Sant Tukaram information in English: Saint Tukaram is famous in Maharashtra as like Narsinh Mehta in Gujarat. Narsinh Mehta’s Prabhatiyan is the inner joy that a singer gets. The same special joy is enjoyed by the singer of Sant Tukaram’s ‘Abhanga’. We should know about such a wonderful saint. Keep reading this article to know about him. You will definitely like to read this information.
Sant Tukaram information in English
Name : | Tukaram Bolhoba Ambile |
Date of Birth: | Either 1598 or 1608 |
Birth Place : | Dehu, near Pune, Maharashtra, India |
Father Name : | Bolhoba More |
Mother Name: | Kanakar More |
Wife Name : | Jijiabai, Rakhumabai |
Children: | Mahadev, Narayan, Vithoba |
Known for : | Abhanga devotional poetry, Marathi poet, sant of Bhakti movement |
Died : | Either 1649 or 1650 in Dehu, near Pune, Maharashtra, India |
Biography of Saint Tukaram:-
Sant Tukaram was born in Dehu, a small village in Pune district of Maharashtra. Dehu is a very picturesque village on the banks of Indrani river. Saint Tukaram was the son of fortunate father Bolhoba and mother Kankai. He had three sons in total – Sawji, Tukeba (Tukaram) and Kanhaba.
Bahinabai, Tukaram’s own disciple, says about Saint Tukaram’s birthplace Maharashtra, “Gyandev laid the foundation, Namdev spread it all around, Eknath hoisted the flag on it became Sant Tukaram, the temple of Bhagwat Dharma.”
The first thirteen years of Tukaram’s life were spent happily in the comforting shade of his parents. He seems to be very fond of playing with his fellow children. Because, he has described the childhood of Sri Krishna and his companions with great enthusiasm and skill. Gedidda, Gillidanda, Langdi, Atapata, Kho-Kho, Mardadi, Amli-Pipli etc. have been described in their abhangas. From all this it seems that in childhood he must have been an enthusiastic sportsman who participated in sports very keenly.
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According to social custom, Bolhoba married all three of his sons on time. Tukaram was only 14 years old when he got married for the first time. His first wife’s name was Rakhumai. But as he was suffering from asthma, Tukaram’s parents remarried him. The name of the second wife was Jijai.
As Bagha’s sons got married, Tukaram’s parents expressed their desire to release the entire responsibility of the house to the eldest son Savji. But Savji rejected this wish of the parents who had already taken the decision for the welfare of the human body. So all the responsibilities of the house fell on Tukaram’s shoulders.
Tukeba accepted this samsara-dhunsa that he had embraced as a teenager of thirteen-fourteen. Account-booking, agriculture and jagir, shop management, etc. were learned slowly and skillfully executed. Thus, despite being born in Shuka caste, the father, who is a businessman by profession, started to say that this son is very intelligent, skilled, hardworking and honest. Sant Tukaram was the first to know all the capitals by checking the books.
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Father preached, “It is ultimately in our best interests to deal with ourselves and watch out for profit and loss.” Tukoba also assured that he will follow it exactly! Tukoba said this, but to his inner soul, “All that is good in the world is Srihari, and eternal accumulation of wealth is a loss. Considering these gains and losses, Shri Haripad should get the ultimate benefit” had already been given by some invisible power.
Thus, after four years of ruling the world well, Tukoba made the people say wow. But God’s desire was to release Tukaba from worldly bonds and engage in the work of saving the people, so He threw one after another such dangers on them and broke the bond of love formed for the world. When Tukoba was seventeen, his father died, his elder brother Sawaj’s wife also died. This caused him great pain and grief. In the second year, Motabhai Savaj also left for Jatra.
The death of his father and the departure of his elder brother became unbearable for him. His attention in the world became very less. Creditors took advantage of his indifference. All the people to whom they lent money paid off their debts, so the money went away. Thus the father’s property became non-existent. Two wives, one child, younger brother and sister, etc. have to earn money to support the family. So Tukaram opened a sundry shop in Chauta.
To speak with one’s mouth, not to tell lies, not to do deceitful business, to be kind to everyone, to give goods freely and not to worry about business. Asant Tukaram four years passed. But due to such a policy, instead of getting four paisas from the shop, it closed running at a loss.
Even if you spend day and night in the shop without counting the heat, sun, sleep or laziness, you will not get money. Instead, the debt started increasing. Creditors also took the goods from the house. The time has come to pay off. This sun of the world sat riding on Tucoba. His sanity was defeated due to the nagging of his wife at home and the clamor of creditors outside. My mind was blown. Everything started to turn upside down.
Once, while loading grain on the oxen at night, a whole guna fell on the road. Three of the four cattle in the house died due to some disease. To avoid the event, he came to that head. His debt came out. Then the whole village fell behind him. Everyone started teasing him by saying, “This fruit is the result of you chanting Vithoba’s name.” No one even looks at them. No one lends or lends to them.
After that, once Tukaram mustered up a lot of courage and started selling chillies and went towards Kankan one day with a load of bananas. Even there, due to their naivety, the rascals looted and embezzled money. By God’s mercy some money was recovered. While returning home with that, a Dhutara on the road sold a brass bracelet to Tukaram saying it belonged to the army and took Rs. When he came home, he found out that the sword was not made of gold but of brass, so people mocked him; And the wife took them right off. In this way, instead of money, you got slander.
Despite this happening, once again Jijai brought a lot of money in the name of his father and gave it to TukebaUkeba bought its salt and took it to a distant country and made two and a half hundred buses. But on his way back, he met a Brahmin who was devastated by poverty on the road and began to cry out for help. So Tukaram felt pity and gave all the money to him. As soon as he came home, Jijai got to know him.
There was a severe drought in the entire Poona district. People started dying without rice and cattle. He was deeply saddened by the fact that his big and lovely wife died without grain. His first and beloved son Santoba also died after his wife. Mother also died in the family,
Thus there was no period of suffering. In the four-five years after his father’s death, Tukaram’s world fell apart. The loss of cattle, wife, son, brother-in-law all together caused a mountain of grief to collapse on Tukaram. His heart sank. The body refused to stay in the village.
When Tukeba saw so many miseries and thousands of people dying in famine, he realized the way of death and became dispassionate in his mind. He was determined that there is no savior from this Bhavasagara except Pandurang. Even when parents and wife and son died, this Dhir Purusha
Sit down! Your kingdom is mine, not someone else’s work.
He considered the satisfaction of bhajan-sukh by singing. Debt broke out, famine struck, his wife was hoarse, he was insulted, money and cattle were lost, so he left his home and surrendered to God, and he said, like Narsingh Mehta, that all this “became good, because “Samsara Vaman (vomiting) ) passed away and only your consciousness remained.”
He practiced seclusion in order to be filled with dispassion. He went to the hill of Bhamanath for the first time and stayed there for fifteen days. He spent all that time in meditation and chanting of God’s name.
“On the fifteenth day I had a revelation,
Vithoba embraced me formless.”
In this Abhang Tukeba says: “Sitting on this Bhamgiri I began to meditate on God. His body was bitten by snakes and scorpions and he began to suffer, but after feeling a little bodylessness, on the fifteenth day Vithoba was enlightened to me.”
Thus, Saint Tukaram took the experience of the world, its futility. The path to recovery is difficult.
Which are some of the famous Abhangas of Sant Tukaram?
Sant Tukaram composed thousands of Abhangas, which are short devotional poems in Marathi that express his love for Vitthal and his teachings on spirituality, morality, social justice, and human dignity. Some of his famous Abhangas are:
- गोपाळा गोपाळा रे देवा गोपाळा Gopala Gopala Re Deva Gopala O Lord Gopala, O Lord Gopala
- नाहीं मोहा नाहीं माया तुझीच सेवा करिता Nahi Moha Nahi Maya Tujhich Seva Karita I have no attachment, no illusion, I serve only you
- विठू माउली तू माउली जगताचे Vitthu Mauli Tu Mauli Jagatache You are the mother of Vitthal, you are the mother of the world
- अभंगा म्हणे तुका हे पंढरीनाथा Abhanga Mhane Tuka He Pandharinatha Abhanga says, O Lord of Pandhari
Who was Sant Tukaram?
Sant Tukaram was a 17th-century Marathi saint, Hindu sant (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) – that venerates the God Vitthal – in Maharashtra, India. He is best known for his devotional poetry called Abhanga and community-oriented worship with spiritual songs known as kirtan.
What is the significance of the Sant Tukaram temple?
The Sant Tukaram temple is located in the village of Dehu, near Pune in Maharashtra. It is the place where Sant Tukaram was born and lived most of his life. The temple also houses a rock (Shila) on which Sant Tukaram sat for 13 days when he was challenged about the authenticity of his Abhangas. The rock is considered sacred by the Warkari sect and is the starting point of the annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, known as Wari.
What is the Wari pilgrimage?
The Wari pilgrimage is a tradition that dates back to the time of Sant Tukaram. It involves lakhs of devotees who walk from Dehu and Alandi to Pandharpur, carrying the padukas (footprints) of Sant Tukaram and Sant Dnyaneshwar, two of the most revered saints of the Varkari tradition. The pilgrimage takes place twice a year, during the months of Ashadh (June-July) and Kartik (October-November), and culminates on the day of Ekadashi, when the devotees reach Pandharpur and worship Vitthal, the presiding deity of the town.
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