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ShivaFan
14 January 2013, 01:06 AM
Namaste

The history of Bharat is vast. There are many heroes and many interventions by Devas and Devi. I am gathering more and more information than ever before, now that I am older. I have come upon a name that is praised by both men and Gods - but who is this person?

Recently a Hindu mentioned “Maharishi Deval” converted a number of foreigners to Hinduism using Ganga Jal. I am not familiar with this person, nor with a word “shuddhi” which I found somehow related to this. But it looks like the information is superficial.

He was praised by Krishna. And we know how long ago that must have been, certainly Deval was not a modern renown.

I decided to do a little research, and it appears the word shuddhi means purity or purification, and is associated with the including non-Hindu persons or groups into Hinduism or SD by means of ceremonial process. I was informed that the following Saints and Savants were proponents of Shuddhi, including “Maharishi Deval” and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

A couple decades ago, I was interested in the works by Veer Savarkar a modern Hindu Patriot. It came to my attention that Savarkar supported Suddhi, upon which I discovered a book by Savarkar which mentions in glowing terms Maharishi Deval, the book is “Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History”.

Regarding the reference from Lord Krishna, there is the reference to “Maharshi Deval” (notice the spelling Maharshi instead of Maharishi) in the Srimad Bhagavat Purana: “I am Sat Yug among the four Yugas, I am Maharshi Deval and Asit among the logical learned Jyanis…” (Krishna speaking to Udhava)

I believe this is the same Maharishi Deval.

I found a reference in the “Ekatmata Stotra” which is in Praise Of Bharat Mata (the Motherland, India) which lists the most famous mountains, the holy rivers, the glorious cities such as Ayodhya, Kashi, Jagannath Puri etc., which lists holy texts such as Veda, Upanishads, Ramayana etc., and when it gets to the list of noble souls distingushed and with divine virtues, it lists Buddha, Mahavir, Chaitanya (list goes on) … then “Maharshi Deval”.

I believe this is the same Maharishi Deval once again.

But I am still totally in the dark. Is he a poet? A fighting hero? A Muni or religious figure? A philosopher? Does anyone know about Maharishi Deval, I am very interested in finding some source material or information. I could not find anything further other than what I just shared. There might be experts on HDF regarding this?

Om Namah Sivaya

Viraja
17 January 2013, 07:56 PM
How about the link http://sushmajee.com/biographies/bio-C-D/deval.htm - Speaks of him as the one who cursed 'hoohoo' to become the crocodile of the 'Gajendra Moksha' story.

Pranam.

Shrinivas Tilak
18 January 2013, 08:53 AM
How about the link http://sushmajee.com/biographies/bio-C-D/deval.htm - Speaks of him as the one who cursed 'hoohoo' to become the crocodile of the 'Gajendra Moksha' story.

Pranam.
(1) Devala is a sage great antiquity. Shankaracharya refers to him in his commentary on the Brahmasutra as a write of a smriti. Indeed, a smriti called Devalasmriti exists, which has been edited by Prof M. L. Wadekar in two volumes (Delhi: Koshal Book Depot, 1997). Prakarana two of the third adhyaya of Deval smriti provides detailed instructions on how to take back into the Hindu fold men and women who forcibly converted to Islam. Devala explains different procedures of 'purification' for those who had become 'mlecchas' in the past (from one day to upto twenty years).

(2) The Devala smriti opens with an account of how sages approached sage Devala who was meditating on the banks of the Sindhu river and inquired about penances for the purification of those who were kidnapped by mlecchas. Modern scholars locate this text into the eighth century.

Shrinivas Tilak

ShivaFan
19 January 2013, 11:49 AM
Namaste Shrinivas Tilak

This is exactly the information I was looking for! Thank you so much. Have you heard of scholar Sita Ram Goel (he wrote "How I Became a Hindu"). He has a "Voice of India" site, however he has passed away. He seems to have some very interesting books!

Om Namah Sivaya