Tukaram

Tukaram of Maharasthra
17th century Marathi Poet-Saint
Circa 1598 – 1650

Little is known of the life of Tukaram. Several dates are given for his birth, citing family records and other ancient authorities. It is generally accepted he was born between 1598 – 1608 in the village of Dehu on the banks of the river Indrayani into a low-caste Sudra family. Since it was common in Maharashtra at that time for the Brahmins to refer to all non-Brahmins as “sudras” (lower castes), it is not commonly realised that Tukaram’s family were landowners, farmers, and that they made their living by selling the produce of the land. Tukaram’s father had inherited the position of mahajan, or collector of revenue from traders, from his father, and Tukaram in turn was the mahajan of his village Dehu. At a relatively young age, owing to the death of his parents, Tukaram took charge of the family, and before he was twenty-one years old Tukaram had fathered six children. The devastating famine of 1629 carried away Tukaram’s first wife and one of his children, and Tukaram henceforth lost interest in the life of the householder.

Tukaram now went to Bhambanatha and Bhandara and other places and gave himself up to spiritual reading. He was initiated by his Guru Babaji in a dream. He usually performed Kirtanas (spiritual songs and chants) at Dehu Lohagaoli and Poona. He was hated by a Brahmin by name Ramesvarabhatta, who, however, later became his disciple. He was also scornfully treated by Mambaji Gosavi, who also later repented. Tukaram’s second wife was a Xantippe, who often quarrelled with her husband, told him that he was doing no work to maintain his family, and snarled when Tukaram received all sorts of guests and gave himself to spiritual Kirtanas (spiritual songs and chants). Tukaram suffered all these things in patience. He continued to preach the secret of spiritual life to those who assembled around him. Before he died Tukaram met the King, Shivaji and the King’s ordained Guru, Ramadasa. Shivaji had passed his teens at the time, and had already captured Fort Torana, and was trying to found a Maratha kingdom, which was to later become the state of Maharashtra. Tukaram directed Shivaji to have the spiritual instruction of Ramadasa. Tukaram probably met Ramadasa when the latter had gone to Pandharapur to visit the temple of Vitthala.

In the meantime, Tukaram turned to poetic compositions [abhangs], inspired by his devotion for Lord Vithoba [Vitthal] (an avatar of Vishnu), the family deity. He is said to have been visited in a dream by Namdev, a great poet-saint of the thirteenth century, and Lord Vitthal himself, and apparently was informed that it was his mission to compose spiritual poems, called abhangs. It was his task to finish the undertaking of Namdev, who had vowed to complete one hundred crore abhangs. Those left unnumbered at the passing over of Namdev were to be Tukaram’s responsibility. In so doing, Tukaram incurred the wrath of the Brahmins: not only had he dared to impinge upon the prerogatives of the Brahmins, [behaving out of caste responsibility] (daring to examine and expound upon Vedas and Upanishadic literature) … Brahmins who believed themselves to be the only true custodians, interpreters, and spokesmen of religion, he compounded the offence by writing in Marathi rather than Sanskrit. According to legend, the local Brahmins compelled him to throw the manuscripts of his poems into the river Indrayani, and taunted him with the observation that if he were a true devotee of God, the manuscripts would reappear. Several abhangs retell that Tukaram then commenced a fast-unto-death, invoking the name of God; and after thirteen days of his fast, Vitthal appeared in a beautiful form and returned the manuscripts of Tukaram’s poems by causing them to float on the surface of the river.

Tukaram sings for a Brahmin

Once upon a time it so happened that a Brahmin went to the temple of Dnyaneshwar at Alandi, and sat there in meditation with a desire that he might receive some spiritual illumination from him. After some days, the Brahmin dreamt a dream, in which he was advised by Dnyaneshwar to go to Tukaram, who was living at that time. The Brahmin came to Tukaram and told him what had happened in the dream; whereupon Tukaram composed eleven Abhangs, the substance of which is as follows:

Pursuing the Spiritual life vis-a-vis the world
Tukaram began his spiritual career by girding up his loins against the life of sin.

He imposes upon his mind an extreme severity in social relations:

He expresses this same attitude elsewhere when he tells us that he had grown entirely indifferent to the amenities of social life.

Binding God with Love:
Tukaram seems to have determined to turn his mortal existence to the best account possible. He prays to God to allow his mind to rest on His feet wherever his body may be.

In the midst of his life’s duties, Tukaram’s one interest was to remember the feet of God.

He says to God that he would never be afraid of Him, provided he can continue to have devotion for him.

The same idea Tukaram reiterates in another passage when he says that wherever God may go, He will find spread for Him the omnipresent meshes of Tukaram’s love.

Tukaram also employs one or two metaphors to describe the manner in which to love God. He tells us in one place that he will enclose God within him, as a tortoise encloses its feet.

Again, Tukaram says that he will be a bird on the creeper of God’s Name.

Tukaram’s Abhangs
Tukaram began to compose abhangs citing the most important help for God-realisation is the company of the saints, and he expressed an earnest desire for the company of those who love God. Tukaram was not so fortunate to win God all at once. The attainment of God involves infinite trouble and a perpetual racking of the soul. Good men face obstacles, opponents, are falsely accused and experience all sorts of sufferings in the name of fidelity to God. The effort of the devotee of God is contrasted with the dark night of the soul. Tukaram earnestly sought the darshan of the Four-Handed Person, namely God. He cites darshan to the Pandavas, the Gopis, that which was shown to Uddhava, Prahlada, Janaka, the grace that saved Drapaudi, all these miraculous instantiations of the hand of God, Tukaram seeks, with intensity. He had extreme restlessness of mind, and was at constant warfare with the world, with his failings and shortcomings, with his own sins. Tukaram was walking the path of the mystic, the devotee who seeks God only, only God:

Many Paths to Divine Grace

Tukaram goes on and on, describing his own vices, considering how his life has been a perpetual scene of vice and misery. He goes on to discuss the reasons why probably God does not show Himself to Him. He says he probably lacks sufficient endeavour, and the girt of body and mind which alone enables one to reach God. Tukaram’s mind later becomes uncomfortable at the thought of people praising his penitential abhangs and his humility before God. He invites God to disillusion him when he regards himself as a great singer. Tukaram describes with his poetry how he is forever away from God. As a parrot speaks what it is taught, and the happiness of a dream cannot last, so Tukaram’s poetry is not his happiness nor his honour. He steps further, he seeks the aid of the saints in seeking the grace of God, the darshan of God.

Tukaram found that merely living in solitude would not bring him closer to God. He needed very much the company of saints. His life is forlorn, there was no townsman for him in this life. His city was planted in heaven, while everybody who talked to him and met him spoke only of earthly things. So he seeks the company of the saints, and bewails his lot… How may I know God’s secret,? Will my intellect ever be composed? Or will any obstacles come in the way? When shall I reach the end? When shall I be able to throw myself at the feet of God? This is what is filling me with anxiety, day and night, says Tuka. Tukaram tries yet another way. He approaches God direct, and feeling his great impotence in reaching God, requests Him to send down His grace on him. What cannot be done by human endeavour may be accomplished by divine grace.

Then, again, Tukaram regards himself as a Chataka bird which is desirous of getting some drops of rain in its beak. It would not partake of any water on earth. It must have water from heaven to satisfy its thirst.

Indeed, says Tukaram, there is no need for him to give vent to his thoughts by word of mouth; for God knows his thoughts already. His only business is to ask compassion of God … … His own power is inadequate to reach God, and all sadhanas are useless. We must sacrifice ourselves to God, says Tuka, and cease to think of the end time and again (Abg. 1224). Finally, he invites God to help him, only if his words are a true index to his heart, and if his behaviour does not belie his internal feelings; for God knows all things already.

Having led an intensely spiritual life, Tukaram passed away in 1650 A.D. There is a story told that Tukaram ascended to heaven with his body. This story bears similarities to the ascension of Christ, and may have originated in the fact that there is no Samadhi [tomb or temple with relics] of Tukaram built anywhere. There is a Samadhi of Dhyaneshwar (at Alandi), there is a Samadhi of Ramadasa, there is a Samadhi of Ekanatha, there is a Samadhi of Namdeva, but there is no Samadhi of Tukaram either in Dehu or at any other place. This is probably the reason why Tukaram has been supposed to have ascended bodily to heaven. The philosophical meaning of the story probably is that Tukaram was liberated before death by virtue of his God-vision, or that his very body had become divine in the process of God-contemplation and his perpetual Nagasankeerthan.

It is uncertain how many poems Tukaram composed, but the standard and most frequently used Marathi edition of his poetry, which first appeared in 1873 from the Indu Prakash Press with funding by the Bombay Government, and has often been reprinted, brings together 4,607 poems. Several manuscripts in Marathi exist of his poems, but some poems are found in only one manuscript version; often poems found in several manuscripts show variations; and there is no single manuscript in Tukaram’s own handwriting with all the poems that are attributed to him. Though Tukaram’s place in the history of the development of Marathi is deemed to be inestimable, and he has been credited with being the single most influential figure in the history of Marathi literature. The body of scholarship on Tukaram outside Marathi is rather small, and translations of his work are woefully inadequate. The only nearly complete translation of Tukaram into English, entitled The Collected Tukaram, was attempted by J. Nelson Fraser and K. B. Marathe, and published in Madras by the Christian Literature Society (1909-1915). A more recent translation of a selection of Tukaram’s poetry by Dilip Chitre has been published as Says Tuka (Delhi: Penguin, 1991).

 Sant Tukaram of Maharashtra