Swaminarayan (April 3, 1781 - June 1, 1830) was born Ghanshyam Maharaj to a brahmin family in the village of Chhapaiya, Uttar Pradesh. He left home at the age of 11 to travel the whole of India, eventually settling in Gujarat where he founded a religious community at age 21. Maharaj later became known as Swamminarayan after the mantra he taught (see also Swami and Narayana).
The teachings of Swaminarayan have been preserved verbatim in the Vachanamrut (English translation: ISBN 81-7526-190-0).
Today, some Hindus worship Swaminarayan as the ninth avatar of Vishnu.