The Abhangas of Sant Janabai · A devotional study in English

Approximately three hundred abhangas of Sant Janabai survive in the Marathi gathā tradition. This edition currently gives seventy-two of them in English. Read the main card for a continuous, speakable rendering; open "Marathi, line-by-line" inside the card when you want the Marathi, line numbers, provenance tags, and closer translation.

~ 280 abhangas surviving

72 with source panels

72 fresh renderings, below

12 thematic clusters

अ.The corpus, by cluster आ.Seventy-two fresh renderings इ.The verses awaiting translation

अनुक्रमणिकाThe corpus, by thematic cluster

The translated verses sit inside twelve thematic clusters, the same arrangement used throughout this edition. Each tile below carries a gathā number and links to the corresponding card below. The header of each cluster names how many verses we have translated and gives an approximate count of how many verses in that register the surviving corpus contains; the remainder wait in Janabai's gathā for translation. We list only verses we have translated, rather than placeholder gathā numbers we have not verified.

Translated, click to read Numbers are the standard Sakal Sant Gathā ordering.

घर The household roll-call

1 translated · ~ 3 in cluster

270

वात्सल्य व दास्य Vatsalya and dāsi-bhāva

8 translated · ~ 30 in cluster

31 137 229 284 335a 359 360

श्रमजीवन The daily-labor verses (chakki, river, dung-bundle)

12 translated · ~ 14 in cluster

1 7 8 51 द 226 260 261 262 263 264 268

ज्ञानेश्वरांची ओळख The Kakaḍ Ārati recognition by Jñāneśvar

3 translated · 3 in cluster

257 258 259

सखा माझा ज्ञानेश्वर The Sakhā Jñāneśvar verses

4 translated · 7 in cluster

403 404 405 406

ब्रह्मैक्य The Brahmaikya verses, the Advaita threshold

6 translated · ~ 6 in cluster

172 317 322 323 326 328

योगपर अभंग The Nāth-yoga verses, the tenth gate, kuṇḍalinī

4 translated · 4 in cluster

335b 336 337 338

पुंडलिक व पंढरी Pundalika and Pandhari, the foundational devotee and the holy town

6 translated · ~ 16 in cluster

160 161 162 177 296 304

पांडुरंग व संतपरिवार Pandurang and the family of saints

3 translated · ~ 18 in cluster

168 174 189 298

उपदेशपर अभंग The didactic verses, the upadeśa cluster

8 translated · ~ 22 in cluster

237 366 367 381 382 383 390 392

आत्मकथन व नामदेवचरित्र The autobiographical voice and the Namdev portraits

4 translated · ~ 30 in cluster

281 416 417 418

रूपकात्मक अभंग The allegorical verses, the proto-bhāruḍ form

2 translated · ~ 5 in cluster

477 478

परिशिष्ट An addendum, transmitted differently (verses integrated into the clusters above)

11 translated · transmission-tagged

L पि 74 105 329 331 344 सं डो अ वि

These verses reach us through routes other than the printed gathā the rest of the corpus follows. Their per-verse provenance tags appear inside the expandable source panels. The addendum will continue to grow, one or two verses at a time, as further Marathi text is verified.

॥ श्री ॥

ताज्या भाषांतरेंThe abhangas, in the manner of "Says Tuka"

The main rendering of each poem is loose enough to be read aloud: the line-discipline is relaxed, the metric cadence dropped, and the English of a Mumbai grocer or a Pandharpur householder allowed to come forward. When you need the source-facing view, open the "Marathi, line-by-line" panel inside the same card. The signature line, "Janī mhaṇe", is rendered "Says Jani" in every closing, exactly as Dilip Chitre rendered "Tukā mhaṇe" as "Says Tuka" in his Penguin Classics volume of 1991.

Seventy-two verses follow in one corpus: from the chakki to the brahmaikya threshold, with the friend Jñāneśvar, Pandhari's saint-family, the didactic verses, and the in-laws of allegory along the way.

द

I Will Sing You at the Chakki

दळिता कांडिता तुज गाईन अनंता । न विसंबें क्षणभरी तुझें नाम गा ॥

Grinding, pounding,
I will sing you, O Endless One.

Not for the breath of an instant
do I let your Name go.

The stones turn. My hands turn.
Your Name turns in my mouth.

Says Jani: this is my labor.
This is my prayer.
There is no difference.

register The chakki, the grinding-stone, is the central image of Janabai's daily-labor cluster. The verse fuses two motions, the rotation of the upper grindstone and the continuous remembrance of the divine Name (nāma-smaraṇa), into a single discipline. There is no monastic enclosure, no formal sit. The labor is the practice.

Marathi, line-by-line

दळिता कांडिता । तुज गाईन अनंता ॥१॥ न विसंबे क्षणभरी । तुझे नाम ग मुरारी ॥२॥ नित्य हाचि कारभार । मुखी हरि निरंतर ॥३॥ मायबाप बंधुबहिणी । तू बा सखा चक्रपाणी ॥४॥ लक्ष लागले चरणासी । म्हणे नामयाची दासी ॥५॥

Grinding, pounding,
I will sing you, O Endless One.
Not for a heartbeat
shall I let your Name go,
O Murārī.
This alone is my work, day after day:
Hari, ceaseless, on the lips.
Mother and father, brother and sister,
you are my friend, Cakrapāṇi.
My eye is fixed on your feet.
So says Nāmā's dāsī.

cluster daily-labor, the chakki name-verse · Ch II register the labour as nāma-smaraṇa; kinship dissolved into the deity Text as transmitted by geetmanjusha / marathigani

The labour-and-Name verse, sung at the chakki across Maharashtra. The first three couplets state the discipline (grinding while singing the Endless One); the fourth dissolves all kinship into the deity ("you are my mother, father, brother, sister, friend"); the fifth is the closing seal. Note the proliferation of Krishna-names across one short verse: Anantā (the Endless One), Murārī (slayer of Mura), Hari, Cakrapāṇi (Discus-bearer). The dāsī's tongue knows them all.

268

Vitthal Sweeps the Floor

झाडलोट करी जनी । केर भरी चक्रपाणी ॥ पाटी घेऊनिया शिरीं । नेऊनियां टाकी दूरी ॥

Jani sweeps. Vitthal lifts the trash.
He carries the basket on his head
and walks it to the far end of the lane.

The neighbours come out and stare.
The Brahmins come out and stare.
The Lord-of-the-Discus, the basket-boy?

I did not ask him to come.
He came on his own.

Says Jani: a god who is greedy for love
cannot afford to be choosy
about the work.

register The most-sung of the labor verses. The role-reversal is total: the cosmic Vishnu carries the housewife's trash. The verse does not explain this. It only reports it, and shrugs.

Marathi, line-by-line

जनी जाय पाणीयासीं । मागे धांवे हषिकेशी ॥१॥ पाय भिजों नेदी हात । माथां घागरी वहात ॥२॥ पाणी रांजणांत भरी । सडा सारवण करी ॥३॥ धुणे धुऊनियां आणी । म्हणे नामयाची जनी ॥४॥

Jani went for water;
behind her ran Hrishikesha.
His feet stayed dry, his hands stayed dry,
the pot rode upon his head.
He filled the water-jar;
he sprinkled the courtyard, smoothed the floor.
He washed the clothes and brought them home.
So says Nama's Jani.

corpus Janabai gathā image the Lord doing every chore

261

Vithoba Came as a Co-Woman

स्नान करी न्हाणीवरी । देव टाकी पाणी शिरीं ॥ न्हाऊं घालिती लडिवाळ । सर्वांगा लाविती चिंध्याचे फाळ ॥

I went to the bath-house alone.
The water was cold. The wind was cold.
No one was there to help me.

Vithoba came in the form of a co-woman.
He poured warm water from a pot.
He oiled my back. He combed my hair.

The Brahmins would never believe this.
The neighbours would never believe this.

Says Jani: I tell it because it happened.
The Lord takes whatever shape
the moment requires.

register In the original, the word lāḍivāḷ ("the doting one") names the co-woman of the village bath-house, the one who pours your water. Vitthal takes that role. The verse refuses to make a theological argument out of the cross-gender embodiment; it just records the kindness.

Marathi, line-by-line

आता पुरे हा संसार । कोठें फेडुं उपकार ॥ सांडुनियां थोरपण । करी दळणकांडण ॥ नारिरुप होऊनी हरी । माझें न्हाणें धुणें करी ॥

Enough now of this household life.
How can I ever repay it?
Setting aside his greatness,
he does the grinding and the pounding.
In the form proper to a co-woman,
Hari does my bathing and my washing.

corpus Janabai gathā image Hari in nāri-rūpa

Nāri-rūpa here names the form of intimate domestic care normally done woman-to-woman in a Marathwada household, where male-female contact for bathing would be impossible. The Lord assumes that form so he may serve her even in the most intimate registers her caste-and-gender world permits. The point is sevā-intimacy and the inversion of high and low, not gender fluidity in the modern sense.

263

He Carried My Bundle

गोवऱ्या वेचाया गेली रानीं । सवें पांडुरंग चक्रपाणी ॥ पाठीवरी घेतलें ओझें । नेऊनी टाकीं घरीं माझें ॥

I went to the wilderness for cow-dung.
The bundle was heavy.
The road was long.

A young man came up beside me.
"Mother, let me carry it."
I let him.

At the door of the house he set it down
and was gone before I could thank him.

Says Jani: only afterwards
did I see who had walked behind me.
Only afterwards do we ever see.

register The cow-dung-gathering verse. The miracle is recognised in retrospect, not at the moment. This is Janabai's signature theological grammar: the divine appears as the ordinary, and the recognition comes later, often only when the divine has already gone.

Marathi, line-by-line

जनी जाय शेणासाठी । उभा आहे तिच्या पाठी ॥१॥ पितांबराची कांस खोवी । मागे चाले जनाबाई ॥२॥ गोऱ्या वेचुनि बांधिली मोट । जनी म्हणे द्यावी गाठ ॥३॥ मोट उचलून डोई घेई । मागे चाले जनाबाई ॥४॥

Jani went out for cow-dung;
he stood right behind her.
He tucked up the hem of his pitambar;
behind him Janabai walked.
He gathered the cakes
and tied them in a bundle.
Jani said: "Tie a knot."
He lifted the bundle to his head;
behind him Janabai walked.

corpus Janabai gathā image the Lord carrying the load

317

We Become Brahman

सर्व भूतीं पाहूं । एक होऊनिया राहूं ॥ जनी म्हणे ब्रह्म होऊं । हें तंव सर्वत्र पाहूं ॥

In all beings I look.
In all beings I find.

The cup of separation has cracked.
We become one and remain.

The grinding is grinding.
The river is the river.
But the one who grinds
and the one who flows
are no longer two.

Says Jani: we have become Brahman.
There is no return to the dāsī
she once was.

register The pivot verse of the brahmaikya cluster, the moment the saguṇa-bhakti of the chakki opens onto the nirguṇa Self. The verb shifts to the plural inclusive, "we look," "we become," because the singular "I" has dissolved.

Marathi, line-by-line

दळू कांडू खेळु । सर्व पाप ताप जाळं ॥ सर्व जीवांमध्ये पाहूं । एक आम्ही होऊनी राहूं ॥ जनी म्हणे ब्रह्म होऊं । ऐसें सर्वा घटा पाहूं ॥

Grinding, pounding, playing,
I burn all sin and torment.
In all beings I look.
We become one and remain.
Jani says: I become Brahman.
I see this in every body.

discussed at Ch V image the chakki and the seeing of one in many

335b

The Guru in the Tenth Door

रक्तवर्ण त्रिकुट स्थान । श्रीहाट पाहे थेतवर्ण ॥

Red Trikuta-place.
White Shrihat.

Dark Golata.
Blue point at Auta-pitha.

Above, the Bhramara-cave.
In the tenth door,
the guru is.

Says Jani: the inner geography
is not drawn on paper.
It opens in the body
when the Name has ripened.

register A dense Nāth-yoga map of the subtle body. The rendering keeps the place-names intact and lets the last line carry the force: the guru is found at the tenth door.

Marathi, line-by-line

रक्तवर्ण त्रिकुट स्थान । श्रीहाट पाहे थेतवर्ण । श्यामवर्ण तें गोलाट । निळबिंदू औट पीठ । वरी भ्रमरगुंफा पाहे । दशमद्वारी गुरू आहे । नवद्वारातें भेटुनी । दशमद्वारी गेली जनी ॥

Red-coloured Trikuṭa-place;
Śrīhāṭa appears white.
Dark-coloured the Golāṭa,
blue point at Auṭa-pīṭha.
Above, behold the Bhramara-guphā.
In the tenth door, the guru is.
Piercing the nine doors,
Jani entered the tenth.

discussed at Ch VI image the Brahmarandhra at the crown

326

Loops of Maida-Dough

कण्या कांडिते मईद । हातीं फांसे पडती बद्ध ॥

Kneading the maida, my fingers slipped.
Loops of refined-flour dough
hung from each knuckle.

"Look," I said, "the snares of the world
catch even the careful housewife."

Vitthal laughed.
"Loops are loops. Wash them off."

I washed them off.

Says Jani: he taught me the lesson
without a word of doctrine.
The kitchen is the better classroom.

register A small kitchen scene with a precise theological point. The Marathi fāṅse (loops, snares) names both the dough and the bondage of saṃsāra. The Lord's response is purely practical: wash. The double-meaning collapses, and the lesson, not heavy.

Marathi, line-by-line

शब्दांचे ब्रह्म लोकिक हो दिसे । जैसे ते फांसे मईदाचे । ज्ञानी तो कोण विज्ञानी तो कोण । दोहींचा आपण साक्षभूत । स्वयें सुखें धाला आपणातें विसरला । तो योगि राहिला नाही येथें । नामयाची जनी सागरीं मिळाली । परतोनि मुळीं केवि जाय? ॥

The Brahman of words appears as worldly,
like loops of maida-dough.
Who is jñānī? Who is vijñānī?
Of both, the self is the witness.
Self-bliss-fed, self-forgotten,
that yogi has not stayed here.
Namdev's Jani has merged into the ocean.
How can she return to the source?

discussed at Ch V image the river that has reached the sea

The Marathi मईद is maida (refined wheat flour) and फांसे here are loops or knots of dough. The image is the deceptiveness of what binds: the loops appear to be ropes; they are only paste of refined flour. Earlier renderings as "fasces of mud" mistake the substance and miss the kitchen-image.

405

Jñāneśvar, My Friend

सखा माझा ज्ञानेश्वर । ज्याची ज्ञानगंगा थोर ॥ जनी म्हणे बा रे, मरों दे मज जन्म दे मज पुन्हा ॥

The whole world calls you Mauli, mother.
The Brahmins call you the great commentator.
The yogis call you the Nāth's heir.

I call you sakhā. Friend.

Let me die, dear one,
and be born again of me.
Let the dāsī carry the Brahmin in her womb
the way Damasheti's house
once carried the orphan.

Says Jani: this is not heresy.
This is what friends say to friends
when the difference between them
has stopped mattering.

register The title-verse of Chapter IV. The vocative bā is an endearment particle, not a kinship term, the closest English carries is "dear one." The audacity is total: a Matang dāsī asking the highest Brahmin saint of her age to be reborn from her body. And the verse calls it not heresy but friendship.

Marathi, line-by-line

ज्ञानाचा सागर । सखा माझा ज्ञानेश्वर । मरोनियां जावें । बा माझ्या पोटीं यावें । ऐसें करी माझ्या भावां । सख्या माझ्या ज्ञानदेवा ॥

Ocean of jñāna,
my friend Jnaneshwar.
Let me die,
dear one, and be born of me.
Make my bhāva so,
my friend Jnandeva.

discussed at Ch IV register the saint as kin: dying, and rebirth in his house

The Marathi vocative bā here is an endearment ("dear one"), not a kinship term proper. Earlier renderings as "brother" mistake it. Irlekar's gloss has Janabai asking to bear Jñāneśvar in a future birth.

381

The Saint Is God

सूर्य आणि किरणीं । दीप आणि वातीं । कान आणि श्रवणीं । एक तत्त्व ॥ संत तोचि देव । देव तोचि संत ॥

Sun and ray. Lamp and flame.
Ear and the hearing in the ear.

You cannot pull them apart
and put them in two pots.

The saint is God. God is the saint.
Whoever holds them as two
has not yet seen either.

Says Jani: when you visit a saint,
visit him as you would the temple.
The body of the saint
is the inner sanctum.

register A classic didactic verse. The chain of household analogies is the Marathi sant-tradition's standard rhetorical device for arguing non-difference. Janabai uses it without ornament. The closing instruction, treat the saint as you would the temple, is the Vārkarī sampradāya in one line.

Marathi, line-by-line

आम्ही आणि संत संत आणि आम्ही । सूर्य आणि रश्मि काय दोन ॥ दीप आणि सारंग सारंग आणि दीप । ध्यान आणि जप काय दोन ॥ शांति आणि विरक्ति विरक्ति आणि शांति । समाधान आणि तृप्ति काय दोन ॥ रोग आणि व्याधी व्याधी आणि रोग । देह आणि अंग काय दोन ॥ कान आणि श्रोत्र श्रोत्र आणि कान । यश आणि मान काय दोन ॥ देव आणि संत संत आणि देव । म्हणे जनी भाव एक ऐसा ॥

We and the saints, the saints and we,
are the sun and its rays two?
Lamp and flame, flame and lamp,
are dhyāna and japa two?
Peace and detachment, detachment and peace,
are contentment and fullness two?
Sickness and disease, disease and sickness,
are the body and its limbs two?
Ear and the hearing, the hearing and ear,
are honour and respect two?
God and the saints, the saints and God,
says Jani: this is one bhāva.

discussed at Ch VIII image the chain of household analogies for non-difference

477

A Wonder, A Wonder

नवल झालें नवल झालें । कापूर जळोनि न उरली काजळी ॥ ऊंस पेरीला साखर । कान झाला डोळा ॥ गोकुळ नेलें कोणीं । दासी जनी कोठें ॥

A wonder, a wonder.

The camphor burned and left no soot.
Sugar was sown and sugarcane came up.
The ear became an eye.

The wife is hard. The husband is an infant.
The father-in-law has lost his wits.
Gokul has been carried away.

Where then is the dāsī Jani?

Says Jani: solve the riddle.
The world you knew is gone.
The world you did not know
is here.

register The inversion-puzzle verse. Each impossibility is a coded marker of awakening: action without karmic residue, the senses merging in laya, the household-ego dissolving. The dāsī's disappearance at the end is the punchline, the separate self has gone, and the question "where is she?" is the only question left.

Marathi, line-by-line

नवल वर्तलें नवल वर्तले नवलें गुरुचे पायी । कापूर जळूनि गेला तेथें काजळी उरली नाही ॥ साखर पेरूनी ऊस काढीला कान जाला डोळा । निबर बायको भ्रतार तान्हा सासरा तो भोळा ॥ नवल वर्तले नवल वर्तले अनाम चक्रपाणि । गोकुळ चोरून नेलें तेथें कैची दासी जनी ॥

A wonder! a wonder! a wonder at the guru's feet.
The camphor burned out and left no soot behind.
Sugar was sown, sugarcane came up; the ear became an eye.
The wife is hardened, the husband an infant, the father-in-law a simpleton.
A wonder, a wonder! the Nameless Chakrapāṇi.
Gokul has been carried off; where then is dasi Jani?

discussed at Ch X image the inversion-puzzle of the awakened mind

478

Khaṇḍerāya, Kill Them All

खंडेराया मार सर्वांसी । सासू सासरा दीर भावेजासी ॥ दासी जनी म्हणे जाईन पंढरीसी ॥

Khaṇḍerāya, kill them all.
Father-in-law, mother-in-law,
brother-in-law, the lot.

Take a sword and finish them.
Then I can go to Pandhari without obstruction.
Then I can sit at the feet of the saints.

Then I can grind in peace
without anyone asking
where the bread for the household is.

Says Jani: do not be shocked.
The in-laws are five things, not five people:
greed, anger, lust, pride, attachment.
Kill those, and the road is clear.

register The most famous of the allegorical verses, three centuries before Eknāth gave the form its mature bhāruḍ name. The shocking surface (a household woman calling on the deity to murder her in-laws) is the door to the inner reading. The five "in-laws" are the five klesas of yogic psychology. The verse asks the hearer to do the small interpretive work that turns horror into instruction.

Marathi, line-by-line

खंडेराया तुज करिते नवसू । मरू दे रे सासू खंडेराया । सासू मेल्यावरी तुटेल आसरा । मरु दे सासरा खंडेराया । सासरा मेलिया होईल आनंद । मरू दे नणंद खंडेराया । नणंद मरता होईन मोकळी । गळां घालीन झोळी भंडाराची ॥ जनी म्हणे खंडे अवघे मरू दे । एकटी राहू दे पायापाशी ॥

Khaṇḍerāya, I make a vow to you:
let my mother-in-law die, Khaṇḍerāya.
When my mother-in-law dies, the support is broken;
let my father-in-law die, Khaṇḍerāya.
When my father-in-law dies, joy will come;
let my husband's sister die, Khaṇḍerāya.
When the sister-in-law dies, I will be free;
I will hang the bhaṇḍāra-bag at my neck.
Jani says: Khaṇḍe, let them all die.
Let me sit alone at your feet.

discussed at Ch X image the household-quarrel as the seeker's lament

An allegorical verse in the proto-bhāruḍ style. Read literally it is shocking; read as rūpaka the in-laws are the bonds of saṃsāra (mother-in-law as the ego, father-in-law as worldly support, sister-in-law as the binding social ties), and the prayer to "Khaṇḍerāya" is the seeker's plea for liberation from them. Eknāth, a century later, made this allegorical-domestic form into the bhāruḍ proper.

281

My Own Oath

माझी मज आण सांगतें प्रमाण । सेवितं चरण तुझे स्वामी ॥

I swear by myself.
This is the proof:
I serve your feet, my Master.

Jani's words are self-bliss dancing.
When the Master's mouth speaks them,
they double themselves.

Pure sattva is the paper.
The ink is laid down every day.
He writes without stopping,
seated beside Jani.

Says Jani: do not ask whose poem this is.
The hand is mine.
The writing is his.

register A self-authorising verse that immediately gives authorship away. The dāsī swears by herself, then names the Master as the mouth and the scribe. The poem becomes sevā: her speech, his hand, one paper.

Marathi, line-by-line

माझी मज आण सांगतें प्रमाण । सेवितं चरण तुझे स्वामी ॥ जनीचे हो बोल स्वानंदाचें डोल । स्वामि मुखीं बोल दुणावती ॥ शुद्ध सत्त्व कागद नित्य करी शाई । अखंडित लिही जनीपाशीं ॥ हांसोनि ज्ञानदेवे पिटीयेली टाळी । जयजयकार सकळीं केला थोर ॥

By myself I swear, this is the proof:
I serve your feet, my Master.
Jani's words are the dance of self-bliss;
spoken by the Master's mouth they redouble.
Pure sattva is the paper, the ink is set down daily.
He writes ceaselessly, by Jani's side.
Laughing, Jnandev clapped his hands;
the whole assembly raised the great cry.

discussed at Ch IX register the Lord as scribe of the dāsī

270

Fourteen Remember Hari

नामदेवाचे घरी । चौदाजणे स्मरती हरी ॥

In Namdev's house
fourteen mouths remember Hari.

Four sons, four daughters-in-law,
the old ones, the young ones,
Nama and Rajai in the middle.

Says Jani: in that crowded house
even the walls learned the Name.

register The household roll-call is not genealogy for its own sake. It shows the home as a small kīrtan-mandap, with remembrance passing from body to body.

Marathi, line-by-line

नामदेवाचे घरी । चौदाजणे स्मरती हरी ॥१॥ चौघे पुत्र चौघे सुना । नित्य स्मरती नारायणा ॥२॥ आणिक मायबाप पाही । नामदेव राजाबाई ॥३॥ आऊबाई लेकी निंबाबाई बहिणी पंधरावी ती दासीजनी ॥४॥

In Namdev's house,
fourteen souls remember Hari.
Four sons, four daughters-in-law,
daily they remember Narayan.
See also the parents,
Namdev and Rajai;
Aubai the daughter, Nimbabai the sister,
and the fifteenth, dasi Jani.

discussed at Ch I register the household roll-call

137

Name Him Narayan

नामदेवा पुत्र झाला । विठो बारशासी आला ॥

A son is born to Namdev.
Vithoba comes for the twelfth-day naming.

Tiny clothes, little cap,
shawl and turban under his arm.

"Breath of my breath," he says,
"name the child Narayan."

Says Jani: when God enters the house,
he comes carrying baby clothes.

register Vātsalya is moved from Vraja to Pandharpur. The Lord is not only worshipped as a child; he joins the naming ceremony like kin.

Marathi, line-by-line

नामदेवा पुत्र झाला । विठो बारशासी आला ॥ आंगडे टोपडे पेहरण । शेला मुंडासा घेऊन ॥ माझ्या जीवीच्या जीवना । नाम ठेवी नारायणा ॥ जनी म्हणे पांडुरंगा । नांव काय ठेवू सांगा ॥

A son is born to Namdev.
Vithoba has come for the naming day.
Tiny garments, a little cap,
a shawl and turban brought along.
"You who are my breath,
name him Narayan."
Jani says: "O Pandurang,
you tell me. What name shall we give?"

discussed at Ch I register vatsalya, Vithoba welcomed as Nama's newborn

284

Diwali Bath

सण दिवाळीचा आला । नामा राऊळासी गेला ॥

Diwali came.
Nama went to the temple
and took the Lord by the hand.

"Come home," he said.
"The bath is ready."

Oil, fragrant paste,
warm water, lamps.
The house did not worship an image.
It bathed a guest.

Says Jani: festival means
the Lord lets himself be handled.

register The domestic rite replaces temple distance. Vitthal's sanctity does not diminish when touched; it becomes available.

Marathi, line-by-line

सण दिवाळीचा आला । नामा राऊळासी गेला ॥ हाती धरूनी देवासी । चला आमुच्या घरासी ॥ देव तेथुनी चालिले । नामयाच्या घरा आले ॥ गोणाईने उटणे केले । दामा शेटीने स्नान केले ॥ पदर काढिला माथ्याचा । बाळ पुशिला नंदाचा ॥ हाती घेऊन आरती । चक्रपाणी ओवाळती ॥ जेऊनिया तृप्त झाले । दासी जनीने विडे दिले ॥

The festival of Diwali came;
Nama went to the temple.
Taking the Lord by the hand:
"come to our house."
The Lord rose and walked from there,
came to Nama's home.
Gonai prepared the bathing-paste;
Damashet bathed him.
She drew the end-cloth from her head
and wiped the child of Nanda.
Taking the arati-lamp in hand,
they waved it round Chakrapani.
Having eaten, he was satisfied.
The dasi Jani offered the betel rolls.

discussed at Ch I register Krishna of Vraja folded into the Pandharpur household

335a

Gopal Cannot Bear It

वियोग नाम्याचा । न साहे गोपाळा ॥

Gopal cannot bear
separation from Nama.

The temple may call.
The inner shrine may wait.
Pandurang will not move.

"When my Nama returns," he says,
"then call me to the sanctum."

Says Jani: bhakti has made God dependent.
That is its scandal and its sweetness.

register The viraha usually belongs to the devotee. Janabai reverses it: the Lord pines for the bhakta and neglects his own temple.

Marathi, line-by-line

वियोग नाम्याचा । न साहे गोपाळा । न जाय राउळा पांडुरंग ॥ पद्माळ्यांत तेव्हा राहे विश्वंभर । कळे समाचार रुक्मिणीसी ॥ चलावे मंदिरी स्वामी पुरुषोत्तमा । येईल गे नामा माझा जेव्हा ॥ तयाविण मज दाही दिशा ओस । न लगे चित्तास गोड काही ॥ जनी म्हणे ऐसी आवड नाम्याची । म्हणोनिया त्याची झाले दासी ॥

Gopal cannot endure separation from Nama;
Pandurang will not go to the temple.
The All-supporter dwells in the lotus-grove;
Rukmini receives the news.
"Come to the inner shrine, Lord Purushottama,
only when my Nama returns.
Without him the ten directions are desolate;
nothing tastes sweet to my mind."
Jani says: such is his love for Nama.
Therefore I became his dasi.

discussed at Ch I register the Lord pining for the devotee

Two distinct verses share the gatha-number 335 across the chapters; the other (the "tenth gate" verse) sits in the Yoga cluster below.

Because I Am Nama's Dasi

नोवरीया संगे बऱ्हाडीया सोहोळा । मांडे पुरणपोळ्या मिळे अन्न ॥

The bride brings the wedding feast:
mande, puranpoli, food for everyone.

The touchstone touches iron.
Iron becomes gold.

What did I bring?
Nothing.

Says Jani: I gained Vitthal
because I am Nama's dāsī.

register The signature is the theology. Janabai does not claim merit; she claims relation, and relation turns base metal into gold.

Marathi, line-by-line

नोवरीया संगे बऱ्हाडीया सोहोळा । मांडे पुरणपोळ्या मिळे अन्न । परीसाचेनि संगे लोहो, होय सोने । तयाची भूषणे श्रीमतांसी ॥ जनी म्हणे जोड झाली विठ्ठलाची । दासी नामयाची म्हणोनिया ॥

The bride brings the wedding feast,
mande and puranpoli for her party.
The touch-stone turns iron to gold;
the rich wear the gold as ornament.
Jani says: I have won Vitthal,
because I am Nama's dasi.

discussed at Ch I register dasi-hood as the route to Vitthal

360

Namdev's Treasure

नामयाचें ठेवणें जनीस लाभलें । धन सांपडलें विटेवरी ॥

Namdev's treasure
fell into Jani's hands.

Wealth was found on the brick:
Vithoba's feet,
day and night.

The world dissolved around that wealth.
There was nothing else to buy.

Says Jani: blessed this birth,
blessed this poor lineage,
blessed the Master who gave it.

register The inheritance is not property but access. Nama's wealth is the Lord standing on the brick, available to the dāsī.

Marathi, line-by-line

नामयाचें ठेवणें जनीस लाभलें । धन सांपडलें विटेवरी । धन्य माझा जन्म धन्य माझा वंश । धन्य विष्णुदास स्वामी माझा ॥ कामधाम माझें विठोबाचे पाय । दिवसनिशीं माये हारपली ॥ माझ्या वडिलांचे देवत तो हा पंढरीनाथ । तेणें माझा आर्त पुरविला । संसारींचे सुख नेघे माझ्या चित्ती । तरीच पुनरावृत्ति चुकविल्या । नामयाचे जनी आनंद पें जाला । हृदयीं बिंबला पांडुरंग ॥

Namdev's treasure was given to Jani.
The wealth was found upon the brick.
Blessed is my birth, blessed my lineage,
blessed Vishnudasa, my master.
My only work is Vithoba's feet.
Day and night, the world has dissolved.
My ancestors' deity is this Pandhari-nath.
He has fulfilled my longing.
The pleasures of saṃsāra do not enter my mind.
So the cycle of rebirth is broken.
Namdev's Jani has become bliss.
Pandurang is mirrored in the heart.

discussed at Ch IV register the dasi inheriting the master's wealth

359

The Work of Us Dasis

मी तो समर्थाची दासी । मिठी घालीन पायासी ॥

I am the dāsī of the Master.
I will cling to his feet.

This is my firm bhāva:
keep the festival of the Name.

What is the work of us dāsīs?
Vitthal-Hari in the mouth,
Vitthal-Hari in the hands.

Says Jani: service is not low
when the feet are his.

register Dāsya here is chosen and cherished. The servile social word is remade into devotional authority.

Marathi, line-by-line

मी तो समर्थाची दासी । मिठी घालीन पायासी ॥ हाचि माझा दृढभाव । करीन नामाचा उत्सव ॥ आम्हा दासीचें हें काम । मुखीं विठुल हरिनाम ॥ सर्व सुख पायीं लोळे । जनींसंगें विठठुल खेळे ॥

I am the dasi of the Master.
I will embrace his feet.
This is my firm bhāva:
I will keep the festival of the Name.
This is the work of us dasis,
Vitthal-Hari's name in the mouth.
All happiness rolls at his feet.
With Jani, Vitthal plays.

discussed at Ch IV register the dasi's daily vow

229

Bewitched by Bhakti

भक्त जें जें कर्म करिती । ते तूं सोसिसी कृपामूर्ती ॥

Whatever the bhakta does,
you bear it, form of mercy.

This is no wonder.
Bhakti has bewitched you.

Kings keep account.
Priests keep account.
You lose count on purpose.

Says Jani: love has made the Lord
easy to defeat.

register The verse names a central Vārkarī reversal: the omnipotent Lord is conquered by the devotee's feeling.

Marathi, line-by-line

भक्त जें जें कर्म करिती । ते तूं सोसिसी कृपामूर्ती । हें तो नवल नव्हे देवा । तूं भुललासी भक्तिभावा ॥

Whatever the bhakta does,
you bear it, kṛpā-mūrti.
This is no wonder, my Lord.
You are bewitched by bhakti-bhāva.

discussed at Ch IV register the Lord caught by the devotee's love

What Austerity Did I Do?

पूर्वी काय तप नेणें पैं हो केलें । निधान जोडिलें पंढरीचें ॥

What tapas did I do before?
What merit followed me here?

The treasure of Pandhari
comes to grind with his own body.

He leaves Rakhumai,
comes outside with me,
gathers dung,
carries the basket home.

Says Jani: where Cakrapani himself works,
who remains to call herself low?

register The first gathā verse begins in astonishment. Grace has outrun every possible explanation.

Marathi, line-by-line

पूर्वी काय तप नेणें पैं हो केलें । निधान जोडिलें पंढरीचें ॥१॥ येऊनियां देव दळूं लागे अंगें । रखुमाईचा संग दूर केला ॥२॥ तैसाचि पैं संगें येऊनि बाहेरी । वेंचोनियां भरी शेणी अंगें ॥३॥ ओझें झालें ह्मणूनि पाठी पितांबरी । घेऊनियां घरीं आणितसे ॥४॥ ऐसें जेथें काम करी चक्रपाणी । तेथें कैंची जनी नामयाची ॥५॥

What austerity did I perform in past lives?
The treasure of Pandhari has come to me.
The Lord himself comes to grind with his own body,
having pulled himself away from Rakhumāī's company.
Then, alongside me, he comes outside,
picks up cow-dung, fills the basket on his shoulders.
When the load grows heavy, he covers it with his pītāmbar
and brings it home.
Where Cakrapāṇi himself does the work,
how can there even be Nāmā's Janī?

cluster daily-labor / autobiographical · Ch II register the dāsī's self-effacement; the gathā's opening Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 1)

The opening verse of the printed Janabai gathā: a verse of stunned self-marvelling. The dāsī wonders what merit she could possibly have accumulated in past lives that the Lord of Pandhari himself comes to grind with her, leave Rakhumāī's company, gather cow-dung, and carry the basket home with his own yellow cloth as the cushion. The closing line is the verse's release: where Cakrapāṇi himself works, the "Janī, Nāmā's dāsī" who signs her abhangas dissolves.

My Jani Has No One

तुळशीचे बनीं । जनी उकलीत वेणी ॥

In the tulsī grove
Jani loosens her braid.

Cakrapani comes with butter in his hand.
He rubs her head.
He brings the water.

"My Jani has no one," he says.

Says Jani: I have one friend.
That was enough.

register The orphan's lack becomes the Lord's obligation. He performs the small acts another woman of the house would have done.

Marathi, line-by-line

तुळशीचे बनीं । जनी उकलीत वेणी ॥१॥ हातीं घेऊनियां लोणी । डोई चोळी चक्रपाणी ॥२॥ माझे जनीला नाहीं कोणी । ह्मणुनी देव घाली पाणी ॥३॥ जनी सांगे सर्व लोकां । न्हांऊं घाली माझा सखा ॥४॥

In the tulsī grove,
Janī unbraids her hair.
Taking butter in his hand,
Cakrapāṇi rubs her head.
My Janī has no one.
So the Lord brings water.
Janī tells everyone:
My friend gives me my bath.

cluster daily-labor / dāsi-bhāva, the bathing-companion verse · Ch II register the orphan dāsī and the deity-friend at the bath Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 7)

An intimate four-couplet verse. The setting is the tulsī grove, the daily ritual of unbraiding the hair before washing. The Lord arrives with butter (the traditional hair-conditioner) and rubs her head; he brings water; she tells everyone, "my friend (sakhā) gives me my bath." The third couplet is the verse's centre: māze janīlā nāhīṅ koṇī, "my Janī has no one," reads as the dāsī speaking of herself in the third person, the closing line completes it: she has only her friend.

Take Care of Me, Vitthal

आई मेली बाप मेला । मज सांभाळीं विठ्‌ठला ॥

Mother is dead.
Father is dead.

Take care of me, Vitthal.
I have no one, Hari.

My head itches.
My hair is tangled.
Who will oil it? Who will braid it?

Vitthal turns to Rukmini:
"My Jani has no one."

Says Jani: the helpless one's festival
is that God notices.

register A full bath-and-hair verse, tender because it refuses abstraction. Care arrives as oil, comb, water, hand.

Marathi, line-by-line

आई मेली बाप मेला । मज सांभाळीं विठ्‌ठला ॥१॥ हरीरे मज कोणी नाहीं । माझी खात असे डोई ॥२॥ विठ्‌ठल म्हणे रुक्मिणी । माझे जनीला नाहीं कोणी ॥३॥ हातीं घेउनी तेलफणी । केंस विंचरुन घाली वेणी ॥४॥ वेणी घालुन दिधली गांठ । जनी म्हणे चोळ बा पाठ ॥५॥ जनी म्हणे बा गोपाळा । करी दुबळीचा सोहळा ॥६॥

Mother is dead, father is dead.
Take care of me, Vitthal.
O Hari, I have no one.
My head is itching.
Vitthal says to Rukmiṇī:
"My Janī has no one."
He takes oil and comb in hand,
combs my hair, plaits it.
Plaiting it, he ties the knot.
Janī says: rub my back, dear one.
Janī says: O Gopāl,
hold a festival for the helpless one.

cluster daily-labor / autobiographical · Ch IX register the fuller orphan-and-bath scene; the Lord as hair-dresser Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 51)

A fuller version of the bath-scene already glimpsed in gathā 7. Six couplets, with a remarkable third stanza: Vitthal turns to Rukmiṇī (his consort) and tells her, "My Janī has no one"; the deity then comes with oil and comb, plaits the dāsī's hair, ties the closing knot, and is told, "now rub my back, dear one." The closing line asks for a festival (sohaḷā) on behalf of the helpless one (dubaḷī). The verse is one of the clearest portraits in the corpus of the orphan dāsī's intimacy with the deity, framed as a household routine rather than as theology.

Put the Pestle Down

साळी सडायास काढी । पुढें जाउनी उखळ झाडी ॥

I brought out the rice for husking.
I swept the mortar clean.

Pounding, pounding,
Pandhari's Lord grew tired.

Sweat covered him.
His yellow cloth was soaked through.

"Enough," I said.
"Put the pestle down."

Says Jani: when God comes to work,
he also gets blisters.

register The incarnational claim is almost comic: the deity's pītāmbara is not symbolic here, it is wet with labour.

Marathi, line-by-line

साळी सडायास काढी । पुढें जाउनी उखळ झाडी ॥१॥ कांडितां कांडितां । शीण आला पंढरिनाथा ॥२॥ सर्व अंगीं घाम आला । तेणें पितांबर भिजला ॥३॥ पायीं पैंजण हातीं कडीं । कोंडा पांखडूनि काढी ॥४॥ हाता आला असे फोड । जनी ह्मणे मुसळ सोड ॥५॥

I take out the rice for husking.
I sweep the mortar clean.
Pounding, pounding,
exhaustion has come to Pandharī-nāth.
Sweat covers his whole body.
His pītāmbar is soaked through.
Anklets on his feet, bangles on his hands,
he sifts the husks out.
Blisters have come on his hand.
Janī says: put the pestle down.

cluster daily-labor, the pounding-rice verse · Ch II register the Lord exhausted alongside the dāsī; role-reversal of physical strain Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 8)

A companion verse to the chakki cluster: instead of grinding-stone work, this is the uṅkhal (mortar) and musal (pestle) used to husk paddy. The Lord arrives, takes over the work, sweats, gets blisters; the dāsī, exasperated, tells him to put the pestle down. The pītāmbar (yellow cloth, the iconic Krishna-garment) being soaked with sweat is the verse's load-bearing image: the deity who is supposed to be perpetually radiant is here, plainly, a tired worker.

226

Sweat on the Pitambar

कांडिता कांडिता । शीण आला पंढरिनाथा ॥

Pounding and pounding,
Pandhari-nath grew weary.

Sweat broke out.
His pītāmbara darkened with it.

Anklets on his feet,
bracelets on his wrists,
the Lord stood there
like any other worker.

Says Jani: this is his ornament:
labour done for love.

register This companion to gathā 8 stays with the body. The Lord's exhaustion is the proof of his intimacy.

Marathi, line-by-line

कांडिता कांडिता । शीण आला पंढरिनाथा ॥२॥ कांडीताना घाम आला । तेणें पितांबर भिजला ॥३॥ पायीं पैजण हातीं कडी । कोंडा पाखडोनि काढी ॥४॥ हाता आला असे फोड । जनी म्हणे मुसळ सोड ॥५॥

Pounding and pounding,
Pandhari-nath grew weary.
As he pounded, sweat broke out
and soaked his pitambar.
Anklets at his feet,
bracelets on his wrists,
he winnowed away the chaff.
Blisters rose on his hands.
Jani said: "Put down the pestle."

corpus Janabai gathā image the Lord blistered at the mortar

262

Why Did You Leave Me?

धुणे घेऊनि कांखेसी । जनी गेली उपवासी ॥

With the laundry under her arm,
Jani went out hungry.

Vitthal ran behind her:
"Why have you left me?"

"Why did you come running, Lord?"
said Nama's dāsī.
"The clothes will not wash themselves."

Says Jani: he cannot bear being left
even for a trip to the river.

register The emotional grammar is domestic and direct. The Lord's viraha follows the washerwoman's path.

Marathi, line-by-line

धुणे घेऊनि कांखेसी । जनी गेली उपवासी ॥१॥ मागे विठ्ठल धांवला । म्हणें कां टाकिलें मला ॥२॥ धाऊनी देवा कां आलासी । म्हणे नामयाची दासी ॥३॥ खाली घालुनिया मान । मागें चालले जगजीवन ॥४॥

With the wash-bundle under her arm,
Jani went off without breakfast.
Vitthal came running behind:
"Why have you abandoned me?"
"Why did you come running, my Lord?"
said Nama's dasi.
With his head bowed,
the Life-of-the-world walked behind her.

corpus Janabai gathā image the Lord scolded for showing up

264

Tie the Bundle

राना गेली शेणीसाठीं । वेचूं लागे विठो पाठीं ॥

She went to the wild place for dung.
Vithu gathered behind her.

He tucked up his yellow cloth.
His feet shone in the dust.

The bundle filled.
"Tie the knot," Jani said.

Says Jani: even beauty bends
to collect fuel for the stove.

register The verse holds the lowliest chore and the iconographic beauty of Vitthal in one frame, without letting either cancel the other.

Marathi, line-by-line

राना गेली शेणीसाठीं । वेचूं लागे विठो पाठीं ॥१॥ पितांबर आओचे खोंवी । पायी शोभा पारखावी ॥२॥ पूर्ण भरोनियां मोट । जनी म्हणे द्यावी गांठ ॥३॥

She went into the wilderness for dung;
Vithou began to gather it behind her.
He tucked up his pitambar;
the beauty of his feet stood revealed.
The bundle filled completely.
Jani said: "Tie a knot."

corpus Janabai gathā image the wilderness as workplace

260

Go to the Temple

जाय जाय राउळासी । नको येऊं आम्हांपाशी ॥

"Go, go to the temple.
Do not come near us."

"I will come with you," he said.
And he became her servant.

He worked beside her,
not above her,
not from a distance.

Says Jani: know Hari like this:
he goes where love is working.

register The temple is gently displaced by the worksite. Janabai tries to send him back; Vitthal chooses the dāsī's labour.

Marathi, line-by-line

जाय जाय राउळासी । नको येऊं आम्हांपाशी ॥ जाऊ आम्हीं बरोबर । जाला तिचा हो चाकर ॥ तिज संगे काम करी । ऐसें जाणा देव हरी ॥ चहूं हाती धुणें केलें । जनी म्हणे बरे जाले ॥

"Go, go to the temple.
Do not come near us."
"I will go with you."
He became her servant.
He worked alongside her.
Know God Hari to be like this.
With four hands he did the washing.
Jani said: "Now it is well done."

corpus Janabai gathā image Hari assumes his four-armed Vaishnava form

259

The Empty Temple

काकड आरती । करावया कमळापती ॥

For the Kakaḍ Ārati
the devotees gathered.

The lamp was ready.
The song was ready.
The temple was empty.

Jnaneshwar smiled:
"Where has God gone?"

Says Jani: look where the grain is being ground.
The answer is usually there.

register This opens the recognition sequence. Liturgical absence becomes proof of domestic presence.

Marathi, line-by-line

काकड आरती । करावया कमळापती । भक्त मिळाले सकळ । रितें देखिलें देऊळ ॥ ज्ञानेश्वर बोले । आतां देव कोठें गेलें ॥ ठावें जाहलें अंतरीं । देव दळी जनीघरीं ॥

For the Kakaḍ Ārati,
to perform it for the Lotus-Lord,
all the devotees gathered.
They saw the temple was empty.
Jnaneshwar spoke:
"Where has God gone?"
Inwardly it became known:
God is grinding at Jani's house.

discussed at Ch III image the temple empty, the Lord at the chakki

257

Let Us See How Strong God Is

मग हांसोनि सकळी । पाहूं देव कैसा बळी ॥

They all laughed:
"Let us see how strong this God is."

They came to Namdev's house.
Hari was lost in love.

He poured grain into the chakki
and sang Jani's song.

Says Jani: strength is not always
lifting mountains.
Sometimes it is turning a millstone.

register The saints catch the miracle in progress. The Lord's strength is shown as service, not spectacle.

Marathi, line-by-line

मग हांसोनि सकळी । पाहूं देव कैसा बळी ॥ आले नामदेवा घरीं । प्रेमे भुललासे हरी । घाली जातिया वैरण । गाय आवडीचें गाणें ॥ पुढे देखे ज्ञानेश्वरा । देव जालासे घाबरा ॥ जनी म्हणे पंढरीनाथा । जाय राठळासी आतां ॥

Then, all of them laughing:
"let us see how strong this God is."
They came to Namdev's house.
Hari was lost in love.
He poured grain into the chakki,
singing her favourite song.
Then he saw Jnaneshwar.
God became frightened.
Jani said: "Pandhari-nath,
go to the temple now."

discussed at Ch III image the Lord caught in the act

258

Do Not Tell Nivritti

निवृत्ती पुसत । कोठें होते पंढरीनाथ ॥

Nivritti asked,
"Where was Pandhari-nath?"

Hrishikesha made the sign:
"Do not tell him."

Jnandev answered anyway:
"What wonder shall I tell?
The Lord was serving Jani."

Says Jani: secrets of love
do not stay hidden long
among saints.

register The Kakaḍ Ārati story completes itself when Jñāneśvar names what has happened publicly.

Marathi, line-by-line

निवृत्ती पुसत । कोठें होते पंढरीनाथ ॥ खूण कळली हृषिकेशी । सांगों नको निवृत्तीसी ॥ उत्तर दिलें ज्ञानदेवे । नवल केवढें सांगावें ॥ शिव वंदी पायवणी । न ये योगियांचे ध्यानीं ॥ द्वारीं उभे ब्रह्मादिक । गुण गाती सकळिक ॥ जनीसवें दळी देव । तिचां देखोनिया भाव ॥

Nivritti asked:
"Where had Pandhari-nath been?"
Hrishikesha caught the sign:
"Do not tell Nivritti."
Jnandev gave the answer:
"What wonder shall I tell?
Shiva worships his foot-water.
The yogis cannot reach him in dhyāna.
Brahma and the gods stand at his door,
all of them singing his praise.
But with Jani he grinds,
seeing her bhāva."

discussed at Ch III image the public naming of sainthood

403

Mother Jnaneshwari

भावअक्षराची गांठी । ब्रह्मज्ञानानें गोमटी ॥

Bhāva knotted to syllable,
made beautiful by brahma-jñāna:

this is Mother Jnaneshwari,
mother-house of the saints.

Whoever enters hungry
leaves with food in the heart.

Says Jani: scripture became a mother
when Jñāneśvar spoke it.

register Janabai reads the Jñāneśvarī not as commentary alone, but as a home to which saints return.

Marathi, line-by-line

भावअक्षराची गांठी । ब्रह्मज्ञानानें गोमटी । ते हे माय ज्ञानेश्वरी । संतजना माहेधरी ॥

The knot of bhāva and akṣara,
made beautiful by brahmajñāna:
this is Mother Jnaneshwari,
the mother-house for the saint-folk.

discussed at Ch IV register the Jnaneshwari as māher

404

Gruel on a Golden Plate

गीतेवरी आन टीका । त्यांनी वाढियेली लोकां ॥

Others made commentaries on the Gita
and served them to the people.

Thin gruel
on a plate of solid gold.

Only Jnanesha
knew how to cook the meal.

Says Jani: the plate is not enough.
Feed the one who has come hungry.

register The critique is sharp and domestic. Authority without nourishment is bad cooking.

Marathi, line-by-line

गीतेवरी आन टीका । त्यांनी वाढियेली लोकां । सतनकनक ताटामाजीं । त्याने बोगरिले कांजी । एका ज्ञानेशावाचोनी । म्हणे नामयाची जनी ॥

Other commentaries on the Gītā
they served to the people,
like cooking thin gruel
in a plate of solid gold.
None but Jnanesha alone,
says Namdev's Jani.

discussed at Ch IV register the gold plate, the thin gruel

406

More Than Mother

मायेहूनि माय मानी । करी जिवाची ओंवाळणी ॥

I take him as more than mother.
I wave my life around him as ārati.

My Jnaneshwar,
boat to the other shore.

What mother does for the child,
he does for the soul.

Says Jani: I have crossed many waters
by holding that name.

register Friend, mother, ferry: the verse lets the relation move, because saintly intimacy cannot be held in one kinship word.

Marathi, line-by-line

मायेहूनि माय मानी । करी जिवाची ओंवाळणी । परलोकींचें तारु । म्हणे माझा ज्ञानेश्वरू ॥

I take him as more-than-mother.
I wave my life around him as ārati.
The boat to the other shore,
my Jnaneshwar.

discussed at Ch IV register the saint as ferry-boat

328

I Eat God

देव खाते देव पिते । देवावरी मी निजतें ॥

I eat God.
I drink God.
On God I sleep.

I give God.
I take God.
With God I do my dealings.

God here, God there.
Without God
nothing is empty.

Says Jani: once this is seen,
even the market is made of him.

register This is Janabai's Advaita in kitchen-and-market idiom. Non-duality is eaten, drunk, traded, slept upon.

Marathi, line-by-line

देव खाते देव पिते । देवावरी मी निजतें ॥ देव देते देव घेते । देवासवें व्यवहारितें ॥ देव येथें देव तेथें । देवाविणें नाही रितें । जनी म्हणे विठाबाई । भरुनि उरलें अंतरबाही ॥

I eat God, I drink God.
On God I sleep.
I give God, I take God.
With God I do my dealings.
God here, God there.
Without God nothing is empty.
Jani says, Vithābāī:
filled and overflowing within and without.

discussed at Ch V image the everywhere-of-God

323

Bliss Swallowed Bliss

जोड जाली रे शिवाशी । भ्रांत फिटली रे जिवाची ॥

The joining with Shiva has come.
The jiva's confusion is gone.

Bliss knew bliss.
A wave of bliss rose.

Brahmananda opened its mouth
and swallowed even that.

Says Jani: what remains
after bliss eats bliss?
Only silence with a name in it.

register The verse stacks bliss-words until language begins to undo itself, then lets the image of swallowing finish the doctrine.

Marathi, line-by-line

जोड जाली रे शिवाशी । भ्रांत फिटली रे जिवाची ॥ आनंदची आनंदला । आनंद बोधचि बोधला । आनंदाची लहरी उठी । ब्रह्मानंदें गिळिला पोटीं । एकपण जेथें पाहीं । तेथें विज्ञाप्ति उरली नाहीं । ऐसी सद्गुरुची करणी । दासी जनी विठठलचरणीं ॥

The joining with Shiva has come.
The jīva's confusion is destroyed.
Bliss is blissed.
Bliss-knowing is known.
A wave of bliss arose.
Brahmānanda swallowed it in its belly.
Where you see oneness,
the cognizing-as-other no longer remains.
Such is the work of the sadguru.
Dasi Jani at Vitthal's feet.

discussed at Ch V image jīva-Śiva sāmarasya, in the Nāth-Varkari synthesis

322

When Body-Feeling Goes

देहभाव पूर्ण जाय । तेव्हा हें धैर्य सुख होय ॥

When body-feeling goes completely,
then this steady happiness comes.

Those who slept in that sleep
did not wake again into old bhāva.

A rest was found.
A wave of bliss spread.

Says Jani: courage is not hardness.
It is resting where no body-claim remains.

register The verse speaks in the yogic-Advaitic register, but the English keeps the plainness of Janabai's seeing.

Marathi, line-by-line

देहभाव पूर्ण जाय । तेव्हा हें धैर्य सुख होय ॥ तयां निद्रे जे निजले । भाव जागृती नाहीं आले । ऐसी विश्रांति लाधली । आनंद कळा संचरली । तेथें सर्वांग सुखी जालें । लिंगदेह विसरलें । त्या एकीं एक होतां । दासी जनी नाहीं आतां ॥

When deha-bhāva fully goes,
then this dhairya-sukha happens.
Those who slept that sleep,
bhāva-jāgṛti has not come.
Such viśrānti was found.
A wave of bliss spread.
There all the limbs became sukhī.
The liṅga-deha was forgotten.
In that one becoming one,
dasi Jani is no more.

discussed at Ch V image the going-out of the dāsī-name

336

Emptiness Above Emptiness

शून्यावरी शून्य पाहे । तयावरी शून्य आहे ॥

Upon emptiness I see emptiness.
Above that, another emptiness.

One red, one white,
one dark in the middle.

The inner map opens
without asking the village
who is allowed to read it.

Says Jani: śūnya is not blank.
It has colour.

register A technical Nāth-yoga verse, rendered without over-explaining the map. Janabai's authority lies in direct sight.

Marathi, line-by-line

शून्यावरी शून्य पाहे । तयावरी शून्य आहे ॥ प्रथम शून्य रक्तवर्ण । त्याचे नाव अधःशून्य ॥ उर्ध्वशून्य श्वेतवर्ण । मध्यशून्य श्यामवर्ण ॥ महाशून्य वर्ण नीळ । त्यांत स्वरुप केवळ । अनुहात घंटा श्रवणीं । ऐकुनी विस्मित जाहली जनी ॥

On śūnya I see śūnya;
upon that, another śūnya.
The first śūnya is red-coloured;
its name is adha-śūnya.
Ūrdhva-śūnya is white-coloured;
madhya-śūnya is dark-coloured.
Mahā-śūnya is the colour blue,
and in it, svarūpa alone.
The unstruck bell rings in the ear.
Hearing it, Jani became amazed.

discussed at Ch VI image the four śūnyas, the anāhata-nāda

337

The Flame Flashed

ज्योत पहा चमकली । काय सांगू त्याची बोली ॥

Look, the flame flashed.
What can I say of its speech?

Pravritti and Nivritti,
the two sisters,
are absorbed at its feet.

Parā, paśyantī, madhyamā:
even vaikharī reaches its limit.

Says Jani: speech climbs as far as it can.
The flame goes farther.

register The four levels of speech enter Janabai's vocabulary here. The poem speaks about the place where speech gives way.

Marathi, line-by-line

ज्योत पहा चमकली । काय सांगू त्याची बोली ॥ प्रवृत्ति निवृत्ति दोधीजणी । लीन होती त्याच्या चरणीं । परा पश्यती मध्यमा । वैश्वरीची जाली सीमा ॥ चारी वाचा कुंठित जाहली । सोहं ज्योत प्रकाशली । ज्योत पखह्मी जाणा । जनी म्हणे निरंजना ॥

See, the flame flashed.
What shall I say of its speech?
Pravṛtti and Nivṛtti, both sisters,
become absorbed at its feet.
Parā, paśyantī, madhyamā:
vaikharī's limit is reached.
The four speeches stopped.
The so'haṃ flame shone.
Know the flame in Brahman.
Jani says to Niranjana.

discussed at Ch VI image the silencing of the four speeches

338

The Flame Becomes Brahman

ज्योत पखह्मीं होय । खेचरी दर्पणीनें पाहे ॥

The flame becomes Brahman.
In khecharī's mirror she sees.

Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā:
the three are seen in the heart-realm.

Enter slowly.
Fine within the heart.

Says Jani: the inner road is narrow.
Do not push. Enter like breath.

register This is esoteric vocabulary, but Janabai's cadence stays practical: slowly, finely, in the heart.

Marathi, line-by-line

ज्योत पखह्मीं होय । खेचरी दर्पणीनें पाहे । ईडा पिंगळा सुशुम्ना । तिन्ही पाहे हृदयभुवना ॥ हळूहळू रीघ करी । सूक्ष्म ह॒दय अंतरीं ॥ हृदयकमळावरी जासी । जनी म्हणे मुक्‍त होसी ॥

The flame becomes Brahman.
With khecharī mudrā she sees the mirror.
Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā,
all three she sees in the heart-realm.
Slowly enter,
fine within the heart.
You go upon the heart-lotus.
Jani says: you become free.

discussed at Ch VI image the three nāḍīs in the heart-realm

160

Pundalik Brought Him Down

पुंडलिक भक्तबळी । विठो आणिला भूतळीं ॥

Pundalik, strong bhakta,
brought Vitho down to earth.

All the endless avatāras
gathered into one body
and stood on one brick.

Says Jani: one devotee's service
can make God stand still
for ages.

register The foundational Pandharpur myth is compressed into a single claim: sevā has the power to arrest the divine.

Marathi, line-by-line

पुंडलिक भक्तबळी । विठो आणिला भूतळीं । अनंत अवतार केवळ । उभा विटेवरी सकळ ॥

Pundalika, the bhakta-strong,
brought Vitho down to the earth.
The endless avatāras, gathered into one,
stand all on a single brick.

discussed at Ch VII image the avatāras compressed onto a single brick

161

The Seal of Your Bhava

भक्त भला पुंडलिका । तुझ्या भावार्थाचा शिक्का ॥

Good bhakta, Pundalik.
Your bhāva put its seal on him.

You set the riddle well:
Brahman waiting at your door.

Your fame ran through three worlds
because you did not run after fame.

Says Jani: the one who serves
makes even God wait his turn.

register Pundalik's greatness is not spectacle but priority: parents first, God at the door, the brick between them.

Marathi, line-by-line

भक्त भला पुंडलिका । तुझ्या भावार्थाचा शिक्का । भले घालूनियां कोडें । पखह्य दारापुढें ॥ घाव घातला निशाणीं । ख्याती केली त्रिभुवनी ॥ जनी म्हणे पुंडलिका । धन्य तूंचि तिन्ही लोकां ॥

Good bhakta, Pundalika.
The seal of your bhāva is upon him.
You set the riddle well:
Brahman waits at your door.
You struck the marker dead;
your fame ran through the three worlds.
Jani says: O Pundalika,
blessed are you in all three worlds.

discussed at Ch VII image the bhakta who put a riddle to Brahman

162

He Served Out Pandhari's Joy

पंढरींचे सुख पुंडलिकासी आलें । तेणें हे वाढिलें भक्तालागीं ॥

The joy of Pandhari
came to Pundalik.

He did not keep it.
He served it out to the devotees.

Bhukti and mukti
were given like food at a feast.

Says Jani: father Pundalik
raised the world
by sharing what he received.

register Grace here is communal, not private possession. The first receiver becomes distributor.

Marathi, line-by-line

पंढरींचे सुख पुंडलिकासी आलें । तेणें हे वाढिलें भक्तालागीं ॥ भुक्ति मुक्ति वरदान दिधलें । तेंहि नाही ठेविलें आपणापाशीं । उदार चक्रवर्ती बाप पुंडलिक । नामें विश्व लोक उद्धरिलें ॥

The joy of Pandhari came to Pundalika.
He served it out to the devotees.
The boon of bhukti and mukti was given;
he did not keep it for himself.
Liberal Chakravartī, father Pundalika:
by his Name the world has been raised.

discussed at Ch VII image the bhakta as Chakravartī

304

Foremost Among Bhaktas

भक्तामाजीं अग्रगणी । पुंडलिक महामुनी ॥

Foremost among bhaktas,
Pundalik the great muni.

By his prasāda
saints crossed.
By his prasāda
sādhus were raised.

That same prasāda reaches us:
Hrishikesha on the brick.

Says Jani: receive the standing Lord
as Pundalik's leftover grace.

register The verse frames the Pandharpur icon as prasāda, not mere image: a gift still being distributed.

Marathi, line-by-line

भक्तामाजीं अग्रगणी । पुंडलिक महामुनी ॥ त्याचे प्रसादें तरले । साधुसंत उद्धरिले ॥ तोचि प्रसाद आम्हांसी । विटेवरी क्रषिकेशी ॥ पुंडलिक मायबाप । दासी जनी वंदी पाय ॥

Foremost among bhaktas,
the great muni Pundalika.
By his prasāda the saints have crossed,
by his prasāda the sādhus have been raised.
That same prasāda comes to us:
Hrishikeshī standing on the brick.
Pundalika, my mother and my father,
dasi Jani salutes your feet.

discussed at Ch VII image the bhakta as parent of the dasi

177

Alms at the Master's House

समर्थांचे घरीं भिक्षा नानापरी । मागल्या पदरीं घालिताती ॥

At the Master's house
alms come in many forms.

They drop them
into the back-fold of the sari.

Who abandons a kingdom
to beg from door to door?

Says Jani: in Pandhari,
even begging carries
the joy of empire.

register Begging becomes royal because the "Master's house" reverses ordinary economy. Poverty carries sovereignty.

Marathi, line-by-line

समर्थांचे घरीं भिक्षा नानापरी । मागल्या पदरीं घालिताती ॥ अंबोल्या सांडोनि कोण मागे भीक । सामराज्याचे सुख तुझे ॥

At the master's house, alms come in many forms.
They put them in the back-fold of the sari.
Who, having abandoned a kingdom, would beg for alms?
The joy of an empire is yours.

discussed at Ch VII image mukti as the beggar at the saint's house

296

Give Me Birth Again

देवा देई गर्भवास । तरीच पुरेल माझी आस ॥

Lord, put me in a womb again.
Only then will my longing be filled.

Let me see Pandhari.
Let me serve at Nama's door.

Bird, pig, dog,
beast, cat,
whatever you make me,
make me near your people.

Says Jani: liberation can wait.
Give me the dust of Pandhari.

register This is rebirth deliberately chosen. Janabai values nearness to the bhakta-house over escape from embodiment.

Marathi, line-by-line

देवा देई गर्भवास । तरीच पुरेल माझी आस । परि हे देखा रे पंढरी । सेवा नामयाचे द्वारी । करीं पक्षि कां सूकर । श्वान श्वापद मार्जार । ऐसा हेत माझे मनीं । म्हणे नामयाची जनी ॥

Lord, give me a womb again.
Only then will my desire be filled.
But let it be Pandhari I see;
let me serve at Nāmā's door.
Bird or pig,
dog, beast, cat,
this is the wish in my mind,
says Nāmā's Jani.

discussed at Ch VII image mukti refused, rebirth requested

168

You Are Tired, Mother

अनंत लावण्याची शोभा । तो हा विटेवरी उभा ॥

Endless beauty,
standing on the brick.

Pītāmbara, garland at the throat,
arms open to the believer.

He rubs the bhakta's feet:
"You are tired, my mother."

Says Jani: this is Pandurang's beauty:
not jewels,
but the hand at the devotee's foot.

register The icon's splendour becomes sevā. The Lord's hands-on-hips posture yields to the bhakta's tired feet.

Marathi, line-by-line

अनंत लावण्याची शोभा । तो हा विटेवरी उभा । पितांबर माळ गांठी । भाविकासी घाली मिठी । त्याचे पाय चुरी हातें । कष्टलीस माझे माते ॥ आवडी बोले त्यासी । चला जाऊ एकान्तासी । ऐसा ब्रह्मींचा पुतळा । दासी जनी पाहे डोळां ॥

The beauty of endless charm:
he stands upon the brick.
Pītāmbara, garlands knotted at the throat,
he embraces the believer.
He massages the bhakta's feet with his hands:
"You are tired, my mother."
He speaks fondly to the devotee:
"Come, let us go aside in private."
Such is the icon of Brahman:
dasi Jani looks at him with her eyes.

discussed at Ch VII image Brahman as one who massages feet

174

My Vitho With His Children

विठो माझा लेंकुरवाळा । संगे लेंकुरांचा मेळा ॥

My Vitho is full of children.
A whole crowd walks with him.

Nivritti rides his shoulder.
Sopan holds his hand.
Jnaneshwar walks ahead.
Muktabai follows behind.

Gora, Chokha, Savata, Banka,
Nama at the end.

Says Jani: where the saints gather,
God becomes a parent.

register The saint-family is the Lord's body moving through Maharashtra: kinship replaces hierarchy.

Marathi, line-by-line

विठो माझा लेंकुरवाळा । संगे लेंकुरांचा मेळा ॥ निवृत्ती हा खांद्यावरी । सोपानाचा हात धरी ॥ पुढें चाले ज्ञानेश्वर । मागें मुक्ताई सुंदर ॥ गोरा कुंभार मांडियेवरी । चोखा जीवा बरोबरी ॥ बंका कडियेवरी । नामा करांगुळी धरी । जनी म्हणे गोपाळा । करी भक्तांचा सोहळा ॥

My Vitho with his troupe of children,
a gathering of children walking with him.
Nivṛtti rides upon his shoulder.
He holds Sopān by the hand.
Jñāneśvar walks ahead;
behind comes the lovely Muktabāī.
Gora the potter sits in his lap.
Chokhā walks at his side, dear as life.
Vaṅkā is held in the crook of his arm.
Nāmā holds his little finger.
Jani says: O Gopāla,
you make a festival of your devotees.

discussed at Ch VII image the Lord as the family man of the saint-circle

298

No Other Practice

पुंडलिकें नवल केलें । गोपिगोपाळ आणिले ॥

Pundalik did a wonder:
he brought the gopīs and gopālas here.

Give me this, Hrishikesha:
your Name day and night.

I want no other practice.
Hari on the tongue,
always.

Says Jani: one Name is enough
when it does not leave the mouth.

register The Vraja world is relocated to Pandharpur, and the practice is reduced to nāma on the tongue.

Marathi, line-by-line

पुंडलिकें नवल केलें । गोपिगोपाळ आणिले ॥ हेचि देई क्वषिकेशी । तुझें नाम अहर्निशी । नलगे आणिक प्रकार । मुखीं हरी निरंतर ॥ रुप न्याहाळिन डोळां । पुढें नाचेन वेळोवेळां ॥ सर्वाठायी तुज पाहे । ऐसें देऊनि करी साह्य । धांवा करितां रात्र झाली । दासी जनीसी भेट दिली ॥

Pundalika did a wonder:
he brought the gopīs and the gopālas here.
Give me this, Hrishikeshī:
your Name day and night.
I want no other practice.
Hari upon my tongue, always.
I will gaze at your form with my eyes.
I will dance before you again and again.
Let me see you in every place.
Give me this; help me with this.
I called and called; night came.
You gave dasi Jani your meeting.

discussed at Ch VII image the Name asked for as the only practice

237

The Trusted Thief

चोरा संगतीनें गेला । वाटें जातां नागवला ॥

He travelled with thieves.
On the road they stripped him.

So too the one
who leaves bhakti
and keeps company with objects.

Play near fire:
perhaps you will not burn,
but you will be scorched.

Says Jani: throw away
the thief you have trusted.

register The didactic voice is curt. Sense-objects are not debated; they are identified as bad company.

Marathi, line-by-line

चोरा संगतीनें गेला । वाटें जातां नागवला ॥१॥ तैसी सांडोनियां भक्ती । धरी विषयाची संगती ॥२॥ अग्निसर्वे खेळे । न जळे तो परी पोळे ॥३॥ विश्वासा चोरा जनी म्हणे । घाला बरा ॥४॥

He travelled with thieves on the road.
He was robbed along the way.
So too, abandoning bhakti,
one who holds the company of objects.
One who plays with fire
may not burn, but is scorched.
To the trusted thief, Janī says,
cast it well aside.

cluster didactic, on the company of objects · Ch VIII register the warning verse; bhakti versus the senses Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 237)

A short upadeśa-verse on the company one keeps. The opening image (the traveller robbed for keeping bad company) is folded into the doctrinal claim: abandoning bhakti to follow sense-objects (viṣaya) is the same kind of road-robbery. The fire-image deepens the warning: one who plays close to fire may not burn but will be scorched. The closing instruction is curt: cast aside the trusted thief.

366

Speak With Bhava

भक्तिभावे बोळगा देव । महाराज पंढरिराव ॥

Speak to God with bhāva,
the great king of Pandhari.

Go to Pandhari.
Meet the saints.

The mind that has bhakti
will surely meet him.

Says Jani: do not make speech clever.
Make it warm.

register Instruction is reduced to a few imperatives: speak, go, meet. Bhāva is the real qualification.

Marathi, line-by-line

भक्तिभावे बोळगा देव । महाराज पंढरिराव ॥ पंढरीसी जावें । संतजनी भेटावें ॥ भक्ति आहे ज्याचें चित्तीं । त्याला पावतो निश्चिती ॥ भाव धरा मनीं । म्हणे नामयाची जनी ॥

Speak to God with bhāva,
the great king of Pandhari.
Go to Pandhari;
meet the saints.
Whose mind has bhakti
he will surely meet.
Hold bhāva in the mind,
says Nāmā's Jani.

discussed at Ch VIII image the simplest possible instruction

367

No Need to Die for Mukti

अनंत जन्म मृत्यु होतां जैसे दुःख । त्याहुनी विशेष आहे तेथें ॥

Endless birth, endless death:
that pain is known.

But here is another pain:
running from end to end
while abandoning the endless seat.

No need to grind yourself down.
No need to die for mukti.

Says Jani: sit where the Name is.
The road is shorter there.

register The verse rejects anxious religiosity. Liberation is not a heroic death but a turn toward the Name.

Marathi, line-by-line

अनंत जन्म मृत्यु होतां जैसे दुःख । त्याहुनी विशेष आहे तेथें ॥ भांबावले जन धांवे आटाआटी । सांडूनिया कोटि अनंत पद ॥ न लगे गाळावें न लगे तळावें । न लगे मरावे मुक्तीसाठीं । मुक्ती लागे पायां जाऊनिया पाहे । जीव आता देह जनी नाही ॥

The pain of endless birth and death,
here too is something like it.
The bewildered run from one end to another,
abandoning the endless seat of the crore.
No need to grind, no need to fall;
no need to die for mukti.
Mukti walks down to the feet, look:
jīva and body, Jani has neither now.

discussed at Ch VIII image mukti as the visitor at the bhakta's door

382

Do Not Separate Saint and God

संत आणि देव मानी जो वेगळे । तेणें तेथें आगळ केले दोष ॥

Whoever holds saint and God apart
heaps fault upon fault.

Would you cut the breast
away from the mother?

Would you drink poison
and call it wine?

Says Jani: do not split
what love has made one.

register Janabai's analogies are severe because the mistake is severe: saint and God are not competing objects.

Marathi, line-by-line

संत आणि देव मानी जो वेगळे । तेणें तेथें आगळ केले दोष । माता ते वेगळी कुच ते उरीचें । म्हणोनियां त्याचें मर्दन करी ॥ पाप तें वेगळे पुण्य तें आगळें । म्हणोनी गरळें पितो मद ॥ दिवस उगवतां पाहो नये त्यातें । जेणें हो संतांतें द्रेषियेलें । तयाचा विटाळ वाहे रजस्वला । म्हणे जनी चांडाळा बोलू नका ॥

Whoever holds saint and God to be separate
has heaped sin upon sin.
If mother and breast were separate,
he would cut the breast off her chest.
If sin and merit were separate,
he would drink poison as wine.
Do not look on him at sunrise,
him who has hated the saints.
Even the menstrual woman holds him impure.
Says Jani: do not even speak to such an outcaste.

discussed at Ch VIII image the saint and God as mother and breast

383

Cloud Is Water

पाणी तेंचि मेघ मेघ तेंचि पाणी । काय या दोन्हीपणी वेगळीक ॥

Water is cloud.
Cloud is water.

Earth is dust.
Dust is earth.

Sweetness in sugar,
sugar in sweetness:
where will you draw the line?

Says Jani: difference is useful
until seeing burns through it.

register A non-difference teaching made from ordinary substances. The metaphysics is carried by water, dust, sugar, butter.

Marathi, line-by-line

पाणी तेंचि मेघ मेघ तेंचि पाणी । काय या दोन्हीपणी वेगळीक ॥ माती तेंचि धूळ धूळ तेंचि माती । भेंडा आणि भिती काय दोन । साखरी ते गोडी गोडी ते साखरेसी । थिजले तुपासी काय दोन्ही ॥ डोळा तें बुबुळ बुबुळ तो डोळा । शांति ज्ञानकळा काय भिन्न ॥ वदन ते ओठ ओठ ते वदन । क्षेम आलिंगन काय दोन ॥ जीभ ते पडजीभ पडजीभ ते जीभ । आशा आणि लोभ काय दोन ॥ संत तेचि देव देव तेचि संत । म्हणे जनी मात गोष्टी भिन्न ॥

Water is cloud, cloud is water,
what difference between these two?
Earth is dust, dust is earth,
are clay and wall two things?
The sweetness in sugar, the sugar in sweetness,
are clarified butter and butter two?
The eye is the pupil, the pupil is the eye,
is peace different from the wisdom-light?
Mouth is the lips, lips are the mouth,
are well-wish and embrace two things?
Tongue is the soft palate, palate is the tongue,
are hope and greed two things?
The saint is God, God is the saint,
says Jani: only the names differ.

discussed at Ch VIII image non-difference rendered as kitchen-and-body

390

The Mango Seed

शरीर हे जायाचें नर आणिकांचे । म्हणाल जरी त्याचें काय काज ॥

This body will go.
You may ask,
"What use is it?"

The mango is sucked.
The seed is thrown away.
From that seed another tree rises.

Strip māyā at the root.
Preserve the seed above.

Says Jani: do not despise the body.
Learn what it is for.

register The body is temporary, but not meaningless. Janabai's image keeps both renunciation and fertility in view.

Marathi, line-by-line

शरीर हे जायाचें नर आणिकांचे । म्हणाल जरी त्याचें काय काज ॥ आंबरसें चोखिला बिजसालें सांडिला । पुढें तेणें उभविला दुजा एकू ॥ समूळ साल माया सांडुनिया दिजे । वरि अहं बीज जतन करा ॥ ते बीज भाजोनि करा ओवाळणी । संतांचे चरणीं समूळ देह ॥ पुढें त्या बीजाची न करावी दुराशा । न धरावी आशा पुढिलांची ॥ आहे नाहीं देह धरीं ऐसा भाव । म्हणे जनी देव सहज होसी ॥

This body must go; what use is it?
You may say: what work is it good for?
The mango is sucked, the seed thrown away.
Out of that seed another tree rises.
Strip the rind of māyā at the root, let it go.
Above, preserve the seed of aham.
Roast that seed, then offer it as ārati.
At the saints' feet, the body, root and all.
Of that seed, hold no false hope;
cling to no expectation of what comes after.
Hold the body as both there and not-there:
Jani says, you are God already.

discussed at Ch VIII image the mango-stone parable, body-attachment as the seed to roast

392

When Breath Is Gone

शूरांचे ते शस्र कृपणाचे धन । विध्वंसिला प्राण हातांनये ॥

The hero's weapon,
the miser's wealth:
when breath is gone,
they do not come to hand.

The elephant's pearl,
the snake's hood-jewel,
the lion's claw,
all useless then.

Says Jani: keep what can cross death.
Leave the rest in the house.

register A memento mori in catalogue form. Possessions are named one by one and dismissed at the threshold of death.

Marathi, line-by-line

शूरांचे ते शस्र कृपणाचे धन । विध्वंसिला प्राण हातांनये ॥ गजमाथां मोतीं सर्पाचा तो मान । आसलीया प्राण हातांन ये । सिंहाचे ते नख पतित्रतेचे स्तन । गेलियाही प्राण हातां न ये । वीराल्यावांचुन देह अहंभाव । जनी म्हणे देव हातां न ये ॥

The hero's weapon, the miser's wealth,
the breath gone, do not come to hand.
The pearl in the elephant's brow, the snake's hood-jewel,
the breath gone, do not come to hand.
The lion's claw, the chaste woman's breast,
the breath gone, do not come to hand.
So with the body and its aham:
Jani says, without dropping these, God does not come to hand.

discussed at Ch VIII image the things you cannot get by force

416

Only When Vithoba Comes

माझा हा विठोबा येईल गे जेव्हां । जेवीन मी तेव्हां गोणाबाई ॥

"When my Vithoba comes,
then I will eat, Gonabai."

"Go quickly to the temple.
Call him for the meal.

If he is angry,
bear the anger.
Bring him home."

Says Jani: hunger waits
for the one it loves.

register The deity is treated as a household member whose absence delays dinner. Love makes the meal incomplete.

Marathi, line-by-line

माझा हा विठोबा येईल गे जेव्हां । जेवीन मी तेव्हां गोणाबाई ॥ त्वरे राठळासी जाऊनीयां पाहे । लवकरी बाहे भोजनासी ॥ भरलिया रागें क्रोध त्याचा साहे । लवकरी बाहे भोजनासी ॥ ज्ञानेधरा घरी असेल बेसला । जाऊनी विठ्ठला पाहे तेथें ॥ जनी म्हणे देवा चला पुरुषोत्तमा । खोळंबला नामा भोजनासी ॥

"My Vithobā will come, when he comes;
only then, Goṇābāī, will I eat."
Go quickly to the temple and look.
Call him to the meal, soon.
If he is in a temper, bear his anger;
call him to the meal, soon.
Or he may be sitting at Jnāneśvar's house;
go look for Vitthala there.
Jani says: "Come, Lord Puruṣottama;
Nāmā is held up at his meal."

discussed at Ch IX image Namdev waiting at dinner

417

Nama's Household

गोणाई राजाई दोघी सासू सुना । दामा नामा जाणा बापलेक ॥

Gonai and Rajai,
mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Dama and Nama,
father and son.

Four sons,
four daughters-in-law,
a house thick with names.

Says Jani: mad, foolish dāsī,
I stand in that household
and count my fortune.

register A second household catalogue, warmer and more intimate than a record: Janabai locates herself inside Nama's family-web.

Marathi, line-by-line

गोणाई राजाई दोघी सासू सुना । दामा नामा जाणा बापलेक ॥ नारा विठा गोंदा महादा चवघे पुत्र । जन्मले पवित्र त्याचे वंशी ॥ लाडाई गोडाई येसाई साखराई । चवघी सुना पाही नामयाच्या । लिंबाई ती लेकी आऊबाई बहिणी । वेडिपीशी दासी त्याची जनी ॥

Goṇāī and Rajāī, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Damā and Nāmā, father and son.
Nara, Viṭha, Gondā, Mahadā: the four sons,
born holy in his line.
Lāḍāī, Goḍāī, Yesāī, Sākharāī:
the four daughters-in-law of Nāmā.
Limbāī the daughter, Aubāī the sister,
and his "mad-and-foolish" dāsī, Jani.

discussed at Ch IX image the household roll-call, with the dāsī's irony

418

Nama on the Riverbed

सुंबाचा करदोडा रकट्याची लंगोटी । नामा वाळवंटी कथा करी ॥

Jute string at the waist,
ragged loincloth.

Nama tells the story
on the riverbed.

Brahma and the gods come to watch.
Joy rises like a shout.

Says Jani: how can I describe
the joy of one
who always looks at Vithoba's face?

register The outer poverty is staged first so the inner royalty can appear. Nama's torn cloth does not hide his vision.

Marathi, line-by-line

सुंबाचा करदोडा रकट्याची लंगोटी । नामा वाळवंटी कथा करी ॥ ब्रह्मादिक देव येवोनि पाहती । आनंदे गर्जति जयजयकार ॥ जनी म्हणे त्याचें काय वर्ण सुख । पहाती जे मुख विठोबाचे ॥

A jute string round the waist, a loincloth of rags.
Nāmā does the kīrtana on the riverbed.
Brahmā and the gods come and watch.
In joy they raise the great cry.
Jani says: how to describe his joy,
who looks always at the face of Vithobā?

discussed at Ch IX image the saint at the cremation-ground in his rags

Vithu's Lap Is Full

विठू माझा लेकुरवाळा । संगे गोपाळांचा मेळा ॥

My Vithu has children everywhere.

Nivritti on his shoulder,
Sopan by the hand,
Jnaneshwar ahead,
Muktai behind.

Gora in his lap,
Chokha beside him,
Savata, Banka, Nama.

Says Jani: this is the Lord's procession:
not subjects,
children.

register The best-known performance variant expands the saint-family into a devotional household moving with Vitthal.

Marathi, line-by-line

विठू माझा लेकुरवाळा । संगे गोपाळांचा मेळा ॥१॥ निवृत्ती हा खांद्यावरी । सोपानाचा हात धरी ॥२॥ पुढें चालें ज्ञानेश्वर । मागें मुक्ताई सुंदर ॥३॥ गोरा कुंभार मांडीवरी । चोखा जीवा बरोबरी ॥४॥ बंका कडेसी ल्याहिला । नामा करांगुळी धरीला ॥५॥ जनी म्हणे गोपाळा । करीं भक्तांचा सोहळा ॥६॥

My Viṭhū has a houseful of children.
Nivṛtti rides his shoulders.
Sopān holds his hand.
Jñāneśvar walks ahead.
Muktāī follows behind.
Gorā the potter he lifts to his lap.
Chokhā and Jīva walk beside.
Bankā clings at his waist.
Nāmā he holds by the little finger.
Janī says: Gopāl makes a festival
of his devotees.

cluster vatsalya, saint-family enumeration · Ch VII register the deity constituted by the saint-mandalī Text as transmitted by geetmanjusha (performance variant)

The most-sung Janabai abhaṅga in living Marathi tradition. The deity is described as a parent surrounded by his "children", the canonical Vārkarī saints. Nivṛtti, Sopān, Jñāneśvar, Muktāī are the four Jñāneśvar siblings; Gorā Kumbhār the potter, Chokhāmelā, Sāvatā Mālī, Bankā the dyer, and Nāmdev (Janabai's Master) complete the circle. Vārkarī communitas is the Lord's body; the saints are not his servants but his kin.

पि

Another Voice Beside Me

येकलीच गाणें गाई । दुजा शब्द उमटे पाशीं ॥

I was singing alone.
Another voice rose beside me.

Pandurang is my father.
Rakhumai has become my mother.

The orphan's house
filled from the inside.

Says Jani: O Vithai,
without you
there is no one.

register Kinship is received through song. The second voice at the chakki becomes father and mother.

Marathi, line-by-line

येकलीच गाणें गाई । दुजा शब्द उमटे पाशीं ॥१॥ पांडुरंग माझा पिता । रखुमाई जाली माता ॥२॥ जनी म्हणे विठाई । तुजवांचूनी कोणी नाहीं ॥३॥

I sing alone.
Another voice rises beside me.
Pandurang is my father.
Rakhumai has become my mother.
Janī says: O Vithai,
without you there is no one.

cluster vatsalya, kinship-inversion · Ch IX register the dāsī claims the deity-couple as her parents Text as transmitted by daak.substack.com (2023)

The orphaned Matang dāsī, whose mother and father both died before she was six, claims the Pandharpur deity-couple as her own. The verse opens with the labour-song's solitary singer hearing the second voice rise beside her, the Lord at the chakki, and ends with the kinship-claim made flat and final.

Vitthal's Pendant Is Gone

पदक विठ्‌ठलाचें गेलें । ब्राह्मण म्हणती जनीनें नेलें ॥

Vitthal's pendant is gone.
The Brahmins say,
"Jani has taken it."

They search her sari.
The pendant falls to the ground.
The crowd turns hard.

Ropes are tied.
The stake is raised
by Chandrabhaga.

Jani walks singing the Name.

Says Jani: at the point of death
the stake became water,
and Vithu took the wound.

register The theft narrative is Janabai's longest self-story: accusation, mob violence, Name, and the Lord's substitution at the final moment.

Marathi, line-by-line

पदक विठ्‌ठलाचें गेलें । ब्राह्मण म्हणती जनीनें नेलें ॥१॥ अगे शिंपियाचे जनी । नेलें पदक दे आणुनी ॥२॥ देवासमोर तुझें घर । तुझें येणें निरंतर ॥३॥ म्यां नेलें नाहीं जाण । सख्या विठोबाची आण ॥४॥ धोतर झाडूनि पाहती । पडलें पदक घेऊनि जाती ॥५॥ जनी वरी आली चोरी । ब्राह्मण करिती मारा मारी ॥६॥ धाविन्नले चाळीस गडी । जनीवरी पडली उडी ॥७॥ दंडीं लाविल्या काढण्या । विठो धांवरे धावण्या ॥८॥ चंद्रभागे रोविला शूळ । जनाबाईस आलें मूळ ॥९॥ हातीं टाळी वाजविती । मुखीं विठ्‌ठल बोलती ॥१०॥ विलंब लागला ते वेळीं । म्हणती जनिला द्यारे सुळीं ॥११॥ ऐसा येळकोट केला । जनी म्हणे विठो मेला ॥१२॥ तंव सुळाचें झालें पाणी । धन्य म्हणे दासी जनी ॥१३॥

Vitthal's pendant is gone.
The Brahmins say: Janī has taken it.
"Tailor's Jani, woman, bring it back."
"Hand over the pendant you have stolen."
"Your house sits before the deity.
You come and go there at all hours."
"I did not take it. Hear me.
I swear by my friend Vithobā."
They shake out my sari to look.
The fallen pendant they lift and carry off.
Theft has descended on Janī.
The Brahmins fall on her with blows.
Forty men come running.
The leap falls on Janī.
They tie ropes to her arms.
"Vithū, run, come quickly."
At Chandrabhāgā they have planted the stake.
For Janabai the hour has come.
Cymbals strike in her hand.
Vitthal's name on her lips.
Time is being wasted, they cry.
"Stake Janī! Now!"
Such a clamour they make.
Janī says: Vithū has died.
Then the stake itself becomes water.
Blessed, says the dāsī Janī.

cluster autobiographical, the Pandharpur theft · Ch IX register the saint accused of theft; the deity intervenes as the stake itself Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 74, full)

The full Pandharpur theft narrative from inside Janabai's own voice, in 13 couplets. The Brahmins accuse, search her sari, find the pendant fallen on the ground; mob justice descends; forty men come running; ropes are tied; the stake (sūl / śūl) is planted at the Chandrabhāgā; Janabai sings the Name with cymbals as she goes. At the moment of impalement, "Vithū has died," she says, and the stake itself dissolves into water. The verse is the corpus's most extended self-narration; we replace our earlier compressed approximation with the verified full text.

172

Shiva Worships Rama

भजन करी महादेव । राम पूजी सदाशिव ॥

Mahadeva worships Rama.
Rama worships Sadashiva.

See the two as one.
Their oneness has no second.

Between Shiva and Rama
there is no division.

Says Jani: one Self
has entered every body.
Bow there.

register A compact Shaiva-Vaishnava unity verse that ends in the larger Advaitic claim: one ātman pervading all.

Marathi, line-by-line

भजन करी महादेव । राम पूजी सदाशिव ॥१॥ दोघे देव एक पाहीं । तयां ऐक्य दुजें नाहीं ॥२॥ शिवा रामा नाहीं भेद । ऐसे देव तेही सिद्ध ॥३॥ जनी म्हणे आत्मा एक । सर्व घटीं तो व्यापक ॥४॥

Mahādeva worships Rāma.
Rāma worships Sadāśiva.
The two gods are one, see this.
Their oneness has no second.
Between Śiva and Rāma there is no division.
Such are the deities, the perfected.
Janī says: the Self is one.
It pervades every body.

cluster didactic / Brahmaikya · Ch V register Shaiva-Vaiṣṇava unity declared; one ātman in every body Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 172)

A short doctrinal verse on Shaiva-Vaiṣṇava unity. The opening image is striking: Mahādeva (Śiva) worships Rāma, Rāma worships Sadāśiva, two deities each at the other's feet. The verse closes with the ātman-ekaiva claim: one Self pervading every body, Janabai's most direct statement of brahmaikya in compact form.

105

I Caught the Thief of Pandhari

धरिला पंढरीचा चोर । गळां बांधोनिया दोर ॥

I caught the thief of Pandhari.
I tied a rope round his neck.

I made my heart a prison cell
and shut Vitthal inside.

Word by word I bound him.
I fettered his feet.
I struck him with so'ham.

Says Jani: he cried for mercy.
With my life,
I will not let him go.

register Role-reversal reaches its limit: the dāsī arrests the God who stole her heart and keeps him in the heart itself.

Marathi, line-by-line

धरिला पंढरीचा चोर । गळां बांधोनिया दोर ॥१॥ ह्रुदय बंदिखाना केला । आंत विठ्ठल कोंडिला ॥२॥ शब्दें केली जडाजुडी । विठ्ठल पायीं घातली बेडी ॥३॥ सोहं शब्दाचा मारा केला । विठ्ठल काकुलती आला ॥४॥ जनी म्हणे बा विठ्ठला । जीवें न सोडीं मी तुला ॥५॥

I caught the thief of Pandhari.
I tied a rope around his neck.
I made my heart the prison cell.
Inside, I shut up Vitthal.
Word upon word I bound him.
I clapped fetters on his feet.
With the so'haṃ mantra I struck him.
Vitthal cried for mercy.
Janī says: O Vithobā, dear one,
with my life I shall not let you go.

cluster autobiographical, the bhakta as captor · Ch IX register the role-reversal taken to its limit; the dāsī as Vitthal's jailer Text as transmitted by aathavanitli-gani.com (gathā 105)

The most-loved of Janabai's role-reversal verses, sung at Vārkarī kīrtanas to this day. The deity is the "thief of Pandhari" who has stolen the bhakta's heart; the bhakta in turn binds him with a rope, locks him in the prison-cell of her own heart, fetters his feet, and beats him with the so'haṃ mantra ("I am That") until he cries for mercy. The closing line is final: with my life, I shall not let you go. The verse stages a complete inversion of the dāsī-Master relation, the deity caught in the bhakta's own discipline.

329

My Arms Are Tired

शिणल्या बाह्या आतां । येऊनियां लावीं हाता ॥

My arms are tired now.
Come, put your hand to it.

You are my māher,
my natal home.
Why do you stand far away?

I will offer my life at your feet,
Pandhari-raya,
with all my heart.

Says Jani: father-daughter dharma
is this:
when the work is heavy,
come near.

register The deity is named as māher, the natal home where a woman may return without explanation. Help becomes kinship-law.

Marathi, line-by-line

शिणल्या बाह्या आतां । येऊनियां लावीं हाता ॥१॥ तूं माझें वो माहेर । काय पहातोसी अंतर ॥२॥ वोंवाळुनी पायां । जिवेंभावें पंढरिराया ॥३॥ धर्म ताता धर्म लेंकी । ह्मणे जनी हें विलोकीं ॥४॥

My arms have grown tired.
Come, put your hand to it.
You are my māher, my natal home.
Why do you keep your distance?
I will offer my life at your feet,
Pandhari-rāya, with all my heart.
A father's dharma, a daughter's dharma:
Janī says, look on this.

cluster autobiographical, karuṇā-par · Ch IX register the supplication-verse; the deity as natal home Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 329)

The supplication of a tired worker. The dāsī's arms have grown weak from labour; she calls the Lord to come and put his hand to it. The structural turn is in the second couplet: the Lord is named her māher, the woman's natal home, the one place a married woman returns to without obligation. The closing invokes the dharma of father-and-daughter, framing the deity-bhakta relation in family-law terms.

331

Mother Dead, Father Dead

माय मेली बाप मेला । आतां सांभाळीं विठ्‌ठला ॥

Mother is dead.
Father is dead.

Now, Vitthal,
take care of me.

I am your child.
Do not turn me away.

Your slow-witted dāsī
asks only for a place
at your feet.

Says Jani: friend, how long
will you test the orphan?

register The vocatives move from child to dāsī to friend. The orphaned voice keeps changing relation until one will hold.

Marathi, line-by-line

माय मेली बाप मेला । आतां सांभाळीं विठ्‌ठला ॥१॥ मी तुझें गा लेकरुं । नको मजशीं अव्हेरूं ॥२॥ मतिमंद मी तुझी दासी । ठाव द्यावा पायांपाशीं ॥३॥ तुजविण सखे कोण । माझें करील संरक्षण ॥४॥ अंत किती पाहासी देवा । थोर श्रम झाला जीवा ॥५॥

Mother is dead, father is dead.
Now Vitthal, take care of me.
I am your child, dear one.
Do not turn me away.
Slow-witted, your dāsī,
give me a place at your feet.
Without you, friend,
who will keep me?
How long will you test me, O God?
My soul has grown weary.

cluster autobiographical, the orphan's cry · Ch IX register the dāsī as the deity's own child Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 331)

The first line is autobiography stated flat: Janabai's mother and father both died before she was six. The verse claims the deity as the only kin left. Notice the doctrinal shift across the five couplets: the dāsī begins as orphan, becomes child, is named dāsī again, becomes friend (sakhe), and ends weary, asking how much longer the testing will last. The vocative drift across the verse is the verse's prayer.

344

Come, Vithabai

येग येग विठाबाई । माझे पंढरीचे आई ॥

Come, Vithabai, come,
my mother of Pandhari.

Bhima and Chandrabhaga
are the Gangas at your feet.

Bring them all with you.
Dance in my courtyard.

Says Jani: Nāmā's Jani calls.
Come as mother,
not as distant God.

register The feminine Vithabai lets the deity arrive as mother, river, dancer, and guest in the dāsī's courtyard.

Marathi, line-by-line

येग येग विठाबाई । माझे पंढरीचे आई ॥१॥ भीमा आणि चंद्रभागा । तुझे चरणींच्या गंगा ॥२॥ इतुक्यासहित त्वां बा यावें । माझे रंगणीं नाचावें ॥३॥ माझा रंग तुझिया गुणीं । ह्मणे नामयाची जनी ॥४॥

Come, Vithābāī, come,
my mother of Pandhari.
Bhīmā and Chandrabhāgā,
the Gaṅgās at your feet.
Bring them all with you.
Dance in my courtyard.
My colour comes from your colours.
So says Nāmā's Janī.

cluster vatsalya, the invocation · Ch VII register the deity-mother and her river-children Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 344)

A short invocation-verse, beautifully structured: Vithābāī (the feminine form of Vitthal, Janabai's name for the deity-as-mother) is summoned with her two great rivers as the holy waters at her feet. The "courtyard" (raṅgaṇī) is the dāsī's, the dance is the kīrtana, and the closing line is the verse's signature: nāmyāci janī, Nāmā's Janī, the formula that closes nearly every verse in her corpus.

189

A Clap on Chandrabhaga's Sand

एकच टाळी झाली चंद्रभागे वाळवंटी । माझा ज्ञानराज गोपाळाशीं लाह्या वाटीं ॥

One clap rises
on Chandrabhaga's sand.

Jnaneshwar shares puffed rice
with the cowherds.

Namdev sings.
Pandurang dances.
The saints catch him by the wrist
when the rhythm grows wild.

Says Jani: speak the abhanga, Jnandev.
Let love's rhythm
make Vitthal dance.

register A kinetic kīrtan-scene, crowded with saints, sound, dance, and the affectionate disorder of Pandhari.

Marathi, line-by-line

एकच टाळी झाली चंद्रभागे वाळवंटी । माझा ज्ञानराज गोपाळाशीं लाह्या वाटीं ॥१॥ नामदेव कीर्तन करी पुढें नाचे पांडुरंग । जनी म्हणे बोला ज्ञानदेवा अभंग ॥२॥ अभंग बोलतां रंग कीर्तनीं भरिला । प्रेमाचेनि छंदें विठ्ठल नाचु लागला ॥३॥ नाचतां नाचतां देवाचा गळाला पितांबर । सावध होई देवा ऐसा बोले कबीर ॥४॥ साधु या संतांनीं देवाला धरिला मनगटीं । काय झालें म्हणुनी दचकले जगजेठी ॥५॥ ऐसा कीर्तन महिमा सर्वांमाजीं वरिष्ठ । जडमूढ भाविका सोपी केली पायवाट ॥६॥ नामयाची जनी लोळे संताच्या पायीं । कीर्तन प्रेमरस अखंड देईगे विठाई ॥७॥

A single clap rises on the Chandrabhāgā's sand.
My Jñāneśvar is sharing puffed rice with the cowherds.
Namdev sings the kīrtan; Pandurang dances in front.
Janī says: speak the abhanga, Jñāndev.
As the abhanga is sung, colour fills the kīrtan.
With the rhythm of love, Vitthal begins to dance.
Dancing, dancing, the Lord's pītāmbar slips off.
"Steady yourself, Lord!" so Kabīr says.
The saints take hold of the Lord's wrist.
"What is this?" the Lord-of-the-world starts.
Such is the glory of kīrtan, supreme above all.
For the dull and the simple, you have made the path easy.
Nāmā's Janī rolls at the feet of the saints.
The juice of kīrtan-love, give it ceaselessly, Vithai.

cluster Pandurang and saints, the kīrtan scene · Ch VII register the dancing-deity, the saints' grip on his wrist Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā 189)

A long, dynamic kīrtan-scene at the Chandrabhāgā's sandbank. Each stanza moves the action forward: a clap rises, Jñāneśvar shares puffed rice with cowherds, Namdev sings, Vitthal dances, the Lord's pītāmbar slips, Kabīr cautions, the saints catch the deity by the wrist. Janabai's signature line at the close asks Vitthai for the love-juice of kīrtan ceaselessly. The verse is also chronologically remarkable: Janabai (13th-c.) names Kabīr (15th-c.); the gathā tradition has carried this version with the anachronism intact.

सं

The Weight of Saints

संतभार पंढरीत । कीर्तनाचा गजर होत ॥

The weight of saints
is in Pandhari.

The roar of kīrtan rises.
The Lord stands there,
grace in his even feet.

Colour fills the song.
Hari's servants dance for love.

Says Jani: take refuge
where the saints are heavy
with the Name.

register A complete Pandhari scene in miniature: saint-throng, kīrtan, standing Lord, refuge.

Marathi, line-by-line

संतभार पंढरीत । कीर्तनाचा गजर होत ॥१॥ तेथे असे देव उभा । जैशी समचरणांची शोभा ॥२॥ रंग भरे कीर्तनांत । प्रेमें हरिदास नाचत ॥३॥ सखा विरळा ज्ञानेश्वर । नामयाचें जो जिव्हार ॥४॥ ऐशा संतांशरण जावें । जनी म्हणे त्याला घ्यावें ॥५॥

The weight of saints is in Pandhari.
The roar of kīrtan rises.
There the Lord stands,
the grace of his even feet.
Colour fills the kīrtan.
Hari's slaves dance for love.
The rare friend Jñāneśvar,
heart of Nāmā's heart.
Take refuge in such saints,
Janī says, embrace them.

cluster Pandurang and saints, the kīrtan-verse · Ch VII register sant-pratiti; the saint-circle as the door of refuge Text as transmitted by bhajansahitya / geetmanjusha

A short Pandhari-verse with the structure: setting (the saint-throng at Pandhari), the deity-image (standing on even feet), the kīrtan in colour, the named friend (Jñāneśvar, "heart of Nāmā's heart"), and the closing instruction (take refuge in such saints). The verse is a complete sant-pratiti in five couplets, with Vārkarī communitas as the subject.

डो

My Headcloth Has Slipped

डोईचा पदर आला खांद्यावरी । भरल्या बाजारीं जाईन मी ॥

My headcloth has slipped
to my shoulder.

I will walk
through the crowded market.

Cymbals in hand,
vīṇā on my shoulder.

Says Jani: for you, Vithoba,
I have become a fallen woman.
Let public shame go.

register The verse turns social disgrace into devotional freedom. The woman who should hide becomes a public singer.

Marathi, line-by-line

डोईचा पदर आला खांद्यावरी । भरल्या बाजारीं जाईन मी ॥१॥ हाती घेऊन टाळी । खांद्यावर वीणा घेऊं मी ॥२॥ जनी म्हणे देवा मी झालें येसवा । तुजसाठी विठोबा सर्व सोडिलें ॥३॥

My head-cloth has slipped to the shoulder.
I shall walk through the crowded market.
Cymbals in hand,
vīṇā on the shoulder.
Janī says: O my Lord,
I have become a fallen woman for you.
For your sake, Vithoba,
I have left everything.

cluster autobiographical, lokalajjā-tyāga · Ch IX register the renunciation of public shame as bhakti-praxis Text as transmitted by daak.substack.com (2023) Performance-tradition; not in all printed gathā recensions

The radical-renunciation verse. The headcloth (pādar) on a Marathwada woman's shoulder rather than her head signals a public abandonment of female social propriety, walking into the market with cymbals and vīṇā the kīrtankār's posture. The Marathi yesvā means a public-fallen-woman (literally: one who has forfeited honour); we render it "fallen woman" rather than the harsher modern slur, to keep the doctrinal weight of lokalajjā-tyāga (renunciation-of-public-shame) audible without breaking the contemplative frame.

अ

O Vithya, You Brat

अरे विठ्या विठ्या । मूळ मायेच्या कार्ट्या ॥

O Vithya, Vithya,
you brat of primal māyā.

Your wife is widowed today.
The life-giving maids
wear mourning bangles.

Says Jani: O Vithoba, dear one,
only the mother
has the right to scold like this.

register The affectionate insult is the point. Janabai claims the maternal adhikāra to rebuke the deity in public.

Marathi, line-by-line

अरे विठ्या विठ्या । मूळ मायेच्या कार्ट्या ॥१॥ तुझी रांड रंडकी जाली । जन्मसावित्री चुड्या ल्याली ॥२॥ जनी म्हणे बा विठोबा । तुझी माय न ओळखीसी ॥३॥

O Viṭhyā, Viṭhyā,
you brat of the original illusion.
Your wife is widowed today.
The maids of life-giving
have donned their bangles in mourning.
Janī says: O Vithoba, dear one,
you do not even recognise your mother.

cluster autobiographical, the adhikāra to scold · Ch IX register intimate-scolding; the maternal exasperation Text as transmitted by daak.substack.com (2023) Performance-tradition; not in all printed gathā recensions

A fierce affection-pejorative verse. The Marathi kārṭyā ("brat") and the doubled vocative Viṭhyā Viṭhyā are the maternal scolding-cadence at its most intimate; we keep "Viṭhyā Viṭhyā" transliterated rather than flatten to "Vithu" because the case-ending and the doubled scold are the verse. The adhikāra (right) to scold the deity is itself the doctrinal point: a Matang dāsī claims the position of his mother.

वि

Standing on the Brick

विटेवरी उभा कर कटीं । पुंडलिकें केलें मोठें घटीं ॥

Standing on the brick,
hands on his hips.

Pundalik made the great frame.
Twenty-eight ages
the Lord has waited.

For the bhakta's sake
he stood and stayed.

Says Jani: the brick holds him
because service holds him.

register The iconic Pandharpur posture is read through Pundalik's sevā. The Lord's waiting is devotional theology in stone.

Marathi, line-by-line

विटेवरी उभा कर कटीं । पुंडलिकें केलें मोठें घटीं ॥१॥ अठ्ठावीस युगें राहिला । भक्तासाठीं उभा ठाकला ॥२॥ जनी म्हणे पंढरीनाथा । तुझा भार पुंडलिकानें वाहिला ॥३॥

Standing on the brick,
hands on his hips.
Pundalik built him a great frame.
Twenty-eight ages he has waited.
For the bhakta's sake
he has stood and stayed.
Janī says: O Pandhari-nāth,
your weight Pundalik has carried.

cluster Pundalika and Pandhari · Ch VII register the iconic brick-stance as sevā-births-darśana Text as transmitted by santsahitya.in (gathā tradition)

The iconic brick-stance verse: Vitthal of Pandharpur stands hands-on-hips upon the vīṭ (brick) thrown out by Pundalik when the Lord arrived at his door and Pundalik was busy serving his elderly parents. Twenty-eight Yugas (the standard Vārkarī chronology) the Lord has stood and waited. The closing image is theological: it is Pundalik's sevā that carries the deity's weight, not the other way around.

॥ श्री ॥

अद्याप शिल्लकThe verses still awaiting translation

The seventy-two readable renderings above are perhaps a quarter of what survives under Janabai's name. The other roughly two hundred abhangas sit in the standard Marathi editions and in the broader oral tradition: the Sakal Sant Gathā from the Government of Maharashtra, the Śrī Nāmdev Gathā from the Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Sanskruti Mandal, the digital text on santsahitya.in. Many of them repeat themes already in our clusters; some open registers we have only sketched. A reader of Marathi can go to those volumes today and find Janabai still mostly waiting to be heard in English.

Our translation work continues beyond this edition. As further Marathi text is verified, the corpus index will grow and the new renderings will be added here with source-facing notes inside their cards. If you read Marathi and want to send us a verse you think we have missed, or a translation you think we have got wrong, the email is at the bottom of the Sources page.

श्री ॥ श्री ॥ श्री