
This is an abhang (Marathi devotional hymn) of Sant Tukaram:
"He who identifies with the battered and the beaten,
Mark him as a saint, for God is with him.
He holds every forsaken man close to his heart.
He treats a slave as his own son, says Tuka.
I won’t be tired to repeat again, such a man is God in person.
Here is an abhang composed by Chokhamela’s son:
You made us low caste,
Why don’t you face that fact, great Lord?
Our whole life – left-over food to eat.
You should be ashamed of this; you have eaten in our home.
How can you deny it?
Chokha’s (son) Karmamela asks, why did you give me life?"
Discuss the ideas about the social order expressed in abhang of Sant Tukaram.
Mark him as a saint, for God is with him.
He holds every forsaken man close to his heart.
He treats a slave as his own son, says Tuka.
I won’t be tired to repeat again, such a man is God in person.
You made us low caste,
Why don’t you face that fact, great Lord?
Our whole life – left-over food to eat.
You should be ashamed of this; you have eaten in our home.
How can you deny it?
Chokha’s (son) Karmamela asks, why did you give me life?"
Important Questions on Devotional Paths to the Divine
This is a song composed by Mirabai:
Ranaji, I have left your norms of shame, and false decorum of the princely life. I have left your town. And yet Rana why have you kept up enmity against me? Rana you gave me a cup of poison. I drank it laughing. Rana I will not be destroyed by you. And yet Rana why have you kept up enmity against me?
Why do you think Mirabai left the Rana’s palace?

Here is a composition of Kabir:
O Allah-Ram present in all living beings Have mercy on your servants, O Lord! Why bump your head on the ground, Why bathe your body in water? You kill and you call yourself “humble” But your vices you conceal. Twenty-four times the Brahmana keeps the ekadasi fast While the Qazi observes the Ramzan Tell me why does he set aside the eleven months To seek spiritual fruit in the twelfth? Hari dwells in the East, they say And Allah resides in the West, Search for him in your heart, in the heart of your heart; There he dwells, Rahim-Ram.
In what ways are the ideas in this poem similar to or different from those of Basavanna and Jalaluddin Rumi?






