Abhanga 257

Cruelty dressed up as religion is still cruelty, and any borrowed, painted-on holiness cannot survive being scratched or questioned.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A short anti-violence-with-religion-cover abhang. Three accusations:

1. आणिकांच्या कापिती माना — निष्ठ‍पणा पार नाहीं — cut others' necks — no end of cruelty. The violent-claimants. Cutting others' necks — literal violence in the religious-frame (perhaps: animal-sacrifice, oppressing other-traditions, social-violence in the name of religion). The cruelty has no end / no shore.

2. करिती बेटे उसणवारी — यमपुरी भोगावया — make borrowing-bonds — to enjoy yamapurī. The karma-borrowing. Uṣaṇa-vārī — borrowing-bonds, mutual-debt-arrangements. The implication: by participating in violence-cycles, they create karmic-borrowings between each other that they will jointly enjoy in yamapurī (death-city / hell). The violence-cycle is also a debt-cycle.

3. सेंदराचें दैवत केलें — नवस बोले तयासि — made the sēndara into a deity — vow spoken to it. The fake-deity-making. Sēndara is vermilion-paint used to anoint stones; the painted-stone becomes a "deity"; vows are made to it. The fake-deity is the receiver-of-vows. (Compare 244's of-the-deva while disrespecting-the-deva.)

4. तुका म्हणे नाचति पोरें — खोडितां येरें अंग दुखे — Tuka says: the children dance — scratched, the body hurts. The closing-image is opaque but suggestive. Likely-readings:

5. When the children dance (= when the fake-claimants perform their religious-show) — if anyone scratches (= challenges, examines, exposes), the body hurts (= the real-pain of the fake is exposed). The fake-show cannot withstand scrutiny.
6. Or: the dancing is shallow; the slightest scratch reveals the underlying-pain.

[T]

For someone today

This abhang names an old and still-familiar combination — violence dressed up as religion. Cutting other people down, in whatever form that cruelty takes, doesn't become less cruel just because it is done with a religious justification; recognize it for what it is. Those who commit such violence together are, in a sense, borrowing against each other's karma, a debt they will end up paying jointly in the realm of death. Watch too for the fake deity — a stone smeared with vermilion and dressed up as sacred, to which people then make vows — that kind of manufactured holiness is not the real thing. And Tuka's closing image says it plainly: a show or a claim that is only surface deep hurts the moment it is scratched or questioned, while what is genuine can withstand real scrutiny.

मराठी: ही ओवी एक जुनी आणि आजही ओळखीची गोष्ट सांगते — धर्माच्या नावाखाली लपवलेली हिंसा. इतरांना चिरडणं, मग ते कोणत्याही रूपात असो, ते धार्मिक समर्थनाने केलं म्हणून कमी क्रूर होत नाही — ते जसं आहे तसंच ओळखा. असं हिंसाचार एकत्र करणारे लोक जणू एकमेकांच्या कर्माचं कर्ज घेत असतात, जे त्यांना पुढे मृत्युलोकात एकत्रच फेडावं लागतं. तसंच खोट्या दैवताकडेही लक्ष द्या — शेंदूर फासलेला दगड पवित्र म्हणून सजवला जातो आणि त्याला लोक नवस बोलतात — अशी बनावट पवित्रता खरी नसते. आणि तुकारामांची शेवटची प्रतिमा स्पष्टच सांगते — जो देखावा किंवा दावा फक्त वरवरचा असतो, तो खरवडताच किंवा प्रश्न विचारताच दुखावतो, तर जे खरं असतं ते खऱ्याखुऱ्या तपासणीलाही टिकून राहतं.

Where this applies

• Violence-with-religion-cover. Recognize.
• Karma-borrowing for yamapurī. Participants jointly bound.
• Sēndara-deity making. Painted-stones with vows.
• Fake-form hurts when scratched. Test of authenticity.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr