Pundalik (Marathi: पुंडलिक) or Pundarika (Sanskrit: पुण्डरीक, romanized: Puṇḍarīka) was an Indian saint and a devotee of the Hindu deity Vithoba.

This subtle energy centre, believed to be located between the eyebrows along the spinal column, is mentioned by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

[3] Frazer, Edwards, and P. R. Bhandarkar (1922) suggest that Pundalik attempted to unify the worship of Shiva and Vishnu, with this tradition originating in Karnataka.

[4] Ranade (1933) believes that Pundalik, a Kannada saint, was not only the founder of the Varkari tradition but also the first great devotee or high priest of the Pandharpur temple.

[4] Tulpule also accepts that Pundalik was the historical founder of the Varkari sect but refrains from assigning a specific date to him due to a "lack of authentic evidence.

"[4] According to M. S. Mate, Pundalik played a key role in persuading the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana to build the Pandharpur temple dedicated to Vishnu, placing him in the early 12th century.

[6] Deleury (1960) believes that Pundalik was a mystic influenced by the Vaishnava Haridasa sect of Karnataka and that he brought a significant transformation in the worship of Vithoba.

[8] Vaudeville observed that the legend of Pundalik of Pandharpur closely resembles the story of Pundarika, the devotee of Vishnu, from the Mahabharata.

The Brahmin texts comprise: The "third tradition" is represented in two works: There are three versions of the Pundalik legend, two of which appear as textual variants in the Skanda Purana (1.34–67).

The god Gopala-Krishna, a form of Vishnu, arrives from Govardhana as a cowherd, accompanied by his grazing cows, to meet Pundarika.

Krishna is depicted in a digambara (unclothed) form, adorned with makara-kundala (crocodile-shaped earrings), the srivatsa mark, a headdress of peacock feathers, and with his hands resting on his hips while holding a cowherd’s staff between his thighs.