Swami Samartha

About Swami Samartha

Swami Samartha is the bearded ascetic of Akkalkot, the small Maharashtra town where he sat under a banyan tree from 1856 until his mahasamadhi in 1878. The Datta sampradaya counts him as the third avatar of Dattatreya, after Sripada Sri Vallabha and Narasimha Saraswati. His right hand is usually raised in abhaya mudra (the gesture of fearlessness), matching his famous Marathi promise: "Bhiu nakos, mi tujhya pathishi aahe" — "Do not fear, I stand behind you." Devotees chant his taraka mantra, "Shree Swami Samarth, Jai Jai Swami Samarth," 108 times on Thursdays, the day of Datta worship.