संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1924 of 4582

Abhanga 1924

For today: at the great-door rolls — the step below the feet; such (be) my daṇḍavata — saints, tell (Lord) this message; (let) the staff-stick fall — push the body anywhere; Tuka says — the child rolls without any care.

When you'd describe the bhakta's-daṇḍavata + saints-as-messengers — mahā-dvāra-pāyarī-pāyām-khālīla; daṇḍavata-niropa-santa; daṇḍa-kāṭhī-dēha-bhalatī-savā; bāḷa-lōḷē-sāmbhāḷa-na

The verse

रुळें महाद्वारीं । पायांखालील पायरी ॥१॥ तैसें माझें दंडवत । सांगा निरोप हा संत ॥ध्रु.॥ पडे दंडकाठी । देह भलतीसवा लोटी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे बाळ । लोळे न धरितां सांभाळ ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: At the great-door rolls — the step below the feet. Such (be) my daṇḍavata — saints, tell (Lord) this message. (Let) the staff-stick fall — push the body anywhere. Tuka says: the child rolls without any care.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
रुळें महाद्वारीं "at the great-door rolls"
पायांखालील पायरी "the step below the feet (pāyarī)"
तैसें माझें दंडवत "such (be) my daṇḍavata"
सांगा निरोप हा संत "saints — tell (Lord) this message"
पडे दंडकाठी "(let) the staff-stick fall"
देह भलतीसवा लोटी "push the body anywhere"
तुका म्हणे बाळ "Tuka says — the child"
लोळे न धरितां सांभाळ "rolls — without any care"

What it means

Daṇḍavata-as-step-below-feet + saints-tell-this-message abhang. Letter-sent-with-saints cluster.

The opening-image: ruḷē mahā-dvārī — pāyām-khālīla pāyarīat the great-door rolls — the step below the feet. Mahā-dvāra = the great-door of-Pandhari; pāyarī = step (of stairs / threshold). At-the-temple's-great-door, the step rolls below-the-feet (= the step at-the-temple-entrance, where pilgrims-tread, is itself a kind of fallen-rolling-prostration).

The bhakta's-daṇḍavata: taisē mājhē daṇḍavata — sāngā niropa hā santasuch (be) my daṇḍavata — saints, tell (Lord) this message. Like-that-step-rolling, my prostration; saints, deliver-this-message. (= the bhakta-asks-the-saints to-deliver his-prostration as-a-message.)

The body-let-fall: paḍē daṇḍa-kāṭhī — dēha bhalatī-savā lōṭī(let) the staff-stick fall — push the body anywhere. Daṇḍa-kāṭhī = staff; bhalatī-savā = anywhere. Let-the-body-fall-like-a-staff; push-it-anywhere.

The closing-image: Tukā mhaṇē bāḷa — lōḷē na dharitām sāmbhāḷaTuka says: the child rolls without any care. The infant-child rolls-around-the-floor without-care; the bhakta-as-child rolls-at-Pandhari with-no-self-concern.

This abhang has the beautiful daṇḍavata-as-rolling-step image — the bhakta's-prostration becomes the very-step-at-the-temple's-great-door.

[T]

For someone today

For today: at the great-door rolls — the step below the feet; such (be) my daṇḍavata — saints, tell (Lord) this message; (let) the staff-stick fall — push the body anywhere; Tuka says — the child rolls without any care.

Where this applies

Related verses