This original Marathi poem, presented here with its English version, is dedicated to Sant Chokha Mela, the Dalit saint-poet whose abhangs gave powerful voice to devotion, caste humiliation, and resistance to caste discrimination. Composed within the living oral and performative traditions of Marathi Bhakti, the arati remembers Chokha Mela not only as a saint, but also as a poet whose words continue to challenge the ideology of ritual pollution and caste-based degradation.

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The arati was composed for the Chokhamela Gatha Parayan organized by Sitaram Mhatre Foundation on 4 June 2024, on the occasion of Sant Chokha Mela’s punyatithi, under the Foundation’s “Bhakti Literature for the 21st Century” initiative. The program included the parayan, or collective recitation, of all 349 abhangs from Sant Chokhamela Gatha, followed by this arati in performance.