In Obama's 2025 playlist, a 13th-C Marathi prayer

From Pandharpur's pilgrimage trails to a former US president's 2025 playlist, a 13th-century Marathi prayer for universal brotherhood has leapt across time and tide to find a place in Barack Obama's annual music recommendations.

Between international pop, hip-hop, and Afrobeats, Obama's playlist also features 'Pasayadan', a contemplative modern rendition by New York-born and Tamil Nadu-raised vocalist Ganavya, available on YouTube.

Composed by Sant Dnyaneshwar, 'Pasayadan' is traditionally sung at the conclusion of the wari, the annual Varkari pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage to YouTube: 'Pasayadan' enters global consciousness

Unlike many devotional compositions that emphasise personal salvation, the abhang casts its net wide, praying for the well-being of all beings, say cultural experts. Drawing from jazz, ambient textures, and South Asian classical traditions, Ganavya's rendition features on her 2025 album 'Nilam', co-produced by Nils Frahm at Berlin's Funkhaus studio. Viewed widely after Obama's nod, the track's YouTube music video, directed by Vali Chandrasekaran and featuring dancer David Adrian Freeland Jr, mirrors its contemplative spirit.

In her 'Nilam' press statement and interviews around the release, Ganavya explained that 'Pasayadan' "is an abhang from the pilgrimage tradition... one of the last prayers we'd sing... where the young saint prays for the sun to rise in all cold hearts..." Describing it as a meditation on wisdom, compassion, and mutual sanctuary amid suffering, she had added that 'Nilam's' central theme is 'doing what we need to do to keep carrying on'.

Marathi literary experts say the early lines of the abhang establish its moral vision: 'Je khalanchi vyankati sando, taya satkarmi rati vadho' - a plea for cruelty to dissolve and wisdom to grow. Its most enduring line, 'Bhootan paraspere pado, maitra jivanche', expresses a wish that all beings be bound in friendship. Another verse, 'Duritanche timir javo, vishva swadharma surye paaho', calls for darkness of suffering & ignorance to be dispelled and for world to be illumined by ethical light.

For Marathi scholar Aparna Bedekar, who has a doctorate on sant sahitya, 'Pasayadan' represents the philosophical culmination of the Dnyaneshwari, the foundational text of the Bhagwat tradition. "Pasayadan has emerged as its supreme prayer," she says. "Through this prayer, the Varkari pilgrimage in Maharashtra came to embrace people across 18 communities, dissolving distinctions of caste, sect, modes of worship, and social hierarchy." Saints such as Gora Kumbhar, Sena Nhavi, Savata Mali, Narhari Sonar - and even Kanho Patra, a courtesan - became part of the pilgrimage, she notes, finding spiritual upliftment within its fold.

Written in the spoken Marathi of the people, abhangs travelled not through texts alone but through memory, footfall, and voice. Satish Joglekar, author of 'Window to Ancient India', describes 'Pasayadan' as a prayer that transcends 'dharma, creed, and time', surpassing even the Upanishadic idea of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' because it urges individuals to actively become a refuge for others.

The message resonates in the present day. "The world is going through war and strife, so it is deeply relevant," says Prasad Kambli, director of acclaimed play 'Sangeet Dev Bababhali', which features abhangs by 17th-century poet-saint Sant Tukaram. 'Pasayadan' is about universal brotherhood. For Dnyaneshwar, this was the crux of Bhagavad Gita. What was articulated eight centuries ago is being heard again today in a different form, he adds.

According to Siddha Yoga Path website, 'Pasayadan' is offered as a gift of divine grace meant for 'upliftment and benefit of all people', reflecting Dnyaneshwar's wish that compassion and joy reach every human life. The abhang, meaning 'unbroken', lies at the heart of Varkari tradition, which rejected ritual hierarchy and Sanskrit exclusivity in favour of lived ethics and communal devotion, say cultural experts.

In modern times, the prayer entered public consciousness through Hridaynath Mangeshkar's composition, Now, Ganavya's version propels it into global spotlight.

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