Saint Chokhamela

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Saint Chokhamela
A great Marathi Saint who took the wicked to task and entreated before God for the sake of the distressed
Birth: 13th century


Tuka mhane tumhi vicharanche grantha | Taarile pateet tene kiti||

Tukaram says you are a tome of ideologies | Innumerable are the wicked that you have taken to task ||

The great saint Tukaram describes Chokhamela with these words. Chokhamela was a Saint from Saint Dnyaneshwar’s clan. Saint Shiromani Namdev was his Guru.

Chokhamela was a Marathi Saint poet who lived in Mangalvedha near Pandharpur in Maharashtra with his wife Soyara and son Karmamela sometime in the 14th century. He was born in the Mahar cast. The Mahars were supposed to remove dead animals from people's homes and farms and dispose them off beyond the village limits. Chokhamela would work to eke out a living, but through his every waking moment, he had the Lord’s name on his lips. His devotion to Lord Vitthal was unmatched and what is astonishing is the fact that he wrote beautiful poetry in all those circumstances.

The community in his times considered him a lesser mortal. He was dispirited by the discrimination in the society. He felt like he was stuck in the mire of casteism and social structure, worldly affairs, social life and material trade. He was suffocated by all of it. But his saving grace was the Lord himself and his close association with saints.

Chokhamela migrated to Pandharpur where he listened to Sant Namdev’s Kirtan. He was moved by Namdev’s teachings and became a disciple of the great saint-poet. When he was staying at Pandharpur, Chokha’s brother-in-law Banka became a disciple of Chokha. The whole family including Chokha, Banka, his son Karmamela, wife Soyara and sister Nirmala were devotees of Vithal. There is even a popular folk lore that when his wife was pregnant, it was the Lord Vitthal himself who came to her as her sister-in-law and looked after her and became her midwife during her delivery. His son Karmamela is also a Saint. There are some beautiful Abhanga composed by SoyraBai, Karmamela, brother-in-law Banka and sister Nirmala. Chokhamela was a saint of the highest order. He would consider God in everyone -

Vithu patlacha balutedar, gavkicha Mahar
(I am a servant of Lord Vitthal, just like a Mahar is the servant of the Village Chief)

Since Saint Dnyaneshwar is the cause of spirituality reaching the masses in the thirteenth century, Saint Chokhamela says,

Khatanat yave, shuddha houni jave | davandi pithibhaave dolaa ||
(The blemished should come, and return cleansed | let the village messenger so proclaim…)

So proclaiming, he reached the spiritual and indiscriminate devotion found in the Warkari sect to his neglected brethren. All the Saints including Saint Dnyaneshwar earnestly felt that every person in the society, including people from the lowest class, should get an opportunity for developing their soul. Saint Chokhamela showed these masses the path towards spirituality using the BhaktiMarga (devotional path) through his Abhanga compositions. Saint Chokhamela was always concerned about the progress of his neglected brethren. He attempted social reform via a devotional path through his compositions to grant equal rights in society, reduce the disparity in society and eliminate the struggle between classes.

While savouring Saint Chokhamela’s devotion, one experiences a mute wail. His compositions are replete with culture, endurance, deep devotion and loyalty to oneself and give us a sense of his internal anguish.

He asks the Lord -

Heen mazha mhanati deva | kaisi ghado tumachi sevaa |
(they call me a lesser mortal | how then can I serve you |)

He is assailed by questions like

Kaa mhanun aamhi yaa yaatanaa sahan karaavayaachyaa, bhagvantaacyaa lekhi sarva tyaacheech lekre aahot naa, mag asa dujaabhaav kaa?

(why should we bear these torture, in the eyes of the Lord we are all his children, then why this discrimination?)

His Abhanga compositions are extremely poignant. Along with his devotion, his compositions reveal the misery, neglect and mental torture that he has suffered. While working on making a collection of his compositions, some researchers revealed to Abhyanga Ananta Bhatt that approximately 350 of his Abhanga compositions are available today.

Many of his Abhanga are popular even to-date-

Dhaav ghaali Vitthu aataa | Chalu nako manda |
Badve mazha maariti | aisa kahitari apraadha ||

(Run my Lord Vithoba now | Do not stroll leisurely |
The bandits pommel me | for what crime I do not know ||)

Johaar maaybaap johaara | tumchyaa mahaarchaa mee mahaara |
Bahu bhukela jaahalo | tumchyaa ushtyaa saathi aalo ||

(Greetings my dear sir and madam | I am the Mahar of your Mahar |
I have become extremely hungry| I have come for your leftovers ||

Aamuchi keli heena yatee | tuzha kaa na kale shripati |
Janma gela ushte khaataa | laazha na ye tumche chitta ||

(We have suffered so | why don’t you understand Lord|
Our entire life we’ve eaten leftovers | don’t you feel ashamed)

Oosa dongaa pari | rasa nohe dongaa | kaay bhulasasi varaliyaa rangaa ||
Chokha dongaa pari | bhaav nohe dongaa||

Vitthala Vitthala gajari | avaghi dumdumali pandhari |
(One hears the sound of Vitthal Vitthal everywhere in Pandharpur)

Just as the depth of devotion and spirituality from his compositions touches our soul, so does the torment touch our heart-

Aamha na kale dnyaan, na kale puraan | Vedaanche vachan na kale aamhaa||
Chokha mhane maazhaa bhola bhaav devaa | gaaeen keshava naam tuzhe||

(I do not understand intellectual literature, nor the scriptures | I do not understand the essence of the Veda ||
Chokha says my devotion is naïve my Lord | I can only sing your name ||)

Janmataa vital, martaa vital | chokha mhane vitaal aadiAnti |
AadiAnti vitaal saachalaa | sovala to zhaalaa kon na kale |
Chokha mhane mazha naval vaatate | vitaalparate ahe kon||

(Tainted at birth, tainted in death | Chokha says impure throughout my life |
The impurity collects from beginning to end | who became pure I do not know |
Chokha says I find it peculiar | who exactly is impure ||)

He expresses his devotion and admiration towards Saint Dnyaneshwar thus –

Kara jodoniyaa donhi | Chokha jaato lotangani |
MahaVishnucha Avataar | Pransakha Dyaneshwar ||

(I join both my hands | Chokha prostates before you |
You are the very essence of the Great Lord | my dear friend Dnyaneshwar ||)

Along with the depth of emotions, his compositions also reveal his literature talent.

Chokha used to constantly chant the name of Pandurang and clean the temple premises daily. However, he was not allowed to enter the temple due to his birth in the Mahar cast. His habitual place was at the outer doors of the temple, on the threshold. Many of his poems humbly refer to his standing there without self-pity.

There are very little historical records about Chokhamela’s life. But there are several legends and references about him in his own writings and in those of the other saint-poets of his times.

One day Chokha was said to be standing at the door of the temple from morning till late in the evening. At nightfall, the priests locked up the doors and went away. As Chokha stood there, still and lone, Vithoba himself came out, exclaimed in distress to see Chokha patiently waiting, embraced him, and led him by the hand to the innermost sanctum where he lovingly held him to his breast. The night was spent in the union of the devotee with the god, after which Vithoba playfully removed his tulsi garland which the Warkaris wear as a mark of their identity and put it around Chokha’s neck. When the day dawned, Vithoba led Chokha out of the temple, still with the garland. Chokha, in a state of bliss lay down on the sands of the river in a trance. At the temple the priests discovered that Vithoba’s gold necklace had disappeared and remembering that Chokha had been at the temple doors last, were enraged by the fact that the temple was polluted and the necklace stolen. Search parties found Chokha still dazed, with a gold necklace around the neck. He was punished for the crime. Chokha was tied to bullocks and about to be dragged to death but the animals stood their ground, despite the whip lashing them. The story ends with Vithoba revealing himself to the entire public, holding the bullocks by the horns.

One day someone questioned the futility of Chokha’s devotion to Vithoba. Humiliated and deeply hurt Chokha stopped taking food and wept endlessly till Vithoba appeared before him, embraced him, took him inside the temple and talked to him. The temple priest was outraged as he felt that the temple was again desecrated by Chokha, threw him out and ordered him to stay across the river Chandrabhaga. However it is said that Vithoba started visiting Chokha daily and both of them used to eat lunch together. One day the priest was passing by Chokha's hut when Chokha was eating lunch with God and Soyara was serving them. The priest, his mind being impure, could not see God as his mind was impure. Soyara spilled the curd on Vithoba's clothes by mistake. Chokha exclaimed, "Oh! Soyara you have soiled Vithoba's clothes". The priest felt it was a deliberate attempt by Chokha to show his devotion and slapped Chokha across his face. Later, having touched a Mahar, he bathed in the river and ferried across the river. The priest was stunned to see Lord Vitthal's swollen cheek. He realised the intensity of Chokha's devotion towards Lord. He went to Chokha, asked for his forgiveness and requested him to pacify the Lord. Chokha's prayers and request pacified Vithoba.

Chokha was forced to return to Mangalavedha as the people there wanted to construct a wall in order to separate people of the lower castes from others. While he was working there, he was killed when the wall collapsed and was crushed. Namdev deeply grieved the death of a great devotee, went to Mangalvedha to find his remains and picked up those bones that murmured Vitthal, Vitthal. The bones were buried at the bottom of the steps outside the gate of the main temple at Pandharpur where Chokha was accustomed to standing all day long. A Samadhi is built there today in Chokha’s honour. All devotees have to visit Chokha’s shrine before climbing up to Vithoba.

In the living tradition of the Warkari community Chokha’s Abhanga continue to be sung, not only by the lower castes but also by communities of pilgrims. He remains in popular memory but unfortunately has never received as much prominence as other saint poets like Namdev or Tukaram.

Saint Banka, his brother-in-law expresses his sentiments about Saint Chokha in his Abhanga thus-

Chokha chokhat nirmala | tayaa angi naahi mala ||
Chokha premacha sagar | Chokha Bhakticha Aagar ||
Chokha premachi mauli | Chokha krupechi sauli ||
Chokha manache mohan | Banka ghaali lotangana ||

Chokha is completely pure | there isn’t any dirt in him ||
Chokha is an ocean of love | Chokha is a store of devotion ||
Chokha is a filled with kindness | Chokha is a shelter of favour ||
Chokha’s mind is rich | Banka prostates before him ||

Saint Namdeo says-

Chokha maazha jeev Chokha maazhaa bhaav | kuldharma dev Chokha mazhaa |
Kaay tyaachi Bhakti Kaay tyaachi shakti | mohi aalo vyakti tayasaathi |
Mazhyaa Chokhiyaache kariti je dhyaan | tayaa kadhi vighana pado nadi ||
Namdeve asthi aanilyaa paarkhoni | ghet chakrapaani pitambar ||

(Chokha is my life Chokha is my sentiment | Chokha is my family deity|
Great is his devotion Great his strength | I came here only for him |
Whoever meditates on my Chokha | May him never be impeded ||
Namdeo carefully collected and brought his mortal remains | with the Lord in my heart)