Chokhamela

Chokhamela is the earliest great Varkari saint of the Mahar community, whose abhangas to Vitthal of Pandharpur speak devotion from outside the temple door — the door the caste order kept shut against him.

Life

Chokha lived in the 14th century at Mangalvedha near Pandharpur, working the hereditary menial labor of his caste while singing to Vitthal. The hagiographies tell that he visited the temple only at a distance, that his bank-of-the-river worship was accepted by the god himself, and that when he died at the wall-collapse while working, his bones — found among the debris — kept chanting Vitthal’s name, and were enshrined. The stories encode the exclusion the verses themselves record: “O God, why did you create me in this caste?”

Teachings/Works

Some 340 abhangas survive under his name — petitions, complaints, and raptures that make his the classic voice of devotion from below caste. His wife Soyarabai and son Karmamela are also Varkari saints; the family’s hymns are sung as one corpus.

Legacy

Chokhamela’s samadhi at Pandharpur stands within the pilgrimage circuit; his verses anchor the Varkari claim that bhakti outranks birth, and modern Ambedkarite readings have claimed him as an ancestor of dignity.

Verification notes

• Dating to the 14th century follows the Varkari tradition’s own chronology; external corroboration is absent.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).