Skip to content
Wellsprings
Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi

1879 CE–1950 CE · Modern · Tiruchuzhi (Tiruchuli)

1879–1950 CE (born 30 December 1879, Tiruchuzhi; died 14 April 1950, Tiruvannamalai)

Born Venkataraman Iyer at Tiruchuzhi in Tamil Nadu, Ramana Maharshi underwent, at about sixteen while living in Madurai, a spontaneous and overwhelming confrontation with death that resolved (he later said) into a permanent realization of the deathless Self. Soon afterward, in 1896, he left home for the sacred mountain Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai, and he never again left its vicinity for the remaining fifty-four years of his life. Living first in temples and caves on the hill and later at the ashram that grew around him, he taught — largely through silence and through the practice of self-enquiry (ātma-vicāra), the persistent question 'Who am I?' — a direct path to the realization of the non-dual Self. Western seekers and writers (Paul Brunton among them) spread his reputation internationally. He died of cancer at Tiruvannamalai in 1950. His life is unusually well documented for an Indian sage, through devotees' records and his own brief writings.

See Ramana Maharshi’s journey on the map →

Did you know?

  • He left home at 16 and settled at one hill for the rest of his life

    In 1896, at about 16 years old, Ramana Maharshi left his home in Madurai and travelled to the hill of Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai in south India. He remained there for the rest of his life — some 54 years — until his death in 1950.

    How we know

    Ramana Maharshi: born 30 Dec 1879, reached Arunachala/Tiruvannamalai 1 Sept 1896 (age 16), died 14 Apr 1950; 1950−1896 = 54 years (per Wikipedia).

  • Two of India's most famous 20th-century sages died in the same year

    Ramana Maharshi, the silent sage of Arunachala in the south, and Sri Aurobindo, the philosopher of Pondicherry, are often placed at opposite ends of modern Indian spiritual life. Yet they died just under eight months apart, both in 1950 — Ramana on 14 April, Aurobindo on 5 December.

    How we know

    Ramana Maharshi 30 Dec 1879 – 14 Apr 1950; Sri Aurobindo 15 Aug 1872 – 5 Dec 1950 (Wikipedia; Sri Aurobindo Ashram). Both deaths fall in 1950, ~7.7 months apart.

    Meet Sri Aurobindo →

Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →

Stop 1 of 3Born

Tiruchuzhi (Tiruchuli)

What they did here

Birthplace; born Venkataraman Iyer on 30 December 1879.

About Tiruchuzhi (Tiruchuli)

Tiruchuzhi (Tiruchuli) is a town in the Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu, south India, with an ancient Śiva temple. It is the birthplace of the sage Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950).

See other sages who lived in Tiruchuzhi (Tiruchuli)→

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Ramana Maharshi’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

In the same tradition

Papaji (H.W.L. Poonja)

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Ramana Maharshi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

No works attributed in the corpus yet.