A History of Pushtimarg.

   A History of Pushtimarg 1478 to 1500 A.D.
   As you all know we are Hindus.If we trace the history of Hindusim it goes back thousands of years.Infact it is the  oldest religion on earth.People throughout the whole of Asia were impressed by the Hindu faith and its followers panned from Turkey in the west to Vietnam in the east.As the years passed by,diffirent people from diffirent geographical areas read,reinvented and taught the rules of Hinduism according to the needs of the time

and place but they stayed within  the limts of what was called Hindu religion.These specified,localised and  reinvented set of rules were called a sect.This developing a sect was not an easy task and it certainly was not a common man's cup of tea.Learned,gifted people like Shankaracharyaji,Ramanujacharyaji,Madhavacharyaji,Nimbarkacharyaji and
Vallabhacharyaji have so far been successful in developing a sect.Of these Acharyas,Vallabhacharyaji named His sect as Pushtimarg.We,as followers of Vallabhacharyaji follow the rules of Pushtimarg. In this series of articles,we will try to know a brief history of Pushtimarg according to each century.

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1478-1500

The propogator of Pushtimarg,Shri Vallabhcharyaji were born in !478 in a south Indian Brahmin's family.He was not an ordinary child and learned all the Vedas,Puranas at the tender age of 10.When He was just 13,He left His family and decided to tour the country and meet and teach people the philosophy He had thought of.In A.D.1491, learned pandits from all over India had gathered in a seminar on religion.13-year-old Vallabh reached there and debated for 27 days with pandits and put forward His views.The pandits were so awed at the intelligence of the child that they gave Him the title of 'Acharya' and thus Vallabh became Vallabhacharyaji.His philosophy was called 'Shudhhadwaita' and the sect was named 'Pushtimarg'. Then in 1493 Lord Shrinathji asked Vallabhacharyaji to build a temple for Him on Mount Goverdhan.He also gave Vallabhacharyaji a sanskrit 'mantra' by which 'Brahmsambandh Deeksha' could be given to a person.Whoever took Brahmsambandh,became a 'vaishnav' and was eligible to do Shrinathji's seva.He asked Vallabhacharyaji to give this mantra to as many people as He could and make as many vaishnavs as He could.So Vallabhacharyaji gave the first brahmsambandh to Damodardas Harsani and gradually more and more people started becoming a 'vaishnav'. Moreover Shrinathji told Vallabhcharyaji that from now He(Shrinathji) would be the center of faith for all the Pushtimargiya Vaishnavs.So from that day,vaishnavs had a God to serve--Shrinathji,a Guru to obey--Vallabhacharyaji and a philosophy to follow--Pushtimarg.Thus during the last decade of this century,the number of followers increased gradually.But the nature of the sect was simple,small-scale and it was in its primitive years.Literature like Yamunashtakam and Madhurashtakam was written in the last decade of this century.

Note:-The history of Pushtimarg in the years 1500-1600 will be published next month.