Tukaram
Jagatguru Sant Tukaram
Born	1608 Dehu, near Pune, India
Died	c. 1650 indrayani, Maharashtra
Titles/honours	Sant in Marathi, meaning "Saint"
Sect associated	Varkari
Literary works	Abhanga devotional poetry

Sant Tukaram (1608–1650) was a prominent Varkari Sant (Saint) and spiritual poet during a Bhakti movement in India.

Sant Tukaram^[1] was born and lived most of his life in Dehu, a town close to Pune in Mahārāshtra, India. Kumar,^[2] Munshi, ^[3] Kincaid and Parasanisa,^[4] consider him to be of the Vani or grocer caste. In accordance with an ancient Indian tradition, Tukaram's family name is rarely used in identifying him. His real name is Tukaram Vhilhoba Aambe. Rather, in accord with another tradition in India of assigning the epithet "sant" (संत) to persons regarded as thoroughly saintly, Tukaram is commonly known in Maharashtra as Sant Tukaram (संत तुकाराम). He is known as Bhakta Tukaram to southern Indian people.

Scholars assign various birth years to Sant Tukaram: 1577, 1598, 1608 and 1609 CE. The year of Sant Tukaram's death —1650 CE— is much more certain.^[5]

Sant Tukaram's first wife, Rakhumābāi, died in 1602 in her early youth. Sant Tukaram and his second wife, Jijābāi (also known as Āvali), had three sons: Santu or Mahādev, Vithobā, and Nārāyan.

Dilip Purushottam Chitre, a well known Marathi Scholar, identifies Tukaram as the first modern poet of Marathi. Chitre believes that Tukaram was the second saint after Sant Dnyaneshwar who denied caste hierarchy in Hindu religion and attacked rituals present in Hindu Dharma.

Spiritual life and poetry[link]

Tukaram leaves for Vaikuntha, abode of Vishnu.

Sant Tukaram was a devotee of god Vitthala or Vithoba, a form of Krishna.

Sant Tukaram is considered to be the climactic point of the Bhagabata Hindu tradition, which is thought to have begun in Maharashtra with Namdev. Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath, and Tukaram are revered especially in the Varkari (वारकरी) sect in Maharashtra. Most information about the lives of the above saints of Maharashtra comes from the works Bhakti-Wijay and Bhakti-Leelāmrut of Mahipati. Mahipati was born 65 years after the death of Tukaram, (Tukaram having died 50 years, 300 years, and 353 years after the deaths of Ekanath, Namdev, and Dnyaneshwar, respectively.) Thus, Mahipati undoubtedly based his life sketches of all the above "sants" primarily on hearsays.

Namdev as Guru[link]

Saint Tukarm accepted Sant Namdev as his Guru. One of his abhanga is proof for this.[नामदेवे केले स्वप्नामाजी जागे....सवे पांडुरंगे येवूनिया.] Namdev gave knowledge, who came along with Lord Vitthal in Dream of Tukaram. Sant Tukaram has also mentioned in one of his abhanga that his sadguru's name is 'Babaji Chaitanya'. [बाबाजी चैतन्य सांगितले नाम, मंत्र दिला राम कृष्ण हरी]

In films[link]

Sant Tukaram was also the subject of a biopic, title Sant Tukaram, made in 1936 by V. Damle and S. Fattelal of the Prabhat Film Company, starring Vishnupant Pagnis as the lead, and released on December 12, 1936 at the Central Cinema in Mumbai. The film was a big hit, and broke all previous records by running continuously for 57 weeks.^[6] It also had won an award at the 5th Venice International Film Festival in 1937, and still remains a part of film appreciation courses.^[7][8][9] It is preserved at the National Film Archive of India.^[6]

The story of Tukaram was also made in Telugu as Bhakta Tukaram in 1973 by Anjali Pictures. Akkineni Nageswara Rao played the title role with great devotion.^[10]

Dr. Raj Kumar played the role of 'Santa Tukarama' in the Kannada language.

Book[link]

Renowned Indian author, poet, sculptor and painter Dilip Chitre (18 September 1938 - 10 December 2009) has translated writings of Sant Tukaram into English in the book titled Says Tuka for which he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1994. Says Tuka was later translated into other languages.^[11]

See also[link]

• Hindu reform movements
• Sant Mat

Further reading[link]

• Fraser, James Nelson; Rev. Edward Cullen (1922). The Life and Teaching of Tukārām. The Christian Literature Society for India, Madras. http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924023185857#page/n5/mode/2up. 

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ayyappapanicker, K.; Akademi, Sahitya (1997). Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 81-260-0365-0. 
• Starr, Chester G. (1991). A history of the ancient world. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506629-4. 
• Ranade, Ramchandra D. (1994). Tukaram. New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-2092-2. 
• Multiple Essays on Sant Tukaram and his work in books of M. V. Dhond
• "Shakti Saushthava शक्ती सौष्ठव" by D. G. Godse
• "Vinoba Saraswat" by Vinoba Bhave (edited by Ram Shewalkar)
• "Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar Nivadak Lekhsangrah" by T S Shejwalkar (collection- H V Mote, Introduction- G D Khanolkar)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tukaram

• Tukaram Online
• Tukaram Gatha in Marathi
• Abhang of Tukaram Maharaj
• Samadhi of Sant Tukaram