Mhatre CK | Chokha Mela

One Hundred Poems of Chokha Mela (2015)

Selected translations from Dalit saint-poet Chokha Mela, attentive to poetic form

and to the performative, devotional, and anti-caste force of these abhang.

जोहार मायबाप जोहार ।

तुमच्या महाराचा मी महार ॥१॥

बहु भुकेला जाहलो ।

तुमच्या उष्ट्यासाठी आलो ॥२॥

बहु केली आस ।

तुमच्या दासाचा मी दास ॥३॥

चोखा म्हणे पाटी ।

आणिली तुमच्या उष्ट्यासाठी ॥४॥

●🙙🙛●

Salutation, o my parents, salutation1

I am Mahar of Your Mahar

Have got exceedingly hungry

Have come for Your leftovers2

Have come with great hopes

I am servant of Your servant

Chokha says this basket

Have brought for Your leftovers

●🙙🙛●

Being placed at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, it was mandatory for all the ‘atishudras’ to greet the so-called upper caste people with reverence by bending as low as possible, head almost touching the ground.
The members of the Mahar community had to beg for their livelihood, despite performing all their laborious duties. At the end of the day, they would go from door to door shouting salutations ('johaar' (जोहार) in Marathi) for the master and the lady of the house, carrying a bamboo basket to collect the stale food that would be dropped from a distance in that basket.