संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 790 of 4582

Abhanga 790

Even righteous anger at real corruption can push a person to use words they themselves admit are shameful to speak.

When the Śākta's mother is a sow eating street-viṣṭhā — and you have to recognize this register

When Śākta's mother is a donkey braying — and you accept this image

When speaking of the bastard with the vāca is itself blame-worthy — and you receive this final verdict

The verse

शाक्तांची शूकरी माय । विष्ठा खाय बिदीची ॥१॥ तिची त्या पडली सवे । मागें धांवें म्हणोनि ॥ध्रु.॥ शाक्तांची गाढवी माय । भुंकत जाय वेसदारा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे शिंदळीचे । बोलतां वाचे निंद्य ते ॥३॥

Literal translation

Śākta-māya — śūkarī — viṣṭhā — eats — bidī. Her — savē — acquired — māgē dhāvē. Śākta-māya — gāḍhavī — braying — vēsa-dāra. Tuka says: śindaḷī-cē — vāca — speak — nindya.

मराठी: शाक्तांची शूकरी माय — बिदीची विष्ठा खाय. तिची त्या पडली सवे — मागें धांवे म्हणोनि. शाक्तांची गाढवी माय — भुंकत जाय वेस-दाराला. Tuka म्हणे: शिंदळीचे — बोलतां वाचे निंद्य ते.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
शाक्तांची शूकरी माय	"Śākta-māya — śūkarī"
विष्ठा खाय बिदीची	"viṣṭhā — eats — bidī (street)"
तिची त्या पडली सवे	"her — he-has-acquired — savē (habit)"
मागें धांवें म्हणोनि	"after — runs"
शाक्तांची गाढवी माय	"Śākta-māya — gāḍhavī"
भुंकत जाय वेसदारा	"braying — goes — vēsa-dāra"
शिंदळीचे बोलतां वाचे निंद्य ते	"śindaḷī-cē — speak — vāca — nindya"

What it means

A Śākta-mother-sow-eats-viṣṭhā-Śākta-mother-donkey-braying-bastard-nindya-to-speak abhang. Anti-Śākta-curse-polemic register — one of the harshest insult-polemics in the corpus. Three claims:

शाक्तांची-शूकरी-माय — बिदीची-विष्ठा-खाय — तिची-सवे-धांवे. Śākta-mother-sow-claim. TheŚākta's mother is aśūkarī(sow); eatsviṣṭhāin thebidī(street); theŚāktahaspaḍilī savē(acquired her habit) — runsmāgē(after) her. Mother-sow-Śākta-runs-after-her-eating-street-filth.
शाक्तांची-गाढवी-माय — भुंकत-जाय-वेस-दारा. Śākta-mother-donkey-claim. TheŚākta's mother is agāḍhavī(she-donkey); goes braying (bhunkata) to thevēsa-dāra(the gate-at-the-village-edge). Mother-donkey-braying-at-the-gate.
Tuka: शिंदळीचे — बोलतां-वाचे-निंद्य. Speaking-of-bastard-itself-nindya-claim. Tuka says: of theśindaḷ-ī-cē (bastard, illegitimate-one);speaking (bōlatām) with the vāca (about him) is itself nindya (blame-worthy / disgraceful-to-utter).Of-the-bastard-talking-itself-blameworthy.

This is one of Tukaram's most-virulent-curse-polemics. The Śākta-tāntrika is described in animal-terms — mother-sow, mother-donkey — and the Śākta himself is called śindaḷī (bastard). The closing acknowledges-this-is-nindya — but the bhakta says-it-anyway-out-of-righteous-anger. (The polemical-style is consistent with classical-Indian vāda and the anti-tāntrika brahminical-orthodoxy of Tukaram's-time.)

[T]

For someone today

This is one of Tukaram's harshest verses, a string of degrading insults aimed at a practitioner of a corrupt, antinomian cult he despised, comparing the man and his lineage to filth-eating animals and calling him a name no polite person would use. What makes the verse remarkable is its final admission: Tukaram himself says that even speaking such words is shameful, and yet he says them anyway, because his anger at the corruption he is condemning outweighs his own discomfort at using such language. The verse is honest about a real tension we all face, sometimes what we are condemning feels so wrong that we reach for the harshest words we have, even while knowing those words cost something in us too. It is less a lesson in etiquette than an honest confession about the price of righteous anger.

मराठी: ही तुकारामांच्या सर्वात कठोर ओव्यांपैकी एक आहे, एका भ्रष्ट, विकृत पंथाच्या अनुयायाला उद्देशून केलेल्या अपमानास्पद शब्दांची मालिका, ज्यात त्या माणसाची आणि त्याच्या कुळाची तुलना घाण खाणाऱ्या प्राण्यांशी केली आहे आणि त्याला असे नाव दिले आहे जे कोणी सभ्य माणूस वापरणार नाही. या ओवीचे वैशिष्ट्य म्हणजे शेवटची कबुली, तुकाराम स्वतःच म्हणतात की असे शब्द बोलणेही निंद्यच आहे, तरीही ते बोलतातच, कारण ज्या भ्रष्टाचाराचा ते निषेध करत आहेत त्याविषयीचा त्यांचा संताप, असे शब्द वापरण्याच्या स्वतःच्या अस्वस्थतेपेक्षा मोठा ठरतो. ही ओवी एका खऱ्या तणावाबद्दल प्रामाणिक आहे, कधीकधी आपण ज्याचा निषेध करत असतो ते इतके चुकीचे वाटते की आपण आपल्याकडचे सर्वात कठोर शब्द वापरतो, हे माहीत असूनही की ते शब्द आपल्यालाही काहीतरी किंमत मोजायला लावतात. ही शिष्टाचाराची शिकवण नसून, नीतिमान संतापाच्या किंमतीबद्दलची एक प्रामाणिक कबुली आहे.

Where this applies

Mother-sow. Insult-1.
Mother-donkey. Insult-2.
Nindya to speak. Acknowledged.

Bhakti Mother / Family bond