The Varkari sampradaya (Varkari Panth)

What the Varkari sampradaya is

G. A. Deleury (The Cult of Vithoba, 1960), following Principal S. V. Dandekar, explains “Varkari” from “vari” and “kari”: “var” means something that recurs at a fixed time, here the regular pilgrimage to Pandharpur, and “kari” means the one who does it. A Varkari is also called a “Malkari”, one who wears a garland, because of the tulsi mala round his neck; and the panth is also called the “Bhagavata panth”, because it holds bhakti to be the way to liberation.

According to Deleury the Varkari panth is not a central institution: it has no hierarchy and no single seat; it is a community of devotional groups gathered round different gurus, and its only public expression is the pilgrimage to Pandharpur. A Varkari does not have to leave home, family or work; most Varkaris have been village farmers, craftsmen and traders. The panth is held to be open to all, and its saints came from many castes: Namdev was a tailor, Gora a potter, Savata a gardener, Narahari a goldsmith, Chokhamela a Mahar, and Tukaram came from a poor Shudra family.

History in brief

The Varkari tradition names Vitthal and Pundalik together: in the common telling, Krishna came to Pandharpur pleased by Pundalik’s service to his parents, stood waiting on a brick at Pundalik’s request, and stayed there as Vitthal. The cry “Pundalik varada Hari Vitthal” comes from this. According to Deleury there is no evidence for when Pundalik lived; but the tradition already appears settled in the abhangs of Jnaneshwar and Namdev, so he concludes that the panth existed before Jnaneshwar, by about 1250.

Tradition counts Jnaneshwar (Jnanadeva) as the first and greatest teacher of the panth; an abhang of Bahinabai says that Jnanadeva laid its foundation. He wrote the Jnaneshwari, a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, at Nevasa in 1290, and later the Amritanubhava. According to R. D. Ranade (Mysticism in Maharashtra, 1933) tradition gives his birth as 1275 and his samadhi as 1296, at Alandi; the tradition recorded by Janabai gives his birth as 1271. Namdev (c. 1270–1350 according to Ranade) carried Vitthal’s name far through his kirtans; some of his songs are also in the Guru Granth Sahib of the Sikhs.

Eknath of Paithan (most probably 1533–1599 according to Ranade) wrote a Marathi commentary on the eleventh book of the Bhagavata Purana, the Eknathi Bhagavata, completed in 1573. The abhangs of Tukaram of Dehu (Deleury gives 1598–1650) are the songs most sung on the wari today; according to Deleury he gave new life to the annual pilgrimage of Ashadhi Ekadashi. The chant “Jnanba Tukaram” on the wari is made of the names of these two saints.

Carrying the saints’ padukas (sandals) to Pandharpur in a palkhi is an old custom. According to Deleury the palkhi of Jnaneshwar from Alandi is the oldest and foremost, and its present arrangement, with the palanquin, the bullock cart and the organised dindis (singing groups), is the work of Haibatrao of Arphal in Satara. At the wari of 1951 he counted about 40 palkhis.

Beliefs and practice

The wari: according to Deleury a Varkari must go to Pandharpur at least twice a year, on the Shukla Ekadashi of Ashadha and of Kartika; some go on every Ekadashi. An abhang of Namdev speaks of “not missing the Ashadhi and the Kartiki”, and an abhang of Jnaneshwar describes pilgrims wearing the tulsi mala, carrying the ochre banner and playing the vina, tal and mridanga. On the Ashadhi wari the palkhis of Jnaneshwar from Alandi and of Tukaram from Dehu reach Pandharpur on foot.

The tulsi mala: according to Deleury there is no elaborate initiation into the panth, but there is a simple rite: the candidate goes to a guru with a fellow Varkari and a mala of tulsi beads, the mala is laid on the Jnaneshwari, he pledges to go to Pandharpur on the fixed dates and to live an upright life by dharma, and the guru puts the mala round his neck. A Varkari never takes it off; it marks both devotion to Krishna and the vow not to eat meat.

Bhajan, kirtan and the company of saints: Varkaris call themselves “the gathering of saints and good people”, those who live in the company of the saints; walking with living saints on the wari and reading and learning the abhangs of the old saints is the panth’s main practice. According to Deleury the guru also enjoins, at initiation, service of the saints and fasting on every Monday, on both Ekadashis and on both Pradoshas of the month. In philosophy Deleury places the Jnaneshwari in the tradition of Shankara’s Advaita: a path of bhakti on a non-dual foundation.

The link with the Nath tradition

According to Ranade, Nivruttinath and Jnaneshwar themselves place themselves, in their own writings, in the line of Gahininath: Nivruttinath received knowledge from Gahininath, Gahininath from Gorakshanath, and Gorakshanath from Matsyendranath. Deleury also writes that Jnaneshwar’s elder brother Nivruttinath, who gave him spiritual initiation, was a disciple of a Nath yogi of Trimbak. So the stream of the Nath yogis also flows into Varkari devotion.

Main centres

Pandharpur, on the Bhima river in Solapur district (here also called the Chandrabhaga), has the main temple of Vitthal; Rakhumai (Rukmini) has her own temple, and according to Deleury pilgrims worship there after their worship of Vitthal. The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (1917) describes Vitthal’s image as cut from a single stone, hands on hips, holding a conch in the left hand and a discus in the right, and says that the date of the original temple is unknown.

Places tied to the saints are also Varkari places of pilgrimage: Alandi (near Pune), where Jnaneshwar took samadhi; Dehu, Tukaram’s village; Paithan, Eknath’s home; Trimbak (near Nashik), where Nivruttinath took samadhi; Saswad (Sopandev) and Mehun in Khandesh (Muktabai). According to Deleury the saints’ palkhis set out for Pandharpur from these places.

Where the sources differ

• Jnaneshwar’s birth: tradition gives 1275 (samadhi in 1296, at the age of 22); the tradition in Janabai’s abhang gives 1271 (Ranade). According to Ranade the writing of the Jnaneshwari in 1290 is the surest date; one reading gives 1284.
• Birthplace: the Varkari tradition holds that Jnaneshwar was born at Alandi; another tradition gives Apegaon on the Godavari, which Deleury thinks more likely.
• Namdev and Jnaneshwar: tradition holds that they were contemporaries who went on pilgrimage together (Ranade’s view too, with Namdev 1270–1350); Deleury writes that the dates of Namdev’s life rest on tradition and that he lived long after Jnaneshwar.
• Eknath: Ranade lists 1528, 1533 and 1548 for his birth and 1599 and 1609 for his death, and takes 1533–1599 as most probable.
• Tukaram: death in 1650 (most biographers; Ranade) or 1649 (a manuscript at Dehu). There are four views of his birth: 1568, 1577, 1598 (the family records at Dehu and Pandharpur; Deleury also gives this) and 1608 (Pangarkar).
• Which pilgrimage is greater: according to Deleury, before Bhanudas the Ashadhi pilgrimage was the more important; by tradition Bhanudas brought Vitthal’s image back to Pandharpur on Kartiki Ekadashi, which raised the Kartiki’s importance. Tukaram later gave the Ashadhi pilgrimage new life.
• The forehead mark: Deleury writes that apart from the tulsi mala a Varkari carries no required sectarian mark on the body or forehead; some descriptions mention a gopichandan tilak worn by Varkaris. We did not find a description we could check ourselves, so the form of the tilak is not given here.
• Jnaneshwar’s father: Ranade reports a view that his father Vitthalpant was a disciple of Ramananda (or Shripada Ramananda) at Kashi; but the guru line that Nivruttinath and Jnaneshwar give for themselves is the Nath line of Gahininath.

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