Mahipati

Mahipati was born in A.D 1715 at Taharabad, in the Rahruri subdivision, about 35 miles from Ahmadnagar in the Bombay Presidency. He wrote the lives of the saints in the Marathi language. His authorities were principally Nabhaji and Uddava Chiddghan. He has himself given the Shaka year 1696 (A.D 1774) as the date of completion of his Bhakta Lilamrita. He died in A.D 1790.

He was a "Deshastha Brahmin" by birth, and worked for some time as a scribe/record keeper for the local government of the town of Tharabad in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.

There is a legend about Mahipati which runs thus:

One day, outside his working hours, his superior sent a messenger to his house to ask him to come to the superior's office immediately for some urgent official business. When the messenger arrived at his house, Mahipati was engaged in the worship of God, and asked the messenger to take back a message that he would be coming to the superior's office as soon as he was done with his worship. The messenger insisted, however, that Mahipati should come with him right away. Very reluctantly, Mahipati cut short his worship, accompanied the messenger to the superior's office, finished the urgent business, and let the superior know that he no longer wanted to stay in the secular job and that he preferred to use his pen thenceforth exclusively for writing religious material. Soon after that, Mahipati received one night in his dream both a mantra and a command from the departed spirit of Sant Tukaram to write the life stories of past prominent religious figures in Maharashtra. Accordingly, Mahipati put together his noteworthy biographical book BhaktaVijay in Marathi. He also wrote another book titled BhaktaLeelĝmrut.Dnyĝneshwar, Nĝmdev, Janĝbai, Eknĝth, and Tukaram are revered especially in the wĝrakari (वारकरी) sect in Maharashtra. Whatever information about the lives of the above saints of Maharashtra comes mostly from the works Bhakti-Wijay and Bhakti-Leelĝmrut written by Mahipati. Mahipati was born 65 years after the death of Tukaram, (Tukaram having died 50 years, 300 years, and 353 years after the deaths of Ekanath, Namdev, and Dnyaneshwar, respectively.) Thus, Mahipati undoubtedly based his life sketches of all above "sants" primarily on hearsays.

His other major works include:

• Santa Lilamrita (A.D 1757)
• Bhakta Vijaya (A.D 1762)
• Katha Saramrita (A.D 1765)
• Bhakta Lilmrita (A.D 1774)
• Santa Vijaya (A.D 1774)

References

• Macauliffe, M.A (1909). The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus Sacred Writings and Authors. Low Price Publications. ISBN 8175361328.
• भकढ़त लीलामृत - महिपतिबोवा चरितढ़र