TUKARAM

born 1608, Dehu, near Pune, India died 1649 Marathi poet who is often considered to be the greatest writer in the language. His abhangas, or unbroken hymns, are among the most famous Indian poems. The son of a shopkeeper, Tukaram was orphaned in childhood. Failing in business and family life, he renounced the world and became an itinerant ascetic. It is believed that he threw himself into a river and drowned. Tukaram is thought to have written over 4,000 abhangas, most of which were addressed to the god Vithoba of Pandharpur. An edition of his poems translated into English by J. Nelson Fraser and K.B. Marathe was published in 190915 and reprinted in 1981.