Maharshi Annasaheb Patwardhan
Vidyut Joshi
12 March 2024
Childhood
Vinayak Ramchandra Patwardhan, well known as Annasaheb Patwardhan was born on 4th May 1847 into a household of an elite Sardar of the Peshwa. His home or Wada as is more locally known, is in Pune, right in front of the famous ShaniwarWada.
His mother Janakibai a formidable ‘sadhak’ is said to have done grave penance to be blessed with such a resplendent son.
Right from his childhood Vinayaka was attracted to the spiritual side of mankind. As a little child he was very fond of ‘angaara’ (Vibhuooti) of various Gods. He started taking darshan and did pradakshina (circumambulation) of Gundacha Ganapati every single day right from the time he was 7 years old. When he was 8 years of age, met his Guru Narasimha Saraswati, but at that time he wasn’t aware of what that meant. At age 12, he had an encounter with an evil being (Pishacha), but instead of getting scared he found the episode to be rather funny.
Medical, Law and Practice
Young Vinayak had two simple principles in life. Whatever he said ever, must always be the truth and never to say ‘no’ to anyone’s request. He lived up to these principles right upto his dying day.
He graduated in BA from the Deccan College, Pune and then later went to Mumbai to study Law, so as to graduate with LLB. While visiting one of his friends at the Grant Medical College (now J.J), he inadvertently said to a British doctor-professor teaching there, that he was a student of medicine at that very college. So that these words he had spoken should not be falsified, Vinayak got himself admitted in the medical college. This meant that he was studying both Law and Medicine (LMS) at the same time.
The Journals of Grant Medical college, are very well known today, but it is a little known fact that these medical journals were started by Annasaheb in 1874. To do the certification of this medical Journal, Queen Victoria's doctor was summoned. He was very amazed and impressed with the content of the journal and found it hard to believe that it was written by a student of the college.
While studying this ‘western’ medicine, Vinayak did not like the idea of injections and operations. He felt that instead of healing the body from the outside, it must be done from within and harmoniously with the ‘type of body’ one has. So, he began his studies in Ayurvedic Medicine as well.
This was that brilliant mind that could absorb all 3 degrees at the same time.
Vinayak even opened a hospital offering free medical care, while he was still a student. His diagnosis was so precise that even his doctor professors used to have him accompany them to make sure that their diagnosis was correct. Vinayak was already publishing the GMC Journals, he decided to publish the VaidyaSudha which talked about Indian Ayurvedic remedies. He wanted to do a comparative study of western medicine remedies versus Ayurvedic remedies, document them and publish the results. Interestingly, he was able to cure a tiger maul victim with Ayurved, when western medicine had no cure for it at that time. Vinayak ran 2 hospitals parallelly to study and compare the 2 streams of medicine. The Ayurvedic hospital was run by Madhav Shastri Lavgankar and the western medicine hospital was run by Dr. Bhau Gopal Mantri.
Dr. Smith of the Grant Medical college used to respect Vinayak’s skill of diagnosis. This very skill of diagnosis is, what, he became famously known for in his later life. ‘Nadi Pariksha’ is a technique in Ayurveda, one has to feel the pulse at a particular time and manner to read the inner signals of the body. Annasaheb, it is said, would at a time do the nadipariksha of 100 patients one after the other, so as to do it within that particular time. Then he would prescribe medicine for all those 100 patients one after the other. Such was his skill!! Inspite of being such a skillful doctor, he never charged a single paisa to his patients, he practiced medicine just as a social service. The great saint Gulabrao Maharaj, spend the last few days/months of his life in the company of Annashab.
Social Welfare and Nationalist Work
Annasaheb was obsessed with social welfare and always worked for the betterment of the society. He along with Vishnushastri Pandit were the pioneers, and did a lot of work for widow remarriage. He would find references from our Vedic scriptures to debate on this topic with Shankaracharya as well. He worked close with Madhav Ranade (Justice Ranade) to establish many other social reforms. He also served as the president of the Poorna Sarvajanik Sabha.
Annasaheb was very clear and firm about one’s duty (Swadharma) and one’s nation (Swadesh), and hence the likes of Lokmanya Tilak would consult with him on various political issues. Annasaheb was the motivation of the newspapers Kesari and Mahratta.
When Tilak was freed from Mandalay jail, he first visited Annashabeb before he went home. Very many freedom struggle movement’s meetings/planning would take place at Annasaheb’s home.
A novel plan that he had made to free a part of India from British rule was to buy out the area of Vidarbha region (then referred to as Berar or Varhad), which was mortgaged to Britishers by the Nizam of Hyderabad. To buy out, the daring plan was to start a bank in Hyderabad and get a loan sanctioned. Unfortunately, the plan failed due to the demise of a major contributor Salarjung of Hyderabad.
It boggles one’s mind to even think that this great man worked in so many varied fields, and that too so silently, without making a song and dance about it. He was never a one to collect a ‘following’ of disciples, nor did he ever want people to glorify or idolize him.
Spiritual Life
So how did this very affluent man with so many professional degrees, a face to recon with in the social reform’s scene, become a Maharishi?
Annasaheb began to believe that for freeing his country from the clutches of foreign rule, it needs divine support. This belief is what caused a complete spiritual turn in his life.
Narasimha Saraswati’s divine sight always watched over Annasaheb, he used to always tell Annasaheb, “Learn to see without your physical eyes, instead of dissecting dead bodies to figure out what is inside, try to go within the body instead.” Annasaheb, later acquired all these siddhis with his Guru’s blessings, over a period of 36years.
The Swami of Kanchi too was a huge contributor towards transforming Annasaheb into a Yogi. Annasaheb often did difficult and meditative penance, like eating only neem leaves when doing the ‘Gayatri Purashcharan’, and that too for 12 years. He received the ‘Pradnya Vardhan Stotra’ on the bidding of Narasimha Saraswati Maharaj. Annasaheb is said to have interacted with Gajanan Maharaj as well.
Annasaheb literally lived the essence of Karmayog mentioned in the Geeta. He believed that every single action that you perform in the course of your life contributes in cleansing the Atman to reveal the true Self. All the indications of a Sthitaprajna that are mentioned in the Geeta, seem to match Annasaheb.
Annasaheb passed away on the 2nd Feb 1917. His Smarak is at Omkareswar and every year there is an Utsav to celebrate this Maharishi.
This was just a small glimpse of this great personality.
Writer’s note
I got to learn about Annasaheb Patwardhan after I was married to his great-great-grandson Shrirang Joshi ( son of Shakuntala Patwardhan. The lineage is, Annasaheb -- Ramchandra -- Neelkantha -- Shakuntala --Shrirang ).
Most of my references are from a book called ‘Maharshi Annasaheb Patwardhan’ by Apprabuddha. Some are based on stories carried down by over the generations in the Patwardhan household.
The images/photo credits are from various sources on the internet. I have listed out a few. I give my due thanks to them.
Also a list of references to various writeups and papers from the internet are mentioned, you may read them for further details.
https://map.sahapedia.org/article/Vinayak%20Ramchandra%20Patwardhan%20/1597
https://www.thisday.app/story/untold-stories-of-the-freedom-struggle-160
http://www.gajanan-shegaon.com/int_page.asp?page=contemp
https://cdn.dbthengadi.in/scan/Nationalist_Pursuit.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poona_Sarvajanik_Sabha
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Arvind+Athalye
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Annasaheb_Patwardhan_Samadhi_Mandir,_Pune.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/@NEWSONAIROFFICIAL
I have some memories of the wada in which Annasaheb Patwardhan lived. My engagement to Shrirang happed in this wada and I am sharing some photos from my personal library.
