As expected, while exploring and researching more about Samarth Ramdas, I came across conspiracy theories, Facebook posts, Blogger blog posts, YouTube videos, Instagram reels, and other materials.
To appear credible, these theories are always accompanied by evidence, such as screenshots, old texts/scrolls, paintings, interviews, and so on. Sometimes the intention of these theories is to extoll the person in question, and other times they are spread with malicious intent.
Building theories/conspiracies are common and bound to happen depending on
- persons in discussion
- their ardent followers/haters.
- Connection/conflict between the persons involved.
- Whether the persons involved are from different communities, if yes, how is the relationship between both communities, historically.
- Who gets to take credit of the success(no sharing at all, or Lions share).
- Government policies and blah blah blah
Extolling a person by their followers with these theories is OK (not agreeing with them but OK); they are usually harmless and limited to their followers only & might result in civil arguments between history nerds. But conspiracies with malicious or demeaning intents—that we all must be wary of, as they have far-reaching, unpredictable effects and hold potential to cause violence.
Hence, the reason for writing this article is with the hope that when the time comes, this article crops up in people’s feed to disseminate facts and wisdom. Here goes for nothing.
Alright, let’s take a look at this copy of the painting of Samarth Ramdas. It is part of a Dasbodh copy found in Domgaon Math of Samarth Ramdas and was handwritten by his student Keshav Swami. Since the picture is authentic, they take it as proof to spread misinformation’s
1Samarth Ramdas is sitting in front of Adilshahi ruler (maybe a Mughal ruler) ?
2He is holding a writing instrument and probably taking notes ?
3Behind Adilshah, his servant is standing.
If you keep on reading too much into this picture, further marry it with a few contextual lines that are taken out of context from unauthenticated / authenticated literature
Tada !!! You can falsely arrive at the conclusion that this is proof that Samarth Ramdas is Mughal Spy.
You can make similar exercises to reach another wrong conclusion that he was Mughal Spy as well.
With this, you can have perfectly offensive content that can spread via WhatsApp University, as depicted here in a post I found on Facebook with the same image under which two verses are added, which is claimed to be part of “Dasbodh,” a literary work of Samarth Ramdas.
but understand that this has been happening long before the advancements of WhatsApp and social media.
1The person sitting in front of supposed Adilshahi is not Samarth Ramdas at all, he is in fact the disciple of Ramdas, Shishya Kalyan Gosavi.
2Actually, the person in Adilshahi clothing is Samarth Ramdas dictating to his disciple Kalyan Gosavi.
3Behind Adilshah, his servant is standing.
If you observe any Shivaji-era (or older) paintings, arts, or sculptures, the central figure is usually highlighted by showing them larger than other characters. Keshav Swami’s copy of “Dasbodh from Domgaon” shows Samarth larger than other figures. Additionally, the central figure has been given further importance and highlighted by wearing him in royal clothes.
4The two verses claimed to be part of Dasbodh, doesn’t exist anywhere.
You can read Dasbodh at multiple sources to verify its non-existence yourself (CTRL + F). Sharing a few links here as well:
Dasbodh on wikisource, Dasbodh on Dasbodh.com, Geeta press Dasbodh
Two words: “trending fashion” among artists. That Adilshahi headgear called Kemosh किमॉंश was popular at the time. medieval painting style reflects the artist’s mindset and regional influences. For instance, even portraits of Shivaji Maharaj are shown with Mughal elements and traditional attire. Similarly, many deities are depicted wearing the attire of their respective regions. The artist who created this painting likely belonged to the Adilshahi region, which explains why he portrayed Samarth Ramdas in such attire. In Bharat it is not strange at all to depict, mahapurush, dieties, historical figures in royal attire at all, it is one of the many ways to exalt them.
Alternatively, it is possible that he might have worn it as well.
There is no reason to presume that historical figures must have worn only clothes that we have popularly seen in paintings. In fact, Samarth’s contemporaries, followers, and students have recorded different attire adorned by Samarth on various occasions (it will be an interesting post for another time).
Samarth Ramdas is saint who is also a prolific writer/composer (mostly he dictated them to his disciples). Even someone with a very limited attention span who bothers to cursorily read his works/letters —Anandvanbhuvani (आनंदवनभुवनी) or Nischayacha Mahameru (निश्चयाचा महामेरू, great mountain of determination) or his letter to Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, son of Ch. Shivaji Maharaj—would immediately recognize the fraud that is being circulated.
This conspiracy is not a recent one; it has been circulating for more than 50 decades now. and people have been fact-checking and debunking it ever since Here is a cartoon from 1969 that depicts the ridiculousness of the conspiracy theory that we discussed.
Artist: Vasant Sarwate (1969) sourced from his book “The Best of Sarwate” editor: Avadhoot Paralkar, Lokvangmay Gruh 2008
वसंत सरवटे (1969) “सरवोत्तम सरवटे” संपादक: अवधूत परळकर, लोकवाङ्मय गृह 2008. P.C: [searchingforlaugh.blogspot..com]([Looking at Cartoons, Getting Along: When Samarth Ramdas and Aurangzeb met! Time- Classified, Place- Classified! (searchingforlaugh.blogspot.com)](https://searchingforlaugh.blogspot.com/2010/08/when-samarth-ramdas-and-aurangzeb-met.html))
