संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 518 of 4582

Abhanga 518

Tukaram uses mock, biting instructions before his final departure to expose his household's greed and insist on plain speech and simple living instead.

When the bhakta gives final-instructions before leaving for Vārāṇasī — and you have to recognize this register

When the bhakta forbids opening grain-bins and brāhmaṇa-feeding — and you accept this anti-householder-frugality

When the bhakta speaks plainly about household-greed — and you receive this candor

The verse

जातो वाराणसी । निरवी गाई घोडे म्हैसी ॥१॥ गेलों येतों नाहीं ऐसा । सत्य मानावा भरवसा ॥ध्रु.॥ नका काढूं माझीं पेवें । तुम्हीं वरळा भूस खावें ॥२॥ भिकारियाचे पाठीं । तुम्ही घेउनि लागा काठी ॥३॥ सांगा जेवाया ब्राम्हण । तरी कापा माझी मान ॥४॥ वोकलिया वोका । म्यां खर्चिला नाहीं रुका ॥५॥ तुम्हीं खावें ताकपाणी । जतन करा तूपलोणी ॥६॥ नाहीं माझें मनीं । पोरें रांडा नागवणी ॥७॥ तुका म्हणे नीट । होतें तैसें बोले स्पष्ट ॥८॥

Literal translation

Going to Vārāṇasī — leaving cows-horses-buffaloes. Gone, not coming back — believe the trust. Don't dig up my pēvē — you eat varaḷā-bhūsa. Take a kāṭhī to beggars' backs. If you call brāhmaṇa to feed — cut my throat. Vomit the vōka — I didn't spend a rūkā. You eat tāka-pāṇī — preserve tūpa-lōṇī. Not in my mind — sons-widows-naked-girls. Tuka says: straight — as it was — speaks spaṣṭa.

मराठी: जातो वाराणसी — निरवी गाई घोडे म्हैसी. गेलों येतों नाहीं ऐसा — सत्य मानावा भरवसा. नका काढूं माझीं पेवें — तुम्हीं वरळा भूस खावें. भिकारियाचे पाठीं — तुम्ही घेउनि लागा काठी. सांगा जेवाया ब्राम्हण — तरी कापा माझी मान. वोकलिया वोका — म्यां खर्चिला नाहीं रुका. तुम्हीं खावें ताकपाणी — जतन करा तूपलोणी. नाहीं माझें मनीं — पोरें रांडा नागवणी. तुकाराम म्हणतां — नीट — होतें तैसें — बोले स्पष्ट.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
जातो वाराणसी निरवी गाई घोडे म्हैसी	"going Vārāṇasī — leaving cows-horses-buffaloes"
गेलों येतों नाहीं ऐसा	"gone — not coming-back"
सत्य मानावा भरवसा	"believe — the trust"
नका काढूं माझीं पेवें	"don't dig up my pēvē"
तुम्हीं वरळा भूस खावें	"you eat — varaḷā-bhūsa"
भिकारियाचे पाठीं	"beggars' backs"
तुम्ही घेउनि लागा काठी	"take a kāṭhī (stick) to them"
सांगा जेवाया ब्राम्हण तरी कापा माझी मान	"if you call brāhmaṇa to feed — cut my throat"
वोकलिया वोका म्यां खर्चिला नाहीं रुका	"vomit the vōka — I didn't spend a rūkā"
तुम्हीं खावें ताकपाणी जतन करा तूपलोणी	"you eat tāka-pāṇī — preserve tūpa-lōṇī"
नाहीं माझें मनीं पोरें रांडा नागवणी	"not in my mind — sons-widows-naked-girls"
नीट होतें तैसें बोले स्पष्ट	"straight — as it was — spaṣṭa"

What it means

A famous and dark pre-Vārāṇasī-final-instructions abhang. Eight verses of biting candor about household-greed. The traditional context: Tukaram is announcing his final-renunciation, leaving for Vārāṇasī (the pilgrimage-place where one goes to die), and giving his household final-orders that mock-exaggerate the family's-greed. Eight claims:

जातो वाराणसी — निरवी गाई घोडे म्हैसी — going Vārāṇasī — leaving cows-horses-buffaloes. The opening-departure: I am going toVārāṇasī; I amniravī(entrusting, formally-handing-over) the cows-horses-buffaloes. Final-departure-with-cattle-handover.
गेलों येतों नाहीं ऐसा — सत्य मानावा भरवसा — gone, not coming back — believe the trust. The not-coming-back-claim: I have gone, not coming back like-this; believe (satya mānāvā) thebharavasā(trust, certainty). This-time-it's-final.
नका काढूं माझीं पेवें — तुम्हीं वरळा भूस खावें — don't dig up my pēvē — you eat varaḷā-bhūsa. The no-grain-bin-greed-instruction: don'tkāḍhūm(dig up, open) mypēvē(grain-bins, underground-storage); you eatvaraḷā-bhūsa(rough-chaff, the husk-with-some-grain). Don't-greed-the-stored-grain.
भिकारियाचे पाठीं — तुम्ही घेउनि लागा काठी — beggars' backs — take stick to them. The anti-charity-mockery: take akāṭhī(stick) and chase the beggars' backs. Mock-instruction: the family is so-greedy they would chase beggars away with a stick. (This is biting-irony, not actual instruction.)
सांगा जेवाया ब्राम्हण — तरी कापा माझी मान — if you call brāhmaṇa to feed — cut my throat. The anti-brāhmaṇa-feeding-mockery: if you call abrāhmaṇato feed (the standard śrāddha-rite for a deceased)—cut my throat.No-brāhmaṇa-fed-in-my-name.Tukaram refusing the conventional after-death-ritual. (Anti-clerical bite.)
वोकलिया वोका — म्यां खर्चिला नाहीं रुका — vomit the vōka — I didn't spend a rūkā. The frugality-claim: vomit (vōkaliyā) thevōka(= what was-vomited, = anything taken-by-force or ill-gotten); I didn't spend arūkā(penny). I-was-frugal-don't-be-greedy-after-me.
तुम्हीं खावें ताकपाणी — जतन करा तूपलोणी — you eat tāka-pāṇī — preserve tūpa-lōṇī. The household-frugality-instruction: you eattāka-pāṇī(whey-water, watered-buttermilk = the cheapest food); preserve (jatana karā) thetūpa-lōṇī(ghee-butter, the expensive food). Live-cheap-don't-squander.
नाहीं माझें मनीं — पोरें रांडा नागवणी — तुका म्हणे नीट — होतें तैसें बोले स्पष्ट — not in my mind — sons-widows-naked-girls — Tuka says: straight — as it was — speaks plainly. The closing-disclaimer: not in my mind — sons-widows-naked-girls (= I-have-no-thought-for-the-children-widows-poor-girls of the family, in the same selfish-vein the family will operate);Tuka says: straight — as it was — speaks spaṣṭa (plainly, bluntly).The bhakta speaks-plainly about household-greed without sugarcoating.

[T]

For someone today

On the eve of what he frames as his final departure, Tukaram leaves his household a set of biting, ironic instructions: don't dig into the grain stores, eat only rough chaff, chase beggars away with a stick, and never feed a brahmin in his memory. He isn't actually telling them to be cruel or greedy; he's holding up a mirror to how a household clings to wealth and status once its steadying figure is gone. He insists he spent nothing extravagant himself and asks his family to live simply, on watery buttermilk, and to guard the good ghee rather than waste it. The abhang ends with his own signature move: he speaks plainly, exactly as things are, without softening the truth.

मराठी: आपल्या अखेरच्या प्रयाणाच्या उंबरठ्यावर, तुकाराम आपल्या घरच्यांना काही तिखट आणि उपरोधिक सूचना देतात, धान्याच्या कोठारांना हात लावू नका, फक्त भुसा खा, भिकाऱ्यांना काठी घेऊन हाकला, आणि माझ्या स्मरणार्थ ब्राह्मणाला जेवू घालू नका. ते खरोखर क्रूर किंवा लोभी वागायला सांगत नाहीत, तर एखाद्याचा धाक संपल्यावर घरदार पैशाला आणि प्रतिष्ठेला कसं चिकटून राहतं, याचा आरसा ते दाखवत आहेत. आपण स्वतः कधीही उधळपट्टी केली नाही असं सांगून, ते आपल्या माणसांना साधेपणाने ताकपाण्यावर राहायला आणि चांगलं तूप वाया न घालवता जपून ठेवायला सांगतात. शेवटी तुकाराम आपली खासियत दाखवतात, ते सत्य मऊ न करता जसं आहे तसं स्पष्ट बोलतात.

Where this applies

Final-Vārāṇasī departure. Don't-expect-return.
Mock-greed-instructions. Mirror-mock.
Frugality rule. Don't-squander.
Spaṣṭa speech. Plain-mirror.