Tukobanche Veikunthgaman

“The poetry created by Tukoba bridges a gap of three hundred and fifty to nearly four hundred years, making that passage of time disappear. The influence of Tukoba’s profound awareness of existence continues to be felt everywhere.

The Marathi poetic tradition evolved continuously from Dnyaneshwar to Tukaram because the Varkari saint-poets seemed, in a sense, to be contemporaries throughout this entire period, engaged in an ongoing dialogue with one another. The echoes and reverberations of their poetry enriched one another.

They held on to Pandharpur and Pandurang as a central cultural anchor, enriching their shared tradition. The pilgrimage of Vari became their eternal journey. They shared their experiences of worldly life with one another through the diverse expressions of a common spiritual language.

They created distinctive and innovative poetic forms in Marathi that had no counterparts in Sanskrit or Prakrit, or in other countries and languages. Drawing from oral and folk traditions, everyday life, and their occupations and professions, they developed their own metaphors, imagery, and systems of poetic metre.”