Pundalik
Encyclopedia
Pundalik or Pundarik is a central figure in the legends of the Hindu
god Vithoba
, generally considered a Vaishnava deity identified with deities Vishnu
and Krishna
. He is credited to have brought Vithoba to Pandharpur
, where Vithoba's central shrine stands today. Pundalik is also perceived to be the historical founder of the Varkari
sect, which is centered on the worship of Vithoba.
considers Pundalik to be the founder of the Varkari cult and the one who promulgated the cult in Maratha country. Stevenson (1843) goes further, suggesting he might have been a Jain or a Buddhist, since Varkari tradition is a combination of Jain and Buddhist morals, and Vithoba is viewed as Vishnu in his form as Buddha. Frazer, Edwards and P.R. Bhandarkar (1922) all suggest that Pundalik tried to unify Shiva and Vishnu, and that this cult originated in Karnataka. Ranade (1933) thinks that Pundalik, a Kannada saint, was not only the founder of the Varkari cult but also the first great devotee or first high priest of the Pandharpur temple. Upadhyaya supports the priest theory but declines the Kannada origin theory. Tulpule also accepted the theory that Pundalik was the historical founder of the Varkari sect, though declines to fix a date for him due to "lack of authentic evidence". According to M. S. Mate, Pundalik was instrumental in coaxing the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana
to build the Pandharpur temple to Vishnu, placing him in the early 12th century. Deleury (1960) believes Pundalik was a mystic, influenced by the Vaishnava Haridasa
sect of Karnataka
, who brought a drastic change in the worship of Vithoba. Pundalik not only founded the Varkari sec, but also was the first to identify Vithoba with the god Vishnu
. Pundalik's fame also led to naming of Pandharpur to Paundrika-kshetra - the sacred place of Pundalik.
Other scholars like Raeside (1965), Dhanpalvar (1972), and Vaudeville (1974) have questioned the historicity of Pundalik altogether, and dismissed him as a mythical figure. In his analysis of the text Panduranga mahatmya by Sridhar (discussed in "Legend" section ahead), Raeside says that the legend of devotee Pundalik could have been nothing more a derivative of Puranic legend. Dhanpalvar strongly agreed with this possibility. Vaudeville found the legend of the Pundalik of Pandharpur was very similar to the legend of Pundarik, the devotee of Vishnu, in the Hindu epic Mahabharata
. The religious historian R.C. Dhere, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award
for his book Sri Vitthal: Ek Mahasamanvaya, opines that identification of Vithoba with Vishnu led to conversion of the Shaiva (related to god Shiva
) Pundarika shrine to the Vaishnava shrine of the devotee Pundalik. The main argument of the hypothesis is that the memorial shrine of Pundalik is a Shaiva shrine, rather than a Vaishnava one, compromising of a Shiva-linga, the symbol of god Shiva.
, the Brahmin texts in Sanskrit
, and the "third tradition" are Marathi texts written by Brahmins.
The Varkari texts are: Bhaktalilamrita and Bhaktavijaya by Mahipati
, Pundalika-Mahatmya by Bahinabai
, and a long abhanga by Namdev
. All these texts describe the legend of Pundalik. The Brahmin texts include: two versions of Panduranga-Mahatmya from the Skanda Purana
(consisting of 900 verses); Panduranga-Mahatmya from the Padma Purana
(consisting of 1,200 verses); Bhima-Mahatmya, also from the Padma Purana; and a third devotional work, yet again called Panduranga-Mahatmya, which is found in the Vishnu Purana
. The "third tradition" is found in two works: Panduranga-Mahatmya by the Brahmin Sridhara (consisting of 750 verses), and another work of the same name written by Prahlada Maharaj (consisting of 181 verses).
There are three versions of the Pundalik legend, two of which are attested as textual variants of the Skanda Purana (1.34–67). According to the first, the ascetic Pundarika (Pundalik) is described as a devotee of god Vishnu and dedicated to the service of his parents. The god Gopala
-Krishna, a form of Vishnu, comes from Govardhan
a as a cowherd, accompanied by his grazing cows, to meet Pundarika. Krishna is described as in digambar form, wearing makara-kundala, the srivatsa mark, a head-dress of peacock feathers, resting his hands on his hips and keeping his cow-stick between his thighs. Pundarika asks Krishna to remain in this form on the banks of the river Bhima. He believes that Krishna's presence will make the site a tirtha
(a holy place near a water body) and a kshetra (a holy place near a temple). The location is identified with modern-day Pandharpur, which is situated on the banks of the Bhima. The description of Krishna resembles the characteristics of the Pandharpur image of Vithoba.
The second version of the legend depicts Vithoba appearing before Pundalik as the five-year-old Bala Krishna
(infant Krishna). This version is found in manuscripts of both Puranas, Prahlada Maharaj, and the poet-saints, notably Tukaram. The remaining version of the Pundalik legend appears in Sridhara and as a variant in the Padma Purana. Pundalik, a Brahmin madly in love with his wife, neglected his aged parents as a result. Later, on meeting sage Kukkuta, Pundalik underwent a transformation and devoted his life to the service of his aged parents. Meanwhile, one day, Krishna comes to the forest Dandivana, near Pundalik's house, in search of his angry wife Rukmini
, who has left him. After some coaxing, Rukmini was pacified. Then Krishna visited Pundalik and found Pundalik serving his parents. Pundalik threw a brick outside for Krishna to stand on. Krishna stood on the brick and waited for Pundalik. After completing his services, Pundalik asked that his Lord, in the Vithoba form - waiting arms-akimbo on the brick, remain on the brick with Rukmini, in Rakhumai form, and bless his devotees forever.
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
god Vithoba
Vithoba
Vithoba , also known as Vitthala and Panduranga , is a Hindu god, worshipped predominantly in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh. He is generally considered a manifestation of the Hindu god Vishnu or his Avatar Krishna...
, generally considered a Vaishnava deity identified with deities Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
and Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
. He is credited to have brought Vithoba to Pandharpur
Pandharpur
Pandharpur is an important pilgrimage city on the Bhimā river in Solāpur district, Maharashtra, India. The Vithoba temple attracts about half a million Hindu pilgrims during the major yātrā in the month of Ashadh ....
, where Vithoba's central shrine stands today. Pundalik is also perceived to be the historical founder of the Varkari
Varkari
Varkari is a Vaishnava religious movement within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism, geographically associated with the Indian states of Maharashtra and northern Karnataka. Varkaris worship Vithoba , the presiding deity of Pandharpur, regarded as a form of Krishna, an Avatar of Vishnu...
sect, which is centered on the worship of Vithoba.
Historicity
Pundalik is commonly perceived to be a historical figure, connected with the establishment and propagation of the Vithoba-centric Varkari sect. Ramakrishna Gopal BhandarkarRamakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar
Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar was an Indian scholar, orientalist, and social reformer.-Early life:Bhandarkar was born in Malvan in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. After his early schooling in Ratnagiri, he studied at Elphinstone College in Bombay...
considers Pundalik to be the founder of the Varkari cult and the one who promulgated the cult in Maratha country. Stevenson (1843) goes further, suggesting he might have been a Jain or a Buddhist, since Varkari tradition is a combination of Jain and Buddhist morals, and Vithoba is viewed as Vishnu in his form as Buddha. Frazer, Edwards and P.R. Bhandarkar (1922) all suggest that Pundalik tried to unify Shiva and Vishnu, and that this cult originated in Karnataka. Ranade (1933) thinks that Pundalik, a Kannada saint, was not only the founder of the Varkari cult but also the first great devotee or first high priest of the Pandharpur temple. Upadhyaya supports the priest theory but declines the Kannada origin theory. Tulpule also accepted the theory that Pundalik was the historical founder of the Varkari sect, though declines to fix a date for him due to "lack of authentic evidence". According to M. S. Mate, Pundalik was instrumental in coaxing the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana
Vishnuvardhana
Vishnuvardhana was an emperor of the Hoysala Empire in present day Indian state of Karnataka. Vishnuvardhana took the first step in consolidating the Hoysala Empire in South India through a series of battles against his overlords, the Western Chalukya empire...
to build the Pandharpur temple to Vishnu, placing him in the early 12th century. Deleury (1960) believes Pundalik was a mystic, influenced by the Vaishnava Haridasa
Haridasa
The Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
sect of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, who brought a drastic change in the worship of Vithoba. Pundalik not only founded the Varkari sec, but also was the first to identify Vithoba with the god Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
. Pundalik's fame also led to naming of Pandharpur to Paundrika-kshetra - the sacred place of Pundalik.
Other scholars like Raeside (1965), Dhanpalvar (1972), and Vaudeville (1974) have questioned the historicity of Pundalik altogether, and dismissed him as a mythical figure. In his analysis of the text Panduranga mahatmya by Sridhar (discussed in "Legend" section ahead), Raeside says that the legend of devotee Pundalik could have been nothing more a derivative of Puranic legend. Dhanpalvar strongly agreed with this possibility. Vaudeville found the legend of the Pundalik of Pandharpur was very similar to the legend of Pundarik, the devotee of Vishnu, in the Hindu epic Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
. The religious historian R.C. Dhere, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
for his book Sri Vitthal: Ek Mahasamanvaya, opines that identification of Vithoba with Vishnu led to conversion of the Shaiva (related to god Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
) Pundarika shrine to the Vaishnava shrine of the devotee Pundalik. The main argument of the hypothesis is that the memorial shrine of Pundalik is a Shaiva shrine, rather than a Vaishnava one, compromising of a Shiva-linga, the symbol of god Shiva.
Legends
Texts, that narrate the legend of Pundalik and Vithoba, can be categorised into the Varkari tradition, the Brahmin tradition and what Raeside calls a "third tradition", that includes both Varkari and Brahmin elements. The Varkari texts are written in MarathiMarathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
, the Brahmin texts in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, and the "third tradition" are Marathi texts written by Brahmins.
The Varkari texts are: Bhaktalilamrita and Bhaktavijaya by Mahipati
Mahipati
Mahipati was an author who wrote in Marāthi biographies of the prominent Hindu saints who had lived between the 13th and the 17th centuries in Mahārāshtra, India....
, Pundalika-Mahatmya by Bahinabai
Bahinabai
Bahinabai or Bahina or Bahini is a Varkari female-saint from Maharashtra, India. She is considered as a disciple of another Varkari poet-saint Tukaram. Born in a brahmin family, Bahinabai was married to a widower at a tender age and spent most of her childhood wandering around Maharashtra along...
, and a long abhanga by Namdev
Namdev
Sant Namdeo or Bhagat Namdeo was born on October 29, 1270 in the state of Maharashtra village of Narasi-Bamani, in Hingoli district . His father, a calico printer/tailor, was named Damshet and his mother's name was Gonabai...
. All these texts describe the legend of Pundalik. The Brahmin texts include: two versions of Panduranga-Mahatmya from the Skanda Purana
Skanda Purana
The Skanda Purana is the largest Mahapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text is devoted mainly to the lilas of Kartikeya , a son of Shiva and Parvati. It also contains a number of legends about Shiva, and the holy places associated with him...
(consisting of 900 verses); Panduranga-Mahatmya from the Padma Purana
Padma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
(consisting of 1,200 verses); Bhima-Mahatmya, also from the Padma Purana; and a third devotional work, yet again called Panduranga-Mahatmya, which is found in the Vishnu Purana
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
. The "third tradition" is found in two works: Panduranga-Mahatmya by the Brahmin Sridhara (consisting of 750 verses), and another work of the same name written by Prahlada Maharaj (consisting of 181 verses).
There are three versions of the Pundalik legend, two of which are attested as textual variants of the Skanda Purana (1.34–67). According to the first, the ascetic Pundarika (Pundalik) is described as a devotee of god Vishnu and dedicated to the service of his parents. The god Gopala
Gopal (Krishna)
Gopala is the infant/child form of Lord Krishna, the Cowherd Boy who enchanted the Cowherd Maidens with the divine sound of his flute, attracting even Madana . Historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism or Vaishnava dharma...
-Krishna, a form of Vishnu, comes from Govardhan
Govardhan
Govardhan is a town and a nagar panchayat in Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-Geography:Govardhan is located at . It has an average elevation of 179 metres .-Demographics:...
a as a cowherd, accompanied by his grazing cows, to meet Pundarika. Krishna is described as in digambar form, wearing makara-kundala, the srivatsa mark, a head-dress of peacock feathers, resting his hands on his hips and keeping his cow-stick between his thighs. Pundarika asks Krishna to remain in this form on the banks of the river Bhima. He believes that Krishna's presence will make the site a tirtha
Tirtha
In Jainism, a tīrtha |ford]], a shallow part of a body of water that may be easily crossed") is used to refer both to pilgrimage sites as well as to the four sections of the sangha...
(a holy place near a water body) and a kshetra (a holy place near a temple). The location is identified with modern-day Pandharpur, which is situated on the banks of the Bhima. The description of Krishna resembles the characteristics of the Pandharpur image of Vithoba.
The second version of the legend depicts Vithoba appearing before Pundalik as the five-year-old Bala Krishna
Bala Krishna
Bala Krishna sometimes translated to "Divine Child Krishna", is historically one of the early forms of worship in Krishnaism and an element of the history of Krishna worship in antiquity...
(infant Krishna). This version is found in manuscripts of both Puranas, Prahlada Maharaj, and the poet-saints, notably Tukaram. The remaining version of the Pundalik legend appears in Sridhara and as a variant in the Padma Purana. Pundalik, a Brahmin madly in love with his wife, neglected his aged parents as a result. Later, on meeting sage Kukkuta, Pundalik underwent a transformation and devoted his life to the service of his aged parents. Meanwhile, one day, Krishna comes to the forest Dandivana, near Pundalik's house, in search of his angry wife Rukmini
Rukmini
In Hinduism, Rukmini is the principal wife and queen of Krishna at his city of Dwarka. Krishna heroically kidnaps her from an un-wanted marriage at her request . Of Krishna's 16,108 queens, Rukmini is the first and most prominent...
, who has left him. After some coaxing, Rukmini was pacified. Then Krishna visited Pundalik and found Pundalik serving his parents. Pundalik threw a brick outside for Krishna to stand on. Krishna stood on the brick and waited for Pundalik. After completing his services, Pundalik asked that his Lord, in the Vithoba form - waiting arms-akimbo on the brick, remain on the brick with Rukmini, in Rakhumai form, and bless his devotees forever.
See also
- Panduranga MahatyamPanduranga Mahatyam (film)Panduranga Mahatyam is a 1957 Telugu film directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao and starring N. T. Rama Rao playing the role of Pundarika. The Lyrics written by Samudrala Ramanujacharya are excellent...
, 1957 Telugu film based on his lifestory.