Tukaram the most humble

[srinivas]

Tukaram

 

Tukaram was a great saint of Maharashtra. He was always singing bhajans. Once when it was Hutashini, some kids came to Tukaram. They, being mischievous said, ''Sing some faag.'' Tukaram refused. So the children grabbed hold of Tukaram and shaved off all the hair from his head. They then painted his head white with lime. As if this was not enough they sat him backwards on a donkey and gave him the donkey's tail to hold! They garlanded him with a garland made of carrots and brinjals. The kids then took him all around the village, shouting and making fun of poor Tukaram all the way.

 

When Tukaram's wife Jaanbai saw this, she burst into tears. But Tukaram said to her, ''Why are you crying? What wrong has been done? My hair was long and I didn't have the money to cut it, so the kids cut it free of charge! And I also have dandruff but now the lime will cure it. And when we got married did we have a procession? No, so we had it today! Plus the vegetable garland will do as food for a few days.'' Tukaram was very humble. Another person would have been greatly insulted. He tolerated everything, and now the whole of Maharashtra sings the praises of Tukaram and Jaanbai.

[Guest guest]

First of all, Tukaram's wife's name was not Jaanbai as stated. Her name was Jijabai but she was always referred as Aavli (Aavalie too). She was certainly not very kind to Tukaram and was a real nagging wife, as Tukaram was not interested in the householder's life and was a great devotee of Lord Panduranga.

The episode of his procession is correct but only partly. His procession was taken not by the mischievous kids but all the elders. After Tukaram advanced onto the path of devotion, he started to write Abhangas (couplets) praying Lord Vitthala in Marathi. He also stated that, chanting Harinam was sufficient to cross the Bhavasagar. His Abhangas also became very famous as the ordinary people could understand and appreciate them. The brahmins like Rameshwar Bhat from Pune did not like all this, as they felt that Tukaram was bringing down the importance of Karma Marga at the cost of BhaktiMarga, so like minded people gathered together and filed a complaint that Tukaram had committed blasphemy by writing Abhangas even though, he was a shudra. This case came for hearing and Tukaram was summoned and questioned. He told that, the Lord had written everything using himself as the medium. The judge was not convinced and handed down the punishement of tonsuring his head and taking out the procession on the donkey. This was done by the elderly people who were jealous of his reputation.