Saints of Maharashtra

Born on July 20, 1913 to a Russian mother and a Hungarian father, Smt. Savitribai Khanolkar acquired Indian citizenship after her marriage to the late Major-General Vikram R. Khanolkar, brother of Dr. V.R. Khanolkar, noted cancer specialist and a former Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University.

Though a non-vegetarian by birth, Smt. Khanolkar, even as a child, preferred vegetarian food. Nature and its beauty thrilled her; she adored the sun and sea. All along she felt she belonged to India. Impelled by her intense spiritual yearnings, she set out in search of a guru. The momentous meeting with her guru, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa "all my doubts and a joy never before experienced flowed into my heat".

Though a foreigner, in course of time, she so identified herself with the Indian way of life and thought that she could not think of being anybody else except an Indian.

Eva, as she was known before she married, learned Indian music, Sanskrit and Kathakali. She speaks Marathi like a native and is proficient in Hindi. Besides her mother tongue, she knows English, French and Italian too.

After her husband's untimely death in 1952, she repaired to the Ramakrishna Vedanta Ashrama in Darjeeling and later settled down in Maharashtra. It was during her stay in Wai that she developed a great reverence for the Saints of Maharashtra and was inspired to write about them. This book is a collection of the articles that appeared in the Bhavan's Journal to which she is a regular contributor.