The presiding deity
of the same-named temple in Pandharpur, Maharashtra; Vithoba's other epithets
include Vitthala and Pandurang.
Vithoba was a deified hero who was assimilated into the
larger Hindu pantheon as a form of the god Vishnu, according to some theories.
Vishnu is drawn to Pandharpur by the filial piety of a young
boy named Pundalika, according to the temple's founding legend.
When Vishnu arrives, Pundalika is massaging his father's
feet, and when Vishnu requests the hospitality due to any guest, Pundalika only
stops long enough to throw a brick over his shoulder, allowing the god to stand
out of the mud.
Vishnu becomes rooted to that spot and has remained there
ever since, impressed that Pundalika's devotion to his parents exceeds even his
devotion to God; Vithoba's image depicts him with his hands on his hips (still
waiting, perhaps, for Pundalika).
Apart from this story, Vithoba has a surprising lack of
mythic history, despite becoming a powerful regional deity.
The Varkari Panth religious community, Vithoba's devotees
(bhakta), make pilgrimages to Pandharpur twice a year.
Pilgrims travel from all over the world to visit Pandharpur,
which is located in the Bhima River valley on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border.
Individual pilgrims travel in small groups known as dindis,
which are usually made up of people from the same neighborhood or area.
The dindis are organized into palkhis, which are led by a
palanquin (palkhi) bearing the san dals of one of the Varkari poet-saints.
Each palkhi leaves from a location associated with a
particular saint—for example, Jnaneshvar's palkhi leaves from Alandi, where he
lived, and thus he and all the other saints are still symbolically traveling to
Pandharpur twice a year.
Each of these palkhis follows a predetermined route, and
pilgrims time their departure and arrival in Pandharpur to coincide with the
eleventh day (ekadashi) in the bright half of Ashadh (June–July) in the summer
and the eleventh day in the bright half of Kartik (October–November) in the
fall.
Pilgrims liken their journey to a small stream merging with
other streams, eventually forming a mighty river that flows into Pandharpur.
Pilgrims sing devotional songs composed by poet-saints such
as Jnaneshvar, Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram, Chokamela, Gora, Janabai, and Bahina
Bai while on their journey.
By walking in the footsteps of the saints before them and
singing their devotional songs, the pilgrims are emulating them.
The pilgrimage ends with the entry into Pandharpur and the
worship of Vithoba, but the journey itself is the most important part.
G. A. Deleury's The Cult Of Vithoba, 1960; I. B. Karve's
"On the Road," Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 22 No. 1, 1962; and
Digambar Balkrishna's Digambar Balkrishna's Digambar Balkrishna's Digambar
Balkrishna's Digambar Balkrishna's Digambar Balkrishna Palkhi: An Indian
Pilgrimage, edited by Mokashi, was first published in 1987.
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