Krishna's play, the feast on the sand
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चला बाई पांडुरंग पाहूं वाळवंटीं । मांडियेला काला भोंवती गोपाळांची दाटी ॥१॥
आनंदें कवळ देती एकामुखीं एक । न म्हणती सान थोर अवघीं सकळिक ॥ध्रु.॥
हमामा हुंबरी पांवा वाजविती मोहरी । घेतलासे फेर माजी घालुनियां हरी ॥२॥
लुब्धल्या नारी नर अवघ्या पशुयाती । विसरलीं देहभाव शंका नाहीं चित्तीं ॥३॥
पुष्पाचा वरुषाव जाली आरतियांची दाटी । तुळसी गुंफोनियां माळा घालितील कंठीं ॥४॥
यादवांचा राणा गोपीमनोहर कान्हा । तुका म्हणे सुख वाटे देखोनियां मना ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come, women, let us go see Panduranga at the sandy riverbank, where the communal feast is spread and the cowherd boys crowd all around. In delight they share morsels from each other's mouths, without regard for young or old, all of them together. They shout and wrestle, blowing flutes and shehnais, placing Hari in the center of their circle. Men and women and all creatures are enchanted, forgetting their bodily awareness with no doubt in their chitta. A rain of flowers falls, a throng of lamps is waved, and garlands of tulsi are placed around his neck. Says Tuka, he is the king of the Yadavas, Kanho who steals the hearts of the gopis, and the mind rejoices at the sight of him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come, women, let us go see Panduranga on the sandy bank, where the feast is spread and the cowherd boys crowd all around. In delight they feed morsels from one mouth to another, not minding young or old, all of them together. They shout and wrestle, blowing flutes and pipes, with Hari taken into the center of their circle. Men and women and all the creatures are enchanted, forgetting their bodies, with no doubt in their minds. A rain of flowers falls, a throng of lamps is waved, and they tie garlands of tulsi around his neck. Tuka says: he is the king of the Yadavas, Kanho who steals the hearts of the gopis, and the mind rejoices to see him.
What it means
This is a vision of the kala feast as worship made joyful and equal. The poet calls everyone out to the riverbank to see Panduranga in the thick of it, where the boys feed each other without rank, young and old sharing from one another's mouths. Around Krishna in the center, the line between play and worship dissolves: shouting and wrestling and flute-playing become flowers, waved lamps, and tulsi garlands. All beings, human and animal, lose their body-bound separateness and their doubt in the rapture of his presence. Tuka names him at the end as the Lord of the Yadavas and heart-stealer of the gopis, and the final note is the plain happiness of simply looking at him.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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