Bhaktililamrta

(“Nectar of the Play of Devotion”) Text
written by Mahipati, an eighteenthcentury writer and hagiographer of the
devotional (bhakti) poet-saints.
Mahipati belonged to the Varkari
Panth, a religious group centered
around the worship of the god Vithoba
at his temple at Pandharpur. The
Bhaktililamrta gives extended accounts
of Varkari saints, such as Eknath,
Tukaram, Ramdas, and Bhanudas. The
text presents each of these saints as a
paradigm of devotion and stresses the
power of worship to overcome all obstacles. This theme also marks his other
major work, the Bhaktavijaya. Parts of
the Bhaktililamrta have been translated
by Justin E. Abbott as The Life of Eknath,
1981; and The Life of Tukaram, 1980.
99
Bhaktililamrta