Warkari

Warkari (Marathi: वारकरी; Pronunciation: [ʋaːɾkəɾiː]; Meaning: 'The one who performs the Wari') is a sampradaya (religious movement) within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism, geographically associated with the Indian state of Maharashtra. Warkaris worship Vitthal (also known as Vithoba), the presiding deity of Pandharpur, regarded as a form of Vishnu. Saints and gurus of the bhakti movement associated with the Warkaris include Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Chokhamela, Eknath, and Tukaram all of whom are accorded the title of Sant. Recent research has suggested that the Varkaris were historically the followers of Krishna. The Warkari tradition has been part of Hindu culture in Maharashtra since the thirteenth-century CE, when it formed as a panth (community of people with shared spiritual beliefs and practices) during the Bhakti movement. Warkaris recognise around fifty poet-saints (sants) whose works over a period of 500 years were documented in an eighteenth-century hagiography by Mahipati. The Warkari tradition regards these sants to have a common spiritual line of descent. The Warkari movement includes the worship of Vithoba and a duty-based approach towards life emphasising moral behavior and strict avoidance of alcohol and tobacco, the adoption of sattvic diet, a modified lacto-vegetarian diet that excludes onion and garlic and fasting on Ekadashi day (twice a month), self-restraint (celibacy) during student life, equality and humanity for all rejecting discrimination based on the caste system or wealth, the reading of Hindu texts, the recitation of the Haripath every day and the regular practice of bhajan and kirtan. The Warkaris wear tulashi-mala, a rosary made from the wood of the sacred Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum L.) plant. The Warkari men may be known by their three upright brow lines, a black between two white gopichandan or white clay and sandal-paste lines which is also popular with other Vaishnavaite devotees. Varkaris look upon God as the Ultimate Truth and ascertained grades of values in social life but accept ultimate equality among men.