Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated ‘Shila’ (rock) temple at the existing Sant Tukaram Maharaj Mandir at Dehu, dedicated to the 17th-century seer.
Sant Tukaram was born in Dehu and is renowned for his devotional poetry known as ‘abhangas’, and community worship with spiritual recitations known as ‘kirtans’.
Following the inauguration of the temple, Modi addressed the devotees at the temple town, around 30 kilometres from Pune, where he said, efforts are on for development along with ancient identity and traditions moving hand in hand.
“It is our responsibility to keep our ancient identity and traditions alive. Therefore when modern technology and infrastructure are becoming synonymous with India’s development, we are making sure that both development and heritage move forward together,” Modi said.
Earlier today, PM Modi visited the Vitthal Rukmini temple upon arrival in Pune. Modi also interacted with ‘warkaris’ during his visit, which comes ahead of the annual ‘wari’ tradition which will commence on June 20 from Dehu.
Modi said Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar sang abhangs (devotional poetry in praise of Lord Vitthal) of Sant Tukaram while in jail during India’s freedom struggle.
“While in jail, Veer Savarkar used his handcuffs like the chipli (a musical instrument) of Sant Tukaram and sang abhangs,” said Prime Minister.
{{/usCountry}}“While in jail, Veer Savarkar used his handcuffs like the chipli (a musical instrument) of Sant Tukaram and sang abhangs,” said Prime Minister.
{{/usCountry}}Lauding Sant Tukaram, a prominent figure in the Bhakti movement, Modi said he played an important role in the life of a ‘Rashtra Nayak’ like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Built with a special type of Rajasthani stone, the Shila temple is a structure dedicated to a slab of stone on which Sant Tukaram had meditated for 13 days. Warkaris offer prayers at the Shila temple before starting their pilgrimage to Pandharpur. A new idol of Sant Tukaram has also been installed in the temple near the ‘Shila Mandir’.
Around 50,000 ‘warkaris’ were present at the venue for the Prime Minister’s address. PM Modi too was dressed in a traditional ‘warkari’ attire and was presented with a designer ‘Tukaram pagdi’ made by Girish Murudkar, who has designed ‘pagdis’ for noted personalities such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bal Thackeray, Prince Charles, among others.
The ‘warkaris’ welcomed the PM at the temple by singing the song ‘Gyanba Tukaram’.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, state opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis and Pune MP Girish Bapat welcomed the PM at the Pune airport.
PM Modi said his government will spend ₹11,000 crore on two palkhi margs of 350 km. He added that Sant Tukaram’s abhangs are giving him ‘urja’ and showing him the right direction. The palkhi margs were announced in 2017-18. PM Modi laid the foundation stone of the work in November 2021.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister carried out the ground breaking ceremony of the Palkhi route along with Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari. Once the route is complete, the ‘warkaris’ will get a safe passage for ‘wari’.
The ‘Palkhi Marg’, which has been given the status of National Highway, will have dedicated lanes for the ‘warkaris’, who will start their annual pilgrimage later this week.