Devotion, the bond sealed in blood
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न व्हावें तें जालें । तुह्मां आह्मांसी लागलें ॥1॥
आतां हालमाकलमें । भांडोनियां काढूं वर्में ॥ध्रु.॥
पाटोळ्यासवेंसाटी। दिली रगटएाची गांठी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे हरी । आणूनियां करिन सरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What should not have happened has happened, and it now involves both You and me. Now let us argue it out and bring the truth to light. This bond was sealed with blood from the very start. Says Tuka, O Hari, I will bring You to account and settle this matter.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What should not have happened has happened, and it now ties You and me together. Now let us quarrel it out and bring the truth to light. From the very start this bond was sealed with blood. Tuka says: O Hari, I will bring You to account and make the reckoning even.
What it means
Tukaram speaks as one bound to God by a tie he treats as unbreakable. He admits something has happened that perhaps should not have, but it has knit God and himself together, and he refuses to let it stay unresolved. He insists on a frank confrontation to settle what is true between them. Calling the bond sealed in blood, he claims the right to hold Hari accountable and to square the account fully, the boldness of a devotee who treats love as a binding contract.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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