Alandi is a town and a municipal council in the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The town is popular as a place of pilgrimage and the resting place of the 13th century Marathi saint Sant Dnyaneshwar.
The ghat at Alandi on the Indrayani river
Dnyaneshwar
Samadhi of Dnyaneshwar with idols of Vitthal and Rukmini at the back
Sandals (paduka) of Sant Dnyaneshwar being carried in a palkhi on their way from Alandi to Pandharpur on the annual pilgrimage (Pandharpur vari)
Sant Dnyaneshwar, also referred to as Dnyaneshwar, Dnyanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296), was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath and Varkari tradition. In his short life of 21 years, he authored Dnyaneshwari and Amrutanubhav. These are the oldest surviving literary works in the Marathi language, and considered to be milestones in Marathi literature. Sant Dnyaneshwar's ideas reflect the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta philosophy and an emphasis on Yoga and bhakti towards Vithoba, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. His legacy inspired saint-poets such as Eknath and Tukaram, and he is one of the founders of the Varkari (Vithoba-Krishna) Bhakti movement tradition of Hinduism in Maharashtra. Dnyaneshwar undertook samadhi at Alandi in 1296 by entombing himself in an underground chamber.
Dnyaneshwar
The siblings Muktabai, Sopan, Dnyaneshwar and Nivruttinath seated on the flying wall greet Changdev seated on a tiger. In the centre, Changdev bows to Dnyaneshwar.
Dnyaneshwar's ideas are based on the Bhagavad Gita. Above: Dnyaneshwari pages in Devanagari script, Marathi language.
Dnyaneshwar's palkhi (palanquin), carrying the sandals of the saint, in a silver cart pulled by Oxen on a journey from Alandi to Pandharpur.