Abhanga 1615
Chronic visible anger is not strength, it is the outward sign that a person has no real contentment or peace inside.
The verse
जळों त्याचें तोंड । ऐसी कां ते व्याली रांड ॥१॥ सदा भोवयासी गांठी । क्रोध धडधडीत पोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥ फोडिली गोंवरी । ऐसी दिसे तोंडावरी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे नाहीं । चित्ती समाधान कांहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Burn his face — what kind of woman gave birth to him? — always a knot at the brows, anger blazing in the belly. Like a broken cow-dung-cake — thus it appears on the face. Tuka says: there is no contentment in the chitta at all.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जळों त्याचें तोंड | "burn — his face" |
| ऐसी कां ते व्याली रांड | "what kind — of woman — gave birth (vyālī) — to him" |
| सदा भोवयासी गांठी | "always — at the brows — knot (gāṇṭhī)" |
| क्रोध धडधडीत पोटीं | "anger — blazing-fiercely — in belly" |
| फोडिली गोंवरी | "broken cow-dung-cake (gōmvarī)" |
| ऐसी दिसे तोंडावरी | "thus — appears — on the face" |
| तुका म्हणे नाहीं | "Tuka says — no" |
| चित्ती समाधान कांहीं | "contentment — in chitta — any" |
What it means
Anti-perpetual-anger satire abhang. A sharp, almost-folk-curse directed at the chronically-angry person.
The opening curse: jaḷōm tyācēm tōṇḍa — aisī kām tē vyālī rāṇḍa — burn his face — what kind of woman gave birth to him? The folk-curse register — jaḷōm tōṇḍa = burn his face (= let his face be ruined); vyālī rāṇḍa = the rāṇḍa (= unwomanly / contemptible-woman) who gave-birth-to-him. (The deliberate-vulgarity is part of the satirical-register: the speaker is so disgusted he resorts to gutter-curse-language — folk-Tukaram.)
The body-portrait: sadā bhōvayāsī gāṇṭhī — krōdha dhaḍa-dhaḍīta pōṭīm — always a knot at the brows — anger blazing-fiercely in the belly. The physical-signs of perpetual-anger: brows in a permanent-knot + belly blazing-with-anger. Dhaḍa-dhaḍīta = blazing, raging-fiercely (onomatopoeic).
The cow-dung-cake-image: phōḍilī gōmvarī — aisī disē tōṇḍāvarī — like a broken cow-dung-cake — thus it appears on the face. Gōmvarī = the traditional cow-dung-cake stuck on a wall to dry as fuel; phōḍilī gōmvarī = one that has cracked and fallen apart. The angry-person's-face looks like a fallen-broken cow-dung-cake — cracked, dirty, falling-apart. (Striking concrete-rural-image — Tukaram's signature register.)
The closing-explanation: Tukā mhaṇē nāhīm — chitti samādhāna kāhīm — Tuka says: no contentment in the chitta at all. The reason for the brow-knot, the belly-fire, the cracked-face — no samādhāna (= contentment, settled-peace) in the chitta. External-anger reflects internal-discontent.
This is one of Tukaram's sharp social-satires — using folk-curse-language and rural-imagery to satirize the internally-discontented person who is externally-angry-at-the-world.
[T]
For someone today
For today: burn that one's face — what mother gave birth to him?; always a knot at his brows, anger blazing fiercely in his belly; his face looks like a broken cow-dung-cake; Tuka says — there is no contentment in his chitta at all.
Where this applies
- When you notice someone whose face is permanently tense with irritation and wonder what is really going on inside them
- When you catch yourself carrying anger in your body, a tight jaw, knotted brows, a burning feeling in your stomach, day after day
- When you assume a person who shouts and rages often must be strong, rather than seeing it as a sign they are unsettled
- When you want a mirror check for whether your own outward temper reflects an inner lack of peace