Gora Kumbhar

Sant Gora Kumbhar (also known as Goroba) was a Hindu sant associated with the Bhakti movement and the Varkari sect of Maharashtra. He was a potter by trade and devotee of Vithal.[1]

Sant Gora Kumbhar
Personal
Born	c.1267
Died	c.1317
Religion	Hinduism
Nationality	Indian
Sect	Varakari
Known for	his bhakti(devotion) for his god
Philosophy	Bhakti movement
Religious career
Guru	Vithal

Gora Kumbhar and other saints also wrote and sung hundreds of Abhangs (Shabads which can not be destroyed). The central tenet of the Varkari sect was the daily chanting of Kirtan. This sect attached least importance to the position/status of person in society.

Life

Gora Kumbhar is traditionally believed to have lived in the village of Satyapuri, presently known as Goraba Ter in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra State. He is believed to have been a contemporary of Namdev. He is thought to have lived between ca. 1267 and ca. 1317 CE.[2][3] A small temple named after him was built in the village and is visited by devotees.[3]

In popular culture

Several motion pictures have been produced in India, about the life and bhakthi of Gora Kumbhar:

• K. S. Gopalakrishnan[lower-alpha 1] directed the Telugu movie entitled Chakradhari in 1948. It starred Chittor V. Nagaiah and S. Varalakshmi.[4]
• K. S. Gopalakrishnan[lower-alpha 1] directed the Tamil movie entitled Chakradhari in 1948. It starred Chittor V. Nagaiah and Pushpavalli.
• 1974 Kannada film Bhakta Kumbara starring Rajkumar.
• V. Madhusudhan Rao directed another Telugu movie entitled Chakradhari in 1977.[5] It starred Akkineni Nageswara Rao 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 and others.
• Dinesh Raval directed Gujarati film Bhagat Gora Kumbhar in 1978, starring Arvind Trivedi, Sarla Yevlekar, Kalpana Diwan, Shrikant Soni, Mahesh Joshi and others.

Notes

1. Not K. S. Gopalakrishnan

References

1. Vanina, Eugenia (2012). Medieval Indian Mindscapes: Space, Time, Society, Man. Primus Books. p. 188. ISBN 9789380607191.
2. Novetzke, Christian Lee (2008). Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India. New York, Chichester, UK: Columbia University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-231-14184-0.
3. "Osmanabad District". osmanabad.nic.in Official website of Dist. Admin. Osmanabad District Administration. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
4. 1948 film Chakradhari at IMDb.
5. 1977 film Chakradhari at IMDb.

Further reading

• Novetzke, Christian Lee (2013). Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231512565.