Krishna's play, the cowherds' mock complaint
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुजसवें येतों हरी । आम्हां लाज नाहीं तरी । उचलिला गिरी । चांग तईं वांचलों ॥१॥
मोडा आतां खेळ । गाई गेल्या जाला वेळ । फांकल्या ओढाळ । नाहीं तो चि आवरा ॥ध्रु.॥
चांग दैवें यमुनेसी वांचलों बुडतां । निलाजिरीं आम्ही नाहीं भय धाक या अनंता ॥२॥
खातों आगी माती । आतां पुरे हा सांगाती । भोंवतां भोंवेल । आम्हां वाटतें हें चित्तीं ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे उरी नाहीं तुजसवें । शाहाणे या भावें दुरी छंद भोळियां सवें ॥४॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We come with you, Hari, for we have no shame in following you. You lifted the mountain, and that is how we were saved. End this game now; the cows have wandered and it is getting late. The wild ones have scattered, and there is no one to gather them. By good fortune we survived the Yamuna when we were drowning. We are shameless and have no fear or hesitation before you, Ananta. We eat fire and mud; enough of this companionship, for we suspect in our chitta that wandering with you only leads to more wandering. Says Tuka, there is no reserve left with you; the clever ones keep their distance, while we simple ones stay close to your play.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We come with you, Hari. We have no shame about following you. You lifted the mountain, and that is how we were saved that time. Stop the game now. The cows have wandered off; it is getting late. The wild ones have scattered, and there is no one to gather them. By good luck we survived the Yamuna when we were drowning. We are shameless; we have no fear of you, Ananta. We eat fire and mud. Enough of this companionship now. We feel in our hearts that wandering with you only leads to more wandering. Tuka says: there is no holding back left with you. The clever ones keep their distance; we simple ones stay close to your play.
What it means
Tukaram speaks in the voice of the cowherd boys who run with Krishna, and their grumbling is really a confession of love. They list the dangers he has dragged them through, the lifted mountain, the drowning in the Yamuna, and pretend to call it quits: enough, the cows are scattered, stop the game. But the refusal is hollow, and they know it. The poem's edge lands in the last line: the clever calculate the cost and keep their distance, while the simple ones, who have given up all reserve, stay close to the play no matter where it leads. Tukaram counts himself among the shameless simple, and offers that as the higher wisdom.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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