Abhanga 1616
Calling yourself wise means nothing if you lack self-control, since a person who indulges freely, judges others, and cheats while crying foul only damages his own humanity.
The verse
तोंडें खाये फार । पादे बोचा करी मार ॥१॥ एक ऐसे ते शाहाणे । आपुले अधीन तें नेणें ॥ध्रु.॥ कुले घालूनि उघडे । रागें पाहे लोकांकडे ॥२॥ खेळे जुतकर्म । मग बोंबली जुलूम ॥३॥ निजतां आला मोहो । वीतां म्हणे मेला गोहो ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे त्यांनीं । मनुष्यपणा केली हानी ॥५॥
Literal translation
With mouth, eats much — farts, beats the buttock. Such ones call themselves wise — they don't know self-control. With buttocks bare and naked — looks angrily at people. Plays juta-karma (trickery) — then shouts julūma (injustice). While sleeping, mōhō came — having vītām, says the gōhō died. Tuka says: they have damaged manuṣya-paṇa itself.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तोंडें खाये फार | "with mouth — eats — much" |
| पादे बोचा करी मार | "farts; — to the buttock — makes-beating" |
| एक ऐसे ते शाहाणे | "one — such — they (call themselves) — wise" |
| आपुले अधीन तें नेणें | "self-control (āpulē adhīna) — they don't know" |
| कुले घालूनि उघडे | "buttocks — exposed — naked" |
| रागें पाहे लोकांकडे | "with anger — looks — at people" |
| खेळे जुतकर्म | "plays — trickery (juta-karma)" |
| मग बोंबली जुलूम | "then — shouts — julūma (injustice)" |
| निजतां आला मोहो | "while sleeping — wet-dream (mōhō) — came" |
| वीतां म्हणे मेला गोहो | "having ejaculated (vītām) — says — the husband died (gōhō)" |
| तुका म्हणे त्यांनीं | "Tuka says — they" |
| मनुष्यपणा केली हानी | "manuṣya-paṇa (humanness) — have done damage" |
What it means
Anti-self-absorbed-vulgar-boaster satire abhang. A series of sharp folk-image-satires targeting the self-styled-wise person who lacks self-control and basic-decency.
Image 1: tōṇḍē khāyē phāra — pādē bōcā karī māra — eats much with mouth — farts, beats the buttock. The gluttonous-eater + uncontrolled-flatulence + slapping-his-own-buttock (in vulgar-pleasure or thoughtlessly). No bodily-decorum.
Image 2: ēka aisē tē śāhāṇē — āpulē adhīna tēm nēṇē — one such, they call themselves wise — they don't know āpulē-adhīna (= self-control / self-mastery). Self-styled-wise without self-mastery.
Image 3: kulē ghālūni ughaḍē — rāgē pāhē lōkānkaḍē — with buttocks bare and naked — looks angrily at people. Bare-bottomed and exposed, but looks-at-others-with-anger (= unaware of own-vulgarity, while judging-others). The psychological-truth captured in physical-image.
Image 4: khēḷē juta-karma — maga bōmbalī julūma — plays juta-karma (trickery) — then shouts julūma (injustice). Cheats-others, then complains of being-cheated.
Image 5: nijatām ālā mōhō — vītām mhaṇē mēlā gōhō — while sleeping, wet-dream came — having vītām, says: the gōhō died. Mōhō = swooning / wet-dream-sexual-discharge; vītām = having-ejaculated; gōhō = husband (used here in folk-irony — possibly a woman-figure who, after a wet-dream during sleep, claims her husband died — i.e., the orgasm misnamed as bereavement = self-deceptive-misframing of pleasure-as-grief). Or alternatively: the dreamer wakes-up confused, loud-claiming "the husband (= the inner-life-force?) has died" = the fool gives wrong-names to his own experiences. The image is deliberately-cryptic-vulgar — a folk-saying whose exact-decoding has variants in local-tradition.
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē tyāmnīm — manuṣya-paṇā kēlī hānī — Tuka says: they have damaged manuṣya-paṇa itself. Manuṣya-paṇa = the very-being-human / human-decency. Such people damage humanness-itself.
This abhang is among Tukaram's most-aggressive social-satires — using deliberately-coarse-folk-images to strip-away the pretension of self-styled-wise people who lack basic-decency. The folk-Tukaram register.
[T]
For someone today
For today: eats greedily, farts, beats his own buttock; calls himself wise but doesn't know self-control; bare-bottomed and naked, yet looks angrily at others; cheats people, then shouts about injustice; while sleeping has a wet-dream, then mis-names his own experience; Tuka says — they have damaged humanness itself.
Where this applies
- When you see someone who indulges every appetite without restraint yet is quick to judge others for far smaller faults
- When a person who cheats or takes advantage in a deal is the first to complain loudly about being treated unfairly
- When you notice someone calling themselves wise or superior while showing no real self-control in daily behavior
- When you are tempted to point at other people's flaws while ignoring the same lack of discipline in yourself