Chokhamela was a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

saint in Maharashtra,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the 14th century. He belonged to the

Mahar Mahar, meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra" (in various languages), is an Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism i ...

caste, present day, which is considered one of the untouchable castes in India. He was born at Mehuna Raja, a village in

Deulgaon Raja Deulgaon Raja is a city and a municipal council in Buldhana district in the state of Maharashtra, India. Deulgaon Raja is located at border of Vidarbha and Marathwada.Deulgaon Raja is also called as ''Pratitirupati'' by Maharashtrian people. De ...

Taluka of

Buldhana district Buldhana district (Marathi pronunciation: ulɖʰaːɳa is located in the Amravati division of Maharashtra, India. It is situated at the western border of Vidarbha region and is 500 km away from the state capital, Mumbai. The district ha ...

. He lived at

Mangalvedha Mangalwedha is a town in the Solapur district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the birthplace of Shri Jayatirtha, also called Teekacharya, one of the prominent saints of the Dvaita school of Vedanta. Geography The city of Mangalwe ...

in Maharashtra. He wrote many

Abhanga Abhanga () is a form of devotional poetry sung in praise of the Hindu god Vitthal, also known as Vithoba. The word "abhang" comes from ''a'' for "non-" and ''bhang'' for "ending" or "interrupting", in other words, a flawless, continuous process, in ...

s. One of his famous Abhangas is 'Abir Gulal Udhlit Rang". He was one of the first low-cast poets in India. Chokhamela lived with his wife Soyarabai and son

Karmamela Sant Karmamela was a fourteenth-century poet saint from Maharashtra. He was a son of Chokhamela and Soyarabai who belonged Mahar caste. In his Abhangs he accused God for forgetting and how his life was made miserable as a low caste. He rebelled ...

in Mangalvedha. Chokhamela's task was to guard and work in farms of upper-caste people. His family also followed

varkari Warkari ( Marathi: वारकरी; Pronunciation: �aːɾkəɾiː Meaning: 'The one who performs the ''Wari) is a sampradaya (religious movement) within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism, geographically associated with the In ...

sect. *

Soyarabai Soyarabai Bhosale (née Mohite) (died 1681) was one of the eight wives of Shivaji, the founder of Maratha empire in western India. She was mother of Shivaji's second son, Rajaram. She was the younger sister of Maratha army chief Hambirrao Mohi ...

- Wife * Nirmala - Sister and her husband Banka (who is brother of Soyarabai) *

- Son Chokhamela was initiated into bhakti (spirituality) by the poet-saint

Namdev Shri Sant Namdev Maharaj (Pronunciation: aːmdeʋ, also transliterated as Nam Dayv, Namdeo, Namadeva, (traditionally, ) was a Marathi Bahujan saint from Narsi, Hingoli, Maharashtra, India within the Varkari tradition of Hinduism. He li ...

(1270-1350 CE). Once when he visited Pandharpur, he listened to Sant Namdev's kirtan. Already a devotee of Vitthal (

Vithoba Vithoba, also known as Vi(t)thal(a) and Panduranga, is a Hindu deity predominantly worshipped in the Indian state of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He is generally considered as a manifestation of the god Vishnu, or his avatar Krishna. Vithoba is ...

), Chokha was moved by Namdev's teachings. Later, he moved to Pandharpur. The traditional story is that the upper castes here did not allow him to enter the temple, nor did they allow him to stand in the door of the temple, so he instead built a hut on the other side of the river Chandrabhaga. While working on construction of a wall in Mangalvedha, near Pandharpur, the wall fell down, crushing some workers. Chokha was one of them. His tomb is in front of the Vitthal temple, Pandharpur, where it can be seen to this day. According to a legend the bones of the dead Chokhamela were still chanting ''Vitthal , Vitthal'', apparently yearning to visit the Vitthal temple. The bones were buried at the footsteps of the Vitthal temple. In early 20th century, the

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

leader

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served ...

attempted to visit the temple, but was stopped at the burial site of Chokhamela and denied entry beyond that point for being a

Books

*''On the Threshold: Songs of Chokhamela'', translated from the Marathi by Rohini Mokashi-Punekar. *

dedicated his book ''The Untouchables: Who are They and Why They Became Untouchables'' to the memory of Chokhamela,

Nandanar Nandanar (also spelt as Nantanar), also known as Tirunalaippovar (Thirunaallaippovaar (The one who will go tomorrow)) and Tiru Nalai Povar Nayanar,Other names include: Nandan (Nanda, Nantan), Tirunalaipovanar, Nalaippovar, Nalaippovan was a ...

and

Ravidas Ravidas or Raidas, was an Indian mystic poet-saint of the bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century CE. Venerated as a ''guru'' (teacher) in the modern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punj ...

. *''One Hundred Poems of Chokha Mela'', translated from Marathi by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre. *''The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History'' by Manu S. Pillai

References

External links

Chokhamela (PDF) by Punekar

Chokhamela and Eknath: Two Bhakti Modes of Legitimacy for Modern Change - Zelliot

Chokhamela: The Pioneer of Untouchable movement in Maharashtra - Prof. Nimavat

Sant Chokhamela
information in Marathi {{authority control Medieval Hindu religious leaders Warkari Dalit saints Dalit Hindu saints 14th-century Indian scholars Scholars from Maharashtra Vaishnava saints Marathi Hindu saints