One Hundred Poems of Chokha Mela

A revised edition of the prescribed text for "Indian Literature in Translation" course of M.A. (Honours) in English & M.A. (Honours with Research) in English programmes of the University of Mumbai********************************************Sant Chokha Mela (13th-14th century) was born in the Mahar community which lay at the bottom of the caste hierarchy prevalent in the contemporary society. Of course, he was not to have any education even in the remotest sense of the word. Yet, such was the influence of the two founding fathers and other saints of the Varkari Sect that Chokha Mela could compose poetry of the highest order. Poetry that has stood the test of time for last seven hundred years and has become the finest example of the expression of human angst caused by the oppressive societal norms. Each poem by Chokha Mela, or Chokhoba as he was fondly called by his peers, stands testimony to the inhuman treatment that was meted out to large sections of society in the name of religion. Each of his poems is a cry of the bereaved soul that has been deprived of its humanness itself. Each of the poem is a powerful statement against the repression that a handful carried out against the masses. Such is the intensity of these poems that their reader feels the very angst that the Poet must have undergone. Such is the grip that these poems take over the reader's mind that one feels their guts being wrenched, remembering the agony of the Poet's expressions long after the poems have been read and the book kept aside.