Varkari pilgrimage to Pandharpur

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · 1200 · India

What it is

The Varkari panth takes its name from the vari (वारी, pilgrimage): a Varkari is one who goes on the vari. Its patron deity is Vitthal (Vithoba), held by the tradition to be a form of Vishnu–Krishna, who in the tradition's account stands on a brick (vit) at the request of his devotee Pundalik. Its…

Format

• Rites on the road: ringan (रिंगण, a ceremony in which horses, or people, run in a circle on an open ground), bathing of the paduka in rivers (for example the Nira), group singing, women's phugdi (folk game) and chants of "Mauli".
• Phases of the therapist's work. Sources give no session counts or durations for this work; the phases below are a working structure.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• practice used to suppress symptoms that need treatment. Working when: the client uses it flexibly and by choice.
• over-identification, or quiet scepticism leaking into questions. Working when: the client speaks freely about devotion and doubt alike.
• the therapist steering a reluctant client toward religion; a community that shames illness. Working when: the client reports more contact that they value, chosen by them.
• intense religious experience being read as illness, or illness being read as devotion (see 5.6). Working when: the plan is written, the client owns it, and a trusted person knows.
• prolonged grief tied to guilt about not going; physically unsafe plans to walk "for him" (route to doctor, 4.4). Working when: the season is approached with planning rather than dread.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.