संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.
संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1337 of 4582

Abhanga 1337

For today: no rationing here; let all varṇa take their fill; the bhakta-body is a mirror showing each their own color; the crop is ripened ananta — the elder distributes from the threshing-floor.

When the bhakta has become the darpaṇa showing each their own color — the ananta-pīka is ripened — Tuka sits at the threshing-floor doing the distribution

The verse

नाहीं येथें वाणी । सकळां वर्णी घ्यावी धणी ॥१॥ जालें दर्पणाचें अंग । ज्याचा त्यासी दावी रंग ॥ध्रु.॥ एका भावाचा एकांत । पीक पिकला अनंत ॥२॥ तुका खळे दाणीं । करी बैसोनी वांटणी ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: No vāṇī here — let all varṇas take dhaṇī. (The body) has become darpaṇa's anga — shows each their own ranga. One bhāva's ēkānta — the crop has ripened — ananta. Tuka — at the threshing-floor, at the grain-pile — sitting, does the vāṇṭaṇī.

मराठी: येथें वाणी (मंथर / निवडक) नाहीं — सकळ वर्णांना — धणी घ्यावी. (हें) दर्पणाचें अंग जालें — ज्याचा त्यास — रंग दावितें. एका भावाचा एकांत — पीक पिकला — अनंत. Tukā खळे (खळ्यांत) — दाणीं — बैसोनी — वांटणी करी.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
नाहीं येथें वाणी "no vāṇī here"
सकळां वर्णी घ्यावी धणी "let all varṇas (= all varṇa-castes) — take dhaṇī (the fill / brimming-share)"
जालें दर्पणाचें अंग "(the body) has become — darpaṇa's (mirror's) anga"
ज्याचा त्यासी दावी रंग "(it) shows — to each — his own ranga (color)"
एका भावाचा एकांत "one bhāva's ēkānta"
पीक पिकला अनंत "the pīka (crop) — has pikalā (ripened) — ananta"
तुका खळे दाणीं "Tuka — at the khaḷa (threshing-floor) — at the dāṇī (grain-pile)"
करी बैसोनी वांटणी "sitting (baisōnī) — does (karī) the vāṇṭaṇī (distribution / share-out)"

What it means

Bhakta-as-mirror-distributing-the-ripened-crop abhang. The opening egalitarian-claim: nāhīm yēthē vāṇī — sakaḷām varṇī ghyāvī dhaṇīno vāṇī (= no selectivity / no rationing) here — let all varṇas take dhaṇī (their fill). The bhakti-table has no caste-rationing; all varṇas come for their fill. (Echo of 1300's anti-caste-bhēda.)

The image: jālēm darpaṇācē anga — jyācā tyāsī dāvī ranga(the body) has become a darpaṇa (mirror)'s anga — it shows each their own ranga (color). The bhakta-body is now a mirror; it doesn't impose its own color, it reflects whatever ranga the other-person-brings. Each person sees their own ranga in the bhakta — like Hari himself in 1320's Svāti-tōya image where the same drop yields different things in different vessels.

Ēkā bhāvācā ēkānta — pīka pikalā anantaone bhāva's ēkānta — the crop has ripened — ananta. From a single concentrated bhāva, kept in ēkānta, infinite crop has come.

The closing pastoral image: Tukā khaḷē dāṇīm — karī baisōnī vāṇṭaṇīTuka — at the khaḷa (threshing-floor), at the dāṇī (grain-pile) — sitting, does the vāṇṭaṇī (distribution / grain-sharing-out). After the harvest, the village-elder sits at the threshing-floor and distributes grain to the various claimants. Tuka has become this elder — sitting at the bhakti-threshing-floor, dispensing the ananta-pīka to all comers.

This is a quietly final image — the post-harvest, post-victory state. The bhakta-poet-elder, the sāmgāra (the wise community-distributor), giving grain.

[T]

For someone today

For today: no rationing here; let all varṇa take their fill; the bhakta-body is a mirror showing each their own color; the crop is ripened ananta — the elder distributes from the threshing-floor.

Where this applies

Related verses