And so the talk turned to sons who don’t take as good care of their ageing parents as they should. The blame shifts to the daughter-in-law. The son gets off the hook — old story.
\n<\/em>
\nWhich reminds me<\/strong> of the “sthalapurana” or origin story of the temple in Pandarpur in Maharashtra where Vithoba is the residing deity.<\/h3>\n

The story features the filial Pundalik who gets married and then starts treating his parents badly. Wanting a respite, the parents propose to go on a pilgrimage to Kashi, but for whatever reason the son and DIL tag along too. The old people, who travel on foot, are expected to cook every day. Each night they have to groom the horses the son and DIL ride. And this sorry tale continues till they get to an ashram of a saint where they decide to take a break.<\/h3>\n

Pundalik is unable to sleep well. Around midnight, in the distance, he sees three beautiful women in soiled clothes enter the prayer room — do a variety of tasks — and emerge with clean clothes at the end of the session. This happens the next night too. Turns out, they are are forms of the rivers pilgrims bathe in to rid themselves of their sins. Ganga is already dreading the day Pundalik will reach Kashi for a dip! Was it a vision or just bad conscience telling him a few truths in the still of the night?<\/h3>\n

In any case, Pundalik decides to treat his parents right from then on.<\/h3>\n

Later, when god himself pays Pundalik a visit, he is so busy tending to his parents, he throws his visitor a brick and asks him to stand on it. This way, Krishna can at least keep his feet dry.\u00a0 The streets are full of slush after the first rains. When Pundalik returns, god is still waiting — on the brick. Pundalik apologizes but Krishna is actually happy that the man is so devoted to his parents now. He is willing to grant Pundalik a boon. Why don’t you stay on and grace us all with your presence?, he asks.<\/h3>\n

The visitor, who is joined by his wife, turns to stone and so that’s how we have the Vittal Temple at Pandarpur.<\/h3>\n

Here is Arun Kolatkar’s poem on the sthalapurana<\/em>:
\nVamangi by Arun Kolatkar<\/strong><\/h3>\n

last time I visited the temple
\nVitthal was nowhere to be seen
\nonly a brick
\nlay next to Rakhumai<\/h3>\n

that\u2019s okay, I thought
\nRakhumai\u2019s better than nothing
\nshould rest my head
\non someone\u2019s feet<\/h3>\n

after genuflecting
\nlifted my head off her feet
\nto cover all bases
\njust in case<\/h3>\n

then, while leaving
\nasked Rahkumai
\nwhere\u2019s Vitthoo?
\ncan\u2019t see him<\/h3>\n

Rakhumai replied
\nwhat d\u2019you mean, where\u2019s he gone?
\nisn\u2019t he here beside me
\nto my right?<\/h3>\n

looked again
\njust to make sure
\nand said
\nthere\u2019s no one there<\/h3>\n

spent a lifetime, she said
\nlooking beyond my nose
\nnow it\u2019s hard to see
\nperipherally<\/h3>\n

I have become stone
\nlook how stiff my neck is
\ncan\u2019t twist myself
\nto my left or my right<\/h3>\n

when he comes, when he goes
\nwhere he goes, what he does
\nI really, really
\ndon\u2019t know at all<\/h3>\n

assuming always, that Vitthoo
\nwould stay at my side
\nI remained complacent
\nsilly me!<\/h3>\n

on Aashaadi-Kaartiki
\nso many come to visit
\nso how come
\nno one tells me anything<\/h3>\n

all at once, today
\nI feel accosted
\nby the loneliness
\nof twenty-eight eons\u2026<\/h3>\n

– translated by Mustansir Dalvi<\/em>
\n from Chirimiri, by Arun Kolatkar, Pras Prakashan, 2004<\/em><\/h3>\n

Vamangi means the ‘left-sided one’, and refers to Rakhumai, who is always seen on the left of Vitthal, as in the temple of Pandharpur. They are worshiped and venerated together, as in this hymn:<\/h3>\n

“Yuge atthavis vitevari ubha
\nVamangi Rakhumai dise divya shobha
\nPundalikanche bheti parabhamhahega
\nCharani vaahe Bhima uddharile jaga
\nJaya jaya deva
\nJaya Panduranga”<\/h3>\n

(For 28 \u00a0eons, he stands on the brick
\nto his left, Rakhumai stands full of grace
\nTo meet Pundalik is the greatest of fortunes
\nAt the feet of this hallowed ground flows the Bhima
\nJaya jaya deva
\nJaya Panduranga)<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so the talk turned to sons who don’t take as good care of their ageing parents as they should. The blame shifts to the daughter-in-law. The son gets off the hook — old story. Which reminds me of the “sthalapurana” or origin story of the temple in Pandarpur in Maharashtra where Vithoba is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-the-blog","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4354"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6051,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions\/6051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}