INDIA. Mumbai: On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reopen the restored Jagatguru Shrisant Tukaram Maharaj Temple in Dehu, Maharashtra, in the presence of a large number of Warkari Sampradaya members.
The inauguration is slated to be held at Lashkar Maidan in Dehu at around 1.45 pm.
On Sunday, Nitin Maharaj More, Chairman of the Jagadguru Sant Tukaram Maharaj Sansthan (JSTMS), Dehu, and Lieutenant Colonel Bhupendra Sagi performed a formal puja at the place.
Sant Tukaram Maharaj
Sant Tukaram Maharaj was a 17th-century Hindu saint and Marathi poet, popularly known as Tuka, He belonged to the Warkari Sampradaya. A Varkari is a devotee of Lord Vitthal who visits Padharpur (lord vitthal’s temple) on Ashadhi Ekadashi.
Tukaram was known for Abhyanga devotional poetry and community-oriented worship through spiritual songs known as “kirtans”.
Sant Tukaram lived in Dehu. After his death, a Shila Mandir was created, but it was not technically structured like a temple.
Shila refers to a rock that is currently on the Dehu Sansthan temple premises, and that for centuries has been the starting point of Wari, the annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur(Solapur district).
Sant Tukaram had sat on this piece of rock for 13 continuous days when challenged about the authenticity of the Abhyangs he had written.
Nitin Maharaj More said that before this, the saint had immersed his entire work in the Indrayani river; the work miraculously reappeared after 13 days, proving its authenticity. “The very rock where Sant Tukaram Maharaj sat for 13 days is pious and a place of pilgrimage for the Warkari sect,” he added.
Devotees used to pay reverence to the rock, which was covered by a silver cast with an image of Sant Tukaram. The silver mask was stolen in 2008 and was discovered a few days later on the banks of the Indrayani.
As such the Sansthan decided to replace the silver covering with an image of Sant Tukaram Maharaj on the rock, with a temple housing both.
Now the temple has been rebuilt in stone masonry with 36 peaks and carries an idol of Sant Tukaram.
Gallery of Revolutionaries
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Jal Bhushan Building and Gallery of Revolutionaries at Raj Bhavan in South Mumbai at roughly 4:15 p.m., after the inauguration of the Sant Tukaram Temple in Pune. Since 1885, the Maharashtra Governor’s official house has been Jal Bhushan.
The building was subsequently demolished and a new building was sanctioned in its place. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in August 2019.
“All distinctive features of the old building have been preserved in the newly-constructed building,” official sources said.
Then-Governor of Maharashtra Vidyasagar Rao discovered a bunker at Raj Bhavan in 2016, which had been utilized by Britishers as a secret storage facility for weaponry and munitions. In 2019, the bunker was rebuilt.
The Gallery of Revolutionaries has been developed in the bunker as one of its kind museums, to commemorate the contributions of freedom fighters and revolutionaries of Maharashtra.
It offers tributes to the contributions of Vasudev Balwant Phadke, the Chaphekar brothers, the Savarkar brothers, Madam Bhikaji Cama, V B Gogate, Naval Mutiny in 1946, among others.
Thereafter, at around 6 PM, Prime Minister Modi will participate in Dwishatabdi Mahotsav (the 200 the year) of “Mumbai Samachar” at Bandra Kurla Complex in northwest Mumbai.
The printing of “Mumbai Samachar” as a weekly was started on July 01, 1822, by Fardunjee Marzbanji. It, later on, became a daily in 1832 and came to be known as the oldest continuously published Gujarati newspaper in India.
Its head office is located in an iconic red-and-white striking colonial building in the Horniman Circle area of South Mumbai. The newspaper has been published continuously for 200 years. To commemorate this unique feat, a postal stamp will also be released on the occasion.
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