Shiva and Vishnu, and that this sect originated in Karnataka. Ranade (1933) thinks that Pundalik, a Kannada saint, was not only the founder of the Varkari sect but also the first great devotee or first high priest of the Pandharpur temple. Upadhyaya supports the priest theory but declines the Kannada origin theory. According to M. S. Mate, Pundalik was instrumental in coaxing the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana to build the Pandharpur temple to Vishnu, placing him in the early 12th century. Other scholars like Raeside (1965), Dhanpalvar (1972), and Vaudeville (1974) have questioned the historicity of Pundalik altogether, and dismissed him as a mythical figure. Identifications Primarily, there are three Hindu deities associated with Vithoba: Vishnu, Krishna and Shiva. Gautama Buddha is also associated with Vithoba, consistent with Hindu deification of the Buddha as the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. However, Varkari consider Vithoba to be the svarup (original) Vishnu himself, not an Avatar (manifestation) of Vishnu like Krishna, despite legends and consorts linking Vithoba to Krishna. However, even the Mahanubhavas, who rose in the 13th century as a Krishna-worshipping sect, not only dismissed the notion that Vithoba is Krishna but also frequently vilified Vithoba. In some traditions though, Vithoba is also worshipped as a form of Shiva. The Dhangars still consider Vithoba to be a brother of the god Viroba, and view Vithoba as a Shaiva god rather than a Vaishnava one. Underhill proposes that the shrine of Pandharpur is a combined form of Vishnu-Shiva established by the Bhagavata sect that worships Vishnu-Shiva—the Lord, which is what bhagavata means. However, for the chief priests of the Pandharpur temple—Brahmins of the Badva family —" is neither nor . is " (IAST original). Despite this, some priests of the temple point to marks on the Vithoba image's chest as proof of Vithoba being Vishnu, in his form as Krishna. Vithoba's image replaces the traditional representation of Buddha, when depicted as the ninth avatar of Vishnu, in some temple sculptures and Hindu astrological almanacs in Maharashtra. In the 17th century, Maratha artists sculpted an image of Pandharpur's Vithoba in the Buddha's place on a panel showing Vishnu's avatars. This can be found in the Shivneri Caves. Stevenson goes so far as to call devotees of Vithoba (Vithal-bhaktas) Buddhist Vaishnavas (Bauddho-Vaishnavas), since they consider Vithoba to be the ninth—namely Buddha—avatar of Vishnu. Some of the poet-saints praised Vithoba as a form of Buddha. B. R.