Pandharpur

City and sacred site (tirtha) on the
Bhima River in the state of
Maharashtra, about 185 miles east and
south of Bombay. Pandharpur is best
known for the temple to the god
Vithoba, and has been a center of worship for the Varkari Panth religious
community for at least seven hundred
years. Varkari rituals center around a
twice-yearly pilgrimage to Pandharpur,
495
Pandharpur
Varkari Panth pilgrims en route to Pandharpur.
in which the pilgrims all arrive on the
same day. Each pilgrim procession starts
from a different place and is identified
with one of the poet-saints who helped
form the community. At the front of
each procession is a palanquin (palkhi)
bearing the sandals of that group’s particular saint, who is thus symbolically
leading them into Pandharpur. For more
information see G. A. Deleury, The Cult
of Vithoba, 1960; I. B. Karve, “On the
Road,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 22,
No. 1, 1962; and Digambar Balkrishna
Mokashi, Palkhi, 1987.