Vinoba Bhave: The Father of Bhudan Movement and a Messiah of landless labourers

 

In this article we are going to see the life and journey of the great social philosopher and the founder of Bhudan movement Shri Vinayak Narhar Bhave commonly known as Vinoba Bhave.

Vinoba Bhave was born on 11^th September 1895. There was no school in his village and hence his initial education was done at his home. Later in 1905 his family moved to Badoda. His father did not admit him school instead he himself gave him education up to 3^rd standard.

Vinoba passed Matriculation exam in 1913 and took admission in Badoda college. In his college he kept himself busy with reading books. His habit of voracious reading helped him in shaping his ideas about the life.

During his 13 year long Bhudan-tour he had given many speech all over the India. His speeches were complied and published by his disciple Nirmala Deshpande under the title “Bhudan-Ganga”.

So Vinoba was a regular visitor of “State Library” and “Central Library” in Badoda. During his college days he got attracted towards the revolutionary activities. He also participated in various meeting of revolutionaries. On the other hand he was also getting attracted towards the spirituality.

In 1914 “Vidyarthi Mandal” was founded under the leadership of Vinoba Bhave. The sole purpose of this Mandal was to organize social festivals like “Shivjayanti”, ”Ramdasnavami”, ”Ganeshostav” etc and spreading the message of nationalism through such events.

In 1912 he decided to leave his house for the service of nation. Before leaving he burned his Matriculation Certificate as he thought he didn’t need them anymore. Then in 1916 he left his house and moved towards Bombay to give the exam of intermediate. But instead of that he went to Kashi to obtain the education of Sanskrit language. During those time Kashi was the centre of Vedic and Sanskrit learning.

On 6^th Feb. 1916 Gandhiji was invited to the inauguration ceremony of the Banaras Hindu University. There in speech Gandhiji said that we should follow the path of non-violence not only in the physical form but also in emotional sense also.

Vinoba had some doubts about Gandhiji’s thoughts on non-violence. He had written some letters to Gandhji asking the same. In response Gandhiji invited him to Ashram to have a one to one discussion.

Vinoba reached at Gandhiji’s Ashram on 7^th June 1916. Vinoba had written about this meeting as “When I met Gandhi I experienced the calmness of Himalaya and Revolution of Bengal”.

Vinoba Bhave and life at Ashram

Vinoba wrote that when he met Gandhiji for the first time he was doing some work in the kitchen. All the residents of Ashram were helping each other in their work. He said that while in Ashram he made himself busy in various works.

He didn’t get a chance to speak with Mahatma for the first six months. He only observed Mahatma in that duration. He got so much influenced by the Mahatma and decided to work for him throughout his life.

As Vinoba left his house without informing his family member Gandhiji sent him back to Badoda to meet them. Vinoba’s both brothers also got attracted towards the ideology of Gandhi and joined Vinoba in his journey.

In Feb 1917 Vinoba went to the Ashram of Sri Narayanshastri Marathe in Vai village. He wanted to complete his Sanskrit education. In less than six months he obtained mastery over the Sanskrit language.

In 1917 he had written letter to Laxmanshastri Joshi where he said that Tilak era is now going to end and people will follow the path of Gandhi’s Satyagraha.

Actually till 1917 Gandhji was not that active on the political scene of India. It was only Vinoba’s foresight that predicted that Gandhiji will lead the national freedom movement.

Vinoba in Wardha Ashram

After completing his education Vinoba Bhave joined the Wardha Ashram as a coordinator. Wardha ashram was an independent branch of  Gujarat’s Shabarmati Ashram. Vinoba maintained proper discipline in the Ashram. This was the period when Gandhji had taken an active participation in the freedom struggle. Gandhji had undertook many satyagraha experiments in different parts of India.

On 13^th April 1923 a big rally was organized in Nagpur under the leadership of Jamnalal Bajaj. Police declared Curfew in Nagpur and Jamnalal Bajaj got arrested. Jawaharlal Nehru was present in Nagpur during that time. He encouraged more and more people to join the “Zenda Satyagraha”.

Many satyagrahis started coming to Nagpur and it was decided that Vinoba Bhave would lead this rally. He gave speech in-front of thousands of people. But the police took harsh actions against the protestors and also arrested Vinoba Bhave. He got sentenced for one year and shifted to Akola Prison. Later under the pressure of increasing freedom movement Government released him on 3^rd September 1923.

Vinoba Bhave and “Maharashtra Dharma”

It was the idea of Shri Jamnalal Bajaj and Shri Krishnadas Jaju that the speeches of Vinoba should be made available to the public in written form. Hence Vinoba accepted their demand and in Jan 1923 started his monthly magazine named “Maharashtra Dharma”.

Vinoba throws light on many important social and political issues through his magazine. The language of monthly was kept simple for the common people.

Vinoba Bhave and Geetai

Vinoba translated the sacred book Geeta into simple Marathi language. Vinoba’s main inspiration behind this was his mother for whom he wanted to translate Geeta into Marathi language. He completed this translation in only four months.

Geetapravachane

Geetapravachane are nothing but the series of lectures Vinoba had given while he was  in Dhule jail. Later these lectures got complied into a book named “Geetapravachane”.

Faizpur session of INC

It was the idea of Gandhiji that the annual session of Congress should also be conducted in villages. Hence the 50^th annual session was organized in the Faizpur village of Khandesh. Vinoba was entrusted with the organization of this event.

Bhudan Movement

It was the movement started by Vinoba Bhave where lands were donated by people to landless labourers. This was a very descent and peaceful movement as the government was not involved.

Through this movement Vinoba transferred thousands of acres of  lands to the landless people.

Vinoba Bhave died on 15^th November 1982. This was an end of an era of revolution.