Sant Tukaram and Sant Jnaneshwar

In news- Prime Minister has laid the foundation stone for four laning of five sections of Shri Sant Dnyaneshawar Maharaj Palkhi Marg (NH-965) and three sections of Shri Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi Marg (NH-965G).

About Sant Jnaneshwar/Dnyaneshwar-

He was a 13th century Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and a yogi of the Nath sect.
He authored Dnyaneshwari, which is a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and Amrutanubhav.
These are the oldest surviving literary works in the Marathi language, under the patronage of the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri, and these are considered to be milestones in Marathi literature.
He used to give a discourse on Dnyaneshwari to select audiences.
It is believed that Sacchidananand Baba wrote Dnyaneshwari during such discourses by Dnyaneshwar. This is also known as Bhavartha Deepika.
Shortly after the completion of Bhavartha Deepika, Dnyandeo joined the varkari movement probably under the influence of Namdeo and virtually became their leader.
Dnyaneshwar learned and mastered philosophy and various techniques of kundalini yoga, which is considered as the specialty of the Nath cult, from Nivrutti.
Sant Dnyaneshwar’s ideas reflect the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta philosophy and an emphasis on Yoga and oneness of Vishnu and Shiva.
His legacy inspired saint-poets such as Eknath and Tukaram.

About Sant Tukaram-

- He was a 17th-century Marathi poet and Hindu sant (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tuko Baraya, Tukoba, born in Maharashtra.
- He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya and was part of the egalitarian, personalized Varkari devotionalism tradition.
- He is best known for his devotional poetry called Abhanga and community-oriented worship with spiritual songs known as kirtans (or group songs).
- Abhanga poetry is a Marathi genre of literature which is metrical (traditionally the ovi meter), simple, direct, and it fuses folk stories with deeper spiritual themes.
- Abhanga sung in praise of the Hindu god Vitthal, also known as Vithoba.

His guru was bhakti movement Saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

- In his work of Abhangas, Tukarama repeatedly refers to four other persons who had a primary influence on his spiritual development, namely the earlier Bhakti Saints Namdev, Dnyaneshwar, Kabir and Eknath.