Long afterwards the place was the scene of the depredations of a famous robber. The renowned Emperor Salivahan, whose capital was at Paithan, south of Aurangabad, and who gave his name to an
1 ' The name of a much worshipped god at Pandharpur. He is much resorted to by the low and mean and despised of all descrip tions. Hence a descriptive derivation has been invented for his name, viz. vi, from vit, knowledge or understanding, tht cipher, i.e. privation, destitution, and / for A?/, he lakes. Thus vit, th, and / form Vitthal, and acquire the sense Receiver of the ignorant and the destitute of understanding.' — Molesworth's Marathi Dictionary.
era which preceded the Christian by fifty-seven years, sent in the fifth year of his reign an officer to rid the land of the freebooter. The officer found the god still standing in the same posture as when he had been last seen by Pundarik. The place was named Pundarikpur — shortened into Pandharpur — in memory of the saint and it gradually rose to considerable importance and became the most im portant place of worship in Maharashtar.1
The roof of Namdev' s hut was blown away by a storm while the inmates were asleep. A devout friend whom Namdev recognized as God incarnate at once proceeded to re-roof the building. This incident was versified by Namdev in the Sorath measure as follows :—
A near neighbour asked Nama, ' By whom didst thou have this hut rebuilt ?
' If thou show me the carpenter, I will pay him twice the wages thou didst.'
' O my sister, my Carpenter cannot be given thee ;
Lo ! my Carpenter pervadeth all things ;
My Carpenter is the Support of the soul.
If any one want such a hut to be built, the Carpenter will require love for His wages.
When man breaketh with his family and all his friends, then the Carpenter of His own accord cometh to him.
I cannot describe such a Carpenter ; He is contained in everything and in every place.
As when a dumb man tasteth the great flavour of nectar, if thou ask him, he cannot describe it.
Hear the praises of the Carpenter, my sister — He restrained the ocean and fixed Dhru as the polar star.
Nama's Lord recovered Sita, and bestowed Lanka on Babhikhan.' 2
NAMDEV 25
The house in which Namdev and his family lived and in which in early years he plied his trade, is pointed out to the visitor. It has been greatly enlarged and modified since the saint made it his residence. The roof of the large hall is now sup ported by pillars. It is said that Namdev buried many of his voluminous works within the house, and forbade their exhumation under a solemn malediction.
A girl called Janabai went with her parents to visit the temple of Pandharpur. She there obtained such an access of devotion that she refused to re turn home, and her parents returned without her. Namdev happened to see her, and, taking an interest in her, made inquiries regarding her parents and place of residence. She replied that she had no parents but God, and no residence save His temple at Pandharpur. Namdev was moved to take compassion on her, and entrusted her to his mother. Janabai developed poetical talents, and several of her compositions are extant. She has given some particulars of Namdev's life.1
The Hindus desired to test the reality of Namdev's fast on the eleventh days of the light and dark halves of the month. They sent him a lean Brah man who asked for some food. Namdev refused as it was the eleventh day. He was fasting himself, and he thought others ought to fast also. The pretended Brahman said that he was at his last gasp through hunger. ' Bring me something at once.' In short, such was the insistence of the Brahman in asking and of Namdev in refusing, that a serious difference resulted between them. Several people assembled on hearing the uproar, and advised Namdev to give something from his kitchen for the sake of peace and dismiss the Brah-
man. Namdev refused, as he deemed fasting on the eleventh day the most important form of devo tion. The Brahman insisted on not taking his departure till he had received something to eat. He accordingly fell down at Namdev' s door, and pretended to die of hunger the same evening.
Persons unacquainted with the strict rules for the eleventh day's fast began to charge Namdev with the heinous crime of having caused a Brahman's death. Namdev neither feared nor heeded their censure. He prepared a funeral pyre, and seating himself on it beside the Brahman, ordered it to be lighted. The Brahman had no wish to immolate himself and promptly rose from the pyre and de camped. Thus was Namdev rescued from the death which he had courted. The bystanders, on seeing what had occurred, became believers, and accepted as a fact that Namdev was under the special protection of heaven.
A Brahman called Parisa Bhagwat lived in Pan- dharpur. He had a philosopher's stone — paras — the word from which his name was apparently derived. His wife Kamalja one day went to the adjacent Bhima river and there met Raj abai, Namdev's wife. The lat ter complained that her husband Namdev would do no work, and that in consequence the family was in very straightened circumstances. Kamalja said she possessed a philosopher's stone which she would lend her. It would convert everything into gold, and she would no longer be indigent. Raj abai, it is said, took the philosopher's stone and produced much gold by its agency. When Namdev heard of this, he took the stone and threw it into the river. When Kamalja remonstrated with him, he dived into the water and brought up two handfuls of gravel, which he threw in front of her. On looking she fancied that every bit of the gravel was a philo sopher's stone. On this she left her home and became a disciple of Namdev.
NAMDEV 27
Gyandev,1 a disciple of Vishoba Khechar, hearing of the fame of Namdev, went to Pandharpur to visit him. Gyandev was a Vedantist and pantheistic philosopher who relied on knowledge, while Namdev was thoroughly convinced of the superiority of de votion or spiritual love to one God. The Brahmans deem Vedantism more orthodox as having been originally propounded in works which they accept as divine revelation. When a man becomes a Vedantist, he rejects religious observances and believes himself saved during life. Namdev now totally repudiated this belief. At the same time there was nothing to hinder a Pantheist from consorting with a monotheist, and both saints became fast friends ; Gyandev pro posed to him that they should go together to visit holy places. Namdev replied that he was in the hands of Vitthal, and his permission must first be obtained. This preliminary having been arranged, Namdev fainted at the thought of leaving his god. Gyandev tried to console him, and said that as he was an in carnation of Vitthal, the god could have no cause for regret.
In the course of their conversation Gyandev asked him to indicate the way of devotion, and explain how man could make Vitthal his own. Namdev replied, ' The strength of contempt of the world should be in the body as an unchanging companion. Man should lay aside the difference between himself and others, and feel no anxiety for things of this world/
The object of the saints was most probably rather a thirst for information than a desire to make a religious pilgrimage. Had the latter been their object, they would have gone first to Banaras, and endeavoured to obtain the hall-mark of orthodoxy and the favour of the great Hindu priests who resided there. The two saints set out from Pan-
dharpur for Hastinapur, the name by which Dihli was then known. The Emperor Muhammad bin Tughlak hearing of Namdev's influence with the people, and suspecting that it would lead to an insurrection, resolved to arrest his career. The following hymn in the Bhairo measure gives the result :—
The emperor said, ' Ho, you Nama, Let me see the deeds of your God.' The emperor had Nama arrested — ' Let me see your God Vitthal ; Restore to life this slaughtered cow, Otherwise I will strike off thy head on the spot.' ' Your majesty, how can that be ? No man can reanimate what is slaughtered. All I could do would be of no avail ; What God doeth taketh place.' The emperor fell into a passion, And set a huge elephant at Nama. Nama's mother began to cry—
'Why dost thou not abandon the God of the Hindus and worship the God of the Musalmans ? ' Namdev : ' I am not thy son, nor art thou my mother ; Even though I perish, I will sing God's praises.' The elephant struck him with his trunk, But Nama was saved by the protection of God. The king said, ' The Qazis and the Mullas salute me, But this Hindu trampleth on mine honour.' The Hindus said, ' O king, hear our prayer ; Take Nama's weight in gold.' ' If I take a bribe I shall go to hell ; Shall I amass wealth by abandoning my faith ? ' While Nama's feet were being chained He sang the praises of God and beat time with his hands. The Ganges and the Jamna may flow backwards, But Nama will repeat God's name. When seven gharis were heard to strike,1
NAMDEV 29
The Lord of the three worlds had not yet arrived. God afterwards came mounted on His garur, Which beat the air with its wings.1 He took compassion on His saint, And came mounted on His garur,
That thou, O emperor, shouldst walk in the paths of truth and humility—
Namdev, God is contained in everything.'
The Hindus went in procession to Nama,
And said, ' If the cow had not been restored to life,
People would have lost faith in thee.'
The fame of Namdev remained in the world ;
He took saints with him to salvation.
All trouble and sorrow befell the revilers —
Between Nama and God there is no difference.
eight gharis of the pahar had elapsed and the cow was not reanimated, Namdev felt anxious ; but when the eighth ghari was struck, it is said God presented Himself and wrought this miracle to preserve His saint from the Emperor's wrath.
Namdev continued to preach that God and his idol were one, as holy water and ordinary water have the same appearance, as a lamp and its light, as a flower and its fragrance, as the sun and its rays, as the cloud and water, as sweetmeats and their taste, as a musical instrument and its melody, as an object and its shadow are all inseparable. His teaching again involved Namdev in serious difficulty, and he had to hastily retreat to save himself from the indignation and violence of the Muhammadans
Namdev and Gyandev next proceeded to Kashi (Banaras), where they met the renowned Sanskrit scholars of the age. Thence they travelled to Priyag. Thence they went to Gaya, where Budha in days long past performed his heroic penance and renunciation. Thence the two saints pro ceeded to Ajudhia, the birthplace of the god Ram Chandar. They then went to Mathura, the birth place of the god Sri Krishan, thence to Gokal and Bindraban, thence to Jagannath, the temple of the lord of the world, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. From there they made the long journey to Dwaraka by the shore of the Arabian Sea, the scene of Krishan's retreat from the battle in which he was defeated by King Jarasandh.
The two saints having thus proceeded to the utmost limit of India resolved to begin their homeward journey, and in due time reached Marwar. They tarried for a night in Kolad, probably the modern Koilath near Bikaner. Here occurred an incident which is related by the Marathi chronicler. Namdev and Gyandev both felt thirsty. There was a well in the neighbourhood, but it was very deep, and they had not the means of drawing water. It is said that Gyandev by the aid of jog science assumed a minute body, descended into the well, and quenched his thirst. He then challenged Namdev either to assume a minute body and descend into the well or drink water from his hands. Namdev, who was
NAMDEV 31
no believer in the efficacy of jog, declined the challenge, and said that if his god Vishoba were there, he would supply him with water. Upon this, it is said, the well filled to the brim with sweet water, and Namdev's desires were in every way gratified.
Namdev and Gyandev then departed for Rame- shwar in the extreme south of India, memorable as the place whence Ram Chandar set out on his expedition to Ceylon. After seeing the temple of Oamkar the two saints proceeded to Kalapdhara and thence to Dhara. In the latter place they visited the temple of Audhiya Nagnath. When Namdev arrived at the temple, he began to sing hymns with a loud voice. This attracted a crowd of people, so that the Brahman ministrants could not gain entrance without suffering the pollution of being touched by men of lower caste, deemed unworthy of salvation. Upon this they asked Namdev to cease singing and retire to a spot at the rear of the temple where he might continue his minstrelsy if he chose. Namdev told them that in God's temple there were no higher or lower castes, and that no one's touch could soil those who performed heartfelt worship. The Brahmans were not convinced; they struck Namdev, deprived him of his cymbals, and insisted that he should leave the temple. He went and sat down behind it and thus addressed God, ' I have no asylum but in Thee, and I want nothing. If Thou show Thyself to others and not to me, lend Thine ear at least to my songs.' He then began to sing verses full of self-reproach and abase ment.
It is said that God, on hearing Namdev's tuneful worship, was moved with kindness and compassion, and caused the temple to turn round, so that the door remained opposite His saint. Namdev has versified the incident in the following hymn in the Rag Malar : —
I went, O Lord, with laughter and gladness to Thy temple,
But while Nama was worshipping, the Brahmans forced him away.
A lowly caste is mine, O King of the Yadav,1 why was I born a calico-printer ?
I took up my blanket, went back,
And sat behind the temple.
As Nama repeated the praises of God
The temple turned towards His saint.
Namdev returned to the subject in the following hymn in the Bhairo measure : —
Forget me not, forget me not,
Forget me not, O God !
Those misled Brahmans of the temple were all furious with me ;
Calling me a Sudar they beat me and turned me out ; what shall I do, Father Vitthal ?
If Thou give me salvation when I am dead, nobody will be aware of it ; save me now.2
If these pandits call me low, then, O God, Thine honour will be in the background.
Thou who art called the compassionate and the merciful, altogether unrivalled is Thine arm —
God turned round the front of the temple towards Nama, and its back towards the pandits.
From Audhiya Nagnath the party proceeded to Paithan, Salivahan's capital, on the margin of the Godavari in the present state of Haidarabad, and thence to Deogiri, once the capital of the Maratha kingdom, in the vicinity of the famous caves of Ellora, where they met Sadhna, who hospitably entertained them, and then joined them in their peregrinations. They visited several places in the
NAMDEV 33
neighbourhood of Nasik, and thence proceeded to Junagarh in the province of Kathiawar.1
No very important incidents are recorded relating to the saints' homeward journey. On arriving at Pandharpur, Namdev applied himself to the com position of his abhangs.2 His fame rapidly extended and his compositions flew from mouth to mouth. Many accepted the incidents related in them, but others entertained doubts regarding Namdev' s ac curacy. On being pressed to explain the miracles he recorded and give a clear reply as to whether he himself believed in them, he asked his inter rogator if he had ever heard bells ringing in his ears, and if the ringing were real or imaginary. The inter rogator replied that he had heard ringing in his ears but no material bells were actually ringing. Namdev practically admitted that his record of miracles was the result of similar deception and of excessive and childlike faith. He believed in the miracles himself, and gave poetical expression to his belief as his vivid imagination prompted him.
Namdev once met an old friend who questioned him on his spiritual progress. Namdev unbosomed himself and described his mission to Vadval. His friend wondered that a man from whose hands his god had taken food, could put himself under a human guru inferior beyond all comparison to the much worshipped and much beloved Vitthal. Namdev replied as follows : ' Gods made of stone never speak. How can they heal worldly sorrows ? People suppose that idols of stone are God, but He is a real divinity and altogether different. If gods of stone can fulfil man's desires why should he suffer sorrow and affliction ? They who worship gods of
stone are absolute idiots. Both they who preach and they who believe that gods of stone hold converse with saints have perverted intellects. They who call such gods great beings and style their priests saints are really degraded creatures unworthy of credence. Let not their words enter thine ears. How can men be saved who cause gods to be carved out of stone, and reverently regard them during the years of their mortal lives ? Hast thou never reflected on this ? Thou hast no gods except water and stones. Go visit all the places of pilgrimage small and great and see for thyself. I have learned in Vadval that God is everywhere contained. Khechar conferred the favour on me of showing me God in my own heart.'
The Marathi chronicles show that Namdev died on the thirteenth day of the dark half of the month Asu, A. D. 1350, at the age of eighty years, and that he was buried in Pandharpur, where his head, moulded in brass on the lower step of the temple of Vishoba, is now worshipped by the populace. He has left several abhangs in which he prayed Shri Vitthal to give him a last resting-place at his feet. He was accordingly buried at the entrance of the temple of Vishoba under the lowest step of the stairs by which pilgrims ascend. He desired that his head should be trodden on by holy men and that he should acquire spiritual advantage from the dust of their feet. The idea is that when a man prostrates himself at the foot of a saint the dust of the saint's feet purifies him. The climax of beatitude is attained when the dust of the soles of the saint's feet falls on the worshipper's head.
Opposite Namdev's grave was buried one Chokhya, a Mahar of the lowest grade of Sudars — a grade so socially spurned that they might not even be touched by the higher classes. They were not allowed even in the time of Bajirao the last Peshwa (1796-1817) to travel by the same road as Brahmans, and it is
NAMDEV 35
believed that they are still not allowed to do so in certain places in Southern India. To the right of the visitor is seen a representation of Ganesh the elephant-headed god of learning, carved in relief out of a rock and painted red. Near Ganesh is a shape less block of stone said to represent Hanuman the monkey-god and ally of Ram Chandar in his expe dition to Ceylon.
The temple extends far inwards and contains several apartments supported by pillars. Through these the pilgrims pass in batches controlled by police officials. Over the apartments are vent holes to prevent the pilgrims from being suffocated as they pass in large numbers. From the roof of the temple is seen a chapel sacred to Rukmani the consort of Krishan, at which principally women worship. The temple was called Raul by Bhagat Namdev. It now contains many and various jewels of great value, the offerings of pious pilgrims for the decoration and glory of Vishoba. In the neck laces are seen gold coins of Spain, Portugal, and other European countries.1