NAMDEV

born 1270?, Narasi, India died 1350?, Pandharpur, Bahmani leading poet-saint of the Indian medieval period, who wrote in the Marathi language. The son of a tailor and thus of low caste, Namdev married and had five children. As a youth, he was a member of a murderous gang of thieves but was overcome with remorse one day on hearing the plaintive lamentations of a woman whose husband he had killed. He was about to take his own life when he was saved by a revelation of the god Vishnu. Namdev then turned to a life of devotion and became the foremost exponent of the Varakari (Pilgrim School, so called because of the emphasis it placed on pilgrimages to Pandharpur to worship a local image of Vishnu called Vitthal ). The school is known for its expression of bhakti (loving devotion to a personal god) and for its freedom from caste restrictions in a religious setting. Namdev wrote a number of abhangas (hymns) expressive of his surrender to God. Extremely popular in Maharashtra and in the Punjab, some of his verses are included in the Adi Granth, the holy scripture of the Sikhs. Namdev inspired a tradition of devotional poetry that continued in Maharashtra for four centuries, culminating in the works of the great devotional hymnist Tukaram.