PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: Hinduism
Indian philosopher
Shankara was a philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived. He wrote commentaries...
Indian religious leader
Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called...
Indian writer and politician
Lajpat Rai was an Indian writer and politician, outspoken in his advocacy of a militant anti-British nationalism in the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), and one of the āLal Bal Palā trio, along...
Indian social reformer, poet, and Hindu sage
Narayana Guru was an Indian social reformer, poet, and Hindu sage who led a movement against the Hindu caste system. Guru believed that all people are equal and thus belong to just one caste, the caste...
Indian mystic and poet
Kabir was an iconoclastic Indian poet-saint revered by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. The birth of Kabir remains shrouded in mystery and legend. One tradition holds that he was born in 1398, which would have...
king of Khmer empire
Suryavarman II was the king of the Khmer (Cambodian) empire renowned as a religious reformer and temple builder. Under his rule, the temple of Angkor Wat, the worldās largest religious structure, was constructed....
Hindu philosopher and social reformer
Keshab Chunder Sen was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Although not of the Brahman class (varna), Senās family...
Hindu and Indian nationalist
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a Hindu and Indian nationalist and leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha (āGreat Society of Hindusā), a Hindu nationalist organization and political party. His definition of...
British official
Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th earl of Minto was the governor general of Canada (1898ā1905) and viceroy of India (1905ā10); in India he and his colleague John Morley sponsored the MorleyāMinto...
Hindu mystic
Chaitanya was a Hindu mystic whose mode of worshipping the god Krishna with ecstatic song and dance had a profound effect on Vaishnavism in Bengal. The son of a Brahman, he grew up in an atmosphere of...
spiritual leader
Shirdi Sai Baba was a spiritual leader dear to Hindu and Muslim devotees throughout India and in diaspora communities as far flung as the United States and the Caribbean. The name Sai Baba comes from sai,...
Hindu philosopher
Debendranath Tagore was a Hindu philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj (āSociety of Brahma,ā also translated as āSociety of Godā). Born into a wealthy landowning family, Tagore...
Hindu theologian and philosopher
Ramanuja was a South Indian Brahmin theologian and philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of devotional Hinduism. Based in Shrirangam at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, he organized temple worship...
Hindu religious leader
Ramatirtha was a Hindu religious leader known for the highly personal and poetic manner in which he taught what he styled āPractical Vedanta,ā using common experiences to illustrate the divine nature of...
British historian
R.C. Zaehner was a British historian of religion who investigated the evolution of ethical systems and forms of mysticism, particularly in Eastern religions. The son of Swiss parents who had immigrated...
Indian philosopher
S.N. Dasgupta was an Indian philosopher noted for his authoritative A History of Indian Philosophy, 5 vol. (1922ā55). Dasgupta received masterās degrees in Sanskrit and philosophy from Sanskrit College...
American politician and military officer
Tulsi Gabbard is an American politician and military officer who serves as director of national intelligence (2025ā ) in the second administration of Pres. Donald Trump. Gabbard previously represented...
Hindu monk, spiritual leader, preacher, and reformer
Vivekananda was a Hindu monk, spiritual leader, preacher, and reformer in India and an activating force in the propagation of Vedanta philosophy in the United States and Britain. Vivekananda, who first...
Hindu monk and Indian politician
Yogi Adityanath is a Hindu monk and Indian political leader. He is a prominent member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is the only politician to have served two full consecutive terms as chief minister...
Hindu religious leader
Ramakrishna was a Hindu mystic and priest whose teachings and religious thoughts inspired the founding of the Ramakrishna Order. He was also the spiritual guru of the Hindu monk Vivekananda, renowned for...
Bengali poet
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer, playwright, essayist, and painter who introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature,...
Hindu mystic
Mira Bai was a Hindu mystic and poet whose lyrical songs of devotion to the god Krishna are widely popular in northern India. Mira Bai was a Rajput princess, the only child of Ratan Singh, younger brother...
Hindu leader
Dayananda Sarasvati was a Hindu ascetic and social reformer who was the founder (1875) of the Arya Samaj (Society of Aryans [Nobles]), a Hindu reform movement advocating a return to the temporal and spiritual...
Hindu philosopher
Ramana Maharshi was a Hindu philosopher and yogi called āGreat Master,ā āBhagavanā (the Lord), and āthe Sage of Arunachala,ā whose position on monism (the identity of the individual soul and the creator...
Indian social reformer
Vinoba Bhave was one of Indiaās best-known social reformers and a widely venerated disciple of Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi. Bhave was the founder of the Bhoodan Yajna (āLand-Gift Movementā). Born of a...
Indian poet
Tulsidas was an Indian Vaishnavite (devotee of the deity Vishnu) poet whose principal work, the Hindi Ramcharitmanas (āSacred Lake of the Acts of Ramaā), remains the most-popular version of the story of...
Hindu religious teacher
Sarada Devi was a Hindu religious teacher and the wife of the Hindu saint Ramakrishna. The Sri Sarada Math, a monastic organization for women, was founded in 1954 in homage to Sarada Devi. Saradamani,...
Hindu philosopher
Madhva was a Hindu philosopher, exponent of Dvaita (āDualismā; belief in a basic difference in kind between God and individual souls). His followers are called Madhvas. Madhva was born into a Brahman family....
Indian poet-saint
BahinÄbÄÄ«, Bahini , poet-saint (sant), remembered as a composer of devotional songs (abhangas) in Marathi to the Hindu deity Viį¹į¹hal. Her work is preserved through oral performance (kÄ«rtan), old handwritten...
Indian religious leader
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a Hindu religious leader who introduced the practice of transcendental meditation (TM) to the West. Little is known of the Maharishiās early life. He studied physics at the University...
Hindu philosopher
Bhartrihari was a Hindu philosopher and poet-grammarian, author of the Vakyapadiya (āWords in a Sentenceā), on the philosophy of language according to the shabdadvaita (āword nondualismā) school of Indian...
Indian dialectician, teacher, and interpreter
Kumarila was an Indian dialectician, teacher, and interpreter of Jaiminiās Mimamsa-sutras (āThe Profound-Thought Sutrasā), or Purva-mimamsa system (200 bce). Tradition says that Kumarila was converted...
Hindu statesman and philosopher
Madhavacharya was a Hindu statesman and philosopher. He lived at the court of Vijayanagar, a southern Indian kingdom. Madhavacharya became an ascetic in 1377 and was thereafter known as Vidyaranya. He...
Indian poet
TukÄrÄm was a Marathi poet who is often considered to be the greatest writer in the language. His abhaį¹
gas, or āunbrokenā hymns, are among the most famous Indian poems. The son of a shopkeeper, TukÄrÄm...
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