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Most of his poetry however has for its centre the temple of Pandharpur where was worshipped a deity called Viṭṭhala, Viṭṭoba or Pâṇḍurang. It is said that the first two names are dialectic variations of Vishṇu, but that Pâṇḍurang is an epithet of Śiva.
For Nâmdev see also Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, vol. VI. pp. 17-76. An earlier poet of this country was Jñâneśvara who wrote a paraphrase of the Bhagavad-gîtâ in 1290. At Pandharpur pilgrims visit first a temple of Śiva and then the principal shrine. This latter, like the temple of Jagannath at Puri, is suspected of having been a Buddhist shrine.
The centre of this worship is the town of Pandharpur and I have not found it described as a branch of any of the four Vishnuite Churches: but the facts that Nâmdev wrote in Hindi as well as in Marathi, that many of his hymns are included in the Granth, and that his sentiments show affinities to the teaching of Nânak, suggest that he belonged to the school of Râmânand.
There is no doubt that the deity of Pandharpur has for many centuries been identified with Kṛishṇa, who, as in Bengal, is god the lover of the soul. But the hymns of the Marathas are less sensuous and Kṛishṇa is coupled not with his mistress Râdhâ, but with his wife Rukmiṇî. In fact Rukmiṇîpati or husband of Rukmiṇî is one of his commonest titles.
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