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The Vārkarīs are a sampradāy (long-standing religious tradition) based in western India, where Marathi is the dominant language, particularly in the state of Maharashtra. The Vārkarīs are distinguished by a devotional ( bhakti) focus on the deity Viṭṭhal, two major annual pilgrimages to Viṭṭhal’s chief temple in the town of Pandharpur, and a textual corpus consisting of Marathi compositions by sant-kavis or “saint-poets.” The word vārkarī literally means “one who does vārī (pilgrimage),” and pilgrimage to Pandharpur has been essential for the tradition’s form s…