Style and Patronage in Marathi Kîrtan: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

In today’s Pune, one can find a kîrtan to attend almost any day of the week. Kîrtans listed in the events calendar of the local paper are usually identified as nåradîya or vårkarî, or (less commonly) Ramdasi, rå߆rîya, or Eknathi. Nåradîya and vårkarî kîrtan have overlapping song repertoires and both are led by a solo kîrtan performer (kîrtankår) who delivers a devotional message in speech and song. Despite these similarities, the two styles are significantly different and the two listening communities only occasionally overlap. In this paper, I argue that elements of both styles can be identified in the kîrtan practices of Marathi sants who lived between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, but that a clear bifurcation of practice emerged in the eighteenth century as a response to changes in political order and patronage.