Narsihn Mehta

Once me and my wife went out shopping. While buying a trouser for myself, the shop-owner asked my caste. I said Brahman. He at once remarked, "From Narsinh Mehta's caste?" I said yes.

Such is the influence this great poet-saint from Gujarat had on the psyche of the general public. Many a tales have been told from generations to generations about the many troubles he had to suffer from the hands of the then rigid society. And how, in spite of the troubles and threats to outcast him from the society, through his unerring and loving devotion to Lord Shri Krishna, he escapes these threats and lives a devoted life. His life was full of miracles that saved him time and again. Miracles, by the great Lord, whom Narsinh Mehta loved and adored all his life. Generations, after Narsinh Mehta, came to be known as Nagar Brahmans and these generations are indeed, proud to be called after that great saint. He brought glory to an entire caste of people. He created poems, bhajans and songs in praise of Lord Krishna and one bhajan became immortal and is sung with the same devotion. It tells of the moral values, duties and essence of a civilized Vaishnav. It became a favorite of Mahatma Gandhi.