By my life I will not let you go

by Janabai

English version by Sarah Sellergren
Original Language Marathi

I caught the thief of Pandhari
by tying a rope around his neck.

I made my heart the prison cell
and locked him up inside.

I bound him firmly with the Word,
I fettered his holy feet,

I thrashed him, whipped him
with the word so'ham
while Vitthal complained bitterly.

Sorry, O Lord,
says Jani,
by my life I will not let you go.

-- from Images of Women in Maharashtrian Literature and Religion, Edited by Anne Feldhaus

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Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the Present: Volume 1 Images of Women in Maharashtrian Literature and Religion Women Saints in World Religions



By my life I will