About:
- Samarth Ramdas (1608 – 1681 AD), also known as Sant (saint) Ramdas or Ramdas Swami or simply Ramdas was an Indian Marathi Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, writer and spiritual master.
- He was a devotee of the Hindu deities Rama and Hanuman.
- Ramdas initiated the Samarth sect to revive spirituality in the society.
- Unlike the Warkari saints, Ramdas is not deemed a pacifist and his writings include strong expressions encouraging nationalism means to counter the aggressive invaders.
- Dāsbodh, loosely meaning "advice to the disciple" in Marathi, is a 17th-century bhakti (devotion) and jnana (insight) spiritual text. It was orally narrated by the saint Samarth Ramdas to his disciple, Kalyan Swami.
Links with Shivaji and Sambhaji
- The first Maratha ruler, Chatrapati Shivaji Bhonsle I was a contemporary of Ramdas.
- Historians have proposed that the two met each other around 1672 when Shivaji provided grant for the math (Hindu Monastery) of Ramdas at Chaphal.
- After Shivaji's death, Ramdas wrote a letter to his elder son Sambhaji Bhonsle I, advising him on the future course of action after Shivaji's death.
