Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Vinoba Bhave on his birth anniversary, saying he carried forward the noble Gandhian principles after India attained independence.
About Vinoba Bhave
- Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s original name was Vinayak Narahari Bhave.
- Born Vinayak Narahari Bhave to Narahari Rao and Rukmini Devi, Vinoba Bhave had a deep sense of spiritualism instilled in him at a very young age by his religious mother.
- He was born on September 11, 1895, in a Chitpav Brahmin family in Gagoda village of the Konkan area of Maharashtra.
- He had read the Bhagavad Gita in his early years and was drawn towards spiritualism and asceticism despite being an academically good student.
- He learnt various regional languages and Sanskrit along with reading the scriptures.
Major contributions
- He worked towards eliminating social inequities. He started the Sarvodaya Movement which meant ‘Progress for all’.
- He also took part in nonviolent agitations against the British government, for which he was imprisoned.
- He created the Brahma Vidya Mandir which was a small community of women enabling them to become self-sufficient.
- In 1951, Bhave started the Bhoodan Movement in Pochampally, Telangana.
- He authored several books and was well-versed in many languages including Marathi, Gujarati, Sanskrit, English, Urdu and Hindi.
- He was awarded the Roman Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1958.
- In 1983, he received the Bharat Ratna posthumously.
- Vinoba Bhave died on 15 November 1982 due to a serious illness.
Bhoodan movement
- The Bhoodan Movement (Land Gift Movement) attempted to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give a percentage of their land to landless people.
- It is also known as the Bloodless Revolution was a voluntary land reform movement in India.
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How were Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi related?
- Vinoba Bhave met Mahatma Gandhi in 1916.
- He was chosen by Gandhi as the first individual Satyagrahi in a nonviolent movement in the year 1940.
- After this event, the unknown Vinoba Bhave became known to the whole country.
