Vitthal — also called Vithoba or Panduranga — is the form of Krishna worshipped at the temple town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra, and the beating heart of one of the world's oldest continuous kirtan traditions. His origin story is pure Bhakti: the devotee Pundalik was so absorbed in serving his elderly parents that when the Lord himself appeared at his door, Pundalik simply tossed him a brick to stand on and asked him to wait. Charmed by devotion that would not even interrupt its duty, the Lord has stood on that brick, hands on hips, ever since.
Around Vitthal grew the Varkari tradition — "the pilgrims" — whose saint-poets composed hundreds of thousands of abhangs, short Marathi devotional songs, from the thirteenth century onward: Dnyaneshwar the boy philosopher, Namdev the tailor who sang across India, Eknath the householder scholar, Tukaram the grocer whose songs are still on every Marathi tongue, and Chokhamela, born untouchable, whose abhangs confront caste with heartbreaking dignity.
Twice a year, hundreds of thousands of Varkaris walk for weeks to Pandharpur, singing abhangs the whole way — arguably the largest recurring kirtan gathering on earth, and living proof that chanting the divine name has been a people's practice, open to every caste and calling, for eight hundred years.
In Traditional Art
Vitthal is depicted as a dark young Krishna standing bolt upright on a brick, arms akimbo with hands resting on his hips — the posture of one who has been kept waiting and does not mind at all. He wears a tall conical crown, and his consort Rakhumai (Rukmini) often stands on her own brick beside him.
In Kirtan
The chant "Vitthala Vitthala" and the great refrain "Jai Jai Vitthala" carry the Varkari sound into modern kirtan — and Western artists have recorded them with love. Abhang kirtan is its own art form: ecstatic congregational singing with cymbals and mridanga that can run all night. To chant Vitthal's name is to join a river of song that has flowed unbroken since the thirteenth century.
