Tukārām of Dehu

Tukārām of Dehu

Tradition: Hindu / Vaishnava / Vārkarī

The Place

• Location: Dehu, Pune (18.7333°N, 73.7667°E) Maharashtra
• Historical: 1608–1649 CE

Story

Sant Tukārām Mahārāj (1608–1649) — the great Marāṭhī Bhakti poet, composer of 4,500+ abhangs (devotional songs). He was from a merchant-farmer family in Dehu near Pune, spent his life singing to Viṭṭhala of Pandharpur. Tradition: at the age of 41, he ascended to Vaikuṇṭha bodily — the spot at the Indrāyaṇī river where this happened is now a pilgrimage-shrine. Each year the Pālakhī of his pāḍukās (sandals) is carried from Dehu to Pandharpur in the Āṣāḍhī Wārī — the 22-day, 250-km pilgrimage. Tukārām's abhangs are sung by every Vārkarī and are the spiritual backbone of Marāṭhī culture.

Worship & Mantra

Rām Kṛṣṇa Hari / Jai Jai Rāma Kṛṣṇa Hari

Festival Cycle

• Tukārām Bīj (bodily-ascension anniversary) (Phālguna Vadya 2 (Feb–Mar), 1 day)
• Āṣāḍhī Wārī (Āṣāḍha (June–July), 22 days)

Why This Entry Matters

Every tradition in India — textual, oral, tribal, regional, syncretic — deserves first-person recognition. This entry honours Hindu on its own terms.