Nothing is known about the family background of this man, except that his grandfather’s name was Ambar Ambar Khan and his father’s, Yakut Ambar Khan. It is quite likely that he belonged to the Ambar Khan family in the service of the Nizam Shah of Daulatabad and had possibly even assisted Shahaji in the latter’s attempts to rescue the Nizam Shahi kingdom from annexation.
A certain litterateur, Vaidyanath, writes that ‘Mlenchha Ambar Khan’ was God-incarnate in the Kaliyug and was born in 1603. It is not known who his guru was, but it is generally held that he was a disciple of Keshav Swami Bhaganagarkar.
He is credited with authorship of a critique on the Geeta known as the ‘Ambarhussaini’, which he completed in 1653. A copy was made within a year at Tanjavar, indicating that he may have been a resident of that region. Consisting of 371 verses in ovee form, it explicates the Geeta in simple Marathi terminology.
While other saint-poets speak with almost abject modesty about themselves, Hussain Ambar Khan interestingly refers to himself as ‘the crown jewel of the enlightened’, ‘worshipped by all’, etc. Informed by the philosophy of non-dualism, this sadhu condemns discrimination in the sphere of spiritualism and religion.
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