Abhanga 158
English: I have set up the pounding ready, friend — shuddha-buddhi (clean mind) is my companion.
The verse
सिद्ध करूनियां ठेविलें कांडण । मज सांगातीण शुद्ध बुद्धि गे ॥१॥ आठव हा धरीं मज जागें करीं । मागिले पाहारीं सेवटिचा गे ॥ध्रु.॥ सम तुकें घाव घालीं वो साजणी । मी तुजमळिणी जंव मिळे ॥२॥ एक कशी पाखडी दुसरी निवडी । निःशेष तिसडी ओज करी ॥३॥ सरलें कांडण पाकसद्धि करी । मेळवण क्षिरीसाकरेचें ॥४॥ उद्धव अक्रूर बंधु दोघेजण । बाप नारायण जेवणार ॥५॥ तुका म्हणे मज माहेरीं आवडी । म्हणोनि तांतडी मूळ केलें ॥६॥
Literal translation
English: I have set up the pounding ready, friend — shuddha-buddhi (clean mind) is my companion. Hold this remembrance; wake me up in the last watch, the final one. Strike blows of equal weight, O lovely one — until I am with you. One (woman) winnows, another sorts; the third completes the refining-rhythm. Pounding done — make the cooked dish, the milk-and-sugar mixing. Uddhava and Akrūra, the two brother-companions; father Nārāyaṇa is the diner. Tuka says: I love my māher — that is why I sent the urgent fetch-message.
मराठी: कांडण सिद्ध करून ठेवलंय, सखी — माझी संगतीण शुद्धबुद्धी गे. आठव धर — मला जागं कर शेवटच्या पहारी. सम तुक्याने घाव घाल वो साजणी — मी तुझ्यासह जोडली जाईपर्यंत. एक पाखडते, दुसरी निवडते; तिसरी निःशेष ओज करते. कांडण संपलं — पाक-सिद्धी कर; क्षीर-साखरेची मिळवण. उद्धव-अक्रूर दोघे बंधू; बाप नारायण जेवणार. तुकाराम म्हणतात — माहेरी आवडी, म्हणून तांतडीने मूळ (बोलावणं) केलं.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सिद्ध करूनियां ठेविलें कांडण | "(I have) set up the kanḍaṇa (rice-pounding pestle/mortar) ready" |
| मज सांगातीण शुद्ध बुद्धि गे | "my companion (is) shuddha-buddhi (pure intellect/mind), friend" |
| आठव हा धरीं | "hold this remembrance" |
| मज जागें करीं | "wake me up" |
| मागिले पाहारीं सेवटिचा | "in the last watch, the final" |
| सम तुकें घाव घालीं वो साजणी | "strike blows of equal tuka (weight/measure), O lovely-one" |
| मी तुजमळिणी जंव मिळे | "until I am with you" / "while I am joining you" |
| एक कशी पाखडी | "one (woman) winnows" |
| दुसरी निवडी | "another sorts/selects" |
| निःशेष तिसडी ओज करी | "the third makes the oja (refined-rhythm/finishing) complete" |
| सरलें कांडण | "the pounding is done" |
| पाकसद्धि करी | "make the paaka (cooked dish)" |
| मेळवण क्षिरीसाकरेचें | "the mixing of milk-and-sugar" |
| उद्धव अक्रूर बंधु दोघेजण | "Uddhava and Akrūra, the two brother-companions" |
| बाप नारायण जेवणार | "father Nārāyaṇa is the diner" |
| माहेरीं आवडी | "love (longing) for māher (mother's-house)" |
| तांतडी मूळ केलें | "I sent the mūla (the call-message to come fetch me) in haste" |
What it means
A kanḍaṇa (rice-pounding) abhang — folk women's communal work as bhakti allegory. Kanḍaṇa is the rural Marathi rice-husking work where two or more women strike the mortar in alternating-rhythm with heavy pestles, accompanied by ovi (work-songs).
The structural mapping: - The pestle-work = the bhakti practice - The companion (sāngātīṇ) = shuddha-buddhi (clean-mind / discernment) — the partner you need for the work - The blows of equal weight (sam tuke) = the rhythmic discipline of practice (Tukaram's signature pun: sam tuke = even-weight, also sam-Tuke = with-Tuka) - The three women = the three stages of refinement: winnowing (initial chaff-removal), sorting (precision-separation), final refining (oja). The bhakti-work has stages, not a single move. - The final dish (kṣīra-sākhara mēḷavaṇa) = milk-and-sugar mix — the prepared bhakti offering - The diner is bāp Nārāyaṇa — father Nārāyaṇa - The closing move: māher-āvaḍī — the love-of-mother's-house. Māher is the daughter's natal home (vs. sāsar, in-laws' house); the longing-for-māher is a deep Marathi affective register Tukaram repeatedly maps onto longing-for-the-deity. मूळ — the fetch-message — is what a married woman sends to her natal family asking them to come bring her home. [T]
For someone today
This abhang names the companion-stages-and-homecoming shape of real practice:
- You need a companion. Solo-practice has limits. The companion is shuddha-buddhi — clean discernment. Find or cultivate it.
- The work has stages. Pakhāḍī (winnowing — gross removal), nivaḍī (sorting — precision), oja (final refinement). Don't try to do all three in one move.
- The output is prepared food, not raw. Pounding is not the end — paaka is. The work is for the dish, the dish is for the diner — Nārāyaṇa.
- The motive is māher-āvaḍī — love-of-original-source. The whole exercise is fetching back to the natal home. The longing is the engine.
मराठी: ही ओवी real practice चा companion-stages-and-homecoming आकार सांगते:
- संगतीण लागते. Solo-practice ला मर्यादा आहे. संगतीण शुद्धबुद्धी — स्वच्छ विवेक. शोधा किंवा जोपासा.
- कामाला stages आहेत. पाखडणी (मोठा कचरा काढणं), निवडणी (precise separation), ओज (अंतिम refinement). एका हालचालीत सर्व करू नका.
- output prepared अन्न, raw नाही. कांडण शेवट नाही — पाक. काम dish साठी, dish जेवणाऱ्या-नारायणासाठी.
- हेतू माहेरी आवडी — मूळ-स्रोताची ओढ. सर्व व्यायाम माहेरी परत आणणं. ओढ हे engine.
Where this applies
- Solo-practicing without companion. शुद्धबुद्धी gē.
- Collapsing stages of refinement. Three women, three jobs.
- Forgetting the māher-fetch is the motive. तांतडी मूळ केलें.