संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.
संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 673 of 4582

Abhanga 673

English: When a samta asks water, (he) doesn't give one cūḷa (mouthful) — but for the dāsī's bath, stores water.

When no water for saint, water for dāsī's bath — and you have to recognize this register
When back to saint, kiss to dāsī's child — and you accept this image
When spit on his face — he goes to yama-lōka — and you receive this final verdict

The verse

संत मागे पाणी नेदी एक चूळ । दासीस आंघोळ ठेवी पाणी ॥१॥ संतासी देखोनी होय पाठमोरा । दासीचिया पोरा चुंबन देतो ॥ध्रु.॥ संतासी देखोनि करितो ढवाळ्या । भावें धुतो चोळ्या दासीचिया ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे त्याच्या तोंडावरी थुंका । जातो यमलोका भोगावया ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: When a samta asks water, (he) doesn't give one cūḷa (mouthful) — but for the dāsī's bath, stores water. On seeing the samta, turns his back — gives a kiss to the dāsī's child. On seeing the samta, makes ugly faces — with bhāva, washes the dāsī's bodices. Tuka says: spit on his face — he goes to yama-lōka to suffer.

मराठी: संत पाणी मागे — एक चूळ ही नेदी — दासीच्या आंघोळीसाठी पाणी ठेवी. संत पाहून पाठमोरा — दासीच्या पोराला चुंबन. संत पाहून ढवाळ्या — भावें दासीच्या चोळ्या धुतो. Tuka म्हणे: तोंडावरी थुंका — जातो यमलोका भोगायला.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
संत मागे पाणी नेदी एक चूळ "samta asks water — doesn't-give one cūḷa"
दासीस आंघोळ ठेवी पाणी "for dāsī's bath — stores water"
संतासी देखोनी होय पाठमोरा "on seeing samtapāṭha-mōrā (turns back)"
दासीचिया पोरा चुंबन देतो "dāsī's child — gives cumbana (kiss)"
संतासी देखोनि करितो ढवाळ्या "on seeing samta — makes ḍhavāḷyām (faces / sneers)"
भावें धुतो चोळ्या दासीचिया "with bhāva — washes — dāsī's cōḷyā (bodices)"
त्याच्या तोंडावरी थुंका "on his tōṇḍa — spit"
जातो यमलोका भोगावया "goes — yama-lōka — to suffer"

What it means

A anti-hypocrite-polemic-water-for-dāsī-not-saint-yama-lōka abhang. Sharp anti-hypocrite-polemic register. The structure: each verse contrasts what the man does for the samta (none, hostility) and for the dāsī (full attention, even washing-bodices-with-bhāva).

  1. संत पाणी मागे — एक चूळ ही नेदी — दासी-आंघोळ पाणी ठेवी. Water-contrast. To the saint, not even a mouthful of water; but stores water for the dāsī's bath. Misplaced-priority-water.

  2. संत पाहून पाठमोरा — दासी-पोराला चुंबन. Back-and-kiss-contrast. Turns his back on the saint; gives kiss to the dāsī's child. Misplaced-affection. (The dāsī here is the maid-servant or possibly the kept-mistress; the priority is fully-on-her-and-her-child.)

  3. संत पाहून ढवाळ्या — भावें दासी-चोळ्या धुतो. Sneer-and-bhāva-wash-contrast. Makes ugly-faces (ḍhavāḷyā) on seeing the saint; with bhāva (devotional-feeling, the very word reserved-for-deity), washes the dāsī's cōḷyā (bodices). The bhāva that should-be-for-deity is given to washing the dāsī's clothes. (This is a very-sharp inversion: bhāva — the religious-feeling-word — applied to laundering the mistress's-bodices.)

  4. Tuka: तोंडावरी थुंका — यमलोका भोगायला. Final-verdict. Spit on his face; he goes to yama-lōka to suffer. Sharp-yama-warning.

[T]

For someone today

This abhang names the anti-hypocrite-polemic-water-for-dāsī-not-saint register:

  1. Water for dāsī's bath, none for saint. Misplaced-priority.

  2. Back to saint, kiss to dāsī's child. Misplaced-affection.

  3. Sneers at saint, bhāva for washing dāsī's bodices. Misplaced-bhāva. (This is the strongest inversion.)

  4. Spit on his face — yama-lōka. Sharp-verdict.

For today: when one's water, attention, and bhāva go to the wrong-priority (the dāsī and her child) while the saint is rejected — that one is the hypocrite who goes to yama-lōka. The bhāva meant for deity is the misplaced-resource; misplacing-it is sharper than mere neglect.

This abhang is Tukaram's anti-hypocrite-polemic-with-yama-warning registerone of the sharpest social-polemic abhangs. Compare 0410 series village-deity-anti-polemic; same anti-misplaced-priority but here the misplacement is between-saint-and-dāsī. The bhāva applied to washing-bodices-of-the-mistress is the diagnostic image: bhāva misallocated*.

मराठी: ही ओवी anti-hypocrite-polemic-water-for-dāsī-not-saint register नाव सांगते:

  1. Dāsī-आंघोळ पाणी, संत-नाही. Misplaced-priority.

  2. संत-पाठमोरा, dāsī-पोरा-चुंबन. Misplaced-affection.

  3. संत-ढवाळ्या, dāsī-चोळ्या-bhāva-धुणे. Misplaced-bhāva.

  4. तोंडावरी थुंका — यमलोका. Sharp-verdict.

आज: पाणी-attention-bhāva सर्व चुकीच्या-priority-त (dāsī-आणि-तिचं-पोरं) पण संत-rejected — तो hypocrite yamalōka-त-जातो. Bhāva — deity-साठी असलेलं — हें misplaced-resource; misplacing सहज-neglect-पेक्षा sharper.

Tukaram च-anti-hypocrite-polemic-with-yama-warning-registerSharpest social-polemic abhangs पैकी एक. 0410-series village-deity-anti-polemic compare; तीच anti-misplaced-priority पण इथे misplacement between-saint-and-dāsī. Bhāva washing-bodices-of-mistress-त applied — diagnostic-image: bhāva misallocated*.

Where this applies

Related verses