Abhanga 1314
In unbearable pain, when nothing else can help, Tuka cries out to Keshav as mother and father, the only one who can save at the extreme moment.
The verse
जळे माझी काया लागला वोणवा । धांव रे केशवा मायबापा ॥१॥ पेटली सकळ कांति रोमावळी । नावरे हे होळी दहन जालें ॥ध्रु.॥ फुटोनियां दोन्ही भाग होऊं पाहे । पाहातोसी काय हृदय माझें ॥२॥ घेऊनि जीवन धांवें लवलाहीं । कवणाचें काहींहीं न चले येथें ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे माझी तूं होसी जननी । आणीक निर्वाणीं कोण राखे ॥४॥
Literal translation
My body burns — the vōṇavā has caught. Run, Kēśava, mayabāpa! All the skin and rōmāvalī has caught fire — this hōḷī is irrepressible — dahana is happening. (My) hṛdaya wants to burst into two pieces — what are you looking at, my hṛdaya? Run quickly — bringing jīvana — no one's anything avails here. Tuka says: you are my jananī — who else, in nirvāṇa, will save?
मराठी: माझी काया जळते — वोणवा (वणवा) लागला — धांव रे केशवा, मायबापा! सकळ कांति-रोमावळी पेटली — ही होळी आवरत नाहीं — दहन झालें. हृदय माझें — फुटून दोन भाग होऊं पाहतें — काय (अजून) पाहतोस? जीवन (पाणी) घेऊन — लव-लाहीं (लवकर) धांव — येथें कवणाचें कांहींहि चालत नाहीं. Tukā म्हणे — तू माझी जननी होसी — आणखी निर्वाणींत कोण राखेल?
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जळे माझी काया लागला वोणवा | "my body burns — the vōṇavā (forest-fire) has caught" |
| धांव रे केशवा मायबापा | "run, Kēśava, mayabāpa" |
| पेटली सकळ कांति रोमावळी | "all the kānti (skin / complexion) and rōmāvalī (line of body-hair) has caught fire (pēṭalī)" |
| नावरे हे होळी दहन जालें | "this hōḷī (bonfire) is irrepressible — dahana (burning) is happening" |
| फुटोनियां दोन्ही भाग होऊं पाहे | "(my hṛdaya) wants to phuṭōnī (burst) into two pieces" |
| पाहातोसी काय हृदय माझें | "what are you looking at — my hṛdaya?" |
| घेऊनि जीवन धांवें लवलाहीं | "taking jīvana (water / life-water) — run quickly (lavalāhīm)" |
| कवणाचें काहींहीं न चले येथें | "no one's anything (kāhīmhī) avails (na cālē) here" |
| माझी तूं होसी जननी | "you are my jananī (mother)" |
| आणीक निर्वाणीं कोण राखे | "who else, in nirvāṇa (extremity), saves?" |
What it means
The most-quoted biographical-prasanga abhang — composed during the Lōhagāmva hot-water incident.
The vid-ghaṭanā (occurrence) is named in the editor's marker at 1313: hot water was poured on Tuka's body at Lōhagāmva. The abhang is the cry uttered in that very moment — the burning-body bhakta calling Hari from the agony.
The fire-imagery is literal: - Vōṇavā (= forest-fire / wildfire) has caught (lāgalā) on the body - Sakaḷa kānti rōmāvalī pēṭalī — all skin and body-hair has lit up - Hōḷī irrepressible — dahana jālē — the bonfire can't be controlled — burning is happening - Hṛdaya wants to burst into two pieces
The cry: dhāmvē rē Kēśavā mayabāpā — run, Kēśava, mother-and-father. Lavalāhīm — quickly, hurry-with-water-jīvana. Kavaṇācē kāhīmhī na cālē yēthē — no one's anything avails here — every other help is too slow or too small.
The closing — mājhī tūm hōsī jananī — āṇīka nirvāṇīm kōṇa rākhē — you are my jananī (mother) — who else, in nirvāṇa, can save? In nirvāṇa (= extremity, the death-moment, the verge) — only the mother. Compare 1228's mother-Hari abhang.
This abhang has lived in warkari memory because of its dual reality: it is literal-physical and spiritual-metaphor simultaneously. Whether one's body is literally burning or one's life is in spiritual agni, the cry is the same.
[T]
For someone today
For today: when the body / life is burning beyond control —dhāmvē rē Kēśavā mayabāpā—you are my jananī, who else in nirvāṇa will save?
Where this applies
- When you're in physical pain so intense that you can only cry out, not think
- When you feel like no ordinary help, effort, or person can reach you fast enough
- When you're in an emotional crisis and your heart genuinely feels like it's breaking
- When you realize that in your worst moment, you're calling on the one relationship you trust like a mother's