Longing, the fawn calling its doe
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुज ह्मणतील कृपेचा सागर । तरि कां केला धीर पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
आझुनि कां नये तुज माझी दया । काय देवराया पाहातोसि ॥ध्रु.॥
आळवितों जैसें पाडस कुरंगिणी । पीडिलिया वनीं तानभूक ॥2॥
प्रेमरसपान्हा पाजीं माझे आई । धांवें वो विठाई वोरसोनि ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे माझें कोण हरी दुःख । तुजविण एक पांडुरंगा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
They call you an ocean of mercy. Then why have you delayed so long, O Panduranga? Does my suffering still not move you to compassion? What are you watching for, O King of Gods? I call out like a fawn crying for its doe, tormented by hunger and thirst in the forest. O Mother Vithabai, pour forth the flowing milk of love. Come running, overflowing with tenderness. Says Tuka, who else will take away my sorrow but you alone, O Panduranga?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They call you an ocean of mercy. Then why have you waited so long, Panduranga? Even now my suffering does not move you to pity? What are you watching for, King of Gods? I call out like a fawn crying for its doe, worn down by hunger and thirst in the forest. Pour the milk of love's sweetness for me, my Mother; come running, Vithabai, overflowing with tenderness. Tuka says: who else can take away my sorrow but you alone, Panduranga?
What it means
Tukaram presses God on his own reputation: if everyone calls you an ocean of mercy, then your delay makes no sense, so why keep waiting? He asks, almost in complaint, what God is watching for while his servant suffers. Then the image shifts to a lost fawn crying for its doe in a forest, faint with hunger and thirst, and God becomes the mother whose milk is the sweetness of love. He begs Vithabai to come running, brimming over with tenderness. The closing reason is the whole point of the appeal: there is no one else who can lift this sorrow, so the delay leaves him with nowhere else to turn.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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