Namdev

History glossary

Also called: Sant Namdev · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas"

Meaning

Namdev (c. 1270–1350) was a Marathi bhakti saint from Maharashtra. He was a tailor by caste and a devotee of Vitthala (a form of Vishnu) at Pandharpur, and some of his hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.

He matters because he was one of the first great sants of Maharashtra. He also shows the bhakti movement spreading from the south into western and northern India, and moving across the lines of caste, language and religion.

Explanation

Background: bhakti reaches Maharashtra

  • Bhakti began in the south. Ramanuja gave it a philosophical base through vishishtadvaita ("qualified non-dualism"). In Karnataka, Basavanna's Virashaivas questioned caste.
  • Tamil Vaishnava bhakti ideas entered the Sanskrit tradition. Their high point was the Bhagavata Purana.
  • From the 13th century a new bhakti tradition grew in Maharashtra.
  • Its centre was Pandharpur, the shrine of Vitthala.
  • Its saints were called sants.

  • Their songs were abhangs (short devotional songs in Marathi).

  • Namdev belongs to this early Maharashtra wave. He lived around the same time as Jnaneshwar (also called Dnyaneshwar).

Who he was and what he taught

  • A low-status birth. By tradition Namdev was born into a tailor (shimpi) family. He was not a Brahmana, so his religious authority came from devotion, not from birth.
  • A personal God. He worshipped Vitthala with deep love. For him God could be reached through bhakti (love of God) and by singing God's name. Temple rituals and priests were not needed.
  • Against empty ritual. Like the other Maharashtra sants, he rejected:
  • ritualism (rituals done for show),
  • outward display of piety,

  • social differences based on birth.

  • God inside ordinary life. The sants did not ask people to give up the world. They lived with their families, earned a living like others, and served people in need.

  • Songs in the people's language. He composed abhangs in Marathi, not Sanskrit, so ordinary men and women could sing them.

How his message spread

  • The Pandharpur pilgrimage. The sants' followers walked together to Pandharpur, singing. This is the Varkari tradition (varkari means a regular pilgrim), and it continues today.
  • Travel to the north. According to tradition, Namdev travelled widely and spent many years in Punjab. He also composed verses in an early form of Hindi.
  • Into the Sikh scripture. Some of his hymns were later collected into the Guru Granth Sahib. A Marathi saint of a "low" caste was given a place in the holy book of another faith.

Results and legacy

  • He started a chain of sants. After Namdev came Eknath (16th century) and Tukaram (17th century). Women saints such as Sakhubai and the family of Chokhamela (who belonged to the "untouchable" Mahar caste) also joined this tradition.
  • He helped build Marathi identity. Abhangs sung at Pandharpur made Marathi a language of religion. This shared culture later formed part of the background to the rise of the Marathas.
  • He linked regions. Through his travels and his place in the Guru Granth Sahib, he connects Maharashtra bhakti with the nirguna saints of north India (those who worshipped God without form).

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: c. 1270–1350, the late 13th and early 14th centuries. These dates are approximate.
  • Region: Maharashtra, with Pandharpur (shrine of Vitthala) as the centre. According to tradition he also spent time in Punjab.
  • Key people: Namdev, Jnaneshwar (lived at the same time), and the later sants Eknath and Tukaram.
  • How we know:
  • his abhangs in Marathi, kept alive in the Varkari singing tradition;
  • his hymns preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib;
  • later saint biographies and traditions. These mix fact and legend, so details of his life (such as his travels) are uncertain.

Don't confuse with

  • Jnaneshwar (Dnyaneshwar): he lived at the same time as Namdev and was a Brahmana. He is known for the Jnaneshwari, a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Namdev was a tailor-saint known for his abhangs.
  • Tukaram: he was also a Vitthala devotee who wrote abhangs, but he lived in the 17th century. Namdev comes about three centuries earlier.
  • Guru Nanak / Sikh Gurus: Namdev's hymns are in the Guru Granth Sahib, but he was not a Sikh Guru. He lived about a century and a half before Nanak.
  • Basavanna's vachanas: vachanas are sayings in Kannada (Virashaiva, Karnataka). Abhangs are songs in Marathi (Pandharpur, Maharashtra).

Prelims Hooks

  • Namdev = tailor-saint of Maharashtra, devotee of Vitthala at Pandharpur.
  • Maharashtra bhakti grows from the 13th century. Its saints are sants and their songs are abhangs in Marathi.
  • Trap: a saint from Maharashtra whose hymns are in the Guru Granth Sahib → Namdev (not Tukaram or Jnaneshwar).
  • Chronological order: Namdev / Jnaneshwar → Eknath → Tukaram.
  • Chokhamela's family belonged to the "untouchable" Mahar caste. Sakhubai was a woman sant of the same tradition.
  • Pairs: vachana–Kannada–Basavanna; abhang–Marathi–Namdev.

Mains Points

  • Bhakti as a social leveller: a tailor (Namdev), a Mahar family (Chokhamela) and women (Sakhubai) became honoured sants. In the Maharashtra tradition, holiness came from devotion, not from caste birth. This makes it a strong GS-I example of bhakti questioning Brahmanical rank.
  • Regional language and regional identity: Namdev's Marathi abhangs and the Pandharpur pilgrimage gave ordinary people a shared religious culture. Historians link this shared culture to the later rise of a Maratha identity, which ties the bhakti topic to the history of the Marathas.
  • Continuity and spread of bhakti: the movement started with southern thinkers such as Ramanuja and Basavanna. Through Maharashtra sants like Namdev it reached north India, and his hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib show bhakti ideas crossing the borders of region and religion.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas" (primary)