Pandharpur Wari

It involves carrying the paduka of a saint in a palkhi, most notably of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram, from their respective shrines to Pandharpur.

Starting from their towns located in Pune district of Maharashtra: Sant Dnyaneshwar's palkhi leaves from Alandi, while Tukaram's begins at Dehu.

[5] Devotees from across Maharashtra and nearby areas leave for Pandharpur, wearing holy basil beads and singing the glories of Vithoba and songs like "Gyanba Tukaram", commemorating the saints.

[6] When they reach Pandharpur on Shayani Ekadashi, the devotees bathe in the sacred Bhima River before visiting the temple.

According to one theory, Vitthalpant, the father of the Varkari saint Dnyaneshwar, began the wari to visit Pandharpur in the Hindu months of Ashadha and Kartik.

[16] A diṇḍī is a group of Hindu devotees of one caste or village who are part of a larger palkhi going to a holy site on pilgrimage.

[citation needed] The event is said to be one of the world's largest and oldest movement where people gather on one day each year and walk a distance of around 250 km.

[21] Because the wari brings many people on the way to Pandharpur through many localities, public health measures have been implemented since the early British colonial period.

[22] According to Manjiri Kamat, the colonial administrators had other motivations, such as generating revenue by collecting pilgrim tax, or maintaining law and order for implementing public health measures.

[23] The colonial government's public health measures in the early part of the 20th century included attaching medical staff to different palkhis, removing infected persons, modifying wells for drinking water, digging trenches, providing bins for waste collection, and employing sanitation staff.