1000 Days of Tukaram is a long-term public writing and translation project dedicated to the poetry and philosophy of Sant Tukaram, one of Maharashtra’s most beloved saint-poets. Every day, for one thousand days, the project shares a small reflection, translation, or interpretation inspired by Tukaram’s abhangas and worldview.
The aim of the project is not simply to translate old devotional poetry into English, but to bring Tukaram into conversation with modern life. His work speaks deeply about exhaustion, ego, love, inequality, faith, grief, work, community, and the search for meaning. Even centuries later, his words continue to feel startlingly alive.
Through short videos, essays, spoken word performances, and written reflections, 1000 Days of Tukaram attempts to make this literary and spiritual tradition more accessible to younger audiences, especially those who may feel culturally disconnected from their roots but are still searching for depth and belonging.
The project also explores the idea that devotional literature can be a living public conversation rather than a museum object. Tukaram was not writing from comfort or abstraction. His poetry emerged from famine, loss, labour, social tension, and spiritual longing. In many ways, his work remains deeply relevant to contemporary questions around identity, mental health, dignity, and collective life.
1000 Days of Tukaram is part translation project, part literary archive, part spiritual inquiry, and part cultural documentation. Above all, it is an attempt to slow down and build a sustained relationship with one body of work over time.
The project is hosted under Poetry is Protest, a platform dedicated to rooted writing, reflective culture, and the spoken and written word.
You can find all the translation reels of the project on Instagram.