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Swami Sivananda Saraswati

Swami Sivananda Saraswati

1887 CE–1963 CE · Modern · Pattamadai

1887–1963 CE (born 8 September 1887, Pattamadai; died 14 July 1963, Rishikesh)

Born Kuppuswami at Pattamadai in Tamil Nadu, Sivananda trained as a medical doctor and practiced for years in British Malaya before renouncing the world. He took sannyāsa and settled near Rishikesh on the Ganges, where in 1936 he founded the Divine Life Society and, later, the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy (1948). A tireless popularizer, he wrote more than two hundred books presenting Yoga, Vedānta, and a synthesis of the paths of service, devotion, and knowledge to a broad modern audience, and he trained a remarkable number of disciples who carried his teaching worldwide (among them Swami Chidananda, Swami Satyananda, and Swami Vishnudevananda). He remained at Rishikesh until his death in 1963. His life is well documented.

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Did you know?

  • One 1936 ashram, then yoga centers on five continents

    Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887-1963), a former physician who had practiced medicine in British Malaya, founded the Divine Life Society near Rishikesh in 1936 and went on to author more than 200 books. His disciples later established organizations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, spreading his method through the worldwide Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres.

    How we know

    Sivananda Saraswati: b. 8 Sep 1887, d. 14 July 1963; studied medicine and served as a physician in British Malaya; founded the Divine Life Society 1936 at Sivananda Ashram (Muni Ki Reti, ~3 km from Rishikesh, on the Ganges); author of 200+ books; Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres (founded by disciple Vishnudevananda) operate across five continents. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivananda_Saraswati; dlshq.org)

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Stop 1 of 3Born

Pattamadai

What they did here

Birthplace; born Kuppuswami on 8 September 1887.

About Pattamadai

Pattamadai is a town on the Tāmraparnī River in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, south India. It is the birthplace of Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), founder of the Divine Life Society.

See other sages who lived in Pattamadai→

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Swami Sivananda Saraswati’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.