MANJUSHRI GOKHALE

KABIR KHAN IS A YOUNG MUSLIM BOY. BEING AN ORPHAN HE DOES NOT HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT RELIGION. ALL THE PEOPLE WHO BUILD HIS LIFE ARE HINDUS. SO HE IS COMPLETELY APART FROM HIS OWN RELIGION. BECAUSE OF SOME INCIDENCES IN HIS LIFE HE COMES TO KNOW ABOUT HIS OWN RELIGION. THE KNOWLEDGE OF RELIGION DISTURBS HIS LIFE AND HE FEELS LONELY. AT THE SAME TIME HE COMES TO KNOW THAT HIS BELOVED DAUGHTER HAS A HOLE IN HER HEART AND HE COLLAPSES. SHE NEEDS A HEART TRANSPLANT. WHOSE HEART DOES SHE GET? AN EMOTIONAL MESSAGE OF INTERFAITH HARMONY.

IN THIS HOLY LAND OF SAINTS, JANABAI HAS GOT A RECOGNITION. HER WORK IS GREAT IN ALL ASPECTS. AND WHEN WE CONSIDER THE SITUATION OF THE SOCIETY AND THE LEVELS THAT THE SOCIETY WAS BASED UPON AND OF COURSE THE DEPRIVATION OF THE WOMEN, HER WORK RECEIVES GREAT CREDENTIALS. JANA WAS BORN TO DAMA AND KURUND, THE UNTOUCHABLES AND NEEDLESS TO SAY A VERY POOR COUPLE, FROM GANGAKHED, A SMALL VILLAGE IN MARATHWADE. SHE WAS CONCEIVED AFTER A WAIT FOR MANY YEARS AND LOST HER MOTHER AT A VERY YOUNG AGE. HER FATHER LEFT HER WITH AN ELDERLY COUPLE AT PANDHARPUR. THEIR SON NAMDEO, THE RENOWNED SAINT PROTECTED HER RIGHT FROM THEIR CHILDHOOD. SHE ALWAYS CALLED HERSELF AS HIS 'HUMBLE SERVANT', BUT WAS MORE LIKE A DISCIPLE TO HIM. JANA EMERGED AS A SAINT AFTER LOT OF STRUGGLE AND HARDSHIP. SHE DID NOT DO IT ON PURPOSE. BUT AS SHE HEARD THE TEACHINGS NAMDEO WAS RECEIVING, AS SHE OBSERVED HIM WRITING AND READING, SHE LEARNT A LOT. SHE STARTED EXPRESSING HER FEELINGS TOWARDS LORD VITTHALA, COMPILING THEM IN ABHANGAS. SHE HAD A CRAVING DEEP WITHIN. SHE WAS PULLED TOWARDS LORD VITTHALA WITH AN UNKNOWN FORCE. SHE FOUND HIM TO BE HER CONSTANT COMPANION. SHE WAS TASTED SEVERELY FOR HER DEVOTION AND THEN ACCEPTED BY THE LORD. SHE FOUND SOLACE AT HIS FEET WHEN THE TIME WAS RIGHT.

DNYANSURYACHEE SAWALI IS A NOVEL BASED ON THE LIFE OF SOPANDEO, A THIRTEENTH CENTURY SAINT AND THE YOUNGER BROTHER OF SAINT DNYANESHWAR. SOPANDEO LIVED UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ELDER BROTHER. LIKE HIS SIBLINGS - NIVRUTTINATH, DNYANESHWAR AND MUKTABAI -- SOPANDEO ALSO SUFFERED IN THE CHILDHOOD. HE WAS STUDIOUS BY NATURE AND THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN NIVRUTTINATH (THE ELDEST BROTHER WAS THE SPIRITUAL GURU OF BOTH DNYANESHWAR AND SOPANDEO) LED TO HIS WRITING THE SOPANDEVI WHICH IS THE TRANSLATION OF THE BHAGWAD GEETA . SOPANDWO'S WORK DIFFERS FROM THE DNYANESHWARI WHICH IS ALSO THE RENDERING OF THE BHAGWAD GEETA INTO MARATHI IN THAT IT IN A DIFFERENT FORM OF MARATHI. LIKE DNYANESHWAR, FEELING THAT HIS AIM OF LIFE HAS BEEN REALIZED, SOPANDEO ALSO UNDERTOOK SANJEEVAN SAMADHI (ENDING ONE'S LIFE VOLUNTARILY) AT A VERY YOUNG AGE. THE FLASHBACK STYLE OF NARRATION WHICH BEGINS WITH THE SANJEEVAN SAMADHI OF DNYANESHWAR AND ENDS WITH THAT OF SOPANDEO TRACING IN BETWEEN THE LIFE OF THE YOUNG SAINT AND HOW HE ATTAINED THE SAINTHOOD IS EFFECTIVE.