Abhanga 1860
God has no family tree or fixed lineage of his own, so he belongs to everyone equally and cannot be claimed as the private property of any one caste or class.
The verse
देव निढळ देव निढळ । मूळ नाहीं डाळ परदेशी ॥१॥ देव अकुळी देव अकुळी । भलते ठायीं सोयरीक ॥२॥ देव लिगाड्या देव लिगाड्या । तुका म्हणे भाड्या दंभें ठकी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Deva is niḍhaḷa, deva is niḍhaḷa — no root, no branch — (he is) paradēśī. Deva is akuḷī, deva is akuḷī — anywhere makes relations. Deva is ligāḍyā, deva is ligāḍyā — Tuka says — (he is) bhāḍyā — deceives by dambha.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| देव निढळ देव निढळ | "deva is niḍhaḷa (forehead-destitute / brazen) — (repeated)" |
| मूळ नाहीं डाळ परदेशी | "no root, no branch — (he is) paradēśī (foreigner)" |
| देव अकुळी देव अकुळी | "deva is akuḷī (no-family) — (repeated)" |
| भलते ठायीं सोयरीक | "anywhere — makes-relations (sōyarīka)" |
| देव लिगाड्या देव लिगाड्या | "deva is ligāḍyā (clinging-leech) — (repeated)" |
| तुका म्हणे भाड्या दंभें ठकी | "Tuka says — (he is) bhāḍyā (hireling) — deceives by dambha" |
What it means
Deva-deva-litany — anti-establishment-deva abhang. Continues 1858-1865 cluster — comic-deflation register.
Verse 1 — niḍhaḷa: deva has-no-root, no-branch (no genealogy, no lineage) — paradēśī (foreigner). Niḍhaḷa = with-bare-forehead / brazen. The deva is no-establishment-figure — he-doesn't-belong-to-any-family-tree, he-is-a-foreigner-everywhere. (Echoes 1781's paradēśī image — but here it's the deva-himself who is paradēśī.)
Verse 2 — akuḷī: deva is akuḷī (no-family) — anywhere, makes-relations (sōyarīka). Sōyarīka = kinship-by-marriage / in-laws-relations. The deva, having-no-family-of-his-own, makes-in-laws-anywhere (= adopts-anyone-as-kin). (= the deva-of-everyone, of-no-particular-lineage. Foundational anti-jāti claim re-cast as deva-self-description.)
Verse 3 — ligāḍyā / bhāḍyā / dambhē-ṭhakī: deva is ligāḍyā (clinging-leech) — Tuka says — bhāḍyā (hireling) — deceives-by-dambha. Ligāḍyā = one-who-clings-leech-like; bhāḍyā = hireling, mercenary. The deva clings-and-deceives-by-dambha — a hireling. (Comic-deflation: the cosmic-Lord is a clinging-mercenary.)
The implicit-message: the deva is no-respectable-establishment-figure; he's a paradēśī, akuḷī, ligāḍyā, bhāḍyā — a no-family, no-respectability cosmic-vagabond. The Vārkarī tradition's-anti-Brahmanical implicit-claim re-cast comically.
[T]
For someone today
For today: deva is forehead-destitute — no root, no branch — (he is) paradēśī; deva is no-family — anywhere makes relations; deva is clinging-leech — Tuka says — (he is) a hireling — deceives by dambha.
Where this applies
- When you feel excluded from spiritual belonging because of your family background or social status
- When someone claims God favors only the well-connected or the respectably born
- When you notice devotion forming between people who share no caste, class, or lineage in common
- When institutions try to claim exclusive ownership of who God belongs to