Abhanga 1220
For today: the bhakta's right to scold Hari is itself a kind of intimacy — you can shake your fist at Viṭṭhala only because you've grasped his feet.
The verse
तुजशीं संबंध चि खोटा । परता परता रे थोंटा ॥१॥ देवा तुझें काय घ्यावें । आप आपणां ठकावें ॥ध्रु.॥ जेथें मुदल न ये हातां । व्याज मरावें लेखितां ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे ऐसा । त्रिभुवनीं तुझा ठसा ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: The very relationship with you is false — back, back, you ṭhōṇṭā! Deva, what is one to take from you? — it's just self-cheating with one's own self. Where the principal doesn't come to hand, the interest is — to die in the calculation. Tuka says: such — in the tribhuvana — is your ṭhasā.
मराठी: तुझ्याशीं संबंध हें-च खोटें — परता-परता रे थोंटा (दूर हो, थोंटा)! देवा, तुझ्या-कडून काय घ्यावें? — आप आपणां ठकवायचें-च. जिथें मुदल हातीं येतें नाहीं — व्याज लेखत-लेखत मरायचें. Tukā म्हणे — असा-च — तिभुवनींत तुझा ठसा (शिक्का).
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तुजशीं संबंध चि खोटा | "the relationship with you (tujhaśīm) is itself khōṭā (false)" |
| परता परता रे थोंटा | "back, back (paratā paratā), you ṭhōṇṭā (lame/maimed/stump)!" |
| देवा तुझें काय घ्यावें | "Deva, what is to be taken from you?" |
| आप आपणां ठकावें | "(it is) to cheat oneself with one's own self" |
| जेथें मुदल न ये हातां | "where the mudala (principal) doesn't come to hand" |
| व्याज मरावें लेखितां | "the vyāja (interest) is — to die in the calculation (lēkhitām)" |
| ऐसा त्रिभुवनीं तुझा ठसा | "such — in the tribhuvana — is your ṭhasā (stamp/reputation)" |
What it means
Hari-tāḍ / bhāṇḍakū-bhakti at maximum. This is the warkari-bhakti register where the bhakta scolds Hari as if to a face-to-face cheat. Ṭhōṇṭā — usually one-armed/maimed, here a contemptuous form of address: "get away, you cripple." Paratā paratā rē — turn back! turn back!
The accounting-metaphor (very Tukaram, the village merchant): with Hari, the mudala (principal/capital) never comes back to hand; the bhakta keeps adding vyāja (interest) to the bill, and dies lēkhitām (in-the-calculating). Why deal with such a creditor? Āpa āpaṇām ṭhakāvēm — to deal with Hari is to cheat oneself with one's own hand. The closing line tribhuvanīm tujhā ṭhasā — this is your reputation in the three worlds — twists the Patita-pāvana image: Hari's real stamp is "the cheat".
This is the bhāṇḍakū (quarrelling) bhakta — the same Tukaram who at 1217 sweetly says he's become Hari's ankita now turns and shouts paratā paratā ṭhōṇṭā. Both are valid; intimacy permits both.
[T]
For someone today
For today: the bhakta's right to scold Hari is itself a kind of intimacy — you can shake your fist at Viṭṭhala only because you've grasped his feet.
Where this applies
- Get-back-lame-one.* Paratā-paratā-rē-ṭhōṇṭā.
- Dealing-with-Hari-is-self-cheating.* Āpa-āpaṇām-ṭhakāvēm.
- Principal-never-returns.* Mudala-na-yē-hātām.
- Die-in-the-interest-calculation.* Vyāja-marāvēm-lēkhitām.
- Cheat-stamp-in-three-worlds.* Tribhuvanīm-tujhā-ṭhasā.