Abhanga 352

This verse's fierce imagery about a devotion-less child says, in the strongest terms the tradition has, that living with no orientation toward God is a real loss, not a literal curse on mothers.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A severe anti-abhakta-child gravity abhang. Three claims:

1. गर्भाचें धारण — तिनें वागविला सिण — garbha-dhāraṇa — she carried the śiṇa. The opening-fact: the mother carried the womb-strain — for nine months. Garbha-śiṇa — the physical-burden of pregnancy.

2. व्याली कुर्‍हाडीचा दांडा — वर न घली च तोंडा — gave birth to an axe-handle — should not show face above. The severe-image: the abhakta-child is a kuṛhāḍī-dāṇḍā (axe-handle). The axe-handle is what cuts the tree (= destroys the very wood from which it came); the abhakta-child destroys the kuḷa from which (s)he came. The mother of such a child should not show her face above.

3. उपजला काळ — कुळा लाविला विटाळ — born — kāḷa — placed viṭāḷa on the kuḷa. The consequence: the abhakta-child iskāḷa(death) born; places viṭāḷa (defilement) on the kuḷa (clan). The kuḷa is stained.

4. तुका म्हणे जाय — नरका अभक्ताची माय — Tuka says: the abhakta's mother goes to naraka. The closing-claim: theabhakta's mother — goes tonaraka(hell). The severity is on the mother; not on the abhakta-child alone.

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For someone today

This abhang uses shockingly harsh imagery to make a point: a mother carries the burden of pregnancy for nine months, but if the child grows up with no devotion at all, that effort feels wasted, even worse than wasted. Tukaram compares such a child to an axe handle — the very thing that ends up cutting down the tree it came from, bringing shame rather than pride to the family. The claim that even the mother is dragged down to hell is not meant literally as a curse on real mothers; it is the tradition's way of using its strongest possible language to insist that living with no orientation toward God is a genuine and serious loss, not a minor failing.

मराठी: या ओवीत अतिशय तीव्र प्रतिमा वापरून तुकाराम एक मुद्दा मांडतात: आई नऊ महिने गर्भाचा भार सोसते, पण जर मूल मोठे होऊन पूर्णपणे भक्तिहीन राहिले, तर तो सगळा त्रास वाया गेल्यासारखा, किंबहुना त्याहूनही वाईट वाटतो. तुकाराम अशा मुलाची तुलना कुऱ्हाडीच्या दांड्याशी करतात — जो शेवटी ज्या झाडापासून बनला त्याच झाडाला तोडतो, आणि कुळाला अभिमानाऐवजी लाज आणतो. आईलाही नरकात जावे लागते हे विधान प्रत्यक्ष आयांना दिलेला शाप नाही; तर देवाभिमुख न राहणे हे किती गंभीर, खरेखुरे नुकसान आहे हे ठासून सांगण्यासाठी परंपरेने वापरलेली सर्वात कडक भाषा आहे.

Where this applies

• Garbha-dhāraṇa with abhakta-result is wasted. Result matters.
• Kuṛhāḍī-dāṇḍādestroyskuḷa. Self-destroying axe-handle.
• Viṭāḷaonkuḷa through abhakta-birth. Defilement-rule.
• Mother to naraka. Gravity-marker (not literal pronouncement).

Related verses

• Abhanga 2425 — Surrender every part of your life completely to what you trust most, and let go of the res
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2484 — Real devotion can include anger and demand, not just sweetness, because a devotee who trul
• Abhanga 2540 — Even the smallest, most helpless creature that cries out to God in danger is sheltered and