The saints of Maharashtra and the Varkari tradition

In the month of Ashadh, the roads of western Maharashtra fill with pilgrims. They walk in groups called dindis, carrying saffron flags and singing abhangas, following the palkhis (palanquins) of Sant Dnyaneshwar from Alandi and Sant Tukaram from Dehu. After about three weeks, they reach Pandharpur on Ashadhi Ekadashi to see Vitthal. This is the Wari, one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world, and the living heart of the Varkari tradition.

For MPSC, the saints of Maharashtra are important in history, culture and — increasingly — in the Ethics paper.

The Varkari tradition

• Deity: Vitthal (also called Vithoba or Pandurang), a form of Krishna/Vishnu, worshipped at Pandharpur on the banks of the Chandrabhaga (Bhima) river, along with Rukmini.
• Practice: devotion through singing (bhajan, kirtan), the annual pilgrimage (wari), and ethical living.
• Social character: the tradition welcomed devotees of all castes and both genders. Its saints included tailors, potters, gardeners, maidservants and members of the untouched castes.
• Language: the saints composed in Marathi, the language of ordinary people, rather than Sanskrit.

The saints

Sant Dnyaneshwar (13th century)

• Composed the Dnyaneshwari (1290), a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, during the reign of the Yadava king Ramachandra.
• Also wrote Amrutanubhav, a philosophical work.
• He and his siblings — Nivruttinath, Sopandev and Muktabai — faced ostracism because their father had returned to family life after taking sanyas.
• He took samadhi at Alandi in 1296, at a young age.
• The Pasayadan, the prayer at the end of the Dnyaneshwari, asks for the good of all beings — it is one of the most quoted passages in Marathi.

Sant Namdev (13th–14th century)

• A tailor (shimpi) by community, and a contemporary of Dnyaneshwar.
• Travelled widely, including to Punjab; he spent his later years at Ghuman.
• Some of his hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.
• His disciples and contemporaries included Janabai, a maidservant in his household, whose abhangas are among the finest in Marathi.

Sant Chokhamela (14th century)

• A saint from the Mahar community, who lived at Mangalvedha near Pandharpur.
• His abhangas speak of the pain of untouchability and his devotion to Vitthal.
• He died when a wall collapsed while he was working; his samadhi is at the entrance steps of the Pandharpur temple.
• His wife Soyarabai and other family members were also poets.

Other saints of this period

• Gora Kumbhar — a potter.
• Sawata Mali — a gardener.
• Narahari Sonar — a goldsmith.
• Sena Nhavi — a barber.

Their presence shows the inclusive character of the early Varkari tradition.

Sant Eknath (16th century)

• Lived at Paithan.
• Composed the Eknathi Bhagwat (a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavata Purana) and the Bhavartha Ramayana.
• Popularised bharuds — dramatic, humorous songs that conveyed spiritual and social messages to ordinary people.
• Prepared an authoritative edition of the Dnyaneshwari.
• Stories about his compassion across caste lines are well known.

Sant Tukaram (17th century)

• Lived at Dehu, near Pune; a contemporary of Shivaji Maharaj.
• His abhangas, collected in the Tukaram Gatha, are among the most beloved works of Marathi literature.
• He criticised hypocrisy, ritualism and greed, and emphasised sincere devotion and ethical living.
• According to tradition, his writings were thrown into the Indrayani river by his opponents and resurfaced.

Samarth Ramdas (17th century)

• A contemporary of Shivaji Maharaj.
• Wrote the Dasbodh and the Manache Shlok.
• Emphasised strength, discipline and effort alongside devotion; he established Maruti (Hanuman) temples and mathas.
• Not a Varkari saint in the strict sense, but an important figure in Maharashtra's spiritual history.

Bahinabai (17th century)

Sant Bahinabai (a disciple of Tukaram; distinct from the 20th-century poet Bahinabai Chaudhari) wrote abhangas and an autobiographical work reflecting a woman's spiritual struggle.

The Mahanubhava sect

Founded by Chakradhar Swami in the 13th century, the Mahanubhava sect:

• worshipped Krishna and rejected many rituals and caste distinctions;
• produced some of the earliest Marathi prose, including the Lilacharitra, a biography of Chakradhar;
• is distinct from the Varkari tradition but part of the same period of Marathi religious creativity.

Social significance

The Wari today

• The palkhis of Dnyaneshwar (from Alandi) and Tukaram (from Dehu) set out in Ashadh and reach Pandharpur by Ashadhi Ekadashi.
• The procession includes ringans — ceremonial circles in which horses run around the pilgrims.
• The Wari is a remarkable example of self-organisation: its logistics, discipline and cleanliness have been studied by management scholars.

Ethics connection

The saints offer rich material for the Ethics paper:

• Tukaram on honesty and against hypocrisy;
• Dnyaneshwar's Pasayadan on universal welfare;
• Chokhamela on dignity in the face of injustice;
• the Wari as an example of equality and service.

Our guide to ethical lessons from the saints of Maharashtra explores this further.

Questions to practise

Prelims-style:

1. Where did Dnyaneshwar take samadhi?
2. Which Maharashtra saint's hymns are in the Guru Granth Sahib?
3. Where is Chokhamela's samadhi?
4. Who popularised the bharud?
5. Who founded the Mahanubhava sect?

Mains-style:

• "The Bhakti saints of Maharashtra democratised religion." Discuss.
• Examine the social and cultural significance of the Pandharpur Wari.