Pandharpur Waari

A walk designed to transcend the body. The Path #3

Last month I found myself in an extremely busy schedule and hence couldn’t give myself time to write the essays that I had promised, but to compensate that I am writing a few more essays this month. Here’s the addition to the ongoing series “The Path”.

We discussed Camino de Santiago in the previous edition and how walking is more than a mere physical act. We discussed how Christianity has influenced the spiritual upliftment through this walk, while maintaining that this is not a religious walk, it transcends boundaries of religions and everyone is welcome to do this. While such long forms of walks exist around the world and some are more about nature/hiking trails, like the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), or the Annapurna Circuit Trek, some have a serious religious undertone to them, like the one we are about to discuss here.

Waari

Maybe you would have heard this word if you live in India, some western history-buffs or spiritual voyagers must have stumbled across this word, but the larger part of the society must have never heard of Pandharpur or Waari. India is vast and usually the touristic and historical side of India overpowers the gems that lie deep within its culture- and there’s many! Waari is one such unpolished gem. Even in India this word only surfaces only once a year during the month of Ashada. (June/July according to Gregorian calender)

Fig. Map of Wari from Alandi to Padhanrpur.

Waari is defined as the act of ‘walking or journeying’ to Pandharpur in the months of ashada, hence, it is also called an ‘ashadi wari’. An overwhelming majority of people who have heard of waari, but not experienced it, recognize it as a religious procession to see the statue of God Vitthal standing on a brick at the edges of the river Chandrabhaga. Here pilgrimage is seen as embodying the flow or kinesis of ideas, symbols and metaphors, while also representing physical movements of the bhaktas. Many researchers, including Deleury (1960) have noted Waari as a ‘spiritual movement’. Other contributors on this topic like Ranade (1933), Karve (1962), Turner (1974) and Dandekar (1979) have discussed the religious and geographical aspects of the waari, yet they fail to address wari itself as a transcendence through walking, beyond the common religious afflictions. 

Waarkaris give away their sense of self by dressing alike. Everyone wears a white hat, a white shirt and a dhoti, creating a sense of collective consciousness- invoking indifference. Rather than focusing on the outcomes of the walk, these pilgrims sway into the procession of the waari. Bhakti or devotion being at the center of the walking experience. A unique experience of waari is the dropping of one's given name. People call each other ‘mauli’, an incredibly feminine way of calling everyone ‘mother’, as in speaking to the one at the seat of each individual's consciousness.

I know, to a person who must have never heard of such things, this sounds a lot like some hoo-haa mysterious stuff that the interviewers must have asked the Beatles when they flew back from India for the first time.

Symbolism/Iconography and Art in Waari 

The Pandharpur Wari is a demonstration of the deep-seated spiritual beliefs and practices of the people of Maharashtra, India. It is a pilgrimage, which culminates in the offering of prayers and rituals at the Vithoba temple in Pandharpur. It is characterized by the use of art, symbols, and iconography that serve to reinforce the sense of oneness among the waarkaris. The use of flags, banners, and other forms of visual art, for example, not only serve as markers of devotion and identity for the individual Waarkaris, but it goes beyond personal identity and also contributes to the sense of collective belonging and spiritual unity among the participants. This is supported by previous research which has shown that the use of visual symbols and art in religious rituals can foster a sense of community and solidarity among the participants (Eliade, 1957). Furthermore, the use of symbols and iconography, such as the image of Vithoba and Rakhumai, serve to invoke a sense of transcendence and connection to the divine, and thereby reinforce the spiritual experience of oneness that is at the core of the Waari festival. 

Fig. Parvez Damania, Waarkaris dancing while wearing a similar outfit.

Fig. Parvez Damania, Men and Women walk together carrying the tulsi tree. 

In waari, people perform kirtan, which can be looked on as a performance art. It is similar to Sufism in the Muslim mystic tradition where people perform a dance in order to transcend the ordinary physical experience. Thus, all religions can be seen as ways to reach the same destinations with different means. In every religious tradition art plays an important role. From the churches of the Vatican, to the mosques and temples of Iran and India. Iconography and art go hand in hand. They are an important theme to portray the divine within humans.

Now, on a more personal note, when I walked across India, I chose the path that aligns with the farming belt - which is the core group that participates in the waari procession. I was surprised that the mere act of walking turned me into a ‘mauli’. Whenever the villagers got to know that I am walking towards or from Pandharpur, I was instantly referred to as mauli, none of the waarkaris cared to ask me my name or my background. I was given a place to sleep in the temple. I was given food and taken well care of. In the evening, the waarkaris perform a prayer called ‘haripaath’, where I would be invited to. I swayed with the music and later we’d all touch each others feet, as if acknowledging the same consciousness which resided in each one of us. At times I was taken aback when an 80 year old man would bend down to touch my feet, but I later realised that age was really a number and that is how waarkaris saw each other, forever young in their hearts. The physical body might crumble and some day it has to, but the one sitting at the seat of the consciousness never dies. The thing that the Christians called the holy spirit, it never dies. It can only end its wandering with liberation. Like Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Budhha or the Enlightened One when his wanderings ended.

Although the winds of the modern tech-savvy life have swept almost all parts of India, waari still remains an important part in the daily life of farmers of the central parts of India. Spirituality is being replaced by religious dogma and these mystic traditions have turned into a money-churning business opportunity, but still in all this chaos, if you can stay still and listen, you will hear a true waarkari performing a haripaath and swaying to the tunes of drumbeats, forgetting his/her ego identity and immersing into the oneness.

In the next edition I will try to leave the collective walking patterns and try to focus instead on the individuals who use walking as a form of performative art, by doing so, I can give this series a modern/contemporary outlook. Stay tuned. I will try to be on time next month. :)

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