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The Varkaris, although apart from the rest of the society, in that they have bound themselves to the devotion of a particular deity, to perform the biannual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, to do nothing that can be construed as a breach of the accepted modes of saintly conduct, do not form a brotherhood or community like the sanyasins or Nath-sampradayins. They do not renounce the material aspects of day to day life. And although their philosophy teaches them to dissociate mentally from the material world it does not advise renunciation as such and hence they continue to live in society and pursue their professions as the rest of the people. They come from all castes and classes. Their separate identity is never emphasised to such a degree as to mar the basic unity of the Hindu society.
The initiation' into the panth is usually done through some guru' or spiritual leader and as a mark of the initiation, the new recruit wears the tulshi bead rosary, a mala, and for that reason a Varkari is often known as a malakari. The wearing of a mala binds the man not only to perform the pilgrimages but imposes the strictest sort of taboo against non-vegetarian food. He has to take only vegetarian dishes and to observe fasts on the ekadashi days. More often than not the Varkaris form a mandali or society for singing of the Bhajans either on each ekadashi day or some fixed day of the week. Here songs written by ancient sages in praise of Vithal are sung to the accompaniment of tala and pakhvaj, a sort of drum.
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