an Indian actor, singer, music composer, and director known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, and Telugu theatre. ...

and

S. Varalakshmi Saridey Varalakshmi (13 August 1925 – 22 September 2009) was an Indian actress and singer who worked in Telugu and Tamil-language films. She was popular for her roles and songs in Telugu films like ''Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam'' (1960) and '' ...

. * K. S. Gopalakrishnan directed the Tamil movie entitled '' Chakradhari'' in 1948. It starred

and Pushpavalli. * 1974 Kannada film '' Bhakta Kumbara'' starring Rajkumar. * V. Madhusudhana Rao directed another Telugu movie entitled '' Chakradhari'' in 1977.1977 film Chakradhari at IMDb.
/ref> It starred

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

and was a remake of 1974 Kannada film '' Bhakta Kumbara''. * A Kannada film was produced in 1960s and was named as ''Gora Kumbara'' * 1967 Marathi film ''Gora Kumbhara'', starred by

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998) was a prolific Indian actress, who later became famous as a character actress, appearing in over 700 films in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati cinema. She holds a Guinness world record of longest ac ...

and others. * Dinesh Raval directed Gujarati film ''Bhagat Gora Kumbhar'' in 1978, starring

Arvind Trivedi Arvind Trivedi (8 November 1938 – 6 October 2021) was an Indian actor and politician from Gujarat. He, alongside his brother Upendra Trivedi, was prolific in Gujarati cinema for over 40 years. He became a household name for playing the role ...

, Sarla Yevlekar, Kalpana Diwan, Shrikant Soni, Mahesh Joshi and others.

Life

In popular culture

Notes

References

Further reading