Advice to an Angry Wife

Advice to an Angry Wife : I "Why me? This man renounces everything About me. Has he lost All sense of pleasure, then? "He seems to be visited by all the thrills of life And I'm left cheated of all I had. "Whose wife am I supposed to be? work my arse off for his family. "What can I feed these starving children? They are so hungry, they could eat me. "Why don't they die? That would take care of them. "He wouldn't let a thing remain in this house. He hasn't left me even a lump of cows fit I can plaster my mud floor With.' Says Tuka, the stupid bitch works too hard And goes on groaning without pausing to think. Tukaram, Says Tuka Page 42 Translated by Dilip Chitre

Advice to an Angry Wife : II "A sackful of grain is delivered at our door. But this bastard won't let his own children eat. "He distributes it to the whole town. I suspect he himself eats it too." Says 'Tuka, you stupid bitch! Don't you understand that the deeds of the past Can never be stored? P43 Advice to an Angry Wife : III "Now there's nothing left for you to eat. Will you eat your own children? My husband is God-crazy! "See how he beats his own head? See how he wears garlands! He has stopped minding his shop. "His own belly is full While the rest of us must starve "Look at him, striking cymbals And opening his grotesque mouth To sing to his God in his shrine ' Says Tuka, be patient, my woman ! This is only the beginning! Advice to an Angry Wife : IV "Good that he's gone away today! I've got all I want. "Now I can eat All the bread in peace With or without gravy! "I am tired of shooting off my mouth At this stone-deaf man!" Says Tuka, my wife Just loves to curse me. Advice to an Angry Wife : V "He can't stand the idea of work, He is used to getting free meals. "As soon as he wakes, he starts to sing. All hell breaks loose after that. "These fellows are the living dead. They have no conscience to prick. "They've turned a blind eye to their families. They have deserted their homes. "Their wives twist and turn for them While they crush their lives with a stone. Says Tuka, that's a good one, my wife! Here! I've written it down! Advice to an Angry Wife : VI Pandurang, the noble collector of revenue, Gives us our share of what we reap. He asks us to repay seventy per cent Of what we've owed in the past, And we've so far cleared only ten per cent. Sitting on a cot in our living-room, He points to all our possessions: The storage bin, the pots and pans, the cattle we own. If I bargain and argue with Him, he keeps His cool. He says, "Just pay up all your dues and what you reap Will be all yours." Says Tuka, my dear wife, what shall I do? I don't know where to hide without paying my due. Advice to an Angry Wife : VII I think about it and realize that "' After all, this is His own kingdom. Who would protect me from Him? Where else can we go to escape Him? The front yard is wide open and the backyard, too. In what stables or cow~sheds can we hide? His henchmen will chase us wherever we go. I kick myself for becoming one of His share-croppers. Now I can never get out of His clutches. Says Tuka, it cannot be helped. l One has to remain here and live On His terms__not our own. Advice to an Angry Wife : VIII What can I do? It's my destiny catching up with me. He gave me life Who gave me a conscience. Nobody can say that this is my own doing. It was God's order. He freed me from bondage and set me abroad As a beggar. And yet He continues to stalk me. This God made me drink water from the dried shell of a gourd, And forced me to live on the leaves of plants growing wild. Says Tuba, I am perfectly aware That He has no trace of kindness in Him; He is going to lick me clean.

Advice to an Angry Wife : IX Good people will have a great regard for you; And the world will view you with growing Respect Think of your cattle as dead, And of your pots and pans as stolen by a thief. Think of your children as though they were never born. Give up all desires and make your mind Hard as Indra's warhead. Spit out all mean pleasures And receive pure bliss. Says Tuka, you will be rid of great turmoil Once you break free from the bonds of this world. Advice to an Angry Wife : X What gives me the strength to spurn all bodily pleasure? Woman, you have become blind to the great fact. Look at me! My hunger and my thirst have been stilled. My disquietude has been calmed at its origin. The wealth that people prize more than their life Makes less sense to me now than a piece of gravel. All good people are my kin; And my love of companionship Equals my love of solitude. Being one with all is being beyond all bonds. Says Tuka, Pandurang is with us To enjoy and to suffer.

P E N G U I N Classics TUKARAM SAYS TUKA TRANSLATED BY DILIP CHITRE Tukaram, a seventeenth century Bhakti poet and mystic, is regarded by many as the greatest poet in the Marathi language. Tukaram was born in 1608 into a low-caste Shudra family. A series of traumatic events in his life, including the devastating famine of 1629 in which he lost his first wife, made him withdraw from normal life and turn to religion. However, his writing and singing in praise of Vitthal ` (Vis nu) to ecstatic audiences was unacceptable to the Brahmins who took religion to be their preserve . Consequently he was forced to drown his entire work in a river-but a miracle (contemporary accounts of it vary) took place and his work was restored to him intact . Tukaram became part of the Bhakti movement which was the middle way between the extremes of Brahminism on the one hand and folk-religion on the other. In this phase of his life, he wrote nearly 5000 poems until his mysterious disappearance at the age of forty-one. This selection brings together the best of Tukaram's poems; in them the poet-saint expresses the spiritual anguish of modern man , anticipated by him centuries ago. It is this aspect of his work which establishes him as the first truly modern Marathi poet . The cover shows fragment of an original Tukaram manuscript at Dehu. Cover design by Amiya Bhattacharya