Krishna's birth, the burden lifted
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
फिराविलीं दोनी । कन्या आणि चक्रपाणी ॥1॥
जाला आनंदें आनंद । अवतरले गोविंद ॥ध्रु.॥
तुटलीं बंधनें । वसुदेवदेवकीचीं दर्शनें ॥2॥
गोकुळासी आलें । ब्रह्म अव्यक्त चांगलें ॥3॥
नंद दसवंती । धन्य देखिले श्रीपती ॥4॥
निशीं जन्मकाळ । आले अष्टमी गोपाळ ॥5॥
आनंदली मही । भार गेला सकळ ही ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे कंसा । आट भोविला वळसा ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Both the daughter and the Lord were exchanged in the night. Joy overflowed with joy, for Govinda was born. The bonds of Vasudeva and Devaki were broken at His sight. The pure, unmanifest Brahman came to Gokul. Blessed Nanda and Yashoda beheld the Lord. On the eighth night of the dark moon, the divine cowherd was born. The earth rejoiced, for its entire burden was lifted. Says Tuka, a noose was drawn tight around Kamsa's fate.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the night the two were switched, the girl-child and the wielder of the discus. Joy overflowed with joy: Govinda had come down. The chains broke; Vasudeva and Devaki saw him. The pure unmanifest Brahman, beautiful, had come to Gokul. Blessed Nanda and Yashoda saw Shripati. The birth-hour was at night; on the eighth the cowherd came. The earth rejoiced, for all its weight was lifted. Tuka says: around Kamsa a noose was drawn tight.
What it means
Tukaram sings the night of Krishna's birth as the moment the whole earth's burden is lifted. He keeps the well-known turns of the story: the swap of the baby girl for the infant Krishna, the prison chains falling open, Vasudeva and Devaki given their first sight of him, and the child reaching Gokul to Nanda and Yashoda's joy. The point he presses is that this newborn is the unmanifest Brahman taken visible form. And the same birth that brings joy is already the end of the tyrant: with Krishna's coming the noose has begun to close on Kamsa.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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