Butter theft, the divine ringleader
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मेळउनि सकळ गोपाळ । कांहीं करिती विचार ॥१॥
चला जाऊं चोरूं लोणी । आजि घेऊं चंद्रधणी ।
वेळ लावियेला अझुणी । एकाकरितां गडे हो ॥ध्रु.॥
वाट काढिली गोविंदीं । मागें गोपाळांची मांदी ॥२॥
अवघा चि वावरे । कळों नेदी कोणा फिरे ॥३॥
घर पाहोनि एकांताचें । नवविधा नवनीताचें ॥४॥
रिघे आपण भीतरी । पुरवी माथुलियाच्या हरी ॥५॥
बोलों नेदी म्हणे स्थिर । खुणा दावी खा रे क्षीर ॥६॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Gathering all the cowherd boys together, they hatched a plan. Come, let us go steal the butter; today we shall have our fill. The delay has been long enough on account of one person, O friends. Govinda led the way, and behind him followed the whole throng of cowherd boys. He roams about everywhere yet lets no one catch on to his movements. He finds a house that is secluded, full of nine kinds of fresh butter. He slips inside himself and fills the laps of the cowherd boys. He tells them not to speak, signaling with his hands: be still, just eat the cream.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Gathering all the cowherd boys, they make a plan. Come, let us go steal the butter; today we will take our fill. The wait has gone on long enough because of one of us, friends. Govinda leads the way, and behind him the whole crowd of cowherd boys. He moves about everywhere yet lets no one catch his movements. He finds a house that is empty, full of nine kinds of fresh butter. He slips inside himself and fills the laps of the cowherd boys. He tells them not to speak; he signals with his hand: be still, just eat the cream.
What it means
Tukaram tells the butter theft with Krishna as the ringleader, not a bystander. The same Govinda who pervades everything is the one scouting the empty house, slipping in, filling the boys' laps and signaling them to stay quiet. The point of the play is intimacy: the Lord plots and shares and hushes like one of the gang. By making God the thief who feeds his friends first, the poem turns a child's prank into a picture of grace that comes uninvited and serves before it is asked. The hiddenness, moving unseen, lets no one catch him, is the same divine elusiveness made playful.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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