Shyamkant Kulkarni

The Poetry of Sant Tukaram - The Poetry of Sant Tukaram Part Two Shyamkant Kulkarni

The biography of Sant Tukaram is clearly depicted in his poetry of 4500 stanzas. There is nothing clear about his birth, death and induction by mentor. According to information on website he was borne in 1608 and died around 1650, ( shake 157)1. His ancestors lived in a town named Dehu, near Pune in Maharashtra, India. His family name was More. The cast of family was Kunabi. This was a trader cast. The family run a grocery shop in the village. Their deity was Pandurang from Pandharpur. Tukaram's eighth ancestor before him, Vishvambhar was sincere devotee of Vithoba. He had built a temple of Vithoba in Dehu. He used to visit Pandhari every fifteen days. His two sons were killed in war. His son Hari had a son named Vithoba. Vithoba's grandson's grandson was Bolhoba. Tukaram was Bolhoba's son. All these ancestors were regular visitors of Pandharpur. Bolhoba and his wife Kanakai had three sons, Savaji, Tukoba and Kanhoba. When Tukaram was young his parents died. Elder brother Savaji become fugitive, he disappeared. Because of sever famine his wife and first child Shivaji died. Tukaram had severe losses in busyness and become bankrupt. His second wife was Avalai alias Jijabai. All these calamities made Tukaram dejected and melancholy. Tukaram comments in his poetry, this was far better, I was downfallen. This remorse drove him towards devotion. He started repair and restoration of the temple. He started fasting and preaching. He started reciting poems from past Saints and Singing on the background of other story tellers. He lost his pride and totally became pure person, inside and out. Afterwards Babaji Chaitanya gave him easy mantra "RamKrishnaHari" in a dream. He spent some time in solitude on Bhandara hill. After this Tukaram started writing poetry with purpose of teaching people.

The end of this famous saint poet is in clouds. He just disappeared from the town. Present historians, researchers and critics feel he might have been murdered.