Author: Sneha Bhattacharjee
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 15, 2013

The varkari tradition that pervades almost all of Maharashtra, it is the most prominent feature of the Bhakti movement that flourished in western India. Marathi among ordinary people, especially peasants, from the 13th century to the beginning of the 18th century. ‘Varkari’ is the one who undertakes a ‘Vari’, a pilgrimage, every Ekadasi to Pandharpur, a sacred city in Solapur in Maharashtra. The tradition originated with the saint-poet Jnandev or Jnaneswar, the author of Jnaneswari, a commentary on Gita and one of the early spiritual texts in Marathi, who combined philosophy and popular folk-practice of image worship
  
It is said Jnandev was fascinated by the folk cult of Pandurang in Pandharpur. He visited the centre with his sibling, Nivrutti, Sopan and sister Mukta, probably in the 1280s. Each of them are poets who attained a sense of mystical bliss when they saw the image of Vithoba in Pandharpur and became ‘devotees’ of the ‘deity’ considered a form of Vishnu
  
The varkaris, when they set out on their pilgrimage to Pandharpur, chant “Gyanba-Tukaram”, Gyanba being the colloquial name for Jnandev. Tukaram, born in 1608, was the last of the great varkari saint-poets
  
Tukaram wrote abhangs, poems addressed to Vithoba in a metric form indigenous to Marathi. Whenever he sang them, 14 accompanists supported him. The tradition is still followed by abhang performers like Tukaram Ganapathy. The concert usually lasts 2hrs with the first hour dedicated to explaining religious texts and the next hour to singing

Abhang singing became part of the music season in Chennai after Haridoss Griri introduced them in the 1990s. Tukaram Ganapathy gave 10 concerts during the Margazhi season this year