Krishna's play, the loss by the river
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अवघीं मिळोनि कोल्हाळ केला । आतां होता म्हणती गेला ॥१॥
आपलिया रडती भावें । जयासवें जयापरी ॥ध्रु.॥
चुकलों आम्ही खेळतां खेळ । गेला गोपाळ हातींचा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धांवती थडी । न घली उडी आंत कोणी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All the boys gathered and raised a great clamor, saying, the one who was just with us is now gone. Each weeps according to his own bond and feeling. We were lost in play and let our cowherd friend slip from our hands. Says Tuka, they all rush to the riverbank, but no one dares leap into the water.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
All the boys gathered together and raised a great outcry, saying the one who was just here is now gone. Each one weeps in his own way, by the bond he had. We were lost in the game, and our cowherd friend slipped from our hands. Tuka says: they all run to the riverbank, but no one dares to leap into the water.
What it means
The cowherds wail at the bank because Krishna has vanished into the Yamuna, and each grieves to the measure of his own love. Tukaram catches the half-truth in their sorrow: they were absorbed in the game and let him go, and now they mourn. The sharp final image turns on the listener: everyone crowds the edge and cries, but no one is willing to jump in after him. Lament is cheap; only the one ready to risk everything, to leap into the depths, actually seeks God. Tukaram leaves us measuring our own grief against that test.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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