Krishna lila, the rescuer's record recited
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अरे कृष्णा तुवां काळया नाथिला । दाढे रगडिला रिठासुर ॥1॥
अरे कृष्णा तुवां पुतना शोषिली । दुर्बुद्धि कळली अंतरींची ॥ध्रु.॥
गोपाळ करुणा ऐसी नानापरी । भाकिती श्रीहरी तुजपुढें ॥2॥
तुझें नाम कामधेनु करुणेची । तुका ह्मणे त्यांची आली कृपा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O Krishna, You subdued the serpent Kaliya. You crushed the demon Rishtasura in Your jaws. O Krishna, You destroyed Putana, discerning her wicked intent. The cowherds plead in many such ways before You, O Shrihari. Your name is the wish-fulfilling cow of compassion. Says Tuka, His grace descended upon them.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O Krishna, you mastered the serpent Kaliya. You crushed the demon Rishtasura in your jaws. O Krishna, you dried up Putana, for you saw the wickedness hidden in her heart. In many such ways the cowherds plead before you, O Shrihari. Your name is the wish-granting cow of mercy. Tuka says: his grace came down upon them.
What it means
The cowherds keep listing the times Krishna struck down what came to harm: the serpent, the demon, the murderous nurse whose hidden intent he saw through. Each memory says the same thing in a new way, that he has always destroyed the threat and protected his own. The poem then turns the recital into a claim about his name itself, calling it the wish-granting cow of mercy, the source that answers every need. Tuka closes by saying the plea worked: grace descended on them.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
More in this theme →