Vari - The great march of devotion to Pandharpur

When your consciousness repeatedly directs you to explore something, you shouldn’t resist much and should give it a due shot. Same happened to me when the yearly Ashadhi Ekadashi was approaching and the time of ‘The great march of Varkaris’ was around.

Ashadhi Ekadashi is the holy day of much devotional importance in India which falls around the month of July every year. This auspicious day is celebrated across India through various rituals and fasting, out of which, the ‘The great march of Varkaris’ is observed in the state of Maharashtra. Varkari means a pilgrim, it is a religious movement. Varkaris worship Bhagwan Vithoba of Pandharpur, a form of Bhagwan Shri Krishna.

Varkari people go walking in huge processions to Pandharpur singing the Abhangas (chanting hymns) of Saint Tukaram and Saint Dnyaneshwar to see Bhagwan Vitthal. The pilgrimage of some 21 days and 210 kilometres starts in Allandi/Dehu road and ends at Pandharpur. Some 1.5 to 2 million Varkaris and other people take part in this 1000 year old tradition.

I was always fascinated with the fact that the Varkaris are mostly farmers and villagers who walk this march with absolute devotion and discipline despite the hardship of walking 21 days with minimum baggage, staying and eating in remote places and managing difficult climate conditions. I always wanted to know what drives this incredible human march, is it just the mythology which drives a lot of things in India or mere superstition. So I decided to join these farmers and villagers in their quest to observe the preaching of their great Sants and walk all the way from Allandi to Pandharpur to get blessings of the divine Lord Vitthal.

The pilgrimage starts from Allandi/Dehu road before 20 days of Ashadhi Ekadashi every year and have several halts for food, rest, refreshment and performing rituals associated with Vari. Following is tentative daily location and walk map:

Day	Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Palkhi	Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi
1	Alandi Gandhiwada	Inamdar saheb wada, Dehu
2	Vithoba Mandir, Bhavanipeth, Pune	Aakurdi Vitthal Mandir
3	Pune	Shri Nivdunga Vitthal Mandir, Nanapeth, Pune
4	Saswad	Shri Nivdunga Vitthal Mandir, Nanapeth, Pune
5	Saswad	Loni Kalbhor Vitthal Mandir
6	Jejuri	Yavat Shri Bhairavnath Mandir
7	Walhe	Varvand Shri Vitthal Mandir
8	Lonand	Undwadi Gavalyachi
9	Lonand	Baramati Sanskrutik Bavan
10	Taradgaon	Sansar Maruti Mandir
11	Phaltan	Anthurne
12	Phaltan	Nimgaon Ketki
13	Barad	Indapur
14	Natepute	Indapur
15	Malshiras	Sarati
16	Velapur	Akluj, Shri vitthal Mandir
17	Bhandishegaon	Borgaon
18	Vakhari	Pirachi Kuroli Gayran
19	Vakhari	Vakhari
20	Pandharpur	Pandharpur
21	Pandharpur	Pandharpur

Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Palkhi walk map:

Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi walk map:

Beginning the Journey:

We decided to join the Vari at Vakhari, which is the last halt before Pandharpur. Also, it is the only place after Pune where both the Palkhis of Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj and Sant Tukaram Maharaj meets and from there they take it together to Pandharpur to complete the Vari.

We reached Vakhari 2 days before of Ashadhi Ekadashi with just a pair of Dhoti-Kurta and Angavastra to get the feel of common Varkari. The management of Varkaris are done through 'Dindis'. Dindis are group of Varkaris who get together to arrange for their stay and food, many people do it as social work. A Dindi particularly have a convoy of 2-3 trucks in which tents, pantry, baggage of Varkaris, etc. are carried. We approached a Dindi with reference of a local friend and joined them from there.

(Contact details of the Dindi we stayed with: Sant Tukaram Maharaj Sansathan, Dehu. Mob: 9561354545)

The discipline, devotion, and music:

What we observed was a fine example of discipline. There were no huge Police forces for managing the crowd and still we didn't come across any chaos. Everyone was more or less self managing things, taking responsibility of their condition and adjusting according to the available arrangements. Despite of long and tiring journey with difficult climate conditions such as walking under hot sun or sleeping in tent while it rains, nobody seemed to be complaining. They all were looking joyful and focused on reaching their divine destination, such was the degree of devotion.

Out of their daily routine, singing the Abhangas (chanting hymns) was the top most activity. Many of them were carrying music instruments like Dholak, Majira, Veena and Kartal and playing them along with chanting their sacred and meaningful Abhangas. We were astonished to see their singing capabilities, we saw some fine examples of Indian Classical singing and what was more surprising was that they were all simple farmers and villagers.

The wisdom:

So we experienced pretty much everything which was evident in their daily routine, but my curiosity about the driving factor of the enormous march of faith and devotion got resolved when I attended couple of 'Satsang'. Apart from Abhangas, the Varkaris observe a routine of Satsang where they gather to listen 'Pravachan' (preaching of religious and spiritual knowledge). I was amazed to see that most of Varkaris were not merely following a tradition, rather they were driven by the wisdom of religious and spiritual learning, they were talking about great example of adopting good deeds in life, no matter how simple they looked, but they possessed beautiful thoughts.

The final destination:

We reached Pandharpur the night before Ashadhi Ekadashi. It was late night with constant drizzling, but the entire town was full of energy with millions of Varkaris present their. We took a bath in 'Chandrabhaga' river as per the tradition and stood in the queue for 'Darshan' (Praying and taking blessings). The queue moved slowly with continuance chant of 'Vitthalla Vitthala', 'Panduranga Panduranga' and many more. As the queue moved, everyone seemed indulged in high emotions as they approach to complete their journey with blessings of lord Vitthala. We saw Bhagwan Vitthala and prayed for all Varkaris, we thanked the almighty for protecting us and completing our journey with sense of relief and divine happiness.