Vinobā Bhāve, Ācārya

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Vinobā Bhāve, Ācārya (1895–1982). Hindu reformer who succeeded, and developed the ideas of, Gāndhī. Drawn to an ascetic life, he burnt his school certificates and eventually joined Gandhi's āśrama at Sabarmati. In 1921, Gandhi sent him to start a new āśrama at Wardha, and in 1941 he was the first satyāgrahi to be arrested in the civil disobedience movement. In 1951, the idea came to him of a middle way between Communist insurrection and landholding aggrandizement by asking large landholders to donate surplus land to the landless. The principle of sarvodaya, ‘welfare for all’, was not in fact far from Communism.

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