Sant Gadge Baba: the unlettered saint of cleanliness whom Dr B.R. Ambedkar revered
Sant Gadge Baba, also called Gadge Maharaj, was one of modern India's most remarkable social reformers — and one of the least remembered outside Maharashtra. He never went to school, yet tens of thousands followed him, and Dr B.R. Ambedkar held him in deep respect. On his birth anniversary, 23 February, VoxyTalksy looks at his life and work.
Who was Gadge Baba?
He was born Debuji Zingraji Janorkar on 23 February 1876 in Shendgaon in what is now Amravati district of Maharashtra, into a poor family. He took to the life of a wandering ascetic, dressed in rags and carrying an earthen pot — a "gadge" — which gave him his name. He would arrive in a village carrying a broom, clean its streets himself, and only then speak to the people who gathered.
A sermon with a broom
Gadge Baba's message was simple and practical: cleanliness, education, and an end to superstition, animal sacrifice, caste discrimination and alcoholism. His kirtans used humour and everyday language to make people question blind faith. He raised money not for temples but for dharamshalas, schools, hostels and shelters for the poor, many of which still run today. Because of this, he is often described as the father of the cleanliness movement in modern India. Maharashtra's rural sanitation campaign, the Sant Gadge Baba Gram Swachhata Abhiyan, and Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University are both named after him.
Gadge Baba and Ambedkar
The two men came from very different worlds — one an unschooled saint, the other one of the most educated Indians of his time — but they shared a commitment to dignity and equality. Ambedkar admired Gadge Baba's selfless service, and Gadge Baba supported Ambedkar's work for the oppressed. Gadge Baba died on 20 December 1956, only two weeks after Ambedkar.
Coincidences worth noting
In the video we also discuss the parallels many people see between Gadge Baba's life, the Buddha's message of reason and compassion, and Ambedkar's struggle for social justice. Watch the full video to learn why an "uneducated" man had so much to teach modern India.
