TRILOCHAN

TRILOCHAN, one of the three Maharashtrian saint poets whose compositions are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the other two being Namdev and Parmanand. Trilochan is said to have been born in AD 1267 of a Vaisya family. There is no unanimity among scholars regarding the place of his birth. Some say that he was born in the village of Bars! in present day Sholapur district of Maharashtra, others that he was born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh but came to Maharashtra where he spent most of his life. Besides being an ardent Vaisnavite, Trilochan (lit. the three eyed, that is one who can see the past, present and future all at once) was a learned scholar well versed in the Puranic lore and Indian philosophical thought.

Among the slokas of Bhakta Kabir, incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib are interposed two (212 and 213) which purport to represent a dialogue between Trilochan and Namdev. In the first sloka Trilochan, adressing Namdev, who was commonly seen occupied with the printing of cotton sheets, which was his profession, derided him for being too much attached to the world. Namdev in the second sloka gently tells Trilochan that true bhakti lay in lovingly repeating the Lord`s Name while doing one`s work with one`s hands and feet. Four hymns of Trilochan are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, one each in Siri Raga and Dhanasari Raga, and two in Gujari Raga.

The theme of the hymn in the. Siri Raga (GG. 92) turns upon God, man, devotion, death and the final release (moksa). God is all pervading, present in every place, and knows everything ; man, oblivious of death, remains engrossed in love of family, the neighbour`s possessions, pleasures and mammon and comes to grief. Of Trilochan`s two hymns in Raga Gujari, the first, in order to stress the superiority of a pure heart and devotion to God, questions seriously the validity of all mendicant garbs, ritualistic observances, and ascetical practices. The second hymn in Raga Gujari centres upon the psyche of man and transmigration. Trilochan in consonance with the Indian religious conception says that the last thoughts of the dying man, the result of the passion and desires which ruled his life, determine his future birth.

A dying man absorbed in the thought of wealth will be born a serpent, a man absorbed in the thought of woman will be born sans morals. Trilochan`s hymn in Raga Dhanasari (GG,695) abounding in allusions to the Indian Puranic literature and mythology puts forth the view that one`s own acts are exonerable only through the remembrance of God`s Name. In this hymn, as in the hymns of Namdev, the use of che has been made in relational cases, e.g. “…ta che mohijapiale ram che naman,” “bisv ka dipaku svami ta che re suarathi pankhi rai garur ta che badhava”, etc.

References :

1. Sabadarth Sn Guru Granth Sahib. Amritsar, 1959
2. Gurdit Singh, Giani, Itihas Sri Guru Granth Sahib (BhagatBamBhag). Chandigarh, 1990
3. Sahib Singh, Bhagat Bani Satik. Amritsar, 1959-60
4. Chaturvedi, Parshu Ram, Uttan Bharat ki Sant Prampara. Allahabad, 1964
5. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion : Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Autliors. Oxford, 1909