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
वेदांचा तो अर्थ आम्हांसीच ठावा
Source Text
वेदांचा तो अर्थ
आम्हांसीच ठावा
येरांनी वाहावा
भार माथां
खादल्याची गोडी
देखिल्यासी नाही
भार धन वाही
मजुरीचे
उत्पत्ति पाळण
संहाराचे निज
जेणे नेले बीज
त्याचे हाती
तुका म्हणे आम्हां
सापडले मूळ
आपणची फळ
आले हातां
●🙙🙛●
Target Text
The meaning of the Vedas
We alone comprehend
Others only carry
Burdens on head
Pleasure of eating
Not just on seeing
Payloads of valuables
Carries daily-wager
The crux of creation
Nurturing, destruction
Those who seize
The Essence is theirs
Tuka says the fruit
Came in our hands
On its own accord—
Root stricken
●🙙🙛●
SELECTED PoemS
Words are the jewels / That our homes are filled with
आम्हां घरी धन / शब्दांचीच रत्ने
(Read)
Trees, creepers are our / Kindred, also wild beasts
वृक्षवल्ली आम्हां / सोयरे वनचरे
(Read)
Artifice of some kind / I know not to charm people
कपट काही एक / नेणे भुलवायाचे लोक
(Read)
The game has begun on the river bank
खेळ मांडीयेला वाळवंटी घाई
(Read)