Sant Chokhamela (c ? – 1338)

The voice that made Pandharpur's door open to all.

BACKGROUND

A Mahar by birth, then considered untouchable, who laboured as a village servant and a wall-builder. He lived with his wife Soyarabai, son Karmamela, sister Nirmala and brother-in-law Banka, all of them poets-saints. Barred from entering the temple, he worshipped from the outside, and Vitthal's love reached him there.

PLACE OF BIRTH

Mehunaraja, near Deulgaon Raja (Buldhana district), Maharashtra. He later lived at Mangalvedha.

KEY CONTRIBUTIONS

• Abhangs of raw honesty on pain, caste and surrender to Vitthal

• Challenged untouchability through devotion, not argument

• Gave the Varkari movement its social conscience

• Left a family of poet-saints whose verses survive

PLACE OF SAMADHI

Pandharpur, at the foot of the Mahadwar steps of the Vitthal temple. He died when a wall under construction at Mangalvedha collapsed, and Namdev is said to have brought his remains to Pandharpur.