Krishna's play, recognition through doubt
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काळिया नाथूनि आला वरी । पैल हरी दाखविती ॥१॥
दुसरिया भावें न कळे कोणा । होय नव्हेसा संदेह मना ॥ध्रु.॥
रूपा भिन्न पालट जाला । गोरें सांवळेंसा पैं देखिला ॥२॥
आश्वासीत आला करें । तुका खरें म्हणे देव ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having subdued the serpent Kaliya, Hari emerges from the water, and they point to him in the distance. In their confusion, no one can tell what is real; the mind wavers between belief and doubt. His form has changed; they see him looking different, both fair and dark at once. He comes reassuring them with outstretched hands. Says Tuka, this is the true God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Having subdued Kaliya, Hari comes up out of the water, and they point to him far off. In their confusion no one can tell for sure; the mind swings between yes and no. His form looks changed; they see him both fair and dark at once. He comes toward them, reassuring them with his outstretched hands. Tuka says: this is the true God.
What it means
Krishna rises from the Yamuna after defeating the serpent, but the watchers cannot be certain it is really him; his form looks altered, fair and dark together, and their minds waver between belief and doubt. Tukaram captures the moment recognition struggles to keep up with grace. The God who returns from the depths is not quite the playmate they lost; he comes back larger and stranger. The doubt is resolved not by proof but by his own reaching hands, and Tukaram cuts through it with a flat declaration: this, the one who descended into the poison and rose again, is the true God.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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