BORN– 1856, Kerela

OCCUPATION– Social reformer

DIED– 20th september, 1928

Narayana Guru, also known as Sree Narayana Guru (c. 1856 – 20 September 1928) was a social reformer of India. He was born into a Kerala family in an era when people from such communities faced social injustice .He led a reform movement in Kerala, rejected casteism, and promoted new values of spiritual freedom and social equality. He stressed the need for the spiritual and social uplift of the downtrodden by their own efforts through the establishment of temples and educational institutions.

Family and early life

1.He was born probably in 1856 ,  in the village of Chempazhanthy near Thiruvananthapuram.His childhood name was Nani.

2.he was educated at least in part by a Nair teacher from a nearby village.He was deeply influenced by Vedanta and by ideas of social equality and social and religious reform.

3.He taught religion and Sanskrit to local children and studied yoga.He eventually became a schoolteacher and then a religious reformer.

4. As a youth, Narayana Guru turned away from the temple rituals of his local village and travelled widely, living an ascetic lifestyle and seeking religious understanding.

Sivagiri pilgrimage

1. The Sivagiri pilgrimage – Though the proposal was approved by Narayana Guru as early as 1928, it was not until 1932 that the first pilgrimage was undertaken from Elavumthitta in Pathanamthitta District.

2.Narayana Guru stated the goals of the pilgrimage to be the promotion of education, cleanliness, devotion to God, organization, agriculture, trade, handicrafts, and technical training.

3.He advised Vaidyar and Writer to organise a series of lectures on these themes and stressed the need for the practice of these ideals, stating this to be the core purpose of Sivagiri pilgrimage.

Public acceptance, honours and veneration

1.Commemorative coins issued by the Reserve Bank of India in 2006 on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Narayana Guru.

2. Rabindranath Tagore met Narayana Guru at the latter’s ashram in Sivagiri in November 1922. Tagore later said of Narayana Guru that, “I have never come across one who is spiritually greater than Swami Narayana Guru or a person who is at par with him in spiritual attainment”.

3.On 21 August 1967, Narayana Guru was commemorated on an Indian postage stamp of denomination 15 nP.

Depictions

The life of Narayana Guru has been portrayed in at least four movies:

1. The Malayalam-language films Sree Narayana Guru (1985), 

2. Yugapurushan (2010), the Tulu film Brahmashri Narayana Guru Swamy

3. (2014)  Marunnumamala.

Other films depicting him include:

• Swamy Sreenarayana Guru, a 1986 Malayalam film directed by Krishnaswamy
  

• Gurudevan, a 1989 Malayalam film directed by N. Udayabhanu

Death

1.. He became seriously ill in September 1928 and remained bedridden for some time.

2. He died on 20 September 1928.

“Liberate yourself through education” – organize yourself so that there is strength in you. He want that we should liberate , organize ourselves through education.He was integral part of India..His main aim was welfare of man.