Spiritual figures and saints revered across Gujarat.
← Explore all of GujaratipediaBorn Ghanshyam Pande in Uttar Pradesh, he settled in Gujarat and founded the Swaminarayan Hindu tradition in the early 19th century, building major temples across the region.
A paramhansa initiated by Swaminarayan, he served as mahant of Junagadh mandir in Gujarat for over 40 years and is revered in BAPS as the first Aksharbrahman guru.
Born in Gujarat, he founded BAPS in 1907 at Bochasan and built its early mandirs, establishing the Akshar-Purushottam doctrine.
A Gujarat-born Swaminarayan guru who led BAPS from 1951 to 1971 and expanded its youth and overseas activities.
Born in Chansad, Gujarat, he led BAPS for decades, inspired the construction of Akshardham temples, and oversaw over 1,100 mandirs worldwide before his death in 2016.
The sixth spiritual successor in the BAPS lineage, he became guru in 2016 and leads the Gujarat-headquartered organization and its global temples.
A Vaishnava poet from Junagadh regarded as the first poet (Adi Kavi) of Gujarati literature, best known for the bhajan Vaishnav Jan To later favored by Mahatma Gandhi.
A saint from Virpur in Rajkot district known for his charitable food service (Sadavrat), whose shrine remains a major Gujarati pilgrimage site.
Born in Vavaniya, Gujarat, he was a Jain scholar and mystic whose writings, including Atma Siddhi, deeply influenced Gandhi's views on non-violence.
A Shvetambara Jain avadhuta and poet who composed devotional stavans and padas in Gujarati and Hindi, revered in Jain spiritual tradition.
Born in Tankara, Gujarat, he was a Vedic reformer who founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 and called for a return to the authority of the Vedas.
A philosopher and reformer who built the Gujarat-rooted Swadhyay self-study movement and received the Ramon Magsaysay and Templeton Prizes.
Born in Talgajarda near Mahuva, Gujarat, he is a renowned narrator of the Ram Charit Manas whose Ram Kathas draw large audiences worldwide.
A Gujarat-born spiritual orator known for his Srimad Bhagavata discourses who established the Sandipani ashram near Porbandar.
A Gujarati spiritual teacher from Tarasali who propounded the Akram Vignan path of self-realization, now spread through the Dada Bhagwan Foundation.
Known as Shri Mota, a 20th-century Gujarati mystic and poet who established silence-room (mmaun mandir) ashrams at Nadiad and elsewhere in Gujarat.
A Rajput princess and Krishna devotee whose bhajans are beloved across Gujarat, where she is traditionally said to have merged with the deity at Dwarka.
The 15th-16th century philosopher who founded the Pushtimarg sect of Krishna devotion centered on Shrinathji, with a major following among Gujarati Vaishnavas.
A folk-saint pair from Kutch-Saurashtra whose story of a bandit's spiritual transformation by the saint Toral is celebrated in Gujarati folklore and bhajans.
A woman saint of Saurashtra revered for her devotional bhajans addressed to her disciple Panbai, a cornerstone of Gujarati Bhakti poetry.
A Saurashtra saint known for his chabkha (satirical devotional verses) that critiqued social hypocrisy while teaching Bhakti.
A devotional poet from Savli in Gujarat, known for his kafis expressing Vedantic and Bhakti themes in the Gujarati language.
A goldsmith-turned-mystic from Ahmedabad famous for his chhappa verses satirizing ritualism and expounding Advaita Vedanta.
Devraha Baba was a long-lived yogi-ascetic of North India whose blessings were widely sought, including by Gujarati political and spiritual followers who visited his ashram.
A Gujarat-based religious figure who ran a large ashram network near Ahmedabad and was convicted in 2018 of the rape of a minor and is serving a life sentence.
A 17th-century Gujarati saint of the Ravi-Bhan sect who founded a shelter at Parab for lepers and the destitute, still active as a service center.
One of the earliest and most senior paramhansas of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya in Gujarat, remembered as a poet and spiritual guide called the mother of the Sampradaya.
A leading poet-saint of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya in Gujarat whose devotional compositions remain central to the tradition's worship.
A Gujarat-born paramhansa of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya renowned for devotional poetry such as the Bhaktachintamani and for his woodcraft.
An 18th-19th century Gujarati poet of the Pushtimarg tradition, famed for his garbis to Krishna.
A Saurashtra saint-poet (1785-1850) known for his sharp Chabkha verses on hypocrisy and truth.
A 17th-century Gujarati poet celebrated for perfecting the akhyan narrative-poetry form.
An 18th-century Gujarati poet known for his verse tales and moral fables.
A 15th-16th century poet who adapted Sanskrit classics into Gujarati akhyan poetry.
A celebrated paramhansa poet born near Nadiad, Gujarat, who composed thousands of Gujarati kirtans including the Chesta Pad still recited in Swaminarayan temples.
A 19th-century paramhansa from the Bhal region of Gujarat known for his kirtans and mastery of the sitar, who later headed the Swaminarayan temple at Muli.
Born Khushal Bhatt in Idar, Gujarat, he was a leading yoga-adept paramhansa entrusted by Swaminarayan with oversight of the Vadtal and Ahmedabad dioceses.
A learned paramhansa who settled in Gujarat and was one of the compilers of the Vachanamrut, the recorded discourses of Swaminarayan.
Born Pragji Bhakta, a tailor from Mahuva, Gujarat, regarded by BAPS as a spiritual successor of Swaminarayan and the guru of Shastriji Maharaj.
Nephew of Swaminarayan, enthroned in 1826 as the first acharya of the northern diocese headquartered at the Kalupur temple in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Adopted nephew of Swaminarayan, enthroned in 1826 as the first acharya of the southern diocese seated at Vadtal in Kheda district, Gujarat.
Former acharya (1969-2004) of the Swaminarayan Ahmedabad diocese who founded ISSO and was educated at St. Xavier's, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Seventh and current acharya of the Swaminarayan northern diocese seated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and founder of the youth wing NNDYM.
Installed in 2003 as acharya of the Vadtal-headquartered southern diocese of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya in Gujarat.
An ordained BAPS monk and Sahitya Akademi awardee based at Sarangpur, Gujarat, who authored the five-volume Swaminarayan Bhashyam.
A revered householder mystic from Baladia in the Kutch region of Gujarat who authored the Rahasyartha Pradipika Tika commentary on the Vachanamrut.
Younger son of Vallabhacharya who consolidated the Pushtimarg Sampradaya and organised the seva traditions later spread widely among Gujarati Vaishnavas.
Fourth son of Vitthalnath and progenitor of the Pushtimarg varta tradition, whose followers took root among Gujarati Vaishnav communities.
A medieval Ram-Kabir-panth sant-poet born in the Lohana community of Charotar, Gujarat, whose disciples seeded the Ravi-Bhan sect of Saurashtra.
Born near Amod in Gujarat, he was Bhan Saheb's foremost disciple and composed around four hundred bhajans codifying the Ravi-Bhan sect's philosophy.
Born at Ramvav in Rapar taluka of Kutch, he was a Ravi-Bhan sant-poet who opened the sect to lower castes and attained samadhi at Khambhalia.
A Ravi-Bhan-sect sant-poet of Gujarat whose long association with the town of Khambhalia earned it the name 'Morar nu Khambhalia'.
Born at Ghoghavadar in Saurashtra, he was a Chamar-community bhajanik who worshipped in the female 'dasi' (Radha) devotional mode.
Born at Vanthali in Junagadh district, he composed prophetic 'Agam'-type hymns in Gujarati and set up an ashram in the Panchal region of Saurashtra.
Born in Kidi village of Amreli district in a Luhar family, she was a Mahapanth saint-poetess credited with composing eighty-four bhajans.
Born at Chuda near Ranpur in Saurashtra and initiated as a Ramanandi sadhu, he wrote the famous bhajan 'Hari no marag chhe shurano' and 'Jnan Gita'.
A Kapdi-sampradaya saint of Kutch (1667-1730) who spent his life rescuing travelers lost in the Rann with his donkey and dog, taking samadhi at Dhrang.
A medieval guru of the Maheshwari Meghwal Samaj who preached across Kutch, Saurashtra and Sindh and composed the sacred 'Mamai Dev jo Ginan' verses.
Editor of the Gujarati weekly Satyaprakash, this reformer won the landmark 1862 Maharaj Libel Case against priestly abuses in the Vaishnava sect.
A sanyasi born in Patan district who founded the Bhakti Niketan Ashram at Dantali, Gujarat, authored over 100 books, and received the Padma Bhushan in 2022.
Born in Dhandhuka, Gujarat, he was the scholar-saint of the Chaulukya court who shaped Gujarat's golden age under kings Siddharaj Jaysinh and Kumarapala.
A Tapa Gaccha Shvetambara high priest of Gujarat's Jain community summoned by Akbar in 1582 and given the title Jagatguru.
A reformer Jain monk who travelled extensively through Gujarat and received the title of Acharya at Palitana in 1886.
Born at Vadodara, Gujarat, in 1870, he founded numerous Jain educational institutions including the Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya.
Born at Vijapur in north Gujarat in 1874, he wrote over a hundred books and established the Mahudi Jain temple in 1917.
Born in Kanoda village, Mehsana district, Gujarat, he was a master of Navya-Nyaya logic and among the last great intellectual figures of Jainism.
The 12th-century Jain monk who discovered the young Hemachandra at Dhandhuka in Gujarat and became his primary spiritual teacher.
Born in Duva village in present-day Banaskantha district, Gujarat, in 743 CE, he helped standardize Shvetambara Tirthankara iconography.
Born in Mahuva, Gujarat, in 1872, he led the Tapa Gaccha and worked to protect pilgrimage sites like Palitana, Girnar and Taranga.
Born as Tribhuvan in Dahevan village of present-day Gujarat in 1896, he established the Ramchandrasuri Samuday within the Tapa Gaccha.
A Shvetambara ascetic given the title of Acharya at Bhadreshwar in Gujarat in 1971, with a pilgrimage temple named after him.
Initiated as a Jain monk at Palitana, Gujarat, in 1942, he later founded the first Jain meditation centre in the West in New York.
Born in Umrala, Gujarat, in 1890, he became a Digambara lay scholar at Songadh, Gujarat, in 1934, building a major spiritual centre there.
Born at Patan, Gujarat, in 1415, he was a revered Sufi teacher on the outskirts of Ahmedabad whose shrine is the Shah-e-Alam's Roza.
Born in Ahmedabad in 1504, he founded the Alvi Madrasa in 1528 and made the city a leading centre of Islamic learning.
The 16th-century Shattari master stayed ten years in Ahmedabad and completed his yoga treatise Bahr al-Hayat at Broach (Bharuch), Gujarat, in 1550.
A Maghribi-order Sufi who settled at Sarkhej near Ahmedabad and died there in 1445; his shrine anchors the Sarkhej Roza complex.
A Sufi saint who came to Ahmad Shah I's court and died at Vatva near Ahmedabad in 1452, commemorated by his mosque and tomb complex.
A Sufi disciple of Qutb-e-Alam who founded Usmanpura in Ahmedabad and died in 1458, commemorated by the Saiyad Usman mosque and tomb.
Born in Bijapur in 1688, he migrated to Ahmedabad in 1711 and died there in 1749; his shrine houses the Hazrat Pir Mohammad Shah manuscript library.
A 15th-century pir whose syncretic Satpanth movement is centred at the Imamshah Bawa Dargah in Pirana near Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
A Gujarat independence activist turned ascetic who settled at Nareshwar on the Narmada, spread the Datta-panth across Gujarat and composed the popular Dattabavani.
Born in Surendranagar district and known as Krupanath, he established the Anand Ashram at Bilkha near Junagadh and wrote some 40 commentaries on the Gita, Upanishads and Brahmasutras.
Born in Gondal, this Gujarati poet and spiritual writer founded the Nandigram ashram near Valsad with his wife Kundanika Kapadia for tribal welfare and spiritual practice.
Ramchandra Dongreji Maharaj grew up in Vadodara and became one of Gujarat's most revered Bhagavata katha exponents between the 1960s and 1990s.
A Surat-born essayist, educationist and columnist whose philosophical writing shaped Gujarati intellectual life; awarded the Padma Shri in 2015.
A close associate of Gandhi from Gujarat who wrote extensively on Gandhian philosophy and education and edited the periodical Harijan until his death.
A centenarian Saurashtra-born scholar of Gujarati grammar and Vedic literature, a founding leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, awarded the Padma Shri in 1976.
The ascetic head of the Uddhava Sampradaya who initiated Sahajanand Swami into his order in Gujarat and appointed him his successor, from whom the Swaminarayan Sampradaya emerged.
Dada Khachar (1800-1852) was the Darbar Shri of Gadhada in Gujarat and a close householder devotee of Swaminarayan, at whose court Swaminarayan spent much of his later life.
A revered woman devotee of Swaminarayan, also called Motiba, from the Darbar family of Gadhada in Gujarat.
Born Girdhar Radadiya in Saurashtra (1921-2018) and known as Tapomurti Shastri Swami, he was among the most noted swamis of the Swaminarayan Gurukul tradition of Gujarat.
A medieval Svetambara Jain monk of the Anchala Gaccha from present-day Gujarat, best known for his Sanskrit chronicle Prabandhachintamani.
A medieval Svetambara acharya and lineage historian of the Tapa Gaccha, the monastic order that arose at Anhilwad Patan in Gujarat.
A Svetambara Jain monk of the Tapa Gaccha active in Jain religious organisation and the recovery and transmission of Jain texts.
An Indian Jain monk, social activist and Gujarati-language writer known for his lectures on spirituality and social issues.
A Jain ascetic and poet of the 17th-18th century who spent his last years at Anhilwad Patan in Gujarat.
A Jain monk of the Tapa Gaccha and one of the leading Gujarati poets of the 17th-18th century.
A Jain Apabhramsha poet and monk (1075-1154), the first of the Dada Gurus of the Kharatara Gaccha and a contemporary of the Gujarat scholar-monk Hemachandra.
A scholar of orientalism, archaeology, indology and Jainism who served as principal of the archaeology department at Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad, where he later died.
A 16th-17th century Jain ascetic and reformer of the Achal Gaccha of the Svetambara Murtipujak sect, a tradition centred in Gujarat and Kutch.
A Tapa Gaccha Svetambara monk renowned for his pioneering critical editing and cataloguing of the Jain manuscript libraries of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
A Svetambara Murtipujak Jain acharya of the Tapa Gaccha, the Gujarat-rooted monastic order, and a disciple of Acharya Premsuri.
A Jain monk and acharya of the Tapa Gaccha of the Svetambara sect, the monastic order rooted in Gujarat.
A 5th-century Svetambara Jain ascetic and author of Prakrit texts, remembered for presiding over the council at Vallabhi (Vala) in Gujarat that put the Jain Agamas into writing.
A prominent Shaivite teacher regarded as the founder of the Pashupata sect, traditionally associated with Kayavarohan (Karvan) in present-day Gujarat as his birthplace and seat.
An Indian master of kundalini yoga known as Bapuji, born in Dabhoi in Gujarat and closely associated with the temple town of Kayavarohan; he is the namesake of the Kripalu tradition.
A 16th-century Hindu saint-poet revered as a devotee of Krishna, whose devotional verse is honoured across Gujarat and Rajasthan.
A Gujarati poet of the early 19th century remembered for his devotional verse.
A medieval Gujarati poet born in Ahmedabad who settled at Bahucharaji in devotion to the goddess Bahuchar Mata and composed many garba and devotional songs.
Known as Kag Bapu, a Gujarati poet, songwriter and folk singer born at Sodvadari near Mahuva in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, known for his Hindu spiritual poetry and awarded the Padma Shri.
A Hindu folk goddess widely worshipped across Gujarat, with her major shrines in the Saurashtra region.
A Hindu goddess of chastity and fertility whose principal temple is at Becharaji in Mehsana district, Gujarat, and who is especially revered by the hijra community.
A form of the goddess Devi worshipped as the kuldevi of Kutch and of the Jadeja clan of Gujarat, with her chief shrine at Mata no Madh in Kutch.
A regional Hindu goddess, also known as Dashama, popular across Gujarat and especially in the desert region of Kutch.
A form of the goddess Matangi worshipped as Modheshwari Mata, the clan deity of the Modh community of Gujarat.
A folk deity venerated across Gujarat, particularly in the Saurashtra region.
A 14th-century Ismaili pir credited with founding the Satpanth tradition and forming the Khoja community by initiating Lohana Hindus of Gujarat and Sindh.
The 29th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra, born at Ahmedabad in 1564, from the era when the Bohra spiritual leadership was seated in Gujarat.
The 27th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (1539-1612), who led the Tayyibi Musta'li dawat from India and died at Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
The 34th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (d. 1676), who died at Jamnagar in Gujarat, then a seat of the Bohra dawat.
The 42nd Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (d. 1798), who headed the community from Gujarat and died at Surat.
The 43rd Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (1774-1817), a scholar and poet buried in the al-Qubbah al-Najmiyah at Surat in Gujarat.
The 45th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (1782-1836), who led the community from Gujarat and died at Surat.
The 48th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra, connected with Ahmedabad in Gujarat, where the community's spiritual leadership was long seated.
The 51st and longest-serving Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (1888-1965), who reorganised the community's principal seminary Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah at Surat in Gujarat.
The 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (1915-2014), who led the community for 49 years; the Bohras' historic seminary Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah is seated at Surat in Gujarat.
The 53rd and current Da'i al-Mutlaq and leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, whose historic seminary Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah is seated at Surat in Gujarat.
The son of the godman Asaram who ran ashrams in Gujarat and, like his father, is serving a life sentence after conviction in a rape case tried in Surat.
A wandering monk, Gandhian activist and Gujarati writer who managed Gandhi's Ahmedabad-based publications Navajivan and Young India.