Abhanga 1563
Shared devotion creates a family that crosses caste, region, and gender lines, and that chosen family can feel more like home than one's birthplace.
The verse
पंढरीये माझें माहेर साजणी । ओविये कांडणीं गाऊं गीत ॥१॥ राही रखुमाईं सत्यभामा माता । पांडुरंग पिता माहियेर ॥ध्रु.॥ उद्धव अक्रूर व्यास आंबॠषि । भाईं नारदासी गौरवीन ॥२॥ गरुड बंधु लडिवाळ पुंडलीक । यांचें कवतुक वाटे मज ॥३॥ मज बहु गोत संत आणि महंत । नित्य आठवीत ओवियेसी ॥४॥ निवृत्ति ज्ञानदेव सोपान चांगया । जिवलगा माझिया नामदेवा ॥५॥ नागोजन मित्रा नरहरि सोनारा । रोहिदास कबिरा सोईंरिया ॥६॥ परसो भागवता सुरदास सांवता । गाईंन नेणतां सकळांसी ॥७॥ चोखामेळा संत जिवाचे सोइरे । न पडे विसर यांचा घडी ॥८॥ जीवींच्या जीवना एका जनार्दना । पाटका कान्हया मिराबाईं ॥९॥ आणीक हे संत महानुभाव मुनि । सकळां चरणीं जीव माझा ॥१०॥ आनंदें ओविया गाईंन मी त्यांसी । जाती पंढरीसी वारकरी ॥११॥ तुका म्हणे माझा बळिया बापमाय । हरुषें नांदों सये घराचारी ॥१२॥
Literal translation
Paṇḍharī is my māhera, sājaṇī — by ōvī at kāṇḍaṇa, let us sing a gīta. Rāhī, Rakhumā'ī, Satyabhāmā are mothers — Pāṇḍuranga is the father of the māhiyēra. Uddhava, Akrūra, Vyāsa, Ambariṣa as brothers — I will honor Nārada. Garuḍa as brother, the petted Puṇḍalika — their kavataka pleases me. To me, many gota — saints and mahantas — always remembering by ōvī. Nivṛtti, Jñānadev, Sopāna, Cāngayā — my life-companion Nāmadeva. Nāgōja Mitra, Narahari Sonāra — Rōhidāsa, Kabīra as sōirē. Paraso Bhāgavata, Sūradāsa, Sāvantā — I will sing as nēṇatā to all. Cōkhāmēḷā, saint, life's sōirē — doesn't fall forgetting of them for a ghaḍī. Life-of-life Ēkā Janārdana — Pāṭaka, Kānhaya, Mīrābāī. And other saints, mahānubhavas, munis — at all (their) feet, my jīva. In bliss I will sing ōvīs to them — the vāra-karīs going to Paṇḍharī. Tuka says: my baḷiyā bāpa-māya — in bliss let us stay, sayē, running household-affairs.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पंढरीये माझें माहेर साजणी | "Paṇḍharī — my māhera (natal-home), sājaṇī (companion)" |
| ओविये कांडणीं गाऊं गीत | "by ōvī — at kāṇḍaṇa (grain-pounding) — let us sing — a gīta" |
| राही रखुमाईं सत्यभामा माता | "Rāhī, Rakhumā'ī, Satya-bhāmā — mātās" |
| पांडुरंग पिता माहियेर | "Pāṇḍuranga — pitā (father) — of (the) māhiyēra" |
| उद्धव अक्रूर व्यास आंबॠषि | "Uddhava, Akrūra, Vyāsa, Ambariṣa" |
| भाईं नारदासी गौरवीन | "(as) brothers — Nārada — I will honor (gauravīna)" |
| गरुड बंधु लडिवाळ पुंडलीक | "Garuḍa — brother; — laḍivāḷa (= petted) — Puṇḍalika" |
| यांचें कवतुक वाटे मज | "their kavataka (= great-feat / wonder) — seems — to me" |
| मज बहु गोत संत आणि महंत | "to me — many — gota (relatives) — saints and mahantas" |
| नित्य आठवीत ओवियेसी | "always — remembering — by ōvī" |
| निवृत्ति ज्ञानदेव सोपान चांगया | "Nivṛtti, Jñānadev, Sopāna, Cāngayā" |
| जिवलगा माझिया नामदेवा | "jīvalaga (= life-companion) — to my — Nāmadeva" |
| नागोजन मित्रा नरहरि सोनारा | "Nāgōja Mitra, Narahari Sonāra" |
| रोहिदास कबिरा सोईंरिया | "Rōhidāsa, Kabīra — as sōirē (= relatives by marriage)" |
| परसो भागवता सुरदास सांवता | "Paraso Bhāgavata, Sūradāsa, Sāvantā" |
| गाईंन नेणतां सकळांसी | "I will sing — as the unknowing one — to all" |
| चोखामेळा संत जिवाचे सोइरे | "Cōkhāmēḷā — saint — life's — sōirē" |
| न पडे विसर यांचा घडी | "doesn't fall — forgetting of these — for a ghaḍī (moment)" |
| जीवींच्या जीवना एका जनार्दना | "life-of-the-jīva — Ēkā Janārdana" |
| पाटका कान्हया मिराबाईं | "Pāṭaka, Kānhaya, Mīrābāī" |
| आणीक हे संत महानुभाव मुनि | "and-others — these — saints, mahānubhavas, munis" |
| सकळां चरणीं जीव माझा | "at all (their) feet — my jīva" |
| आनंदें ओविया गाईंन मी त्यांसी | "in bliss — ōvīs — I will sing — to them" |
| जाती पंढरीसी वारकरी | "go to Paṇḍharī — the vāra-karī" |
| तुका म्हणे माझा बळिया बापमाय | "Tuka says — my — baḷiyā (mighty) — bāpa-māya (father-mother)" |
| हरुषें नांदों सये घराचारी | "in bliss — let us stay — sayē (= friend) — running — household-affairs" |
What it means
Paṇḍharī-as-māhera-with-saint-genealogy abhang. A 12-verse warkari-saint-list; one of the most comprehensive sant-māhātmya-lists in the Gatha. The opening: Paṇḍharīyē mājhēm māhēra sājaṇī — ōviyē kāṇḍaṇīm gā'ūm gīta — Paṇḍharī — my māhera, friend — by ōvī, at grain-pounding, let us sing. The māhera-image: Paṇḍharī is my natal-home (= where my heart-belongs); let us sing folk-songs at grain-pounding (= the daily-domestic-bhakti-mode of women). The kāṇḍaṇī-ōvī genre — grain-pounding-songs — was the everyday-women's bhakti-poetry; Tuka adopts the woman's voice throughout (sājaṇī, sayē — feminine-vocative-particles).
The family-genealogy: - Mothers: Rāhī (Rādhā), Rakhumā'ī (Rukmiṇī), Satya-bhāmā (Kṛṣṇa's three queens) - Father: Pāṇḍuranga - Brothers: Uddhava, Akrūra, Vyāsa, Ambariṣa, Nārada, Garuḍa, Puṇḍalika - Many relatives (saints): Nivṛtti-Jñāneśvar-Sopān-Muktābāī (Cāngayā?), Nāmadev, Nāgōja Mitra, Narahari Sonāra, Rōhidāsa, Kabīra (north-Indian sants), Paraso Bhāgavata, Sūradāsa (Vraja-bhakta), Sāvantā Mālī, Cōkhāmēḷā (Mahar-saint), Ēkā Janārdana (= Eknath), Pāṭaka, Kānhaya, Mīrābāī
This is a trans-regional, trans-caste, trans-gender warkari-genealogy: Mahārāṣṭra-bhakta-saints + north-Indian-bhakta-sants + women-bhakta-saints + dalit-saints + brahmin-saints + tailor/weaver/cobbler-saints. Tuka claims them all as family. (One of the most-inclusive lists in any premodern Indian-bhakti-text.)
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē mājhā baḷiyā bāpa-māya — haruṣē nāndōm sayē gharā-cārī — Tuka says — mybaḷiyā—bāpa-māya(father-and-mother); —in bliss—let us stay, sayē —running household-affairs(gharā-cārī). We'll stay in our father-mother's house, in bliss, running the household-affairs of bhakti.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram calls Pandharpur his true childhood home and describes an enormous family of the divine and the sant tradition there: Vitthal as father, the goddesses as mothers, and a huge circle of siblings that stretches across caste, region, gender, and even centuries. He names saints as different as Jnanadev, Namdev, Chokhamela the untouchable saint, Kabir and Rohidas from the north, and Mirabai, calling every one of them kin. The lesson is that devotion builds a family bigger than blood, one that erases the usual social walls, and that a person can find belonging simply by loving the same saints and the same God. Home, in this sense, is wherever that shared love is kept.
मराठी: तुकाराम पंढरपूरला आपले खरे माहेर म्हणतात आणि तिथल्या देवत्व आणि संतपरंपरेतील एक विशाल कुटुंब वर्णन करतात: विठ्ठल पिता, देवी माता, आणि जात, प्रदेश, लिंग, अगदी शतकांच्याही पलीकडे पसरलेले भावंडांचे मोठे वर्तुळ. ते ज्ञानदेव, नामदेव, चोखामेळा हा अस्पृश्य संत, उत्तरेकडील कबीर व रोहिदास, आणि मीराबाई अशा भिन्नभिन्न संतांना आपले नातेवाईक मानतात. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की भक्ती रक्ताच्या नात्यापेक्षा मोठे कुटुंब घडवते, जे नेहमीच्या सामाजिक भिंती पुसून टाकते, आणि तीच प्रेमाची साथ असेल तर माणसाला कुठेही आपलेपण मिळू शकते. या अर्थाने घर म्हणजे जिथे हे सामायिक प्रेम जपले जाते ते ठिकाण.
Where this applies
- When you feel like an outsider because of your caste, region, or background and wonder if you truly belong anywhere
- When you meet people from very different walks of life who share your faith and suddenly feel closer to them than to strangers of your own community
- When you are far from your birth family and need to name a place or a community as your real home
- When you want to honor teachers and companions on your spiritual path as seriously as you would honor blood relatives