Saints A bonus story · any evening c. 1608–1649/50

Sant Tukaram of Dehu

A shopkeeper who became a poet-saint, whose songs are still sung on the road to Pandharpur — and a loving tradition about gifts sent back to a king.

01

Dehu, on the Indrayani

Indrayani Dehu "trees and creepers are our family"
A singer by the river. Tukaram lived at Dehu on the Indrayani, and sang of a world where trees, creepers and birds are all family.

📍 See Dehu on the real map →

02

The story

About 6 minutes, read aloud slowly · choose your language

This is a bonus story about a poet whose songs are still sung by huge crowds walking the road to Pandharpur: Sant Tukaram. He lived in Shivaji's time — he is usually said to have been born around 1608, though the old sources disagree.

Tukaram lived in Dehu, a village on the banks of the Indrayani river, near Pune. His family were farmers and traders. His father was the village mahajan, who collected dues from the traders, and young Tukaram looked after the family shop.

Then came a terrible time. Around 1629–30 the rains failed, and a great famine swept across the land. In that famine Tukaram lost his first wife and a child. His heart broke. He went up into the quiet hills near Dehu, to pray and to think, alone.

When he came down, he was a different man. He began to sing. His songs, called abhangs, were short, simple verses in everyday Marathi, sung to Vithoba of Pandharpur — and there were thousands of them. A farmer in the field, a woman grinding grain, a child: anyone could understand them, and anyone could sing along.

Some of his songs are about God, and some are about how to be a good person. And some are about nature. Listen to this one:

"वृक्षवल्ली आम्हां सोयरी वनचरे""Trees and creepers, and the creatures of the forest, are our own family."

Imagine thinking of every tree as a cousin, and every bird as a relative! In the very next line he says that even the birds sing sweetly to him. Tukaram felt at home everywhere in God's world.

Not everyone liked him. Some learned men were angry that a shopkeeper was composing holy songs in plain Marathi, and the story says they made him throw his notebooks into the Indrayani. Tukaram sat by the river, fasting and praying, for many days — and then, the legend says, his notebooks floated back to the bank, safe and dry. (A legend — but it shows how dearly people loved his songs.)

There is a lovely story about Shivaji and Tukaram, too. It is said that the young Shivaji sent Tukaram rich gifts — gold, and a horse — and invited him to his court. Tukaram sent everything back. "What would I do with gold?" he said. "Make God your treasure." Some versions say Shivaji then came himself to hear Tukaram sing. These stories are told in many different ways, and because Tukaram died when Shivaji was only about twenty, historians treat them as tradition.

In 1649 or 1650, Tukaram left this world. His devotees tell it beautifully: one day he said he was going to Vaikuntha, God's home, and he walked away singing — and was never seen again. A temple at Dehu marks the spot.

But his songs did not leave. In 1685 his youngest son, Narayan, began carrying Tukaram's padukas — his sacred sandals — in a palanquin to Pandharpur. Today, every year in the month of Ashadh, huge crowds walk for about three weeks with the palkhis of Tukaram from Dehu and Dnyaneshwar from Alandi, singing his abhangs all the way.

Now for the honest part. Most of what we know of Tukaram's life comes from biographies written about a hundred years after him, so his dates and many of his stories vary. His abhangs, though, are truly his own — and they are still sung every single day.

Goodnight — tonight's line: "वृक्षवल्ली आम्हां सोयरी" — the whole living world is our family.

Tukaram sent back a king's gold — and Shivaji, the stories say, honoured him all the more. Respect does not need riches. Next: Samarth Ramdas and the fort of good people.

Say it out loud

संत तुकारामSant Tukaram
SANT tu-KAA-raam
the poet-saint of Dehu
देहूDehu
DAY-hoo
his village near Pune
इंद्रायणीIndrayani
in-DRAA-ya-ṇee
the river at Dehu
अभंगabhang
a-BHANG
a devotional song-poem
विठोबाVithoba
VI-ṭho-baa
the god of Pandharpur
वैकुंठVaikuntha
VAI-kuṇṭh
God's home, in the stories
03

For the grown-up reading aloud

What is history, what is tradition — and where to read more.

History

His life

Tukaram lived at Dehu; his father was the village mahajan. He lost his first wife and a child in the famine of about 1629–30, turned to devotion, and composed thousands of abhangs (over 4,500 survive). He is usually dated c. 1608–1649/50; most biographical detail comes from Mahipati's 18th-century accounts.

Legend

The river and Vaikuntha

The manuscripts returning from the Indrayani, and his bodily departure to Vaikuntha, are devotional traditions.

Tradition

Tukaram and Shivaji

Stories of Shivaji's gifts being returned, and of Shivaji attending his kirtans, exist in several conflicting devotional versions. Tukaram died when Shivaji was about twenty, so historians treat them as tradition.

History

The palkhi

The custom of carrying Tukaram's padukas to Pandharpur is said to have been begun in 1685 by his son Narayan; today it is one of the two great palkhis of the wari.

Fact & legend, kept honest

History
Tukaram of Dehu, the famine losses, the abhangs, his death c. 1649/50; the palkhi from 1685.
Tradition
The meeting with Shivaji and the returned gifts.
Legend
The notebooks returned by the river; the ascent to Vaikuntha.

Sources:

🪷 All saints · 🏠 All nights · 📍 Trip map Next → Samarth Ramdas