Saint Tuka Ram Jayanti is Coming on 29 March Every Year.
About Saint Tuka Ram
Saint Tukaram is one of India’s greatest poets of 17th century belonging to Marathi language was a genious as his poems could deeply reflect the language and Marathi literary culture. As was Shakespeare to English and Goethe to German, Tukaram was to Marathi. He was great devotee of Sri Krishna. Some of the abhangs in appreciation of Sri Krishna – known as Lord Panduranga is immensely popular throughout India.
Tukaram was born and performed his divine deeds in Dehu village near Pune. It is “an abode of live divinity”, as Lord Vithoba himself is believed to reside here. A temple of Lord Vithoba adorns the bank of the river Indrayani. Vishwambhar, Tukaram’s ancestor lived in Dehu and the whole family owed its allegiance to Lord Vithoba. The family in which Tukaram was born belonged to the Kshatriya caste and were very pious. They owned farmland and engaged in money lending and trade. Tukaram was the son of a shop keeper and was orphaned in childhood. Failing in business and family life, he renounced the world and became an itinerant ascetic.
Tukaram’s poems encompass the entire gamut of Marathi culture. He related and sang stories of the gods. Tukaram’s abhangas mostly deal with topics such as the Puranas, lives of saints, laudatory descriptions of Pandharpur; moral instruction and defense of his religious principles. He emphasized liberation through devotion to God and service to mankind, rather than through rituals and sacrifices. He did not favour elaborate rituals, or preoccupation with austerities, saying, “even dogs come in saffron color, and bears have matted fur. If living in caves is being spiritual, then rats who inhabit caves must be doing spiritual practice.”
Sant Tukaram opposed the acquisition of spiritual attainments, viewing them as obstructions to sadhana. He appealed his listeners to cast away the ‘clothes of traditions’ and exhorted them to see God in all. He encountered difficulties with astonishing patience. He even refused diamonds and opals offered by Shivaji Maharaj himself.
Sant Tukaram’s discourses focussed on the behavior of human beings, and he stressed that the true expression of religion was in a person’s love for his fellow beings rather than in ritualistic observance of religious orthodoxy. Sikh gurus recognised the state of enlightenment of Sant Tukaram and hence his poetry was included in Guru Granth Sahib.
The British Government gave Tukaram the unique honour of officially publishing the first authoritative collection of 4,607 of his abhanga works in 1873. The complete translation of Tukaramachi Gatha comprises of 3,721 poems into English was done by J. Nelson Fraser and K.B. Marathe and was published by the Christian Literature Society, Madras. Justin E. Abbott’s 11-volume Poet-Saints of Maharashtra and Nicol Macnicol’s Psalms of Maratha Saints are other works which throw light on Sant Tukaram. Arun Kolatkar, the Anglo-Marathi poet has published 9 translations of Tukaram’s poems. Dilip Chitre has translated the writings of Tukaram into English titled Says Tuka which was later translated into other languages. R.D. Ranade in Mysticism in India:The Poet-Saints of Maharastra pointed out that “Tukaram a pilgrim who was wandering in a lonely and helpless world… it was not until he saw God that his words could be words of certainty and reality for himself, and of assurance and comfort for others.”
Tukaram’s dramatic misadventures as an unworldly man are a favorite topic for story tellers. After being visited in a dream by Namdev, and Lord Vitthal himself, Tukaram began to write abhangas (religious poetry). His religious activities antagonized the Brahmins, who persecuted him. Tukaram emphasized a life of devotion to God and loving service to mankind over the performance of religious rites and ceremonies.
