Abhanga 1968
For today: who eats from the snake — forfeits his prāṇa; what did the durjana attain — people spit on his face; scorpion strikes with sting — sets fire to others' bodies; Tuka says — they walk step-by-step into hell.
The verse
सापें ज्यासी खावें । तेणें प्राणासी मुकावें ॥१॥ काय लाधला दुर्जन । तोंडावरी थुंकी जन ॥ध्रु.॥ विंचु हाणें नांगी । अग्न लावी आणिकां अंगीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे जाती । नरका पाउलीं चालती ॥३॥ ॥६॥ स्वामींनीं स्त्रीस उपदेश केला ते अभंग ॥ ११ ॥
Literal translation
English: Who eats from the snake — forfeits his prāṇa. What did the durjana attain — people spit on his face. Scorpion strikes with sting — sets fire to others' bodies. Tuka says: they walk — step-by-step into hell. ॥6॥ Editorial-note: "These are Svāmī's instruction-to-wife abhangs — 11."
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सापें ज्यासी खावें | "who eats from the snake" |
| तेणें प्राणासी मुकावें | "forfeits his prāṇa" |
| काय लाधला दुर्जन | "what did the durjana attain" |
| तोंडावरी थुंकी जन | "people spit on his face" |
| विंचु हाणें नांगी | "scorpion strikes with sting" |
| अग्न लावी आणिकां अंगीं | "sets fire to others' bodies" |
| तुका म्हणे जाती | "Tuka says — they walk" |
| नरका पाउलीं चालती | "step-by-step into hell" |
| ॥६॥ | "colophon-6 — closes 6-abhang advice-cluster (1963-1968)" |
| स्वामींनीं स्त्रीस उपदेश केला ते अभंग ॥ ११ ॥ | "Svāmī's instruction-to-wife — the next 11 abhangs — opens 11-abhang wife-instruction cluster (1969-1979)" |
What it means
Snake-scorpion-durjana-walks-to-hell + double-colophon abhang.
The opening: sāpē jyāsī khāvē — tēṇē prāṇāsī mukāvē — who eats from the snake — forfeits his prāṇa. Who-feeds-on-snakes loses-his-prāṇa.
The disgrace: kāya lādhalā durjana — tōṇḍāvarī thunkī jana — what did the durjana attain — people spit on his face. The durjana (= the wicked) gains-only-public-disgrace.
The scorpion-fire: viñchu hāṇē nāngī — agna lāvī āṇikām angīm — scorpion strikes with sting — sets fire to others' bodies. Like a scorpion, the durjana sets-fire-to-others' bodies (= harms-others).
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē jātī — narakā pā'ulīm chālatī — Tuka says: they walk step-by-step into hell. Step-by-step (pā'ulīm-chālatī) the durjanas walk-to-hell.
THE COLOPHONS: ॥६॥ closes a 6-abhang advice-cluster (1963-1968) beginning with manā ēka karī (mind-do-one-thing) and including the saint-fault-finder rebuke (1967).
Then EDITORIAL NOTE: "स्वामींनीं स्त्रीस उपदेश केला ते अभंग ॥ ११ ॥" — "These are the abhangs in which Svāmī instructed his wife — 11.". This opens one of the most-biographically-rich clusters of the Gatha: Tukārām's domestic-dialog with his wife (Avalūbāī/Jijāī) about household-poverty, debts, dead-cattle, no-surviving-children, and the Lord-as-true-provider. The wife-instruction-cluster (1969-1979) reflects the historical Tukārām's-own poverty and his pressure on his-wife to-accept-renunciation.
[T]
For someone today
For today: who eats from the snake — forfeits his prāṇa; what did the durjana attain — people spit on his face; scorpion strikes with sting — sets fire to others' bodies; Tuka says — they walk step-by-step into hell.
Where this applies
- Snake-eating-forfeits-prāṇa.* Sāpē-prāṇāsī-mukāvē.
- Durjana-gains-disgrace-spit.* Lādhalā-durjana-thunkī.
- Scorpion-sting-fire-on-others.* Viñchu-nāngī-agna-lāvī.
- Step-by-step-walk-to-hell.* Jātī-narakā-pā'ulīm-chālatī.