Abhanga 1715
English: What fault did water-creatures do?
The verse
काय केलें जळचरीं । ढीवर त्यांच्या घातावरी ॥१॥ हा तों ठायींचा विचार । आहे यातिवैराकार ॥ध्रु.॥ श्वापदातें वधी । निरपराधें पारधी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे खळ । संतां पीडिती चांडाळ ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: What fault did water-creatures do? — the fisherman is bent on their destruction. This is the original thinking — yāti-vairākāra. The wild-beast is killed — innocent — by hunting. Tuka says: the wicked — cāṇḍāḷas — torment the saints.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| काय केलें जळचरीं | "what fault — did water-creatures do" |
| ढीवर त्यांच्या घातावरी | "the fisherman — bent on their destruction" |
| हा तों ठायींचा विचार | "this — the original-thinking" |
| आहे यातिवैराकार | "is — yāti-vairākāra" |
| श्वापदातें वधी | "kills — the wild-beast" |
| निरपराधें पारधी | "innocent — (by) hunting" |
| तुका म्हणे खळ | "Tuka says — the wicked" |
| संतां पीडिती चांडाळ | "saints torment — cāṇḍāḷas" |
What it means
Anti-violence + wicked-as-cāṇḍāḷa-torment-saints abhang.
The fish-question: kāya kēlēm jaḷa-carīm — ḍhīvara tyāñcyā ghātāvarī — what fault did water-creatures do — the fisherman bent on their destruction. Ḍhīvara = fisherman; jaḷa-carīm = water-creatures. Innocent fish, yet the fisherman is destruction-bent.
The yāti-vairākāra: hā tōm ṭhāyīñcā vicāra — āhē yāti-vairākāra — this is the original-thinking — yāti-vairākāra. Yāti-vairākāra = the form-of-caste-(or species-)enmity (= the built-in inter-species hostility / built-in caste-attack-instinct). This is the very-original disposition (of certain castes / kinds).
The hunter-image: śvāpadātē vadhī — niraparādhē pāradhī — the wild-beast is killed — innocent — by hunting. Pāradhī = the hunter / hunting-by-trade. The hunter kills the innocent wild-beast (śvāpada).
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē khaḷa — samtām pīḍitī cāṇḍāḷa — Tuka says: the wicked — cāṇḍāḷas — torment the saints. The radical-equation: the wicked who torment saints are the cāṇḍāḷas — paralleling the fisherman-killing-fish and hunter-killing-prey sequences. Tormenting-saints is by-original-disposition for the wicked, like fishing-and-hunting are for those castes by-trade.
(Note: the cāṇḍāḷa here is used in moral-sense — the moral-cāṇḍāḷa is the saint-tormentor, not the caste-cāṇḍāḷa. Compare 1691's similar moral-cāṇḍāḷa usage.)
[T]
For someone today
For today: what fault have the water-creatures done? — yet the fisherman is bent on their destruction; this is the original-thinking — the form of caste-and-species-enmity; the wild-beast — innocent — is killed by the hunter; Tuka says — the wicked — they are the cāṇḍāḷas — they torment the saints.
Where this applies
- Innocent-fish-fisherman-destruction.* Jaḷa-carī-ḍhīvara-ghāta.
- Original-thinking-yāti-vairākāra.* Ṭhāyīñcā-vicāra-yāti-vairākāra.
- Hunter-kills-innocent-wild-beast.* Pāradhī-niraparādha-śvāpada.
- Wicked-cāṇḍāḷas-torment-saints.* Khaḷa-cāṇḍāḷa-samta-pīḍa.