Sant Tukaram: Social reformer & Shivaji Maharaj’s Guru

Sant Tukaram was a great social reformer of 17th century. He awakened and educated masses against social ills. He is attributed to creating an atmosphere, which will enable Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to carry out his political work. Sant Tukaram represents the rich tradition of Bhakti Movement, which kept alive the self-esteem of the society, which was facing existential crisis because of Muslims.

Sant Tukaram was an unusual poet and social reformer from Maharashtra, who had great spiritual strengths. His extraordinary spirituality did not deter him to continue to walk on the path of spirituality despite all the obstructions from the materialistic world.  Sant Tukaram is the only poet-social reformer, who continues to dominate people for years. Maharashtra has crores of people, who try to follow the path as described by Sant Tukaram. His `abhangas’ have filled the space of Maharashtra and are an inseparable part of Maharashtra’s social life. His ‘abhangas’ show that he awakened and educated masses against social ills eight centuries back when Maharashtra was fighting against Muslim invaders.

Sant Tukaram was born in 1609 at Dehu village near Pune. Dehu village is situated on the banks of Indrayani River. Dehu is also close to Alandi, also situated on the banks of Indrayani River, where Sant Dnyaneshwar took Samadhi. Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram are considered as pillars of Bhakti movement in Maharashtra, which fought against all the social ills. Tukaram’s father – Boloba More– was a rich farmer. His childhood went off smoothly because of prosperity in the family. More family used to run a shop and lend money.  Boloba More was a staunch devotee of Vitthal, who is considered as Vishnu. Sant Tukaram lost his parents when he was 17 years old.

Rukhmabai was his first wife. He had a son – Santu. Sant Tukaram successfully ran family business and activities initially. However, he later suffered financial losses. Sant Tukaram’s wife and son died in a drought. Despite difficulties, Sant Tukaram tried to run family business again but was not successful and became penniless. He was humiliated in ‘gramsabha’ and was snatched of all the social responsibilities. All these tragic happenings left a deep impact on Sant Tukaram. He used to go to a hill – Bhandara – near Dehu for self-introspection. He had a second marriage with Awalabai.

It is a social reality that traders and money lenders exploit common people in a situation like drought. We can still experience such people, who take undue advantage of the helpless situation of the people. However, Sant Tukaram was never a man from such a category. He was altogether a different person, who helped the people in drought conditions. He never tried to get the money returned, which he had given to the people as a money lender. This happened despite the fact that his family was undergoing extreme difficulties. In fact, he was helping drought affected people during this period. His several `abhangas’ reflect all these sufferings.

All these difficulties changed Sant Tukaram drastically. He used to go hill in search of truth, understand human life, human relations and its sufferings.  He was attacked by wild animals at the hill but it did not deter him from searching for the truth. On 15th day, Sant Tukaram realized the eternal truth.

Despite a series of failures, Sant Tukaram continued to be a staunch devotee of Vitthal, who is also affectionately called as Vithoba.  His family had been a staunch devotee of Vitthal. Sant Tukaram, himself, used to travel to Pandharpur, holy place of Vitthal, twice in a month. (Every Eakadashi falls twice in every month). He used to travel a distance of 500 km every time. It is believed that Vitthal manifested in Dehu to respect devotion of Sant Tukaram. Later, Sant Tukaram devoted his entire life to Bhakti, Kirtan and writing Abhangas.

Babaji Chaitanya was spiritual Guru of Sant Tukaram. Babaji Chaitanya was a follower of Sant Dnyaneshwar. Sant Ramdas, during one of visits with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj advised Shivaji Maharaj to meet Sant Tukaram. Shivaji Maharaj met him once and continued to meet him on several occasions. Shivaji Maharaj was deeply influenced by Sant Tukaram. In one of the meetings, Shivaji Maaharaj offered Sant Tukaram clothes, gold coins and valuables. Sant Tukaram refused to accept them with great humility.  Sant Tukaram said the valuables were of no use for him and he was merely in love with Vitthal. He even went on to say that valuables were unwanted for him like beef.  Shivaji Maharaj eventually became a follower of Sant Tukaram.  Sant Tukaram suggested Shivaji Maharaj to carry out his duties as Kshatriya. Shivaji Maharaj understood the meaning of the message and worked for Hindu cause, administration and cultural ethos of the country. A number of stories about Sant Tukaram and Shivaji Maharaj are in circulation. Essence of all the stories is that Sant Tukaram created much necessary spiritual background for Shivaji Maharaj’s political work. Many scholars believe that Sant Tukaram was instrumental in creating the atmosphere, which was needed for Shivaji Maharaj’s work.

Scholars are not unanimous on the year of Sant Tukaram’s death. But all of them believe that his death occurred either in 1649 or 1650.

Tukaram Gatha, a Marathi book, is the compilation of all the literary works of Sant Tukaram. His poems are known as ‘abhangas’ in Marathi. All of these `abhangas’ are written from 1632 to 1650. Tukaram Gatha contains as many as 4,500 ‘abhangas’. Most of his ‘abhangas’ deals with human beings, part of his own story, family, sacrifice and personal emancipation.  His `abhangas’ is interpretation of traditional Bhartiya philosophy and necessary changes in the same. Sant Tukaram strongly believed that human being would never be happy unless he/she does not have space for God in his/her life. He shares his personal experience saying that he devoted his entire life for God and got answers to all the questions from God. He said that love prevails in all the places where spiritual (saintly people) live.  He was of the opinion that love for God (Bhakti) removes all kind of discrimination and unites the society. He maintained that sorrow can be transferred into joy with the help of Bhakti. Sant Tukaram asked for ensuring `swahit” (स्वहित). He asked all the people to take care of their parents. He was of the view that all the people should follow Bhagwadgeeta and pray for Vitthal. He asked to stay away from bad elements and always stay in touch with saintly people. Sant Tukaram reminded people of the traditional essence of wisdom, like one should earn money by honest methods and spiritual people should always work for downtrodden and deprived people. Equality and human values were core points of Sant Tukaram’s thoughts. He never hesitated to condemn those things, which were not good for the people.

Sant Tukaram never made discrimination on any ground. He advocated gender equality. His followers belong to all the castes and women as well. He was of the strong view that caste never makes anybody holy. He insisted that Vedas had categorically stated that caste was immaterial for God. The greatest contribution of Sant Tukaram is the reality that he kept eternal Bhartiya ideology alive by connecting people with Vitthal. It is because of him that the Warkari sect became a mass movement in Maharashtra.

Some people project Sant Tukaram in a different manner with an objective to divide society. However, Sant Tukaram was a strong believer in God. He was unified with Vitthal. Sant Tukaram and Vitthal were two sides of the same coin. Sant Tukaram represents the Warkari sect and the saffron flag is the greatest symbol of this sect. He was instrumental in keeping alive the self-esteem of the people, who were facing atrocities by Muslim invaders. He awakened people and prepared them for a long battle for freedom. Sant Tukaram will always be remembered for his efforts to remove social ills and make them stronger.