Mythology, the children abandoned in the forest
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दुःखें दुभागलें हृदयसंपुष्ट । गहिंवरें कंठ दाटताहे॥1॥
ऐसें काय केलें सुमित्रा सखया । दिलें टाकोनियां वनामाजी ॥ध्रु.॥
आक्रंदती बाळें करुणावचनीं । त्या शोकें मेदिनी फुटों पाहे ॥2॥
काय हे सामर्थ्य नव्हतें तुजपाशीं । संगें न्यावयासी अंगभूतां ॥3॥
तुज ठावें आह्मां कोणी नाहीं सखा । उभयलोकीं तुका तुजविण॥4॥
कान्हा ह्मणे तुझ्या वियोगें पोरटीं । जालों दे रे भेटी बंधुराया ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My heart, that sealed treasure, has been broken open by grief; a sob chokes my throat. What have You done, O friend of Sumitra? You have cast us away into the forest. The children cry out in piteous words; the very earth seems ready to split at their sorrow. Did You not have the power to take Your own offspring with You? You know well that without You we have no friend in either world. Says Kanha, separated from You, these little ones have been orphaned. O my brother, grant us Your meeting.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Grief has broken open my heart, that sealed treasure. A sob chokes my throat. What have You done, friend of Sumitra? You have thrown us away into the forest. The children cry out in piteous words. The very earth seems ready to split with their sorrow. Did You not have the power to take Your own children with You? You know we have no friend in either world but You. Kanha says: cut off from You these little ones are orphaned. O my brother, give us Your meeting.
What it means
Tukaram takes up the voice of those abandoned and pours out grief at being cast into the forest, addressing the friend of Sumitra, that is Rama, Sumitra's son in the wider family of the epic. The complaint is intimate and almost accusing: You had the power to keep us with You, so why leave Your own behind, when You alone are our friend in both worlds. The crying children and the earth ready to split are the measure of the abandonment. Beneath the mythic scene lies the soul's cry of separation from God. The poem closes signed not with Tuka's usual name but with Kanha, begging the divine brother for the one thing that answers grief: His meeting.
Sacred Stories
Abhangas drawing on mythological narratives to illuminate spiritual truths.
More in this theme →