The Autobiography of Sant Bahinabai (2023)
Edited, translated, annotated and introduced by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre
Sant Bahinabai (1628–1700) endured prolonged domestic violence from an early age after being married off as a toddler to a thirty-year-old widower. The abuse continued even when she was three months pregnant. What makes her life and work extraordinary is that she gave voice to these experiences in her poems, producing what is perhaps the first autobiographical account by a woman in India. Her writings stand among the earliest literary testimonies of domestic violence and contain some of the most powerful critiques of patriarchy in premodern Indian literature. A contemperory and follower of Sant Tuakaram, she has also documented Tukaram's persecution at the hands of the caste-supremacists, which she herself witnessed during her stay in Dehu. Bahinabai also translated the Vajrasuchi Upanishad, an anti-caste Sanskrit text, into Marathi, making her one of the earliest known women translators in India.
Featured Poem
पिता माता बंधु समवेत बिऱ्हाडी
Source Text
पिता माता बंधु
समवेत बिऱ्हाडी
पावले ते घडी
वत्सयुक्त
दोन घडी रात्र
होती ते समयी
वत्स तये गायी
पाजीयेले
हिरंभटी स्नान
केले अग्नीसेवे
कार्तीकाचे दिवे
आकाशांत
सडे संमार्जन
केले स्नान तेथे
गायी वत्स हाते
कुर्वाळीले
भ्रताराने स्नान
केले आपुलिया
दक्षिणेची गया
कोल्हापूर
तव कोणी एक
निराबाई होती
तिने कथास्थिति
सांगितली
भ्रताराचे कानी
कथेतील सर्व
सांगाया अपूर्व
म्हणोनिया
वत्साचे वृत्तांत
माझेही रुदन
भ्रताराचे कान
तृप्त केले
जयराम गोसावी
विदेही अवस्था
तेणे हात माथा
ठेवियेला
थोर यांचे भाग्य
तो यांशी बोलीला
आशिर्वाद दिला
योग्य तेणे
जातीचा भिक्षुक
अंतरी बहु राग
धावला सवेग
गृहाप्रती
धरुनीया वेणी
मारिले यथेष्ट
हिरंभटा कष्ट
फार झाले
नावरे मारिता
गायही ओरडे
वत्स तेही रडे
कासाविसी
अठरावे वरुष
मज होते तेव्हा
काय पतिसेवा
अंतरले
मायबाप बंधू
बोलती न काही
भ्रतारे क्रोधही
आवरिला
शांत झालीया
पुसत तयांस
स्त्रियेवरी त्रास
कासयाचा
येरु म्हणे रात्री
कथेत प्रतिष्ठा
काय यांची निष्ठा
देखियेली
कैचे ते पुराण
कैची हरिकथा
मारीन अन्यथा
नव्हे येथ
इतुके बोलोनिया
भ्रतार पुनरपी
क्रोध तो नाटोपी
अग्निऐसा
बहेणी म्हणे तेव्हा
देह संकल्पिले
प्राक्तनाचे केले
कोण वारी
●🙙🙛●
Target Text
With parents and brother,
Returned afterwards
To our place
With the calf.
Two ghatika1 night remained
When we arrived;
Both the cow and the calf
Were fed.
Hirambhat bathed
To perform fire-rites;
Stars of the Kartika2
Shone in the sky.
Morning chores
Performed, took bath,
Petted the cow
And the calf.
My husband too
Went for a holy dip:
Gaya of the South
Is Kolhapur.
At that time,
A certain Nirabai
Told the happenings
Of the night.
She told my husband
What happened at the kirtan;
She just meant to speak
Of the amazement.
My husband’s ears
Were satiated with
All about the calf
And also my crying.
"Jayram Gosavi
Such a holy man!
He blessed both of them
Caressing heads.
"What a fortune!
He spoke with them;
Bestowed blessings
Befitting."
Bhikshuk3 to the core,
He became very angry;
He ran towards home
With great haste.
Holding by plait,
Beat me up mercilessly;
Hirambhat was distressed
Seeing that.
Unstoppable beating;
The cow bellowed,
The calf too wailed,
Grief-stricken.
This all happened
When I was eighteen;
Had I fallen short
Fulfilling my duties?
My parents or brother
Didn’t say anything;
My husband controlled
His anger finally.
When he calmed down,
They asked him,
"Why were you infuriated
With your wife?"
He said, "Yesternight,
Disrepute was brought upon me
During the kirtan.
What a show of devotion!
"What’s in scripture-reading?
What’s in the kirtan?
Thrashing is not at all
Unwarranted here."
Having said this,
He resumed beating;
Unrestrained anger
Like raging fire.
Baheni says at that time
I had no hope for life;
Who can deliver from
What is predestined?
●🙙🙛●
1. 1 ghatika = 24 minutes
2. The seventh month of the Indian lunar calendar. Its first and second days mark the fourth and fifth days of Diwali festival.
3. A caste brahmin who earns his livelihood by receiving alms (bhiksha), not to be confused with a beggar.
SELECTED PoemS
My father belongs / To the great Maunas clan
मौनस गोत्र माझ्या / पित्याचे वरिष्ठ
(Read)
What sins committed / During previous lives
काय पाप केले / पूर्वील ये जन्मी
(Read)
Mambaji Gosavi / Said to my husband
मंबाजी गोसावी / भ्रतारासी म्हणे
(Read)
Now if we say / Caste makes the brahmin
आता याती लागी / म्हणावे ब्राम्हण
(Read)