Tukārām

Tukārām was born around 1608 in Dehu, near Pune, into a family of the Śūdra caste who traded in grain and were devotees of Viṭhobā. In his twenties a famine killed his first wife and a son, and his business failed. Turning from the world, he spent long periods in prayer on the hills near Dehu, and began to compose abhaṅgas, devotional songs, about his struggles, his longing for God and the hypocrisy of the religious.

His songs, in a plain and vivid Marathi, drew followers from every caste, and the hostility of some Brahmins, who objected to a Śūdra teaching religion. According to a famous story, a Brahmin made him throw his notebooks into the Indrayani river; after he fasted on the bank for thirteen days, they rose to the surface undamaged.

Tradition says that around 1650 he did not die but was carried away to heaven. Thousands of abhaṅgas are attributed to him, and they are sung throughout Maharashtra, above all on the annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, in which his sandals are carried from Dehu.

His abhaṅgas are startlingly personal: he quarrels with God, confesses his doubts and failures, mocks pretentious holy men, and celebrates the company of fellow devotees. They have been translated into many languages and admired by modern Marathi poets.