Tukaram was a 17th-century poet-saint of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra.

[2][4] He was part of the

egalitarian, personalized Varkari devotionalism tradition.[5]
Tukaram is known for his Abhanga devotional poetry and community-oriented worship with spiritual songs
known as kirtans.[5] His poetry was devoted to Vitthala or Vithoba, an avatar of Hindu god Vishnu.[4]
He is also referred to as Saint Tukaram, Bhakta Tukaram, Tukaram Maharaj, Tukoba and Tukobaraya.[6]
The year of birth and death of Tukaram has been a subject of research and dispute among 20th-century
scholars.[7][8] He was either born in the year 1598 or 1608 in a village named Dehu, near [Pune|Pune ]]
inMahrshtra, India.[2][8]
Tukaram was born to Kanakar and Bolhoba More, and scholars[4][9][8] consider his family to belong to
the Kunbi(Shudra) caste. Despite being from a caste traditionally believed to be the laborers and tilling service
providers, Tukaram's family owned a retailing and money-lending business as well as were engaged in
agriculture and trade.[4][8] His parents were devotees of Vithoba, an avatar of Hindu deity Vishnu (Vaishnavas).
Both his parents died when Tukaram was a teenager.[8]
Tukaram's first wife was Rakhama Bai, and they had a son named Santu.[10] However, both his son and wife
starved to death in the famine of 1630-1632.[4][11] The deaths and widespread poverty had a profound effect on
Tukaram, who became contemplative, meditating on the hills of Sahyadri range (Western Ghats) in
Maharashtra, and later wrote he "had discussions with my own self".[4][10] Tukaram married again, and his
second wife wasAvalai Jija Bai.[4][10] He spent most of his later years in devotional worship,
community kirtans (group prayers with singing) and composing Abhanga poetry.[4][10]
According to Ranade, Tukaram's spiritual teacher was Babaji Chaitanya, who himself was fourth generation
disciple of the 13th-century scholar Jnanadeva.[12][13] In his work of Abhangas, Tukarama repeatedly refers to
four other persons who had a primary influence on his spiritual development, namely the earlier Bhakti
santsNamdev, Jnanadeva, Kabir and Eknath.[14]
According to some scholars, Tukaram met Shivaji a Hindu leader who challenged the Islamic Mughal
Empireand who founded the Maratha kingdom;[15][16] Tukaram introduced Shivaji to Ramdas for his spiritual
education.[4][10][17] Their continued interaction is the subject of legends.[17][18] Eleanor Zelliot states Bhakti
movement poets including Tukaram were influential in Shivaji's rise to power.[13]
Tukaram died in 1649 or 1650.[2][3]
Namdev, also transliterated as Namdeo and Namadeva, (traditionally, c.1270 c.1350) was a poet-saint
fromMaharashtra, India who is significant to the Varkari sect of Hinduism. He is also venerated in Sikhism, as
well as Hindu warrior-ascetic traditions such as the Dadupanthis and the Niranjani Sampraday that emerged in
north India during the Islamic rule.
The details of Namdev's life are unclear. He is the subject of many miracle-filled hagiographies composed
centuries after he died. Scholars find these biographies to be inconsistent and contradictory.[1][2]
Namdev was influenced by Vaishnavism, and became widely known in India for his devotional songs set to
music (bhajan-kirtans). His philosophy contains both nirguna and saguna Brahman elements,
with monistic themes.[3]Namdev's legacy is remembered in modern times in the Varkari tradition, along with
those of other gurus, with masses of people walking together in biannual pilgrimages to Pandharpur in south
Maharashtra.[4][5]

Kabir (Hindi: ) (IAST: Kabr) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti
movement and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Adi Granth.[3][4][5] His early life was in a Muslim family, but he was
strongly influenced by his teacher, the Hindu bhakti leader Ramananda.[3]
Kabir is known for being critical of both Hinduism and Islam, stating that the former were misguided by the Vedasand the latter
by the Quran, and questioning their meaningless rites of initiation such as the sacred thread andcircumcision respectively.[3]
[6]

During his lifetime, he was threatened by both Hindus and Muslims for his views. [1]:4When he died, both Hindus and Muslims he

had inspired claimed him as theirs.[4]

Kabir suggested that True God is with the person who is on the path of righteousness, considered all creatures on earth as his
own self, and who is passively detached from the affairs of the world. [4] To know God, suggested Kabir, meditate with
the mantra Rma, Rma.[1]:4

Kabir's legacy survives and continued through the Kabir panth ("Path of Kabir"), a religious community that recognises
him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects. Its members are known as Kabir panthis.[7]
Dnyaneshwar or Dnyandev (IAST: Jnevar) (12751296)[2] was a 13th-century Marathi saint, poet, philosopher
and yogi of the Nath tradition whose Dnyaneshwari (a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita) andAmrutanubhav are
considered to be milestones in Marathi literature.
Dnyaneshwar was born in 13th century Maharashtra during the reign of the Yadava king Ramadevarava.[4] The kingdom
enjoyed peace and stability until invasions from the Delhi Sultanate started in 1296 CE.[5][6] Arts and sciences flourished
under the patronage of the Yadava kings and Maharashtra attracted scholars from all over India. [7] However, this period
also witnessed religious degeneration, sectarianism, superstition and ritualism which involved animal sacrifices to many
local deities.[8] Dnyaneshwar would later criticise the religious degeneration of the day in his magnum opus Dnyaneshwari.
[9]
According to B. P. Bahirat, Dnyaneshwar emerged as the first original philosopher who wrote in the Marathi language, in
this era.[10]
Biographical details of Dnyaneshwar's life are preserved in the writings of his contemporary Namdev and his disciples
Satyamalanath and Sachchidanand.[11] The various traditions give conflicting accounts of details of Dnyaneshwar's life.
The date of composition of his work Dnyaneshwari (1290 CE), however is undisputed.[12][4]According to the more accepted
tradition on Dnyaneshwar's life, he was born in 1275 CE and died in 1296
Sant Eknath was a prominent Marathi sant, scholar, and religious poet of the Varkari sampradaya. In the development
of Marathi literature, Eknath is seen as a bridge between his predecessorsDnyaneshwar and Namdevand the
later Tukaram and Ramdas.
The precise dates of his life are uncertain but it is traditionally that Eknath live during the last three-quarters of the
sixteenth-century CE. Legend also says that he was born to a Brahmin family at Paithan, that his parents died while he
was young and that he was then raised by his grandfather, Bhanudas, a hero of theVarkari sect.[1] Some sources say that
Bhanudas was his great-grandfather.[2] It is possible, but not certain, that his guru, Janardan, was a Sufi.[3]
Writings[edit]
He wrote a variation of the Bhagavata Purana which is known as the Eknathi Bhagavata,[4] and a variation of
the Ramayana which is known as the Bhavarth Ramayan. Eknath wrote Rukmini Swayamwar Hastamalak, which was
comprised 764 owees and based on a 14-shlok Sanskrit hymn with the same name byShankaracharya.

His other works were the Shukashtak (447 owees), the Swatma-Sukha (510 owees), the Ananda-Lahari (154 owees),
the Chiranjeewa-Pad (42 owees), theGeeta-Sar, and the Prahlad-Wijaya. He introduced a new form of Marathi religious
song called Bharood, writing 300 of them.[5]