The Mother Figure in Marathi Bhakti Literature : 6

             The Mother Figure in Marathi Bhakti Literature : 6

Let us today meet the mother figure in Sant Tukaram's ouevre. Sant Tukaram is an interesting individual indeed. He is bothered in the private sphere by his wife who is irritated  with his devotion to Vithoba that has not made the familial life any easier. In the public space, he is not interested in the profession imposed on him by the family lineage. He is a thorn in the side of the establishment/system, moreover. He needs succour galore, and he finds it in bhakti/devotion.

So strong is his devotion that, in his lore, miracles galore abound such as his writings drowned in River Indrayani remain intact and God incarnate takes him, all alive, to the Elysium, not mere heaven, mind you, in the heavenly vehicle.Given this intensity and the passionate quality of his devotion, the motherly love is a dominant metaphor in his writings.

There is yet another reason why this filial feel pulsates strongly in his writings. Of all the saint-ly writings, his is the closest to the common man's lived realities expressed in a style very much like the daily parlance of ordinary life. No wonder then that the mother figure, the very base of life, should  meet the reader often.

In fact, in addition to the usual bird metaphor repeatedly used in most all sant writings, he makes use of simple but deeply dramatic and highly emotionally charged and, hence, effective experiences such as a newly married bride leaving her maternal home for the first time to go to her husband's place .

Writes Sant Tukaram, it is the mother's heart/soul that knows the best for the baby.  So is the God's protective care. Adds he, the parental love is the only love that demands no return favours. It is a pain that needs no gains. It is this transluscent purity that makes a mother's , a parent's love, like the divine support of the devotee. Our mother suffers us all through her life, our unforgivable mistakes she pardons, the way we might knowingly or unknowingly hurt her, nothing matters to her, just as she  lovingly and without a complaint/grudge bore us for nine months, almost died giving us birth. In Sant Tukaram's opinion, only the Lord can shower such immense love without anyexpectations of  `return gifts'!   What wonderful tribute to the eternal bond!

pratima@ the true love, filial or divine

                  the loved one it re(de)fines!