The family goddess enters
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पुढें येते देवी । तिची जती चालों द्यावी । मागील झाडावी । झाडा मान आसडी ॥१॥
एकवीरा आली अंगा । आतां निवारील रोगा । माझ्या भक्तापाशीं सांगा । पूजा भावें करावी ॥ध्रु.॥
मेंढा मारावा लोवाळ । पूजा पावली सकळ । तुम्हीं केलें बळ । मग मी ठायीं न पडें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणें मुळीं । लागली ते आली कुळीं । वंदुनी सकळीं । जीवें भावों ओवाळा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The goddess approaches; let her procession move forward and sweep aside all obstacles behind it. Ekavira has entered the body; she will now cure all disease. Tell my devotees to worship her with true feeling. Offer the sacrificial ram; the worship has been received in full. Says Tuka, she who has taken root from the very origin has come into the family; let all bow and offer their lives in adoration.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The goddess comes forward; let her procession move on. Sweep away what lies behind, and shake off all that is owed. Ekavira has entered the body; now she will drive out the disease. Tell my devotees to worship her with true feeling. Offer the ram; the worship has been received in full. You put your strength into it, and after that I do not fall down anywhere. Tuka says: she who took hold from the very root has come into the family. Let everyone bow, and offer their very life in worship.
What it means
This abhanga is set in the idiom of a village goddess possession, where Ekavira, a form of the Mother, enters and clears away sickness and old debts. Tukaram turns the folk rite toward true devotion: the worship that counts is the one done with bhava, real feeling, and the result is that the devotee no longer collapses. The figure of the goddess taking root from the very origin and coming into the family marks her as the household's own. The call at the end is total, to bow and to offer one's life, not just an offering of ritual goods.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
More in this theme →