Tag: VitthalTemple
-
One of Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar’s most significant contributions to social reform in India was his active fight against the deeply ingrained practice of untouchability. Besides Savarkar’s Vitthal Temple Entry Movement, another remarkable milestone in this campaign was the founding of the Patit-Pawana-Mandir (Temple of the Redeemed) in Ratnagiri, a powerful symbol of inclusion and…
-
The Vitthal Temple in Ratnagiri, located in Maharashtra’s Konkan region, became one of the most symbolically charged sites in early 20th-century Hindu social reform. Dedicated to Lord Vitthal (‘Vithoba’) – a form of Vishnu-Krishna revered as the deity of the common people – the temple held both religious and social significance for the local Hindu…
-
Savarkar’s Struggle Against Untouchability, Part III In pre-colonial India, the caste system established a deeply entrenched hierarchy that confined individuals to rigid social categories. Among its harshest expressions was the exclusion of the so-called Untouchables from Hindu temples. The larger and wealthier the temple, the more uncompromising the restrictions. For centuries, such practices persisted unchallenged,…
-
When we think of Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganeshotsava), the name of Bal Gangadhar (Lokmanya) Tilak often comes first. In the 1890s, Tilak had transformed a private household ritual into a public celebration — a powerful tool for awakening nationalist spirit and resisting colonial rule. But three decades later, in 1925, another revolutionary, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (Veer…