Vitthal Rukmini Temple Pandharpur

Pandharpur is revered as the 'Dakshin Kashi' of Maharashtra and the throne of the Warkari sampradaya, an egalitarian bhakti movement that transcended caste through the songs of saints like Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram. Vithoba embodies the accessible, loving God who stands and waits for his devotees. The Ashadhi and Kartiki Ekadashi Waris are among the greatest pilgrimages of western India.

The Vitthal-Rukmini temple at Pandharpur enshrines Vithoba, a form of Krishna-Vishnu, standing serenely with hands on his hips upon a brick (vit) — the pose in which, legend says, he waited for his devotee Pundalik who was serving his parents. For centuries the temple has been the destination of the great Warkari pilgrimage, in which lakhs of devotees walk for days carrying the palkis (palanquins) of saints Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram, singing abhangs, to reach Pandharpur on Ashadhi Ekadashi. The town on the Chandrabhaga (Bhima) river is soaked in the bhakti poetry of Maharashtra's sant tradition, and darshan of Vitthal — traditionally by touching his feet — is the culmination of the Warkari's devotion.