Krishna's mischief, the scolding that adorns him
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कान्होबा तूं आलगट । नाहीं लाज बहु धीट । पाहिलें वाईट । बोलोनियां खोटें ॥१॥
परि तूं न संडिसी खोडी । करिसी केली घडीघडी । पाडिसी रोकडी । तुटी माये आम्हांसी ॥ध्रु.॥
तूं ठायींचा गोवळ । अविचारी अनर्गळ । चोरटा शिंदळ । ऐसा पिटूं डांगोरा ॥२॥
जरी तुझी आई । आम्ही घालूं सर्वा ठायीं । तुका म्हणे तें ही । तुज वाटे भूषण ॥३॥
भोजनाच्या काळीं । कान्हो मांडियेली आळी । काला करी वनमाळी । अन्न एकवटा ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O Krishna, you are shameless and brazen; you have no modesty at all. You have been caught doing wrong and speaking lies. Yet you never give up your mischief; you repeat it again and again. You create a direct rift between yourself and us, your own mothers. You are a born cowherd, reckless and wild, a thief and a rogue. We shall proclaim it far and wide. Even if we complain to your mother, we will tell everyone everywhere. Says Tuka, even that you would wear as an ornament. At mealtime, Krishna throws a tantrum. The wearer of the forest garland wants all the food gathered into one pile for a communal feast.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Krishna, you are shameless and brazen; you have no shame, you are too bold. You were caught doing wrong and telling lies. Yet you never drop your mischief; you do it again and again. You make a clean break between yourself and us, your own mothers. You are a born cowherd, reckless and wild, a thief and a rogue; we will proclaim it everywhere. Even if we complain to your mother, even if we tell everyone, Tuka says: you would wear that too as an ornament. At mealtime Krishna throws a tantrum. Vanamali wants all the food gathered into one pile for a shared feast.
What it means
Tukaram voices the cowherd mothers scolding Krishna, and the scolding is itself a form of intimacy. They list every charge, shameless, lying, thieving, incorrigible, and threaten to spread word of it far and wide. The turn comes in the third verse: even public shaming would only become an ornament on him, because nothing diminishes him. The closing scene shows what the fuss is really about: he insists their separate portions be mixed into one pile and eaten together, turning a tantrum into the kala, the communal meal where all distinctions dissolve.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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