Kirtankar Baba Maharaj Satarkar Dies At 89

MUMBAI, (IANS) – Renowned kirtan singer Neelkanth Dnyaneshwar Gore-Satarkar, alias Baba Maharaj Satarkar, passed away after a prolonged illness at his home in Nerul in Navi Mumbai on October 26. He was 89.

His mortal remains were kept for public darshan at the Vitthal Rukmini Temple in Nerul town.

Born in the affluent Gore-Satarkar family of Satara, Baba Maharaj Satarkar was a law graduate, a keen sports enthusiast in multiple disciplines and even engaged briefly in a family enterprise.

Trained in singing by Purohit Bawa and Latafat Hussain Khan of the Agra Gharana, Baba Maharaj Satarkar plunged into the three-generations old family traditions at the age of 11, singing ‘kirtans’ and religious preachings in Maharashtra, the rest of India and even abroad.

After 1962, Baba Maharaj Satarkar took up ‘kirtan’ singing full-time and dedicated his life to spreading spirituality, the need for clear speech, thoughts, and conscience through his popular ‘kirtans’ and discourses, and founded the Shri Chaitanya Spiritual Knowledge Dissemination Institute, and the Shri Baba Maharaj Satarkar Gyanpeeth Pratisthan, through which his grandson continues the family traditions.