Saint, poet, mystic, and social reformer Bhima Bhoi (1850–1895) was an Indian from the state of Odisha. He lived in the 19th century. He was a devotee of Mahima Swami, and the monotheistic religious movement known as Mahima Dharma in the Odisha region greatly affected both his teachings and his poetry.The founder of the Indian religious movement Satya Mahima Dharma, which contested the legitimacy of caste and other types of discrimination, was Mahima Gosain. Bhima Bhoi was a follower of Mahima Gosain.
Bhima Bhoi was born in Rairakhol’s Madhupur in 1850, while several sources have given different years and different locations. The family of Bhima Bhoi was from the Kondh clan. According to most accounts, Bhoi’s early years were not cheerful and his family did not have much money. Bhima Bhoi learned via hearing holy literature read aloud by a neighbouring Bhagabata Tungi, despite having lost the sight in one eye due to smallpox in his early years. Bhima Bhoi quickly left his hometown and made his way to the Rairakhol region, where a farmer hired him as a servant. Being from a “untouchable” clan, he worked as a livestock caretaker and resided in a chawl close to the farmer’s cowshed.
