Abhanga 2226
English: Tell me, how am I not your dās — consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa?
The verse
सांगा दास नव्हें तुमचा मी कैसा । ऐसें पंढरीशा विचारूनि ॥१॥ कोणासाटीं केली प्रपंचाची होळी । या पायां वेगळी मायबापा ॥ध्रु.॥ नसेल तो द्यावा सत्यत्वासी धीर । नये भाजूं हीर उफराटे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे आम्हां आहिक्य परत्रीं । नाहीं कुळगोत्रीं दुजें कांहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Tell me, how am I not your dās — consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa? For whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these feet, mother-father? Give firmness to truth — don't roast the jewel backwards. Tuka says: we have this-world-and-the-other — no other in lineage or gotra.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सांगा दास नव्हें तुमचा मी कैसा | "tell me, how am I not your dās" |
| ऐसें पंढरीशा विचारूनि | "consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa" |
| कोणासाटीं केली प्रपंचाची होळी | "for whose sake did I burn the prapañca" |
| या पायां वेगळी मायबापा | "apart from these feet, mother-father" |
| नसेल तो द्यावा सत्यत्वासी धीर | "give firmness to truth" |
| नये भाजूं हीर उफराटे | "don't roast the jewel backwards" |
| तुका म्हणे आम्हां आहिक्य परत्रीं | "Tuka says — we have this-world-and-the-other" |
| नाहीं कुळगोत्रीं दुजें कांहीं | "no other in lineage or gotra" |
What it means
For-whose-sake-did-I-burn-the-prapañca + your-feet-are-our-only-lineage abhang. The famous prapañca-hōḷī lament. Sixteenth abhang of the niḍrā-cluster.
The opening — am-I-not-your-dās: sāngā dāsa navhē tumacā mī kaisā — aisē Paṇḍharīśā vichārūni — tell me, how am I not your dās — consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa. Tell-me, how am-I-not your-dās? Consider-this, Paṇḍharī-īśa.
THE PRAPAÑCĀCHĪ HŌḶĪ LAMENT: kōṇāsāṭīm kēlī prapañcāchī hōḷī — yā pāyām vēgaḷī māya-bāpā — for whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these feet, mother-father. Prapañca = worldly-life, the householder-life. Hōḷī = bonfire, burning. For whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these (your) feet, mother-father? The most resonant biographical-lament: the bhakta-recalls having-sacrificed-his-householder-life (his trade, his place in society, the worldly-comforts) entirely-for-Pāṇḍuranga; if-now-rejected, the-burning was-for-nothing.
The truth-and-jewel: nasēla tō dyāvā satyatvāsī dhīra — nayē bhājūm hīra uphurāṭē — give firmness to truth — don't roast the jewel backwards. Hīra = jewel. Uphurāṭē = backwards. Give firmness to satya (truth); don't roast the jewel backwards (= don't reverse the value, don't turn-the-jewel-(true-bhakta)-into-stone).
The closing — your-feet-are-the-only-lineage: Tukā mhaṇē āmhām āhikya paratrīm — nāhīm kuḷa-gōtrīm dujē kāmhīm — Tuka says: we have this-world-and-the-other — no other in lineage or gotra. Āhikya = this-world (aihika). Paratra = the-other-world. Kuḷa-gōtra = lineage and gotra (family-and-clan-affiliation). In-both-this-world-and-the-other-world, we-have no-other-(refuge); no-other in-lineage-or-gotra (= the Lord's-feet are-our-only-kula-gōtra, here-and-hereafter).
Biographical resonance: Tukārām's grain-merchant trade collapsed, his first wife and son died in the famine of 1629, his stepmother and elder brother went to live elsewhere — Tukārām explicitly burned/abandoned his prapañca to-take-up-bhakti at Bhandārā hill. This abhang invokes-that-history at-the-niḍrā-moment when the-Lord seems-to-have-abandoned-him.
[T]
For someone today
For today: tell me how am I not your dās — consider, Paṇḍharī-īśa; for whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these feet, mother-father; give firmness to truth — don't roast the jewel backwards; Tuka says — we have this-world-and-the-other — no other in lineage or gotra.
Where this applies
- Tell-me-how-am-I-not-your-dās.* Dāsa-navhē-tumacā-Paṇḍharīśā-vichārūni.
- For-whose-sake-burned-the-prapañca.* Prapañcāchī-hōḷī-yā-pāyām-vēgaḷī-māya-bāpā.
- Give-firmness-to-truth-don't-roast-jewel-backwards.* Satyatvāsī-dhīra-bhājūm-hīra-uphurāṭē.
- No-other-lineage-here-or-hereafter.* Āhikya-paratrīm-kuḷa-gōtrīm-dujē-kāmhīm.