Sant Janābāi was a Marāthi religious poet in the

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 ...

tradition in India, who was born likely in the seventh or the eighth decade of the 13th century. She died in 1350. Janabai was born in Gangākhed 1258-1350,

Mahārāshtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subd ...

to a couple with first names ''rand'' and ''Karand''. Under the

caste system Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...

the couple belonged to the matang. After her mother died, her father took her to Pandharpur. Since her childhood, Janabai worked as a maid servant in the household of ''Dāmāsheti'', who lived in

Pandharpur Pandharpur (Pronunciation: əɳɖʱəɾpuːɾ is a well known pilgrimage town, on the banks of Candrabhagā River, near Solapur city in Solapur District, Maharashtra, India. Its administrative area is one of eleven tehsils in the District ...

and who was the father of the prominent Marathi religious poet Nāmdev. Janabai was likely a little older than Namdev, and attended to him for many years. Pandharpur has high religious significance especially among Marathi-speaking Hindus. Janabai's employers, Damasheti and his wife, ''Gonāi'', were very religious. Through the influence of the religious environment around her and her innate inclination, Janabai was always an ardent devotee of Lord

Vitthal Vithoba, also known as Vi(t)thal(a) and Panduranga, is a Hindu deity predominantly worshipped in the Indian state of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He is generally considered as a manifestation of the god Vishnu, or his avatar Krishna. Vithoba is ...

. She was also a talented poet. Though she never had any formal schooling, she composed many high-quality religious verses of the ''

abhang Abhanga () is a form of Hindu devotional movements, devotional poetry sung in praise of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vithoba, Vitthal, also known as Vithoba. The word "abhang" comes from ''a'' for "non-" and ''bhang'' for "ending" or "interrupting", in o ...

(अभंग)'' form. Some of her compositions were preserved along with those of Namdev. Authorship of about 300 ''abhang'' is traditionally attributed to Janabai. However, researchers believe that quite a few of them were in fact compositions of some other writers. Along with Dnyāneshwar, Nāmdev, Eknāth, and

Tukaram Sant Tukaram Maharaj (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam was a 17th-century Marathi poet, Hindu ''sant'' (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) - ...

, Janabai has a revered place in the minds of Marathi-speaking Hindus who belong especially to the '' wārakari (वारकरी)'' sect in Maharashtra. In accord with a tradition in India of assigning the epithet ''sant (संत)'' to persons regarded as thoroughly saintly, all of the above religious figures including Janabai are commonly attributed that epithet in Maharashtra. Thus, Janabai is routinely referred to as ''Sant Janabai (संत जनाबाई)''.

References

External links

Janabai: Poems and Biography
{{authority control Medieval Hindu religious leaders 14th-century Indian poets 1350 deaths Poets from Maharashtra Warkari Hindu female religious leaders Indian women poets 14th-century Indian women writers 14th-century Indian writers Women mystics Marathi Hindu saints

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