संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1221 of 4582

Abhanga 1221

For today: bhakti can include scolding the Deva — Tuka's right to call Hari laṇḍa and ṭhaka comes precisely from his intimate stand at the door.

When at Hari's door you hear only debt-collectors and the khaṇḍa-daṇḍa (cuts and fines) — Tuka calls him laṇḍa (rogue) and ṭhaka (cheat)

The verse

या चि हाका तुझे द्वारीं । सदा देखों रिणकरी ॥१॥ सदा करिसी खंड दंड । देवा बहु गा तूं लंड ॥ध्रु.॥ सुखें गोविसी भोजना । लपवूनियां आपणां ॥२॥ एकें एक बुझाविसी । तुका म्हणे ठक होसी ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: These very calls at your door — always I see debt-claimers. Always you do khaṇḍa-daṇḍa — Deva, you are very laṇḍa! Sweetly you hide yourself in feasting, hiding yourself. You play one against another — Tuka says — you are a ṭhaka.

मराठी: याच (वारंवार) हाकां तुझ्या द्वारीं — सदा रिणकरी (कर्जदार) दिसतात. सदा खंड-दंड (कापणें-दंड) करतोस — देवा, तू खूप-च लंड (खोटा / नटखट)! सुखानें भोजनांत स्वतःस गोवतोस — स्वतःला लपवीतोस. एकाशीं दुसरें भांडवीतोस — Tukā म्हणे — ठक आहेस.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
या चि हाका तुझे द्वारीं "these very hākā (calls/shouts) at your door"
सदा देखों रिणकरी "always I see riṇakarī (debtors / debt-collectors / claim-makers)"
सदा करिसी खंड दंड "always you do khaṇḍa-daṇḍa (cuts and fines)"
देवा बहु गा तूं लंड "Deva, you are very (bahu gā) laṇḍa (rogue/scoundrel)"
सुखें गोविसी भोजना "sweetly you hide (gōvisī) yourself in bhōjana (feasting)"
लपवूनियां आपणां "hiding yourself"
एकें एक बुझाविसी "play (bujhāvisī) one with another (ēkēm ēka)"
तुका म्हणे ठक होसी "Tuka says — you are a ṭhaka (cheat)"

What it means

Hari-tāḍ continued — Hari's house portrayed as a debt-collection court with the Deva as principal-rogue.

The picture is vivid: at Hari's doorstep, always the calls of riṇakarī — debt-claimers — bhaktas calling out their accounts. Khaṇḍa-daṇḍa (cuts-and-fines) is the language of a corrupt magistrate's office: Hari does cuts and fines on his bhaktas' accounts. Bahu gā tūm laṇḍayou are very much a rogue! (laṇḍa is a strong word, also meaning fraud/criminal/scoundrel).

The accusations stack: Hari hides himself in bhōjana (the great feasts where worship-as-feeding is offered) — a gentle accusation that the worship doesn't reach the deity, who's gōvilā (entangled) in the food. Ēkēm ēka bujhāvisī — playing one (bhakta?) against another. Closing: ṭhaka hōsī — you are a cheat.

This is bhāṇḍakū-bhakti in full force — the right to scold Hari to his face, born from the very intimacy of having grasped his feet (1215, 1217).

[T]

For someone today

For today: bhakti can include scolding the Deva — Tuka's right to call Hari laṇḍa and ṭhaka comes precisely from his intimate stand at the door.

Where this applies

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