संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 846 of 4582

Abhanga 846

When separation and restlessness become unbearable, it is natural, even sacred, to cry out for the comfort of finally being held and welcomed home.

When run, mother, what are You watching for? — and you have to recognize this register
When no patience in my belly; despondent by viyōga — and you accept this image
When cool me; much haḷahaḷa has come; when shall I place head at Your feet? — and you receive this final petition

The verse

धांव घालीं आई । आतां पाहातेसी काई ॥१॥ धीर नाहीं माझे पोटीं । जालें वियोगें हिंपुटीं ॥ध्रु.॥ करावें सीतळ । बहु जाली हळहळ ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे डोई । कधीं ठेवीन हे पायीं ॥३॥

Literal translation

Dhāmva ghālīmāī. Now — pāhātēsī — what. Dhīra — none — pōṭī. Viyōgahimpuṭī. Make — sītaḷa. Much — haḷahaḷa. Tuka says: ḍōī — when — place — pāyī.

मराठी: धांव घालीं, आई — आतां काय पाहातेसि?. माझ्या पोटीं धीर नाहीं — वियोगें हिंपुटीं जालें. सीतळ करावें — बहु हळहळ जाली. Tuka म्हणे: डोई — कधीं ठेवीन हे पायीं?.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
धांव घालीं आई "dhāmva ghālīmāī"
आतां पाहातेसी काई "now — pāhātēsī — what"
धीर नाहीं माझे पोटीं "dhīra — none — pōṭī"
जालें वियोगें हिंपुटीं "became — viyōgahimpuṭī"
करावें सीतळ "make — sītaḷa"
बहु जाली हळहळ "much — haḷahaḷa"
डोई कधीं ठेवीन हे पायीं "ḍōī — when — place — pāyī"

What it means

A run-mother-what-watching-no-patience-despondent-by-viyōga-cool-me-much-haḷahaḷa-when-shall-I-place-head-at-Your-feet abhang. Tender-mother-running-petition register. Three claims:

  1. धांव-घालीं-आई — आतां-काय-पाहातेसि — पोटीं-धीर-नाहीं — वियोगें-हिंपुटीं. Run-mother-no-patience-despondent-claim. Run,āī (mother — calling Hari as māulī);what are You pāhātēsī (watching for) now? — i.e., why are You delaying?;there is no dhīra (patience) in my pōṭī (belly — the deep-place);I have become himpuṭī (despondent, withered, faded) by viyōga (separation).Run-mother-no-patience-faded-by-separation. (Thehimpuṭīword: a flower-or-plant that haswithered for lack of water; the bhakta iswitheringinviyōga.)

  2. करावें-सीतळ — बहु-हळहळ-जाली. Cool-me-much-haḷahaḷa-claim. Make-mesītaḷa (cool, calm — the way the mother cools the feverish-child by laying-cool-cloth, etc.);much haḷahaḷa (anguished-restlessness — the hot-restless-burning of separation) has come.Cool-me; the haḷahaḷa is too much. (Mother-cools-feverish-child image;haḷahaḷa is the heat of viraha-fever.)

  3. Tuka: डोई — कधीं-ठेवीन-हे-पायीं. When-shall-I-place-head-at-Your-feet-claim. Tuka says: theḍōī (head) — when shall I ṭhēvīna (place) it at (Your) pāyī (feet)?When-shall-the-head-be-placed-at-feet. (Closing-petition: when will-the-head be placed at Your feet — i.e., when will I be received and theviyōga end?)

[T]

For someone today

Tuka cries out to God as a mother, begging her to run to him now instead of waiting and watching from a distance. He says he has no patience left inside, and the ache of separation has left him withered like a wilting flower. He begs to be made cool and calm the way a mother soothes a feverish child, because the burning restlessness inside him has become too much to bear. He ends by asking when he will finally get to lay his head at her feet.

मराठी: तुकाराम देवाला आईसारखं हाक मारतात आणि म्हणतात, आता लांबून बघत राहू नकोस, धावत ये. ते सांगतात की माझ्या मनात आता धीर उरलेला नाही, आणि विरहाच्या यातनेने मी सुकून गेल्यासारखा झालो आहे. जशी आई तापलेल्या मुलाला शांत करते तशी मला शांत कर, कारण आतली तळमळ आता असह्य झाली आहे. शेवटी ते विचारतात, माझं डोकं तुझ्या पायांवर मी कधी ठेवू शकेन.

Where this applies

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