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27-465: Sheikh Muhammad (1560–1650) was a Muslim saint-poet who is venerated by Hindus. Sheikh Muhammad or alternatively Sheikh Muhammed , Sheikh Mohammad , Sheikh Mohammed may also refer to (in chronological birth order): Sheikh Muhammad Sheikh Muhammad (1560–1650), also known as Shekh Mahammad (Mohammad) , Sayyad Shaikh Mahammad Qadiri , Shaikh Muhammad Shrigondekar (lit. Sheikh Muhammad of Shrigonde ), and Sheikh (Shekh) Mahammad-baba ,

54-547: A tirtha (a holy place near a water body) and a kshetra (a holy place near a temple). The location is identified with modern-day Pandharpur, which is situated on the banks of the Chandrabhaga. The description of Krishna resembles the characteristics of the Pandharpur image of Vithoba. The second version of the legend depicts Vithoba appearing before Pundalik as the five-year-old Bala Krishna (infant Krishna). This version

81-627: A "third tradition", that includes both Varkari and Brahmin elements. The Varkari texts are written in Marathi , the Brahmin texts in Sanskrit , and the "third tradition" are Marathi texts written by Brahmins. The Varkari texts are: Bhaktalilamrita and Bhaktavijaya by Mahipati , Pundalika-Mahatmya by Bahinabai , and a long abhanga by Namdev . All these texts describe the legend of Pundalik. The Brahmin texts include: two versions of Panduranga-Mahatmya from

108-528: A Kannada saint, was not only the founder of the Varkari culture but also the first great devotee or first high priest of the Pandharpur temple. Upadhyaya supports the priest theory but declines the Kannada origin theory. Tulpule also accepted the theory that Pundalik was the historical founder of the Varkari sect, though declines to fix a date for him due to "lack of authentic evidence". According to M. S. Mate, Pundalik

135-404: A cowherd, accompanied by his grazing cows, to meet Pundarika. Krishna is described as in digambar form, wearing makara-kundala , the srivatsa mark, a head-dress of peacock feathers, resting his hands on his hips and keeping his cow-stick between his thighs. Pundarika asks Krishna to remain in this form on the banks of the river Chandrabhaga. He believes that Krishna's presence will make the site

162-556: Is "the soul's struggle to realize and experience God". It adopts a similar metaphor from the Dnyaneshwari by the saint-poet Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296), in which the atman (soul) is the warrior riding the horse of the Mind and battles the armies of Ego and other passions in its quest to attain glory as Brahman ("Supreme Reality"). Sheikh Muhammad cites examples from the Hindu scriptures such as

189-481: Is evident in this poem dedicated to Vithoba as Krishna: Through the grace of Gopala (a name of Krishna), I have transgressed all notions of purity and impurity. The jack fruit has a thorny skin, but inside it are lumps of sugar, The bee-hive with all its humming bees contains the very nectar inside. (So also) Sheikh Muhammad may be an avindha (Muslim), But in his heart he has the very Govinda (a name of Krishna). The Yoga-samgrama contains an account of

216-608: Is found in manuscripts of both Puranas, Prahlada Maharaj, and the poet-saints, notably Tukaram. The remaining version of the Pundalik legend appears in Sridhara and as a variant in the Padma Purana. Pundalik, a Brahmin madly in love with his wife, neglected his aged parents as a result. Later, on meeting sage Kukkuta, Pundalik underwent a transformation and devoted his life to the service of his aged parents. Meanwhile, one day, Krishna comes to

243-756: The Purana s and other philosophical treatises to convey his ideas. The Yoga-samgrama has references to the Hindu gods Rama , Krishna (both forms of Vishnu), Vishnu, and Shiva . Each of the eighteen chapters of the treatise begins with a prayer to Ganesha , the god of beginnings, who is invoked at the start of a book in keeping with Hindu tradition. However, Sheik Muhammad's writings reveal his monotheistic beliefs, which are rooted in Islam . He describes Hindu gods as formless ( Nirakari ), unmanifest ( Avyakta ), without form or qualities ( Nirguna ), and invisible ( alaksa ) (see Hindu views on monotheism ). Sheikh Muhammad preaches

270-475: The Muladhara Chakra. Both hands, like bows, represents Ida and Pingla nadis , which cross over at the central body of Sushumna or Brahma nadi . The body represents purusha, meaning Vishnu or Krishna , and the tilaka, or the mark on his head, represents Ajna Chakra (also known as the guru chakra or third-eye chakra), a subtle center of energy that is believed to be located between the eyebrows and along

297-652: The Skanda Purana (consisting of 900 verses); Panduranga-Mahatmya from the Padma Purana (consisting of 1,200 verses); Bhima-Mahatmya , also from the Padma Purana; and a third devotional work, yet again called Panduranga-Mahatmya , which is found in the Vishnu Purana . The "third tradition" is found in two works: Panduranga-Mahatmya by the Brahmin Sridhara (consisting of 750 verses), and another work of

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324-630: The Oneness of God : In fifty-six languages one God is exalted with different words... cleavages arise because of harangues in different tongues ... I salute the sacred Om by which the God creator ( Narayan , a name of Vishnu) is known. Muslims salute him as ya Allah ... Even though Sheikh Muhammad identified himself as Muslim by birth, he had chosen the Hindu god Vithoba , a form of Krishna-Vishnu in Maharashtra, as his patron deity. His "socio-religious awareness"

351-536: The Shaiva (related to god Shiva ) Pundarika shrine to the Vaishnava shrine of the devotee Pundalik. The main argument of the hypothesis is that the memorial shrine of Pundalik is a Shaiva shrine, rather than a Vaishnava one, compromising of a Shiva- linga , the symbol of god Shiva. Texts, that narrate the legend of Pundalik and Vithoba, can be categorised into the Varkari tradition, the Brahmin tradition and what Raeside calls

378-478: The forest Dandivana, near Pundalik's house, in search of his angry wife Rukmini , who has left him. After some coaxing, Rukmini was pacified. Then Krishna visited Pundalik and found Pundalik serving his parents. Pundalik threw a brick outside for Krishna to stand on. Krishna stood on the brick and waited for Pundalik. After completing his services, Pundalik asked that his deity, in the Vithoba form - waiting arms-akimbo on

405-415: The god Vishnu . Pundalik's fame also led to naming of Pandharpur to Paundrika-kshetra - the sacred place of Pundalik. Other scholars like Raeside (1965), Dhanpalvar (1972), and Vaudeville (1974) have questioned the historicity of Pundalik altogether, and dismissed him as a mythical figure. In his analysis of the text Panduranga mahatmya by Sridhar (discussed in "Legend" section ahead), Raeside says that

432-503: The god, but who were forced into prostitution. Sheikh Muhammad does not spare Islam and criticizes some of its aspects. Sheikh Muhammad is regarded as a saint-poet by Hindus due to his contributions to the bhakti movement in Maharashtra. The saint-poet Ramdas , a staunch Hindu , contemporary saint praises Sheikh Muhammad as a great saint. Sheikh Muhammad is considered an avatar of the Muslim saint-poet Kabir (c. 1440 – c. 1518). Kabir

459-478: The influence of both Hindu bhakti and Muslim Sufi traditions, and he was a follower of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. These writings reveal his knowledge of the tenets of bhakti traditions, as well as his literary skills in "chaste idiomatic Marathi". The Yoga-samgrama , composed in 1645 and containing 2319 ovis (poems), is his magnum opus . The central theme of this philosophical work

486-561: The legend of devotee Pundalik could have been nothing more a derivative of Puranic legend. Dhanpalvar strongly agreed with this possibility. Vaudeville found the legend of the Pundalik of Pandharpur was very similar to the legend of Pundarika, the devotee of Vishnu, in the Hindu epic Mahabharata . The religious historian R.C. Dhere , winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book Sri Vitthal: Ek Mahasamanvaya , opines that identification of Vithoba with Vishnu led to conversion of

513-464: The originating legend of Vithoba and his devotee Pundalik , based on the Hindu scripture Skanda Purana . Sheikh Muhammad also wrote abhangas in praise of Vithoba. According to Sontheimer and Kulke , the Yoga-samgrama is an "unusually frank critique" of Hindu Brahmanical ritualism and folk Hinduism. While Sheikh Muhammad accepts classical Hindu deities, he vilifies folk Hindu deities. He mocks

540-474: The same name written by Prahlada Maharaj (consisting of 181 verses). There are three versions of the Pundalik legend, two of which are attested as textual variants of the Skanda Purana (1.34–67). According to the first, the ascetic Pundarika (Pundalik) is described as a devotee of god Vishnu and dedicated to the service of his parents. The god Gopala -Krishna, a form of Vishnu, comes from Govardhana as

567-416: The shrines of the Hindu mother goddess placed on roads and in fields: "If the deities were all that powerful, how come the dogs urinate on them?" He also criticizes self-torture rituals like hook-swinging, performed to appease folk deities. Sheikh Muhammad especially condemned the popular folk god Khandoba and the rituals of his cult. He criticized the practice of murali s, girls offered to Khandoba to serve

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594-732: The spinal column, as said by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita . Pundalik is a historical figure, connected with the establishment and propagation of the Vithoba-centric Varkari sect. Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar considers Pundalik to be the founder of the Varkari sect and the one who promulgated the sect in Maratha country. Frazer, Edwards and P.R. Bhandarkar (1922) suggest that Pundalik tried to unify Shiva and Vishnu, and that this culture originated in Karnataka. Ranade (1933) thinks that Pundalik,

621-554: Was a Muslim saint-poet who is venerated by Hindus . He is considered the most well-known Marathi Muslim poet. He is the author of the Yoga-samgrama ( Yoga-sangrama ). Sheikh Muhammad was born and lived his life in Shrigonda (Shrigonde), Maharashtra , India. He was the son of Raje Muhammad, a Qadiriyya (Kadri, Qadiri) Sufi . His guru was the Hindu Vaishnava (sect worshipping the Hindu god Vishnu ) saint Changa Bodhale, who

648-460: Was a Muslim saint-poet whose patron deity was Rama, a form of Vishnu; while Sheikh Muhammad was a devotee of another form of Vishnu, Vithoba. A Marathi couplet says that the saints Tukaram and Sheikh Muhammad are spiritual successors of Kabir. Pundalik Pundalik was one of the earliest Kundalini Yoga practitioners. As he was considered to be a master of Kundalini Yoga, people used to call him "Kundalik". Later, after several years, Kundalik

675-686: Was also the guru of Janardan Swami , the guru of the saint-poet Eknath (1533–1599). Changa Bodhale, known as Said Changasaheb Kadri in Sufi traditions, is considered an avatar of the Hindu god Dattatreya and was a disciple of Sheikh Muhammad's father. Sheikh Muhammad is the author of the Yoga-samgrama , the Pavana-vijaya , the Nishkalanka-prabodha , and the Jnanasagara , in addition to many songs and abhangas (devotional poems). His writings show

702-517: Was instrumental in coaxing the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana to build the Pandharpur temple to Vishnu, placing him in the early 12th century. Deleury (1960) believes Pundalik was a mystic, influenced by the Vaishnava Haridasa sect of Karnataka , who brought a drastic change in the worship of Vithoba. Pundalik not only founded the Varkari sect, but also was the first to identify Vithoba with

729-533: Was known as Pundalik, which was used to symbolize Kundalini energy in the form of Vitthala (also known as Panduranga ). Pandharpur 's Vitthala was an incarnation of Vishnu or Krishna . According to legends, it also depicts the symbol of the Kundalini energy, although in Hinduism, the same energy is believed to spiritually dwell in all. The brick on which Vitthala is standing is the chakra of Kundalini energy known as

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