Focus: GS I: History
Why in News?
Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid tributes to Acharya Vinoba Bhave on his Jayanti, 11th September.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave
- Original name: Vinayak Narahari Bhave
- Birth: September 11, 1895, in a Chitpavan Brahmin family at Gagoda village of the Konkan area of Maharashtra.
- Along with reading the texts, he studied Sanskrit and a number of regional languages.
- The “Kannada” script was referred to as the “Queen of World Scripts” or “Vishwa Lipigala Raani” by Vinoba Bhave.
- He is considered as India’s National Teacher.
- Bhave committed his life to religious work and the fight for liberation, keeping his vow of celibacy throughout.
- Died in 1982, Wardha, Maharashtra.
Role in Freedom Struggle:
- In 1918, Bhave burned his books rather than showing up for an exam in Bombay.
- After reading an article by Mahatma Gandhi, something transpired.
- He was a devoted supporter of Gandhi.
- Gandhi in India chose Bhave to be the “First Individual Satyagrahi” against the British Raj in 1940.
- Bhave was crucial to the movement to Quit India.
Role in Social Work
Bhoodan Movement 1951:
- At Pochampally in Telangana, Vinoba Bhave launched the Bhoodan Movement, a land donation movement.
- He obtained given land from Indian landowners and distributed it to the underprivileged and landless so they might cultivate it.
Gramdan:
- Then after 1954, he started to ask for donations of whole villages in a programme he called Gramdan.
- He got more than 1000 villages by way of donation. Out of these, he obtained 175 donated villages in Tamil Nadu alone.
Brahma Vidya Mandir:
- It is a tiny community for women that was established as part of Bhave’s ashrams in order for them to become independent and non-violent in a community.
- This group farms to provide for themselves, but they follow Gandhi’s principles for food production, which include social justice and sustainability.
Sarvodaya Movement:
- Vinoba observed the life of the average Indian living in a village and tried to find solutions for the problems he faced with a firm spiritual foundation. This formed the core of his Sarvodaya movement.
- Sarvodaya is Gandhi’s most important social political movement. Like Satyagraha, it too is a combination of two terms, Sarva meaning one and all, and Uday meaning welfare or uplift. The conjunction thus implies Universal uplift or welfare of all as the meaning of Sarvodaya.
- Although Sarvodaya was a social ideology in its fundamental form, India’s immediate post independence requirement demanded that it be transformed into an urgent political doctrine.
Some of his works:-
- The essence of Quran
- The essence of Christian teachings
- Thoughts on education
- Swarajya Sastra
- Geeta Pravachane,
- Teesri Shakti or The Third Power
