Abhanga 276
Tukaram describes a familiar kind of hypocrite — the mouth that praises you to your face and then turns around and slanders you the moment you're gone. This is the mark of a low character: someone who buries what's genuinely valuable and instead feasts on what's worthless, getting his values backwards. Even good things fed to such a person don't nourish him — like sweet food that just passes straight through and turns to waste, the goodness never really gets absorbed. And Tukaram closes with a sharp image: like a scorpion whose sting gains it nothing but still leaves it agitated and tense, this two-faced behavior brings the hypocrite no real reward — the strain and misery of living that way is punishment enough in itself.
The verse
जेणें मुखें स्तवी । तें चि निंदे पाठीं लावी ॥१॥ ऐसी अधमाची याती । लोपी सोनें खाय माती ॥ध्रु.॥ गुदद्वारा वाटे । मिष्टान्नांचा नरक लोटे ॥२॥ विंचु लाभाविण । तुका म्हणे वाहे शीण ॥३॥
Literal translation
Whose mouth praises — (then) back-bites the same one. Such is the adhama's nature: hides gold — eats dirt. Through the guda-dvāra, the miṣṭānna rolls to naraka. Tuka says: the scorpion — without gain — just carries the śiṇa.
मराठी: जेणें मुखें स्तवी — तें चि निंदे पाठीं लावी. ऐसी अधमाची याती — लोपी सोनें खाय माती. गुदद्वारा वाटे — मिष्टान्नांचा नरक लोटे. विंचु लाभाविण — तुकाराम म्हणतात — वाहे शीण.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जेणें मुखें स्तवी | "the mouth by-which (he) praises" |
| तें चि निंदे पाठीं लावी | "that very (one) — back-bites — appliesnindā (to the back)" |
| ऐसी अधमाची याती | "such is the adhama (low-one)'s yāti (nature / kind)" |
| लोपी सोनें खाय माती | "hides gold — eatsmāti(dirt)" |
| गुदद्वारा वाटे | "through the guda-dvāra (rectum)" |
| मिष्टान्नांचा नरक लोटे | "the miṣṭānna (sweet-food) — rolls — to naraka" |
| विंचु लाभाविण | "the vimcu (scorpion) — without gain" |
| तुका म्हणे वाहे शीण | "Tuka says: just carries theśiṇa(strain)" |
What it means
A two-tongued anti-hypocrisy abhang. Three image-clusters:
-
जेणें मुखें स्तवी — तें चि निंदे पाठीं लावी — the mouth that praises — back-bites the same. The praise-then-bite-back pattern. Stuti-and-nindā for the same person. Mouth-praise + back-nindā is the adhama's signature.
-
ऐसी अधमाची याती — लोपी सोनें खाय माती — such is the adhama's nature: hides gold, eats dirt. The value-inversion image. Gold (real value) is hidden (= suppressed, denied, stolen); dirt (worthlessness) is eaten (= consumed, prized). The adhama prefers and consumes the worthless while suppressing the valuable.
-
गुदद्वारा वाटे — मिष्टान्नांचा नरक लोटे — through the rectum, the sweet-food rolls to naraka. The digestion-failure image. The sweet-food eaten (= the valuable input received) — instead of being absorbed and nourishing — passes through the rectum to the naraka of refuse. The adhama's input-output is corrupted: he receives the sweet but produces the refuse.
-
विंचु लाभाविण — वाहे शीण — the scorpion — without gain — just carries theśiṇa(strain). The closing image. The scorpion is poisonous-and-strained-by-its-own-nature; its activity produces no gain for itself. The adhama's two-tongued activity — like the scorpion — produces no gain but carries the strain. The back-biting is its own punishment.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram describes a familiar kind of hypocrite — the mouth that praises you to your face and then turns around and slanders you the moment you're gone. This is the mark of a low character: someone who buries what's genuinely valuable and instead feasts on what's worthless, getting his values backwards. Even good things fed to such a person don't nourish him — like sweet food that just passes straight through and turns to waste, the goodness never really gets absorbed. And Tukaram closes with a sharp image: like a scorpion whose sting gains it nothing but still leaves it agitated and tense, this two-faced behavior brings the hypocrite no real reward — the strain and misery of living that way is punishment enough in itself.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक ओळखीचा दुतोंडी माणूस रंगवतात — जो तोंडावर स्तुती करतो आणि पाठ फिरताच तीच व्यक्ती निंदा करतो. हे हलक्या स्वभावाचे लक्षण आहे — जो खऱ्या मौल्यवान गोष्टी झाकून ठेवतो आणि निरुपयोगी गोष्टींवरच ताव मारतो, ज्याचे मूल्यमापनच उलटे झालेले असते. अशा माणसाला चांगली गोष्ट दिली तरी त्याचे पोषण होत नाही — जसे गोड अन्न शरीरातून तसेच निघून वाया जाते, तसे त्याच्यातील चांगुलपणा कधीच शोषला जात नाही. आणि तुकाराम शेवटी एक बोचरी प्रतिमा मांडतात — विंचवाच्या डंखातून त्याला काहीच मिळत नाही, तरी तो सतत अस्वस्थ व तणावग्रस्त राहतो, तसेच हे दुतोंडी वागणे त्या माणसाला काहीच खरा लाभ मिळवून देत नाही — असे जगण्याचा त्रास आणि दुःखच त्याची पुरेशी शिक्षा असते.
Where this applies
- Praise-then-bite-back signature. Adhama-diagnostic.
- Value-inversion: gold-hidden, dirt-eaten. Pattern-test.
- Sweet-food becomes refuse. Don't assume good-input absorbs.
- Scorpion strains without gain. Self-punishing.