One Hundred Poems of Tukaram (2015)
Curated, translated, annotated and introduced by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre
Selected translations from Sant Tukaram ("Tuka"), attentive to poetic form
and to the performative, devotional, and social force of the abhang tradition.
Featured Poem
वृक्ष वल्ली आम्हां सोयरी वनचरे
Source Text
वृक्ष वल्ली आम्हां
सोयरी वनचरे
पक्षी ही सुस्वरे
आळविती
येणे सुखे रुचे
एकांताचा वास
नाही गुण दोष
अंगा येत
आकाश मंडप
पृथिवी आसन
रमे तेथे मन
क्रीडा करी
कंथाकुमंडलु
देहउपचारा
जाणवितो वारा
अवसरु
हरिकथा भोजन
परवडी विस्तार
करोनी प्रकार
सेवू रुची
तुका म्हणे होय
मनासी संवाद
आपुलाचि वाद
आपणासी
●🙙🙛●
Target Text
Trees, creepers are our
Kindred, also wild beasts
And birds singing
Melodiously
This is why I cherish
My stay in solitude
No vice nor virtue
To be contracted
The sky is the canopy
The Earth is the seat
Basks therein my mind
Engrossed in play
A blanket and a bowl
For the bodily chores
Makes aware the wind
Of the passage of time
Scriptures for repast
Of appealing variety
Multiple courses
I savour delightedly
Tuka says I converse
With my own mind
I only debate
With myself
●🙙🙛●
SELECTED PoemS
Words are the jewels / That our homes are filled with
आम्हां घरी धन / शब्दांचीच रत्ने
(Read)
Artifice of some kind / I know not to charm people
कपट काही एक / नेणे भुलवायाचे लोक
(Read)
The meaning of Vedas / We alone comprehend
वेदांचा तो अर्थ / आम्हासीच ठावा
(Read)
The game has begun on the river bank
खेळ मांडीयेला वाळवंटी घाई
(Read)