The Chronology & the Itinerary of the life of Shri Swami Maharaj

Initiated into the highest Ashram of Vedic religion, Shri Swami Maharaj was ordered by Lord Dattatreya to travel all over India and to preach the true message of Vedic religion and guide people to follow the path ordained therein. Presented herewith is the itinerary of his peripatetic life precede by a brief  chronology of his earlier life  

Year

Place/s

Events and Literary works
1854 Mangaon Born on Sunday the dark 5th of Shravana in the year of Ananda (Bliss)
1862   Mangaon Upanayan (initiation to Brahminhood)
1875 Mangaon Married at the age of 21, rather reluctantly at the insistence of his teachers. Performs Gayatri purashcharan and  Smartagni seva
1877 Mangaon A brief sojourn to Goa to learn astrology and the death of his father, Shri Ganesh Bhataji
1883 Mangaon Establishment of Shri Datta Mandir (temple) at the instance of the Lord Himself. Constructed sanctum with his own hands. Age 29 yrs. Composes "Dwisahasri Gurucharitam".
1889 Narsobawadi Leaves Mangaon with his pregnant wife and arrives at Narasobawadi. His only offspring is stillborn. He spent the next year and more and received instructions from Govindswami who passes away.
1891 Gangakhed Leaves Wadi and in the summer of 1891, his wife dies of cholera. Age 37 years. After the mandatory period of 14 days, is initiated to Sanyas (mendicancy) by Lord Dattatreya.
1891 Ujjain Receives monastic sceptre from Shri Narananand Saraswati who bestows the yogapatta (manstic name) of Shri Vasudevanand Saraswti on him. His first Chaturmaas ( prescribed stationary period in monsoon for the Sanyasi. )
1892 Brahmavarta 2nd Chaturmaas; stay of 8 months. Shri Dattapuran composed.
1893 Haridwar 3rd Chaturmaas; meets  the reigning Shankaracharya of Sharada Peetha Shri Rajarajeshwar Swami at whose insistence Swamiji stays and gives discourses on Upanishads. Travels to Badrikedar and on his way Shri Nar-Narayan appear to him.
1894 - 1895 Himalayas 4th and the fifth chaturmaas. Spends over 2 years in the Himalayas. His exact whereabouts were never revealed to anyone. It is a matter of marvel as to how he even survived, given his strict code of diet.
1896 Jalavan 6th chaturmaas. Returns to Haridwar and proceeds to Jalavan, After the chaturmaas, travels to Brahmavart and proceeds to Nemawar on the banks of Narmada.
1897 Petlaad 7th chaturmaas. Deepavali; Shri Datta Maharaj is annoyed at austere Deepavali and hides away in the river and is lovingly retrieved by Swamiji and offered special worship. Composed Dattalilamritabdhisar
1898 Tilakwada 8th chaturmaas. Transcripts Kurma Purana from Telugu to Devnagari  Proceeds via Shinor, Girnar, Prabhas to -
1899 Dwaraka 9th chaturmaas. Commentary on "Dwisahasri Gurucharitam"  commenced at Prabhas, is completed. Proceeds to Shinor via Dakor and onwards to..
1900 Chikhalada 10th chaturmaas. Mandaleshwar, Indore and Ujjain to nurse Shri Guruswami Narayananand. Composed Magh Mahatmya
1901 Mahatpur 11th chaturmaas. 6 months stay. Dr. Tatke cured. Shri Gandabuwa and Shri Govind Pandit perfect  Khechari under his guidance. Composed "Dattamahatmya" and "Trishati"
1902, 1903, 1904 Brahmavarta 12th, 13th and 14th  chaturmaas. Third visit to Brahmavarta. Longest stay  in his Sanyasi life. His brother Sitaram arrives and stays on, completing the Gayatri purashcharan under the guidance of Swami Maharaj. Shri Shantashram Swami comes visiting from Benares. The plague epidemic and composition of Gurusamhita (Samashloki Gurucharitra), Laghuvasudevmanan and Saptashati Gurucharitrasar.
1905 Narsobawadi 48 days stay. Shri Dixit Swami gets monastic sceptre. Vedic school (Pathashala) established with Shri Dhundhiraj Shastri as the instructor. Proceeds to Ganagapur via Shirol, Miraj, Pandharpur and Akkalkot where he  met the famous Swami Samarth. Composition of Shri Krishnalahari on the way. A devotee namd Tukaram is blessed and Gurustotra composed for him. Proceeds via Gangakhed, Parali, Aundha, Hingoli to...
1906 Badhwai 16th chaturmaas. On conclusion of chaturmaas, proceeds to Wadi for a stay of two months around Gurudwadashi. Proceeds south via Gurlhosur along the banks of Ghataprabha, Vishvamitri and Tungabhadra to Hampi and Mt.Sheshachal where he composed a hymn in the praise of the ruling deity Shadanan and Kumarshiksha. Following the Bahuda and Karatoya rivers, visits Srirangam, Shrishailam and Tirupati-Tirumal, Kanchi, Pakshitirth. In this summer Pinakini unexpectedly augmented her flow  to enable Swami Maharaj to take a manadatory dip after the monthly tonsur. Visiting Kumbhakonam, Mayavaram etc. he arrived at..
1907 Sandhyamath 17th chaturmaas. On the banks of Venu (Kaveri). Further travels linclude Shringeri where he is felicitated by the Shankaracharya. Commentary on Krishnalahari and  Dwisahasri Churnika.
1908 Mukteshwarpur 18th chaturmaas. Situated on the banks of Krishna in Andhra. After the stay, proceeds to Peethapuram to rediscover the birthplace of Shripad Shrivallabh. Accompanies Brahmanand Saraswati to Rajmahendri to install a Trimukhi idol of Lord Dattatreya. Yuvashiksha,
Vriddhashiksha  and Strishiksha.
1909 Pavani 19th chaturmaas. On the bank of Wainganga, near Nagpur. This chaturmaas was marked by crowds of devotees from all over India performing numerous ydnyas and festivities. Shri Vamanrao from Kudutri near Kolhapur, to be renowned as Yogiraj Gulavani Maharaj later, received initiation here in the company of elder brother Shri Shankarrao, mother Umabai and Sister Goda. Proceeds via Mahur, Ajegaon, Renapur, Barsi to Wadi for a stay of four months. From Wadi travels south to...
1910 Havnur 20th chaturmaas. Shri Vamanrao Gulavani is the first to seek out Shri Swami Maharaj and is blessed with his exclusive company for 10-12 days, exposition of Gita and finally a vision of Shri Dattaprabhu clad in tiger-skin. From here Shri Maharaj proceeded   along the banks of Tungabhadra, to Shringeri and then to Gokarna, Galgali and lands in Kurugaddi near Raichur.
1911 Kurugaddi 21st chaturmaas. This remote and inaccessible island set in the river Krishna is considered its umbilicus and is blessed by Shripad Shrivallabh whose temple was renovated by Shri Maharaj. Even here devotees thronged from all over India as soon as the news of Swamiji's stay spread, braving the monsoon floods and other hardships. Shri Swami Maharaj stayed here upto Gurudwadashi, the day Shripad Shrivallabh became invisible. He then proceeded north, via Yellora, Chalisgaon, Dharmapuri to.
1912 Chikhalada 22nd chaturmaas. After a stay of 6-7 months he crossed the dense forest of Shulpaneeshawar near Katarkheda. He was partly guided by Ashwatthama. Thus he arrived for his final chaturmaas on the banks of Narmada.
1913 Garudeshwar 23th chaturmaas. Shri Swami Maharaj arrived here on the dark 6th of Chaitra and stayed till end. Soon the remote temple, believed to be to be the site of the penace of  Garud (the avian vehicle of Lord Vishnu), was bustling with the devotees of Maharaj. Hundreds came and left ever day over the next year and a quarter. Thousands used to be there on any typical day. The place became a place of pilgrimage and continues to be todate. After the summer of 1914, the chronic dysentery afflicting Swamiji since youth, flared up and his health started rapidly deteriorating. As had been his practice all his life, "through two snakebites, a plague, leprosy twice, three episodes of cholera and the constant dysentery", he trusted only one healer, his master and Lord Shri Dattaprabhu! The great Yogi who had been so reluctant to use his powers did employ these to postpone the dissolution of his body. As soon the dark night of Jyeshtha month gave way to the first day  of Ashadha, (Tuesday, Ardra nakshatra, uttarayan), he sat siddhasana facing the idol of ShriDatta, his eyes in a tratak, a deep and sonorous sound of "om" in his mouth, he left the physical frame in a final, controlled exhalation!
Shri Guru Dev Datta.  

Map of India Marking locations of Chaturmaas of  Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati Swami Maharaj