The literary works of Namdev were influenced by
Vaishnava philosophy and a belief in
Vithoba. Along with the
Jñānēśvarī, a sacred work of Jñānēśvar, and of
Bhakti movement teacher-writers such as
Tukaram, the writings of Namdev form the basis of the beliefs held by the Varkari sect of Hinduism. He was thus among those responsible for disseminating the monotheistic Varkari faith that had emerged first in
Karnataka in the mid-to-late 12th century and then spread to Pandharpur in Maharashtra. Namdev and Jñānēśvar used the
Marathi language to convey their beliefs. Namdev's style was to compose simply worded praise for Vithoba and to use a
melodic device called
samkirtana, both of which were accessible to common people. Shima Iwao says that "He taught that all can be saved equally, without regard to caste, through devotion (
bhakti) to Vithoba" and that he greatly influenced groups of people who were forbidden by the Brahmin elite from studying the
Vedas, such as members of the Shudra and
untouchable communities. The earliest anthological record of Namdev's works occurs in the
Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scriptures compiled in 1604, although Novetzke notes that while the manuscript records of Namdev mostly date from the 17th and 18th centuries, there exists a manuscript from 1581 that presents a rarely recounted variant version of Namdev's
Tirthavli, a Marathi-language autobiographical piece. It is evident that the
Guru Granth Sahib ji record is an accurate rendition of what Namdev wrote: the oral tradition probably accounts significantly for the changes and additions that appear to have been made by that time. The numerous subsequently produced manuscripts also show variant texts and additions that are attributed to him. Of around 2500
abhangs that were credited to him and written in the Marathi language, perhaps only 600 - 700 are authentic. The surviving manuscripts are geographically dispersed and of uncertain provenance.
Bhajans , circa mid-19th century Namdev's
padas are not mere poems, according to Callewaert and Lath. Like other Bhakti movement sants, Namdev composed
bhajans, that is songs meant to be sung to music. A
Bhajan literally means "a thing enjoyed or shared". Namdev's songs were composed to be melodious and carry a spiritual message. They built on one among the many ancient Indian traditions for making music and singing. Namdev's bhajans, note Callewaert and Lath, deployed particular species of
Raag, used
Bhanita (or
Chhap, a stamp of the composer's name inside the poem, in his case
Nama), applied a
Tek (or
dhruva, repeated refrain) and a meter than helps harmonise the wording with the musical instrument, all according to
Sangita manuals refined from the 8th to 13th centuries. The musical genre of Namdev's literary works was a form of
Prabandha – itself a very large and rich genre that includes
dhrupad,
thumri,
tappa,
geet,
bhajan and other species. In some species of Indian music, it is the music that dominates while words and their meaning are secondary. In contrast, in Namdev's bhajan the spiritual message in the words has a central role, and the structure resonates with the singing and music. The songs and music that went with Namdev's works were usually transmitted verbally across generations, in a
guru-sisya-parampara (teacher-student tradition), within singing
gharanas (family-like musical units). Callewaert and Lath state that, "each single song of Namdev is a musical and textual unit and this unit is the basis for textual considerations". The unit contained
Antaras, which are the smallest independent unit within that can be shifted around, dropped or added, without affecting the harmony or meaning, when a bhajan is being sung with music. In Namdev's songs, the dominant pattern is
Caturasra, or an avarta with the 4x4 square pattern of musical matras (beat).
Compilations Namdev's work is known for
abhangs, a genre of hymn poetry in India. His poems were transmitted from one generation to the next within singing families, and memory was the only recording method in the centuries that followed Namdev's death. The repertoires grew, because the artists added new songs to their repertoire. The earliest surviving manuscripts of songs attributed to Namdev, from these singing families, are traceable to the 17th century. A diverse collection of these manuscripts exist, which have been neither compiled nor archived successfully in a single
critical edition. The state Government of Maharashtra made an effort and compiled Namdev's work from various manuscripts into the
Sri Namdev Gatha in 1970. from 1933 depicting bhagat Namdev in his hut The
Adi Granth of Sikhism includes a compilation of 61 songs of Namdev. However, of these only 25 are found in surviving Namdev-related manuscripts of Rajasthan. Winand Callewaert suggests that Namdev's poems in the Adi Granth and the surviving Rajasthani manuscripts are considerably different musically and morphologically, but likely to have evolved from a very early common source.
Anamnetic authorship Of thousands of
Abhang poems credited to Namdev, 600 - 700 are probably authentic. The other poems are attributed to Namdev, in a phenomenon Novetzke calls, "anamnetic authorship". The later compositions and their authors hid the true authorship purposefully and collectively over the 14th to 18th centuries, a period described in Maharashtra culture as the dark age. This was a period of Muslim conquest and repression of Hindus under the
Delhi Sultanate and the
Mughal Empire. The literary works not composed by Namdev, but attributed to Namdev were partly a product of this historical suffering and political situation in
Deccan region of India. Some of the poetries of another Poet named Vishnudas Namadev who lived in 15th century are also attributed to this Namadev, the Saint. This includes the popular Marathi Aartis of Vithoba "Yuge Atthavis" & "Yei O Vitthale". ==Philosophy==