Krishna, the butter thief blamed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाहाती गौळणी । तंव पालथी दुधाणी ॥१॥
म्हणती नंदाचिया पोरें । आजि चोरी केली खरें ॥ध्रु.॥
त्याविण हे नासी । नव्हे दुसरिया ऐसी ॥२॥
सवें तुका मेळा । त्याणें अगुणा आणिला ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The milkmaids look and find the milk pots overturned. They say, the son of Nanda has surely stolen the butter today. No one else could make this kind of mischief. Says Tuka, I was right there in his company; they dragged the guiltless one into it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The milkmaids look, and find the milk pots overturned. They say, the son of Nanda has surely stolen the butter today. No one else makes mischief like this. Tuka says: I was right there with him; they dragged the guiltless one into it.
What it means
The gopis discover their pots upended and at once blame Nanda's boy, Krishna the butter thief, since no one else gets up to such mischief. Tukaram then slips himself into the scene: he was right beside Krishna, and the milkmaids dragged the innocent one in along with the culprit. The charm of the poem is the devotee claiming a place inside the divine play, even sharing in the blame. Inwardly, to be "caught with" God, swept up in his lila and accused alongside him, is itself the closeness the bhakta longs for; the guiltless one he names is finally Krishna, who steals hearts and bears the charge.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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