Saints, the Bhakti Movement & Marathi Literature — MPSC GS Paper I and Prelims Paper I
Weightage: GS Paper I names "the Bhakti movement and the saints' movement in Maharashtra" alongside Indian culture, and Prelims asks for the art, culture and notable personalities of Maharashtra. Saint-and-text matching is a Prelims staple, and the social meaning of the Varkari movement is a Mains favourite.
1. The origins of Marathi
Marathi grew out of Maharashtri Prakrit, the literary Prakrit of the Satavahana age in which Hala's Gathasaptashati was composed. Inscriptions from the 11th and 12th centuries, such as those at Akshi in Raigad district and at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka, are cited among the earliest records of the language.
The Union government recognised Marathi as a classical language on 3 October 2024, together with Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. Maharashtra marks 27 February as Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Din, the birthday of the poet Kusumagraj.
2. The Mahanubhav sect
Chakradhar Swami founded the Mahanubhav sect in the 13th century. It worshipped Krishna in five forms, rejected caste distinctions and ritual, and admitted women as ascetics.
Its greatest contribution was to prose. Mhaimbhat's Lilacharitra (around 1278), a life of Chakradhar, is counted as the first biography and one of the first prose works in Marathi. The sect later wrote its texts in coded scripts, which kept them out of wider circulation for centuries.
3. The Varkari tradition
The Varkaris are devotees of Vitthal (Vithoba) of Pandharpur, on the Bhima river. Their central practice is the wari, the walk to Pandharpur for Ashadhi Ekadashi, in which the palanquins (palkhis) of Dnyaneshwar from Alandi and Tukaram from Dehu are carried by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
Its social meaning is what the Mains asks. The Varkari saints came from many castes, wrote in Marathi rather than Sanskrit, and taught that devotion, not birth or ritual, brought one close to God. The wari itself is a moving community in which caste distinctions are suspended for the journey.
| Saint | Period | Community | Works and associations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dnyaneshwar | 1275-1296 | Brahmin (outcast family) | Dnyaneshwari (1290, at Nevasa), Amrutanubhav, the Pasaydan; samadhi at Alandi |
| Namdev | 1270-1350 | Tailor (shimpi) | Abhangs; carried bhakti to Punjab; hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib |
| Chokhamela | 14th century | Mahar | Abhangs on the pain of untouchability; memorial at the steps of the Pandharpur temple |
| Janabai | 14th century | Domestic worker in Namdev's household | Abhangs of intimate devotion |
| Gora Kumbhar, Sawata Mali, Narahari Sonar | 13th-14th century | Potter, gardener, goldsmith | The multi-caste circle around Namdev |
| Eknath | 1533-1599 | Brahmin, Paithan | Eknathi Bhagavat, Bhavartha Ramayana, bharuds; edited the Dnyaneshwari (1584) |
| Tukaram | 1608-1650 | Kunbi family of traders, Dehu | The abhangs collected as the Gatha |
Dnyaneshwar wrote the Dnyaneshwari (also called Bhavartha Deepika), a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, to open its teaching to people without Sanskrit. It ends with the Pasaydan, a prayer for the good of all beings. He took samadhi at Alandi at 21.
Tukaram is the most quoted saint in the Mains. His abhangs attack hypocrisy and empty ritual, and the tradition holds that when his notebooks were sunk in the Indrayani river, they floated back.
Worked example 3.1 (a 10-mark answer, ~150 words). "How did the Varkari saints challenge social hierarchy?"
Model answer. The Varkari saints challenged hierarchy through who they were, what they wrote and how they worshipped.
They came from many castes: Namdev was a tailor, Gora a potter, Sawata a gardener, Chokhamela a Mahar and Janabai a domestic worker. Their standing as saints was itself a claim that devotion outranked birth.
They wrote in Marathi. Dnyaneshwar's commentary on the Gita and Tukaram's abhangs carried religious teaching to people shut out of Sanskrit learning.
The wari to Pandharpur suspended caste distinctions for the journey.
The challenge had limits. The saints sought equality before God rather than the end of caste in society, and Chokhamela's verses record that he was still kept out of the temple. Yet the movement prepared the ground that Phule and later reformers built on.
4. Samarth Ramdas
Samarth Ramdas (1608-1681) founded a different tradition, centred on Rama and Hanuman and on active, disciplined life. His Dasbodh is a manual of conduct, and the Manache Shlok are verses addressed to the mind. His math was at Sajjangad near Satara, and he set up Hanuman temples, the eleven Marutis, across the region.
His relationship with Shivaji is a subject of historical debate, so state it cautiously if you use it.
5. Two Bahinabais
Two poets named Bahinabai are often confused:
- Bahinabai of Siur (17th century) was a disciple of Tukaram who wrote abhangs.
- Bahinabai Chaudhari (1880-1951) of Jalgaon composed oral poems in the Ahirani dialect about farm and household life, written down after her death. The university at Jalgaon is named after her.
6. Modern Marathi literature
The modern age began in the 19th century with prose, journalism and new poetry. Keshavsut (Krishnaji Keshav Damle, 1866-1905) is called the father of modern Marathi poetry; his poem Tutari called for the break with the past. Hari Narayan Apte wrote social novels on the condition of women.
The first Marathi writers' conference was held at Pune in 1878 under M. G. Ranade, and the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan continues as the annual literary gathering.
The Jnanpith Award has gone to four Marathi writers:
| Year | Writer | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | V. S. Khandekar | Yayati |
| 1987 | Kusumagraj (V. V. Shirwadkar) | Poetry; the play Natsamrat |
| 2003 | Vinda Karandikar | Poetry |
| 2014 | Bhalchandra Nemade | Kosla; Hindu |
Dalit literature grew from Ambedkar's movement. Anna Bhau Sathe wrote Fakira and many lok-natyas. Baburao Bagul's stories and Namdeo Dhasal's poetry changed the language of Marathi writing. The Dalit Panthers were founded in 1972 by Dhasal, J. V. Pawar and others. Autobiographies such as Daya Pawar's Baluta (1978), Laxman Mane's Upara and Sharankumar Limbale's Akkarmashi opened a new form.
Other names asked often include P. L. Deshpande for humour, Vijay Tendulkar for the plays Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe and Ghashiram Kotwal, and Sane Guruji for Shyamchi Aai.
Worked example 6.1 (a Prelims-style match). "Match the work to its author: Dasbodh, Gulamgiri, Yayati, Baluta."
Answer. Samarth Ramdas, Jyotirao Phule, V. S. Khandekar, Daya Pawar.
Common traps MPSC sets here
- Calling the Dnyaneshwari an original philosophical work. It is a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, completed in 1290 at Nevasa.
- Crediting the Pasaydan to Tukaram. It is the closing prayer of Dnyaneshwar's Dnyaneshwari.
- Confusing the two Bahinabais. One was Tukaram's disciple in the 17th century; the other was a 20th-century Ahirani poet from Jalgaon.
- Crediting Lilacharitra to Chakradhar Swami. It is a life of Chakradhar written by Mhaimbhat.
- Dating Marathi's classical status to before 2024. It was granted on 3 October 2024.
Memory aids
- "Alandi for Dnyaneshwar, Dehu for Tukaram, Paithan for Eknath, Sajjangad for Ramdas."
- "74, 87, 03, 14": the four Marathi Jnanpith years, in the order Khandekar, Kusumagraj, Karandikar, Nemade.
- "Lila, Dnyana, Gatha, Dasa": Lilacharitra, Dnyaneshwari, the Gatha, the Dasbodh.
Summary
Marathi grew from Maharashtri Prakrit and gained classical status in 2024. The Mahanubhav sect gave it its first prose, and the Varkari saints from Dnyaneshwar to Tukaram made it a language of devotion open to all castes, with the wari to Pandharpur at its centre. Ramdas added a tradition of disciplined action.
Modern literature began with the press and Keshavsut, and Marathi has four Jnanpith winners. Dalit writing, from Anna Bhau Sathe to the autobiographies of the 1970s and 1980s, gave the literature a new voice.
Exam protocol
- Give every saint a place, a century, a community and a text.
- In Mains answers on social equality, use the Varkari saints and state their limits.
- Keep the Jnanpith table and the saint-text table for Prelims.
