Pilgrimage, dancing at Pandharpur
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां जावें पंढरीसी । दंडवत विठोबासी ॥1॥
जेथें चंद्रभागातिरीं । आह्मी नाचों पंढरपुरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
जेथें संतांची दाटणी । त्याचें घेऊं पायवणी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी बळी । जीव दिधला पायां तळीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now let us go to Pandhari and bow before Vithoba. There on the banks of the Chandrabhaga, we shall dance in Pandharpur. Where the saints gather in great throngs, let us take the holy water that has touched their feet. Says Tuka, we are strong, for we have laid down our lives beneath His feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now let us go to Pandhari and bow flat before Vithoba. There on the bank of the Chandrabhaga, we dance in Pandharpur. Where the saints are gathered thick, let us take the water that has washed their feet. Tuka says: we are the strong ones, for we have laid down our life beneath his feet.
What it means
Tukaram calls the listeners with him on pilgrimage to Pandharpur, the home of Vithoba. The journey ends in worship and in joy: a full prostration before the Lord, then dancing on the bank of the river Chandrabhaga. He looks forward to the crowd of saints there and counts it a privilege to receive the water that has touched their feet, treating their company as itself holy. The closing turns the world's idea of strength upside down: the truly strong, he says, are those who have surrendered completely, who have laid their very life down beneath the Lord's feet.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →