Most of the great ones of our country come from humble backgrounds and rose to heights. Those who came from higher social backgrounds they went through severe humbling experiences to gain sublime heights.
Early life & education
Vinoba Bhave had a humble background.
He was born to Narhari Bhave and Rakhumai on 11 September, 1895 at Gogada village of Maharashtra. It is said that family originally lived in Ratnagiri district of the same province. Then, it migrated to Limb village of Satara district. The family again shifted to another village called Wai. One of the family members once served in the army of Maratha Peshwa. His name was Narsing Rao Bhave. Peshwa was an ally of British East India Company that was trying to establish its control over the entire land of India which involved battles. In one such battle Peshwa sent his army to aid the British. Narsing displayed exceptional bravery in that battle. The British were so pleased that they gave a village named Gogada (Colaba) to the Bhave family.
Thus, the Bhave family started living at Gogada and it became the newborn’s birth place. The childhood christened name of Vinoba Bhave was Vinayak Narhari Bhave. As per the tradition of Maharashtra the middle name represent the father’s first name. So, the child’s own real name was Vinayak. Thus, for the family the newborn was Vinayak. Vinayak had living grandpa named Shambhoorao Bhave. He was a man of religion who believed in daily prayers, worship and the fasting rituals. At the time of worship he used to ooze devotion and faith in the deity.
The devotion of Shambhoorao caught the imagination of Vinayak who began to rever his grandpa. He would note every ritual of Shambhoorao. Incidentally Shambhoorao used to keep a particular ‘moon phase fast’ which fascinated him. He would start it with the beginning of the ascendancy of moon with one morsel of food and add a morsel everyday. In the descendancy phase he would decrease a morsel each day to have only one morsel on moonless day.
During that period Shambhoorao would worship and pray to Chandrama (Moon god) and take the morsels due for that particular day of the moon phase. The worship was performed at the moon rise. Every moon phase day the moon rose at different hours, sometimes at the evening or midnight or at morning hours. At the worship hour the children would be woken up and fed Prasadam of the worship. At odd hours the children would be sleepy and they would act mechanically and go through the ritual of receiving prasadam and gulping down. The old man would encourage the kids to open their eyes to set their sights at the moon to get the divine blessings.
Vinayak’s grandma was also a character. She was a very hardworking, proud and jolly woman. At the age of 55 years she was seized by a desire to learn the letters. She was illiterate. With strong determination she got down to learn. And she did it. Within a couple of years she was reading books and writing.
Her jolly nature made her popular with everyone. She was a good mimic and was capable of sending others in splits of laughter. Vinayak was her loved one.
