Sant Dnyaneshwar

Jñāneśvar was the second of the four children of Vitthal Govind Kulkarni and Rukmini, a pious couple from Apegaon near Paithan on the banks of the river Godavari. Vitthal had studied Vedas and set out on pilgrimages at a young age. In Alandi, a local Yajurveda Brahmin, was impressed with him and Vitthal married his daughter Rukmini. The couple was excommunicated from the Brahmin caste as Vitthal broke with sannyas, the last of four ashrams.