A 17th C. Marathi saint poet, Tukaram appealed directly to the masses through his abhangs. Born at Dehu near Pune, he was a devotee of Vithoba of Pandharpur and performed kirtans at various places near Pune. It is believed that after a crisis in his personal life and a poetic inspiration through a dream, he began his prolific composing. His spiritual Guru, Babaji is said to have appeared in his dream after which a transformation happened in his life. His poetic works are simple in language and spontaneous yet spiritually superior. His abhangas run into thousands and convey a lot of spiritual and social values. Some of them relate to incidents from his own life. He was adept in the shastras and it is said that he was once forbidden to compose any abhangs, due to caste differences. His Gatha, the manuscript of 3000 poems sunk in the Indrayani river, is believed to have come up floating He contributed towards the strengthening of the varkari sect and has left a huge following of disciples. Some of his popular abhangs include Maran majhe maran gele, Taruvar bijapoti, stavuniya nara, gajarachi pungi, sukh pahata javapade, kam nahin kam' and Tu majhi mauli' among others.