{"id":778,"date":"2016-06-09T15:17:24","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T14:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=778"},"modified":"2016-06-07T15:48:20","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T14:48:20","slug":"india-wari-walking-pilgrimage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2016\/06\/09\/india-wari-walking-pilgrimage\/","title":{"rendered":"India: Wari Walking Pilgrimage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singing praises and dancing, thousands of people have undertaken a pilgrimage to worship the Lord Vitthal, a Hindu God. A spiritual journey.<\/em><\/p>\n

On the eleventh day of Aashaadh (in June\/July), a\u00a0multitude\u00a0of devotees, having undertaken an arduous two-week journey on foot, descend on the temple town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra, in the western region of India. They have arrived for a glimpse of their Lord Vitthal, a manifestation of Vishnu, a Hindu god who is also worshipped in the states of Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.<\/p>\n

Those who undertake this centuries-old pilgrimage, known as wari<\/em>, are known as warkaris<\/em>. Singing praises and dancing to the rhythmic beat of cymbals and the mrudunga<\/em> drum, the warkaris<\/em> convene either in Dehu or Alandi, from where the procession, also known as palkhi<\/em>, begins.<\/p>\n

Sant Tukaram, a poet-saint, is said to have popularised the wari<\/em> custom during the 1600s. He was a follower of Sant Dnyaneshwar, considered to be the spiritual guru of the warkaris<\/em>, who at the age of 15 wrote a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, thus making available the divine knowledge that previously only the Brahmin priests had been allowed to access. This, then, is the essence of wari<\/em>: to break down norms surrounding caste and creed and open up worship to everyone.<\/p>\n

The palkhi<\/em>‘s timetable is well-defined and strictly followed. After worshipping the saint’s padukas<\/em> (footwear) at dawn, the palkhi<\/em> sets out at exactly six in the morning. A wind instrument known as a tutari<\/em> is blown thrice to alert the warkaris<\/em>. At the first signal, the warkaris<\/em> get ready to leave; at the second, the dindis<\/em> (groups of warkaris<\/em>) take their positions in the queue for the palkhi<\/em> procession; and at the third, the procession starts off. The dindis are given numbers according to their position ahead of, or behind, the palkhi<\/em>. Each dindi<\/em> is led by a flag-bearer carrying an orange-brown kav<\/em>, or flag.<\/p>\n

Cymbal players and the warkaris<\/em> follow this flag-bearer in lines of four. The mrudunga<\/em> and veena<\/em> players are positioned in the middle and at the end of the dindi respectively. Then come the women warkaris<\/em>, some carrying tulsi<\/em> (basil) plants, and some carrying pitchers of drinking water on their heads. There are also a large number of warkaris<\/em> not belonging to any dindi<\/em>,\u00a0who simply join the procession. These individuals are completely dependent on the residents of the villages for food and shelter along the way.<\/p>\n

Each dindi<\/em> has its own water tank and trucks to carry supplies. The management ensures that these tents are set up and meals prepared well before the dindis<\/em> arrive. The dindis<\/em> also decide the order in which the abhangas<\/em> (devotional songs) are to be sung. Newly joined warkaris<\/em> can be found reading the abhangas<\/em> from books, even as they walk; and the days end with the singing of bhajans<\/em> and abhangas<\/em>. The warkaris<\/em> are also treated to kirtans<\/em>, discourses that combine narration and song \u2013 refreshing the mind after a long day’s walk.<\/p>\n

After 18 to 21 days, the pilgrimage finally reaches the temple town of Pandharpur, where the warkaris<\/em> take a holy bath in the river Chandrabhaga. Some fortunate ones get to worship the Lord Vitthal, while others just get a darshan<\/em> (glimpse) of the temple spire \u2013 completing everyone’s\u00a0spiritual and physical journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singing praises and dancing, thousands of people have undertaken a pilgrimage to worship the Lord Vitthal, a Hindu God. A spiritual journey. On the eleventh day of Aashaadh (in June\/July), a\u00a0multitude\u00a0of devotees, having undertaken an arduous two-week journey on foot, descend on the temple town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra, in the western region of India. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}