For information about the Marathi poet Janabai, see this post. ‘Pandhari’ refers to a sacred site of pilgrimage; ‘so ham’ is a Hindu mantra meaning, approximately, ‘I am that’; ‘Vitthal’ is the name of a deity considered to be a form of Lord Vishnu.

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.

Translation Sarah Sellergren