The Warkari tradition has been part of Hindu culture in Maharashtra since the thirteenth-century CE, when it formed as a panth during the Bhakti movement. Warkaris recognise around fifty poet-saints 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.
Pilgrimages
Warkari people undertake an annual pilgrimage called wari, to Pandharpur, gathering there on Ekadashi of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Ashadha, corresponding to a date falling sometime between late June to July in the Gregorian calendar. Pilgrims carry Palkhi of the saints from their places of Samadhi. The tradition of carrying the paduka of the sants in a Palkhi was started by the youngest son of Tukaram, Narayan Maharaj, in 1685. Further changes were brought to the pilgrimage by descendants of Tukaram in the 1820s and by Haibatravbaba, a courtier of the Scindias and devotee of Dnyaneshwar. Devotees of Vitthal were holding pilgrimages prior to the 14th century. In the present day, about 40 palkhis and their devotees from all over Maharashtra do so. Another pilgrimage is celebrated on the Ekadashi of the month of Kartika, which falls in November of the Gregorian Calendar. Events such as Ringan and Dhava are held during the pilgrimage. During the Ringan, an unmounted sacred horse called Maulincha Ashva, who is believed to be the soul of the saint whose idol is being carried in the litter, runs through the rows of pilgrims, who try catching the dust particles kicked off and smear their head with the same. Dhava is another kind of race where everyone wins and it is held to commemorate the manner in which Tukaram first saw the temple at Pandharpur and started running in sheer exhilaration.
Practices
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, self-restraint 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 Haripathevery day and the regular practice of bhajan and kirtan. The Warkaris wear tulashi-mala, a rosary made from the wood of the sacred Tulsi plant. Varkaris look upon God as the Ultimate Truth and ascertained grades of values in social life but accept ultimate equality among men. Varkaris bow in front of each other because "everybody is Brahma" and stressed individual sacrifice, forgiveness, simplicity, peaceful co-existence, compassion, non-violence, love and humility in social life. The Vaishnav Varkaris may be known by their three upright brow lines, a black between two white gopichandan or white clay and sandal-paste lines.
