Sunday, April 18, 2010

Attan ami sogle Bamon (in Konk'nni), We are all Brahmins now

This poem by Sant Tukaram (Tuka) encompasses our current existence in Time. Being has changed over Time as well as Place. As you read it, I doubt whether you will not conclude that in a sense we are all Brahmins now. --venantius j pinto
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From Tukaram: Says Tuka (Penguin Clasics)
Translated from the Marathi by Dilip Chitre, Pune
Tukaram was born in 1608 (in Dehu) and disappeared at the age of forty-one, leaving behind nearly 5000 poems (abhangs).

(from the above book)
Dilip Chitre was born in 1938 in Baroda, India. Among his published works are two collections of Marathi poems--Kavita and Kavitenantarchya Kavita -- a collection of short stories and an anthology of contemporary Marathi poetry in translation. He is also (was) a painter and a film-maker. His feature film Godam won the Jury's Special Prize at the Festival des Trois Continents, Nantes, France.

Dilip Chitre lives (lived) in Pune with his family.
He passed away on 10 Dec, 2009, leaving behind his wife Viju. (vjp)
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People display their own daughters like goods for sale
And marry them off to the highest bidder
This is the done thing in this Age of the Infidel Kali
Virtue is the beggar, vice is the king
Drop-outs from decency
Brahmins lie and steal

They have wiped off the sacred mark on the forehead
And they now wear trousers and leather things
They occupy seats of power
And mete out injustice to the poor
They write inventories of the pantry
Thinking of ghee, oil, and soap

They become the hired servants of the corrupt
The warrior strikes at the suffering masses

The merchants and the labourers
Were born low to begin with

It is all a superficial show
Hiding the ugliness within

Says Tuka, have you dozed off, my Lord?
Run to their rescue, be quick.



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