Kirtana, also rendered as Keertan, or the highest grossing and attended form Marathi Keertan is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration or shared recitation, particularly of keertan spiritual or religious ideas, native to the Indian subcontinent.
Samarth Ramdas, also known as Sant Ramdas or Ramdas Swami, was an Indian Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, writer and spiritual master. He was a devotee of the Hindu deities Rama and Hanuman.
Sant Tukaram Maharaj was a 17th-century Marathi Saint, Hindu sant (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya - that venerates the God Vitthal - in Maharashtra, India. He was part of the egalitarian, personalized Varkari devotionalism tradition. Sant Tukaram Maharaj is best known for his devotional poetry called Abhanga and community-oriented worship with spiritual songs known as kirtan.
Namdev, also transliterated as Nam Dayv, Namdeo, Namadeva, was a Marathi Vaishnav saint from Narsi, Hingoli, Maharashtra, India within the Varkari tradition of Hinduism. He lived as a devotee of Lord Vitthal of Pandharpur. He is widely regarded as the founder of Varkari tradition.
Dāsbodh, loosely meaning "advice to the disciple" in Marathi, is a 17th-century bhakti (devotion) and jnana (insight) spiritual text. It was orally narrated by the saint Samarth Ramdas to his disciple, Kalyan Swami. The Dāsbodh provides readers with spiritual guidance on matters such as devotion and acquiring knowledge. Besides this, it also helps in answering queries related to day-to-day life and how to find solutions to it.
Warkari is a sampradaya within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism, geographically associated with the Indian state of Maharashtra. Warkaris worship Vitthal, the presiding deity of Pandharpur, regarded as a form of Vishnu. Saints and gurus of the bhakti movement associated with the Warkaris include Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Chokhamela, Eknath, and Tukaram all of whom are accorded the title of Sant. Recent research has suggested that the Varkaris were historically the followers of VITHHAL & RAKHUMAI(विठ्ठल आणि रखुमाई).
Vithoba, also known as Vithala, and Panduranga, is a Hindu god predominantly worshipped in the Indian state of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He is a form of the god Vishnu, or his avatar Krishna. Vithoba is often depicted as a dark young boy, standing arms akimbo on a brick, sometimes accompanied by his consort Rakhumai.
Abhanga is a form of devotional poetry sung in praise of the Hindu god Vitthal, also known as Vithoba. The word "abhang" comes from a for "non-" and bhanga for "ending" or "interrupting", in other words, a flawless, continuous process, in this case referring to a poem. By contrast, the devotional songs known as Bhajans focus on the inward journey. Abhangs are more exuberant expressions of the communitarian experience. Abhanga is considered a form of the ovi. Abhangs are sung during pilgrimage to the temples of Pandharpur, by the devotees.
Harikatha, also known as Harikatha Kaalakshepam in Telugu and Tamil, is a form of Hindu traditional discourse in which the storyteller explores a traditional theme, usually the life of a saint or a story from an Indian epic. The person telling the story through songs, music and narration is called a Haridasa.
Bhoyare Gangarda is a typical village in Parner tehsil of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India.
Brahmachaitanya was an Indian Hindu saint and spiritual master. Brahmachaitanya was a devotee of the Hindu deity Rama and signed his name as "Brahmachaitanya Ramdasi". He was a disciple of Tukamai, and advocated for japa meditation with the 13-character Ram Naam (name) mantra "Śrī Rām Jai Rām Jai Jai Rām" to attain spiritual progress and enlightenment.
Visoba Khechara, spelled also as Visoba Khechar or Visoba Khecar, was the yogi-guru of the Varkari poet-saint Namdev (c.1270-1350) of Maharashtra, India. Visoba was a disciple of the Varkari poet-saint Jñāneśvar. He had linkages with the Varkari tradition as well as the Nath tradition of Maharashtra. Though a staunch Shaiva, Visoba has composed verses in praise of the god Vithoba, the patron deity of the Varkari faith. He has also composed a metaphysical treatise called the Shatsthala.
Bahinabai or Bahina or Bahini is a Varkari female-saint from Maharashtra, India. She is considered as a disciple of another Varkari poet-saint Tukaram. Having been born in a Brahmin family, Bahinabai was married to a widower at a young age and spent most of her childhood wandering around Maharashtra along with her family. She describes, in her autobiography Atmamanivedana, her spiritual experiences with a calf and visions of the Varkari's patron deity Vithoba and Tukaram. She reports being subjected to verbal and physical abuse by her husband, who despised her spiritual inclination but who finally accepted her chosen path of devotion (bhakti). Unlike most female-saints who never married or renounced their married life for God, Bahinabai remained married her entire life.
Kanhopatra was a 15th-century Marathi saint-poet, venerated by the Varkari sect of Hinduism.
Shri Samarth Muppin Kaadsiddheswar Maharaj was a guru in the Navnath tradition of Hindu philosophy. He was a disciple of Shri Samarth Siddharameshwar Maharaj, disciple of Shri Samarth Bhausaheb Maharaj, disciple of Shri Gurulingajangam Maharaj, disciple of the 22nd Shri Samarth Muppin Kaadsiddheswar Maharaj.
Sri Shreedhara Swami Maharaj was an Indian prominent Kannada-Marathi saint and religious poet in the Hindu tradition. Shreedhar Swami was a devotee of Lord Ram and a disciple of Samarth Ramdas.
Charudatta Aphale is a kirtan performer, son of kirtan performer Govindswami Aphale. Govindswami was often referred to Aphale-buwa when he was active. And now Charudatta is referred to as Aphale-buwa, with Buwa being an honorific term. Aphale took his kirtan lessons from his parents and Pt. Sharad Gokhale, Pt. Padmakar Kulkarni, Mukundbuva Gokhale, Agashe Buva, Madhukar Khadilkar, Pt. Vijay Bakshi
Patole is a village in Sinnar taluka of Nashik district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The current sarpanch of Patole is Shri Meghraj Suresh Avhad who is a civil engineer.
Bhalchandra Pandharinath Bahirat was a philosopher and educationist who studied the Marathi literature of Jñāneśvar and other sants of Maharashtra. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from Pune University in 1991.
