One Hundred Poems of Chokha Mela by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre

In her own right as a poet, Sant Bahina claims her own niche too as she happens to be the first woman autobiographer in Marathin literature if not the entire Indian literature. Interestingly, these poems also provide us a lot of details about such trivial things as Tukaram’s daily routines which help to fill the dots in the picture of the great saint adding a humane side as in the poems of Kanhoba, Tuakram’s younger brother. They give us a vivid account of such events as the drowning of Tukaram’s notebooks of poems in the River Indrayani and along with Rameshwar Bhatt’s poems leave no doubt about the historicity of the event though there have been efforts to rubbish this event as narrated by Mahipati. This unique relationship has got exquisite expression in almost all of Bahina’s poems which throw considerable light on the times in which Tukaram lived. This fact, however, did not deter Bahina, who had migrated from Kolhapur to Dehu, from worshipping Tukaram as her spiritual Master. Sant Bahina had settled in Dehu, Tukaram’s native place, not far from the saint’s residence so that she could see him, listen to his compositions as Tukaram never formally accepted anyone as his disciple. Bahina’s accounts of episodes from Tuakaram’s life are free from most of the limitations that plague Mahipati’s writings. These poems help one to historicise Tukaram’s life and works with a great deal of accuracy as Bahina does not depend on hearsay like Mahipati, Tukaram’s most illustrious biographer from whose works stem most of the legends about Tukaram that have captured the public mind for centuries. Being an eye-witness to Tukaram’s life when he had reached the zenith of his popularity, Bahina’s poems prove to be a gold-mine for inputs on the great saint-poet’s ill-documented life. Despite being borne and brought up in seventeenth century orthodox Brahmin family, Bahina turned out to be a disciple who could claim to be spiritual heir to Tukaram equally revolutionary in temperament as her revered Master.

Amongst the ‘satellite’ poets around Tukaram, Sant Bahina claims a rank above most of his followers thanks to her distinct poetic abilities and avant-garde sensibilities.

One Hundred Poems of Chokha Mela by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre