Devotion, the saints are my family
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पंढरीये माझें माहेर साजणी । ओविये कांडणीं गाऊं गीत ॥1॥
राही रखुमाई सत्यभामा माता । पांडुरंग पिता माहियेर ॥ध्रु.॥
उद्धव अक्रूर व्यास आंबॠषि । भाई नारदासी गौरवीन ॥2॥
गरुड बंधु लडिवाळ पुंडलीक । यांचें कवतुक वाटे मज ॥3॥
मज बहु गोत संत आणि महंत । नित्य आठवीत ओवियेसी ॥4॥
निवृित्त ज्ञानदेव सोपान चांगया । जिवलगा माझिया नामदेवा ॥5॥
नागोजन मित्रा नरहरि सोनारा । रोहिदास कबिरा सोईिरया ॥6॥
परसो भागवता सुरदास सांवता । गाईन नेणतां सकळांसी ॥7॥
चोखामेळा संत जिवाचे सोइरे । न पडे विसर यांचा घडी ॥8॥
जीवींच्या जीवना एका जनादनना । पाटका कान्हया मिराबाई ॥9॥
आणीक हे संत महानुभाव मुनि । सकळां चरणीं जीव माझा ॥10॥
आनंदें ओविया गाईन मी त्यांसी । जाती पंढरीसी वारकरी ॥11॥
तुका ह्मणे माझा बिळया बापमाय । हरुषें नांदों सये घराचारी ॥12॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Pandhari is my natal home, O friend. I sing its songs while grinding grain. Rakhumai, Rukmini, and Satyabhama are my mothers; Panduranga is the father of my natal home. Uddhava, Akrura, Vyasa, and Ambarisha are my kin; I honor brother Narada with love. Garuda is my brother and dear Pundalik is the darling of them all. I have a vast family of saints and great souls whom I remember always in my songs. Nivritti, Dnyanadeva, Sopan, and Changdev are mine; Namadeva is my dearest companion. Nagoji, Mitra, Narhari the goldsmith, Rohidas, Kabir, and Soyirabai are all my own. Parso Bhagavat, Surdas, and Sawata I sing of, even the ones I do not know by name. Chokhamela the saint is dear to my very life; not a moment passes without remembering them. Eknath Janardana is the life of my life, and so are Patkar, Kanhaya, and Mirabai. And all the other saints and great sages, my life rests at their feet. In joy I sing these verses for the pilgrims going to Pandhari. Says Tuka, Vitthal is my mother and father; in happiness, O friend, let us dwell in this household of devotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Pandhari is my mother's house, dear friend. I sing its songs while I grind the grain. Rakhumai, Rukmini, and Satyabhama are my mothers; Panduranga is the father of that house. Uddhava, Akrura, Vyasa, and Ambarisha are my kin; I honor brother Narada with love. Garuda is my brother, and dear Pundalik is the darling of them all. I have a vast family of saints and great souls, and I remember them always in my songs. Nivritti, Dnyanadeva, Sopan, and Changdev are mine; Namadeva is my dearest companion. Nagoji, Mitra, Narhari the goldsmith, Rohidas, Kabir, and Soyirabai are all my own. I sing of Parso Bhagavat, Surdas, and Sawata, and of the ones I do not even know by name. Chokhamela the saint is dear to my very life; not a moment passes without my remembering them. Eknath Janardana is the life of my life, and so are Patkar, Kanhaya, and Mirabai. And all the other saints and great sages: my life rests at their feet. In joy I sing these verses for the pilgrims walking to Pandhari. Tuka says: Vitthal is my mother and father; in happiness, dear friend, let us live in this household of devotion.
What it means
Tukaram reimagines his whole lineage around God and the saints. Pandhari is not a shrine he visits but his maher, the mother's house a married woman longs to return to, and he sings of it the way village women sang while grinding grain. He then names his real family: not blood kin, but the gods of Pandhari as his parents and a long roll of saints across regions and castes, from Dnyanadeva and Namadeva to Kabir, Rohidas, Chokhamela, and Mirabai, as his brothers and companions. The point of the long list is that devotion makes one family of people the world kept apart, and even the saints he cannot name belong to it. He ends by claiming Vitthal himself as mother and father, so that this household of devotion is the only home he wants to live in.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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