mostly in Rajasthan (Farquhar 1967: 344–6; Renou 1985a: 660). Only those
that are relatively better documented will be mentioned here. Vais.n.avism from
Gujarat, of which Narasim.ha Mehata ̄ (fifteenth century) is a main personality,
is the subject of another chapter in the present volume.
Of the two Vais.n.ava traditions of Maharashtra, the Maha ̄nubha ̄vas (or
Manbhaus), literally “those who have a great experience” and the Va ̄raka ̄rı ̄s,
“those who perform the tour,” that is, the pilgrimage to Pandharpur, the first is
probably older. Cakradhara (thirteenth century) is said to be its founder, and he
was succeeded by Na ̄gadeva. During the leadership of Paras ́ara ̄maba ̄sa (which
began in the late fourteenth century), the tradition isolated itself from the
common fold of Hinduism and divided into 13 currents (a ̄mna ̄ya), each with its
own line of initiating preceptors and particularities of doctrine and practices.
Reduced to two a ̄mna ̄yasin the twentieth century, it reopened itself to the
surrounding Hinduism and revealed its scriptures which until then had been
encoded and kept secret. The Su ̄trapa ̄t.ha and the Lı ̄l.a ̄caritra, which record
Cakradhara’s life and sayings, as well as the Smr.tisthal.a, which describes the
activities of Cakradhara’s followers during the time of Na ̄gadeva, all in
Old Marathi and of uncertain date, are among well-known texts of the
Maha ̄nubha ̄vas. The Maha ̄nubha ̄vas direct their devotion to Parames ́vara,
the sole source of release who is said to have incarnated in five avata ̄rascalled
“the Five Kr.s.n.as,” who are Cakradhara, his teacher, his teacher’s teacher, the
god Datta ̄treya, and the god Kr.s.n.a. Their books prescribe mental exercises rather
than external and ritual forms of worship (seva ̄). The main religious practice is
the “recollection” (smaran.a) of the names, deeds (lı ̄l.a ̄s), and manifestations of
the above five incarnations, a recollection stimulated by pilgrimages to places
which they are said to have visited and veneration of the relics of these incar-
nations, including objects used or touched by them. The Maha ̄nubha ̄vas rejected
social categorization in terms ofvarn.asand castes and several pollution rules.
This institution is divided between lay disciples and wandering renouncers
(sam.nya ̄sı ̄s) initiated into ascetic life through a ceremony called bhiks.a ̄(a term
which also conveys the ordinary meaning of begging in the Maha ̄nubha ̄va
texts). In the early period of this tradition women were eligible for this initiation
as well as for instructing and initiating others (Feldhaus 1983: 3–68; Feldhaus
and Tulpule 1992: 3–53).
The Va ̄rakarı ̄pantha is more a devotional current associated with the god
Vit.t.hala (or Vit.hoba ̄, also called Pa ̄n.d.uran.ga) of Pandharpur (Maharashtra) than
a homogenous and organized tradition. In the eighteenth century its followers
claimed a spiritual lineage of 50 Sants (holy men) (Schomer 1987: 4). They
believe that Jña ̄nes ́vara (a Marathi author and saint of the end of the thirteenth
century) established the Va ̄rakarı ̄pantha, but Na ̄madeva was probably the
founder of their movement (Vaudeville 1987b: 218, n. 9). A tailor by profes-
sion, Na ̄madeva (1270 to 1350 according to tradition) could be assigned to the
beginning of the fifteenth century from the linguistic analysis of his songs. Two
other major Maharashtrian Sants, Ekana ̄tha (a Brahmin, second half of the six-
teenth century) and Tuka ̄ra ̄ma (a S ́u ̄dra, 1607–49) belonged to this movement.
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