Dehu, Maharashtra·c. 1608 – 1650
संत तुकाराम
Sant Tukaram
The Poet of Pandharpur
He threw his manuscripts in the river, and God returned them.
“I am not learned, I know nothing of the Vedas. But Vitthal has made His home in my heart; what more is needed?”
Life
Born around 1608 in Dehu, near Pune, into a family of grain merchants and devotees of Vithoba (Vitthal) of Pandharpur, Tukaram’s early life was marked by tragedy. Famine and debt destroyed the family business. His first wife and a son died of starvation. He was driven to the edge of despair.
In that darkness, he turned wholly to Vitthal. He began composing Abhangas (short devotional poems in Marathi) of startling directness and emotional power. He rejected ritual, caste hierarchy, and priestly authority. He sang in the language of the common people, in the marketplaces and on the roads to Pandharpur.
The Brahmin orthodoxy of his time was outraged. They forced him to throw his manuscripts into the Indrayani River, declaring that a Shudra had no right to compose scripture. According to tradition, after thirteen days of fasting and prayer on the riverbank, the manuscripts floated back to the surface, untouched. Even the river would not destroy what Vitthal had inspired.
Tukaram led the great annual pilgrimage (Wari) to Pandharpur, singing and dancing with thousands. Over 4,600 Abhangas survive. In 1650, according to tradition, he ascended bodily to Vaikuntha (the abode of Vishnu) from the banks of the Indrayani. The Wari continues to this day; millions walk to Pandharpur each year in his name.
One Heart
“Vithala, Vithala, Vithala: this is my only wealth. Take everything else, but leave me this Name.”
Teachings
Devotion of the Ordinary
You do not need Sanskrit, you do not need caste, you do not need rituals. God dwells in the sincere heart of the grocer, the farmer, the sweeper. Bhakti belongs to everyone.
Kirtan as Supreme Practice
Community singing and dancing (kirtan) is not merely a means to devotion; it is devotion itself. When the name of Vitthal fills the air, the distinctions between devotee and God dissolve.
Radical Humility
The devotee is nothing before God. Tukaram calls himself a dog at Vitthal’s door, a beggar, a fool. This is not self-deprecation; it is the ecstatic dissolution of the ego in love.
Works & Publications
Tukaram Gatha (Abhanga Collection)
Over 4,600 Abhangas in Marathi. The foundational text of Maharashtrian devotional literature.
Mantra Gita
A translation of the Bhagavad Gita in Abhanga meter, interpreting the Gita from a pure bhakti perspective.
The Wari Tradition
Not a book but a living institution: the annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur that Tukaram championed, still walked by millions.
An Inspiration
Tukaram’s raw honesty and refusal to dress devotion in scholarly robes resonates deeply with Ananta’s approach, where satsang is not for the learned but for the thirsty heart.