Abhanga 2184
Do not turn your devotion into self-praise, like a bard flattering himself instead of his lord; that reversal is a disgrace to be burned away.
The verse
पुरुषा हातीं कंकणचुडा । नवल दोडा वृत्ति या ॥१॥ पाहा कैसी विटंबणा । नारायणा देखिली ॥ध्रु.॥ जळो ऐसी ब्रिदावळी । भाटवोळीपणाची ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पाहों डोळां । अवकळा नये हे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bangles and chūḍā on a man's hand — strange, foolish vṛtti. See what disgrace — Nārāyaṇa saw [it]. Burn such a procession-of-titles — of bard-roll-style. Tuka says: we see with our eyes — let no such misfortune come.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पुरुषा हातीं कंकणचुडा | "bangles and chūḍā on a man's hand" |
| नवल दोडा वृत्ति या | "strange, foolish vṛtti" |
| पाहा कैसी विटंबणा | "see what disgrace" |
| नारायणा देखिली | "Nārāyaṇa saw [it]" |
| जळो ऐसी ब्रिदावळी | "burn such a procession-of-titles" |
| भाटवोळीपणाची | "of bard-roll-style" |
| तुका म्हणे पाहों डोळां | "Tuka says — we see with our eyes" |
| अवकळा नये हे | "let no such misfortune come" |
What it means
Man-wearing-bangles + burn-such-bard-titles abhang. Critique of inverted-roles.
The inverted-role image: puruṣā hātīm kankaṇa-chūḍā — navala dōḍā vṛtti yā — bangles and chūḍā on a man's hand — strange, foolish vṛtti. Kankaṇa-chūḍā = women's-bangles, women's-bracelets (the chūḍā is the bridal-set of-bangles worn after marriage). Dōḍā = foolish, dolt-like. A-man wearing women's-bangles — strange, foolish-vṛtti. The image of role-inversion as disgrace.
The Nārāyaṇa-witness: pāhā kaisī viṭambaṇā — Nārāyaṇā dēkhilī — see what disgrace — Nārāyaṇa saw. See what-disgrace — even-Nārāyaṇa saw-(this).
The bridāvaḷī-as-bard-praise: jaḷō aisī bridāvaḷī — bhāṭa-vōḷī-paṇāchī — burn such a procession-of-titles — of bard-roll-style. Bridāvaḷī = procession/string-of-titles, encomium. Bhāṭa = bard, panegyrist. Bhāṭa-vōḷī-paṇa = bardic-self-praise-mode. Burn-such procession-of-titles, of-the-bard-self-praise-style. (= the self-puffing string-of-titles that bards-recite-for-patrons should-be-burnt-when-self-applied.)
The closing — let-no-misfortune-come: Tukā mhaṇē pāhōm ḍōḷām — avakaḷā nayē hē — Tuka says: we see with our eyes — let no such misfortune come. Avakaḷā = misfortune, ill-luck, ugliness. We see-with-our-eyes — let no-such-misfortune (= role-inversion-disgrace) come.
The double-target: (1) literal role-inversion (man-wearing-women's-bangles); (2) metaphorical role-inversion (the bhakta-as-bard-praising-himself rather-than-the-Lord). The bridāvaḷī-bhāṭa-vōḷī-paṇa target makes the metaphorical-reading explicit.
[T]
For someone today
For today: bangles on a man's hand — strange foolish vṛtti; see disgrace — Nārāyaṇa saw; burn such procession-of-titles — bard-style; Tuka says — we see with eyes — let no such misfortune come.
Where this applies
- When you catch yourself bragging about your own spiritual practice instead of pointing toward what you're devoted to
- When you notice someone performing devotion for praise the way a hired bard performs flattery for a patron
- When something about a situation feels backwards or false, like a role being worn by the wrong person
- When you want to check your own motives honestly before they curdle into vanity