Muktabai and Taatiche Abhang : Part 1

 

Sant Muktabai:

India has a rich tradition of poet saints who lived in various periods in history and different parts of the country. Amongst them were many women. Meerabai is perhaps the most famous of these. In the state of Maharashtra there have been a number of women saints who have left behind a legacy of rich spiritual literature. There was Soyrabai ( the wife of Chokha mela), Nirmala( sister of Chokha mela), Janabai( a maid in the home of Sant Namdev), Muktabai ( Dnyaaneshwar’s sister), Kanhopatra,  and Bahinabai to name a few. 

Muktabai was the youngest of Dnyaaneshwar’s siblings. She lived from 1279 to 1297. In that short life span of only 18 years she left her own mark in the world of spirituality despite living in the shadow of her stellar sibling, Sant Dnyaaneshwar. She has been credited with barely 42 abhangas, a very small number when compared to the enormous body of work by Dnyaaneshwar. Yet the density of wisdom contained in those few poems is immense and gives a good idea of her spiritual maturity and depth.

Historically and traditionally spiritual wisdom has been passed down from teacher to student since Vedic times. Most of the Upanishads comprise of a dialogue between the two. In the Bhagwad Gita the conversation is between friends, Krishna and Arjun. Sometimes the dialogue is between spiritually inclined husband and wife like Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. In Kathopanishad it is between a young boy Nachiket and the Lord of Death, Yama. These spiritual discourses between two individuals were really meant for a larger audience that would extend for generations to learn from. The setting was simply a pretext. The Sanskrit word is Leela. A divine play. These were enactments staged by the Almighty to deliver a message to the masses. 

One such divine play was in the lives of the four siblings, Nivrittinath, Dnyaaneshwar, Sopandev and Muktabai ( named in order of their seniority). Their father Vitthalapant had taken sanyas ( life of renunciation) but returned to the life of a family man( grihasthashram) after receiving such orders from his guru. The orthodox community took objection to this and ostracized the family. Overcome with great concern for the future of their kids, Vitthala pant sought remediation for his mistakes. The priests were merciless and pronounced a death sentence for him. He prepared to sacrifice his life if his kids would be accepted by society. His wife Rukmini bai decided to follow in his footsteps. One day before day break both quietly slipped out of home, taking one last glance at their innocent kids as they lay asleep, unaware of what was to come. Both parents threw themselves into a river to obey the orders of the high priests.

The orphaned kids looked in vain for their parents until they found out what had happened. It didn’t take much time for them to realize that their parents had sacrificed their lives for nothing. The authorities who had ordered their deaths had no intention to keep their side of the bargain. The kids were unwelcome even after the high price their parents had paid. Not only were they orphans but now they had to go find food for themselves. Sometimes they found a kind soul who offered them food, other times they went hungry. They were treated with much contempt and regarded as outlaws. Kids of sinners are sinners for life, per the priest leaders. 

The hardships that these kids endured are difficult for anyone to imagine. There were orders from higher authorities for others to not offer them food or fuel for cooking. Harsh words from every corner had become an everyday thing. Humiliation, hunger and harassment had become habitual. 

On one such day Dnyaaneshwar was subjected to a barrage of insults by a priest just because he happened to be by the roadside while the latter was passing by. The extremely sensitive young mind, though used to such humiliation from time to time, was very much affected by the incident. He could take it no more and he couldn’t retaliate either. He took off from there and hurried to their humble home to seek solitude, closing the door behind him. 

His siblings returned one by one from their individual rounds of seeking food for the day. They realized  Dnyaaneshwar had locked himself inside. They called out to him yet he would not open the door. 

The older brothers called out trying to console him. No success. Then little Muktabai called out saying “ Dnyaana dada, please open the door( taati)“. Despite her sweet pleas when there was no movement from inside, this young girl began to address her brother in a language that he would understand. The language of Brahma Vidya, knowledge of the Universal Spirit.  The abhangas that she recited on that occasion to console her older brother are famously known as Taatiche Abhang. 

She was all of nine years old at the time!! A girl orphaned at a very tender age, raised without her parents, in the loving care of three older brothers, who were themselves young when they lost their parents. But all four of them were divine beings. They were highly evolved souls who had come to earth with a divine purpose. Each one was already equipped with the highest spiritual knowledge. Many commentators believe that Dnyaaneshwar being a highly evolved soul himself did not need anyone’s instructions to rise above insults and harassment. But the particular incident was a divine act created on purpose so little Muktabai got an opportunity to reveal her inherent wisdom. She is believed to be the incarnation of Adi Shakti. In twelve short verses she has expounded exquisite spiritual wisdom in the form of a dialogue aimed at her brother. 

One particular commentator believes that Dnyaaneshwar sat in a deep meditative state inside the hut and the wisdom that pervaded in his paraa vaani was perceived by Muktabai through intuitive powers and she uttered it through Vaikhari ( expressed speech) for others to hear. So she was the channel for the Divine Wisdom to be revealed to the masses.

At the end of her entire recitation of the twelve abhangas Dnyaaneshwar is said to have opened the taati ( door) and come outside to meet his anxious siblings, thus ending the standoff. 

Muktabai had a unique personality amongst the four siblings. Nivrittinath was ascetic and a highly learned person who was initiated into Brahma Vidya by Gahininath from the sect of Navnaths. Dnyaaneshwar was sensitive and brilliant, the softest of all. Sopandev was contemplative. Muktabai had traits from all her brothers plus more. She was perky, occasionally pesky and not afraid of calling a spade a spade. The Taatiche abhanga reveal a maternal instinct in her towards her elder brother, hence she is also referred to as Muktai. There are legends where she tamed the arrogance of spiritual giants like Sant Namdev and Changdev. If Dnyaaneshwar was sweetness personified, Muktabai was the spice that balanced the quadruple equation. She took turns to be a student, child, mother, teacher and protector of her siblings at different times.

Not much longer after Dnyaaneshwar took samadhi, followed by Sopandev, Muktabai’s earthly life was concluded when she disappeared into a flash of lightning, in the presence of Nivrittinath, the last surviving sibling who took samadhi after her. They had all fulfilled the purposes they had arrived to complete and took leave when it was done. Their works are immortal and through that they remain immortalized.

 

I will discuss one of the Taaticha abhanga in my next post.

Saree is a printed Bhagalpur tussar.