Tapovan Maharaj

Tapovan Maharaj Biography

Tapovan Maharaj was a spiritual leader and religious saint related to Hinduism, who lived during 1889–1957. He was a Hindu saint and Vedanta scholar. The spiritual leader Swami Sundaranand was his prime disciple who succeeded him. Sundaranand lived with Swami Tapovan in the then inaccessible area of Gangotri, and he received a special transmission from his guru on January, 1957 upon Swami Tapovanam’s passing. Sundaranand has been living in Gangotri, at the source of the sacred Ganges River in the Indian Himalayas since then.

Tapovan Maharaj is regarded as one the renowned saints among his contemporaries, in the pre-independent era. He was born in the year 1889 in Palakkad, Kerala on the Suklapaksha Ekadasi day of Mrigaseersha month. His mother, Kunchamma belonged to a Nair family. His father, Achutan Nair, belonged to Koduvayur. Since childhood he showed early signs of spirituality. He was deeply interested in worshipping idols since then. He was admitted to the local English school. But he didn’t show interest in modern studies. Later he learnt the languages, English, Malayalam and Sanskrit by himself. He was interested in reading religious literature belonging to different languages.

He had the quest of spiritual knowledge and self-realisation, and he turned a speaker. He did not believe in the system of "ashrams", and later led a strict solitary lifestyle in the Himalayan region of Uttaranchal. He resided at Gangotri, Uttarkashi and Rishikesh, three holy areas of Ganges. He later authored two books - "Wanderings in the Himalayas" and "Kailasa Yatra”, and one autobiography in Sanskrit titled "Ishvara Darshana". He was a deep nature lover too. He passed away on 16^th January 1957.

Published: January 17, 2019

Updated: January 17, 2019