The God-struck woman, force cannot recall her
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न सांभाळुनि अंग लोटी पाहे भोंवतीं । वेगळी च पडों पाहे कुळाहुनिया ती ॥१॥
खुंटलीसी जाली येथें अवघियांची गती । आपुलीं परावीं कोण नेणें भोंवती ।
त्यांचीं नांवें बोभे अहो अहो श्रीपती । नवलाव हा येरां वाटोनियां हांसती ॥ध्रु.॥
बाहेरी च धांवे रानां न धरी च घर । न कळे बंधना जाला तेणें संचार ।
विसरूनि गेली सासुरें की माहेर । एका अवलोकी एका पडिला विसर ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुम्ही अवघ्या राहा निश्चळा । न ये आतां येऊं येथें सर्वथा बळा ।
त्याचा त्याच्या मुखें अवघाची निर्वाळा । बहुतां मतें येथें तर्कवाद निराळा ॥३॥
ये रे कृष्णा खुणाविती खेळों भातुकें । मिळालिया बाळा एके ठायीं कवतुकें ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
She throws herself about without guarding her limbs, looking in every direction, ready to break away from home and family. All of them have reached the end of their wits. They do not know their own from a stranger's. They cry out his names aloud: O Shripati, Shripati! The onlookers marvel and laugh at this spectacle. She runs outside into the wilds and will not stay in the house. Through that bond she wanders everywhere, having forgotten whether this is her husband's home or her parents'. Her gaze is fixed on one alone; all else has dropped from memory. Says Tuka, all of you stay calm and steady. This power will never yield to force. From his own mouth the full truth will come. All debates and conjectures fall apart here on their own.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
She throws herself about, not guarding her body, looking everywhere, ready to break free of home and family. All of them are at the end of their wits. They no longer tell their own people from strangers. They cry his names aloud: O Shripati, Shripati. The onlookers marvel and laugh at the sight. She runs out into the wilds and will not stay in the house. Caught in that bond, she wanders everywhere, forgetting whether this is her husband's home or her parents' home. Her gaze is fixed on one alone; everything else has dropped from her memory. Tuka says: all of you, stay calm and still. This power will never yield to force. From his own mouth the whole truth will come. Here every argument and every guess falls apart on its own.
What it means
Tukaram describes a woman so taken by Krishna that she has lost all sense of place, kin, and shame, and the people around her can only watch and laugh. Her wandering is not madness in the ordinary sense; it is the soul gripped by a single love that has erased every other attachment, husband's house and parents' house alike. The crowd's instinct is to restrain her, and Tukaram answers that this is useless: such a bond does not bend to force. The verse turns the laughter back on the onlookers, for the truth of her state will be settled by God himself, and all their reasoning about it simply collapses before it.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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