Person · Marathi saint-poet
Nāmdev
Also known as Namdev, Sant Namdev, Namdeo, Nama
Calico-printer of Pandharpūr whose abhangs and kīrtan shaped the Varkarī tradition alongside Dnyāneshwar. He travelled north into the Punjab and stayed at Ghumān for years; sixty-one of his hymns were taken into the Guru Granth Sāhib, which makes him a saint read in two languages and two scriptures.
- Date
- c. 1270 – 1350
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Tradition
- Namdev gāthā; Guru Granth Sāhib
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
The Varkarī tradition has him refuse to be buried anywhere but on the first step of the Pandharpūr temple, so that pilgrims would tread on him as they entered. The step is still pointed out and still touched.
Connections (2)
- Life routePandharpūr
Nāmdev was a calico-printer of Pandharpūr and asked to be buried on the temple's first step so that every pilgrim entering would tread on him. The step is still shown and still touched, which makes the humblest claim in the tradition also the most unavoidable part of the building. He is the earliest of the great Varkarī poets by about a generation, which makes the tradition's first major voice an artisan rather than a Brahmin.
- Life routeGhumān
Nāmdev spent his later years at Ghumān in Gurdaspur district, which is how sixty-one Marathi hymns came into a Punjabi scripture. The village keeps a gurdwara and an annual fair for a Maharashtrian calico-printer, and Pandharpūr keeps his step at the temple door. He is said to have asked to be buried on the first step of the Pandharpūr temple so that every pilgrim entering would tread on him, and the step is still shown.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Namdev”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.
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