Abhanga 1281
English: Calling (yourself) Hari-dāsa — why no shame?
The verse
म्हणतां हरिदास कां रे नाहीं लाज । दीनास महाराज म्हणसी हीना ॥१॥ काय ऐसें पोट न भरे तें गेलें । हालविसी कुले सभेमाजी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पोटें केली विटंबना । दीन जाला जना कींव भाकी ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Calling (yourself) Hari-dāsa — why no shame? — you, hīna, call a dīna mahārāja. Why doesn't your pōṭa get filled? — you wag your kulē in the sabhā. Tuka says: the pōṭa has made you viṭambana — you became dīna to the people, begging kīmva.
मराठी: (स्वतःला) हरिदास म्हणवून — कां रे लाज नाहीं? — स्वतः हीन — दीनाला महाराज म्हणतोस. कशामुळें — पोट तसें भरत नाहीं — गेलेलें — तर सभेंत कुले हालवीतोस? Tukā म्हणे — पोटानें-च विटंबना केली — जनासमोर तू दीन झालास — किव भाकीत बसलास.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| म्हणतां हरिदास कां रे नाहीं लाज | "calling (yourself) Hari-dāsa — why no lāja (shame)?" |
| दीनास महाराज म्हणसी हीना | "(you) hīna (yourself low) — call a dīna mahārāja" |
| काय ऐसें पोट न भरे तें गेलें | "why does the pōṭa (belly) not get filled — and (so) go (without)?" |
| हालविसी कुले सभेमाजी | "(you) hālavisī (wag) the kulē (rear-end / buttocks) in the sabhā (assembly)" |
| पोटें केली विटंबना | "the pōṭa has made (you) viṭambana (mockery / disgrace)" |
| दीन जाला जना कींव भाकी | "(you) became dīna — to the jana (people) — begging (bhākī) kīmva (pity)" |
What it means
Anti-fake-Hari-dāsa abhang in Tuka's bluntest mode.
The portrait: a person calls himself Hari-dāsa (as a profession, for income) — but his actual conduct shows the truth. The marker: hīna himself, he calls a dīna "mahārāja" — flattering whoever might give. Hīna (the low one) calling mahārāja (great king) to a dīna (poor man) is the giveaway of hāl-soliciting.
The image hālavisī kulē sabhē-mājī — you wag your kulē (buttocks) in the sabhā (assembly) — is among the most brutal images Tukaram deploys. The fake-Hari-dāsa's body-language in the assembly — the swaying for effect, the performative grovel — is reduced to kulē hālavisī (buttocks-wagging). This is kīrtana-for-coins; the audience is invited to throw alms.
The closing diagnosis: pōṭē kēlī viṭambanā — dīna jālā janā kīmva bhākī — the belly itself has made you viṭambana (a mockery, an object of public ridicule); you became a dīna before the people, begging kīmva (pity). The fake-Hari-dāsa is reduced to a dīna (poor-pitiful one) before the very public he wanted to impress.
This is a cousin to 1209's gurguḍī-cī lāmba naḷī, 1231's manuṣya-parī kutarīm tīm, 1258's sāṇḍōvyāsī Devācī karaṇḍī, 1280's bhōpaḷā — Tuka's series of fake-bhakti portraits.
[T]
For someone today
For today: fake-bhakti-for-belly's-sake reduces you to wagging-buttocks-in-the-assembly — the pōṭa has made you mockable; the dignity-loss is greater than any gain.
Where this applies
- Hari-dāsa-no-shame.* Mhaṇatām-Hari-dāsa-nāhīm-lāja.
- Hīna-calls-dīna-mahārāja.* Dīnāsa-mahārāja-mhaṇasī-hīnā.
- Belly-not-filled-wags-buttocks.* Pōṭa-na-bharē-hālavisī-kulē.
- Belly-made-mockery.* Pōṭē-kēlī-viṭambanā.