Lovers' quarrel, Krishna and Rukmini
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मजपें दुजें आलें तें देव जाणे वो । शब्द काय हे बोलसी ते उणे वो ॥१॥
पाहा मनीं विचारुनी आधि वो । सांडूनि देई भ्रांति करीं स्थिर बुद्धि वो ।
तंट केलें हें माझें तुझें उपाधीं वो । उघडी डोळे आझुनि तरी धरीं शुद्धि वो ॥ध्रु.॥
कोठें तरी दुनियांत वर्तलें वो । स्त्रियांनीं भ्रतारा दानां दिलें वो ।
कैसा भला मी नव्हे तें सोसिलें वो । रुसतेसी तूं उफराटें नवल जालें वो ॥२॥
काय सांग म्यां दैन्य केली कैसी वो । तुझ्या गर्वें आणविलें हनुमंतासि वो ।
कष्टी केलें मज गरुडा भीमकीसि वो । तुकयाबंधु म्हणे खरें खोटें नव्हे यासि वो ॥३॥
तंव ते म्हणे ऐका हृषीकेशी वो । नवाजिलें तुम्ही म्हणां आपणांसि वो ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whatever other one came to me, God alone knows. The words you speak are lesser than the truth. Look within yourself first and consider. Cast off this confusion and steady your mind. This quarrel of mine and yours is needless strife. Open your eyes even now and come to your senses. He says: has it ever happened in this world that a wife gave away her husband as a gift? How good I have been, enduring what I did not deserve. And yet you are the one who sulks; what a wonder this is. She says: tell me, what humiliation did I cause you? It was your own pride that made Hanuman come. You put me through trouble along with Garuda and Rukmini. Says Tuka, whether this is right or wrong, nothing can be said.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whatever other woman came to me, God alone knows. The words you say are smaller than the truth. Look inside yourself first. Think. Drop this confusion and steady your mind. This fight, this mine and yours, is needless trouble. Open your eyes even now and come to your senses. Has it ever happened in the world that a wife gave her husband away as a gift? See how good I have been, bearing what I did not deserve. And yet you are the one who sulks. What a strange thing. She says: tell me, what shame did I cause you? It was your own pride that made you call Hanuman. You put me through trouble, and Garuda, and Rukmini too. Tuka says: whether this is right or wrong, nothing can be said.
What it means
Tukaram stages a domestic argument between Krishna and Rukmini and lets the bickering carry the point. Krishna protests his innocence and tells her to look within and steady her own mind instead of quarrelling; she throws his old escapades back at him. The poem treats the divine couple with affectionate familiarity, the Lord caught in the same petty wrangling as any married pair. By ending with Tuka unable to say who is right or wrong, the abhanga refuses to take a side: the quarrel itself, the mine-and-yours of wounded pride, is what stands exposed. The mirror it holds up is the listener's own readiness to fight over slights.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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