Joy of Giving – Meet Mr Maruti Bansode

I am deeply humbled to meet people who have the courage and passion to follow their heart and make a difference. It is an unforgettable experience to meet in person

Mr. Maruti Bansode, an outstanding Social Reformer

Maruti, born in the interiors of Marathwada to parents who were deeply grieved to lose several children before his birth. So they followed a  superstition to seek blessings for this child’s long life to give away the child to God (Khandoba) which is to make him a member of “Waghya” community.

Those who pray to god for an offspring make a commitment before the deity that they would pledge their child to god’s service. This offering is conveyed to the Gurav (the priest) and on an auspicious day, the child is ceremoniously dedicated to forever.  Son becomes a Waghya. and daughters assigned to God become Muralis. Waghyas seriously regard themselves as  Khandoba’s pet dogs and even actually mimic canine barks and snarls and become folk performers, living on the alms.

Creating a ‘Murali’ is prohibited by law these days. However, becoming a Waghya is not prohibited by law.

What did it mean to Maruti – a tender little boy? Being a loved child he stayed with his parents as per tradition but was trained as a Waghya to eventually take it up as his life of a wanderer to keep dancing in front of people as a means of living. Some wise soul in his village convinced his parents to send Maruti to a better school at a district place when he was 8 years old. Life changed for him. He saw that other than him no boy in his school was dancing and hitting with a rope, like him. This was the first time he realized that he too would like to be like other children and study well. The credit goes to his school teachers and other boys who never made fun of him instead, respected him as a God’s child. His mind automatically illuminated to the truth as his teachers cared for his excellence in education and let him be himself. As a teenager, he decided to discard this Waghya spell on him, though his parents and other relatives were concerned that he may lose his life. Maruti was determined to follow a life based on rationality, logic, and compassion and give his best to make this world a better place.

He completed his graduation and joined Dr Narendra Dabholkar’s organization working to educate people against all types of superstitions in rural areas in Maharashtra. These ten years in this work got deeply engraved on his heart as he was pained to see how people wasted their talents, money, intellect and lived a life full of fear, embarrassment and hopelessness. He made a huge impact on whoever he met and convinced them to discard all superstitions and develop their own rationality and logic backed by science.

He devoted himself as a solo player to change the mindset of  other grown up POTARJ men and women. The nomadic tribe of Potraj worship a goddess called ‘Kadak Lakshmi’. Their profession traditionally leads them to travel and ask for alms in a manner that is literally back-breaking. While the women perch a small platform on their heads upon which they mount their deity, and play the dhol, the men dance and twirl to the beats and flagellate themselves with heavy, knotted whips made of jute, leather or woven coir. The whips generally weigh about 10kg each. Children are often initiated into this ritual at a young age so as to build their tolerance for pain, with the weight of the whips increasing in relation to their age. The Potraj community wanders from city to city, and members often lead a hand-to-mouth existence from their negligible earnings and their exposure to harsh conditions over the course of their travels.

This work for Maruti meant tracing and getting to know POTRAJ people personally, build rapport and spend several hours talking to each one, over a period of time and get them to agree to cut their hair properly , get habituated to have a daily bath (Being a POTRAJ  means having to grow long hair and put gum on them and never wash hair even though it makes one’s head very heavy and infested with lice, and gives chronic neck and shoulder pain)  living on the alms given by people). He supported each one and start new work to earn their living as a POTRAJ lives only on the alms given by others.

So far he has changed the minds of thousands of POTRAJ across Maharashtra and got them in the mainstream to live a normal life of dignity and doing decent work to earn their living. He is an acknowledged authority on transforming minds against superstitions and helping people to think rationally and embrace a life of dignity, equality, and compassion.

His not-for-profit organization “Parivartan Samajik Sanstha” works in various areas, Women Empowerment applying SHG approaches, Educational interventions, Cultural activities, Community health programs, Wider Interventions for social welfare, Promotion of sports and sport-related activities, agriculture& Extension services, Spiritual and Scientific Interventions.

You can contact Mr Maruti Bansode on  9604166899/parivartan.naldurg@gmail.com, to know him and help him. His organization’s website is http://www.parivartannbo.org

You will love knowing this awesome human being and his team!! Your contributions in this week of Joy of Giving for his organization will be a great help to all those whose lives his organization is transforming for better.

Parivartan Samajik Sanstha is grass root voluntary organization registered under societies Registration Act of 1860, Bombay public Trust Act of 1950, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of Act 1976 and exemption of income Tax under rule 80G and 12A, TAN, PAN.

Registration Details :

1. Societies Regst. Act of 1860. MAH-371/Osmanabad Dated: 16/10/1996
2. B.P.T. Act of 1950 : F-3237 (Osmanabad) Dated: 27/11/1996
3. FCR Act of 1976 : 084060006 Dated: 01/11/2016 To 31/10/2021
4. 80G Act of 1961 : Aud/CIT/80G(5)125/51/2011-12 Dated: 19.03.2012
5. PAN Number :AAA TP 8290 M 19.05.2003
6. TAN Number : NSKP 01382 D / 05.07.2002
7. 12A- Aud/CIT/12-A/09-02/3003-04/ 266 19.05.2003
8. NGO Partneship system UNIQE ID: MH/2017/0120129 Dated 27/03/2017 NGO Darpan
9. Guide Star Indian GSN 3587