Abhanga 2363
The verse
सालोमालो हरिचे दास । म्हणउन केला अवघा नास ॥१॥ अवघें बचमंगळ केलें । म्हणती एकांचें आपुले ॥ध्रु.॥ मोडूनि संतांचीं वचनें । करिती आपणां भूषणें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे कवी । जगामधीं रूढ दावी ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: ★ Sālōmālō [claims to be] Hari's servant — by saying so, he made all ruin ★. Made everything chaos — calling others' as their own. ★ Breaking the saints' words — making them ornaments for themselves ★. Tuka says: [such] poet — establishes himself in the world.
What it means
★ THE OPENING OF THE FAMOUS SĀLŌMĀLŌ-ANTI-PLAGIARIST CLUSTER (2363-2370) ★.
★ THE DIRECT NAMING ★: Sālōmālō Harichē dāsa — mhaṇa'ūna kēlā avaghā nāsa — ★ Sālōmālō [claims to be] Hari's servant — by saying so, he made all ruin ★. ★ Sālōmālō (the contemporary-plagiarist) [claims-to-be] Hari's-servant; by-saying-this-falsely, he-made-all-ruin (nāsa). ★ Tukārām names-the-offender directly — rare-historical-instance of-direct-polemic in-the-Gatha.
The chaos-of-falsity: avaghē bachamangaḷa kēlē — mhaṇatī ēkāñchē āpulē — made everything chaos — calling others' as their own. Bachamangaḷa = chaos, jumble, disorder. He-made-everything chaos; calling-others'-[words] as-one's-own.
★ THE CENTRAL CHARGE ★: mōḍūni santāñchī vachanē — karitī āpaṇām bhūṣaṇē — ★ breaking the saints' words — making them ornaments for themselves ★. ★ Breaking the-saints'-words (vachanē) — making-them ornaments (bhūṣaṇē) for-themselves. ★ The exact-mechanism of-plagiarism: taking-genuine-saint-speech, breaking/altering-it, then-presenting-it as-one's-own-ornament.
The world-establishment: Tukā mhaṇē kavī — jagāmadhīm rūḍha dāvī — Tuka says: [such] poet — establishes himself in the world. Such-a-poet establishes-himself (rūḍha-dāvī) in-the-world (= gains fraudulent-reputation).
★ HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ★: The Sālōmālō-cluster is one of the most-historically-documented intellectual-property-disputes in pre-modern Indian literature — Tukārām composed-and-named the-offender directly, providing rare-evidence of 17th-century-Marathi attribution-disputes and the value-system of-saint-authorship.
[T]
For someone today
For today: ★ Sālōmālō claims to be Hari's servant — by saying so, made all ruin ★; called others' as own; ★ broke the saints' words — made them ornaments for himself ★; [such] poet establishes himself in the world.
Where this applies
- Sālōmālō-claims-Hari's-servant-but-ruins-all. Sālōmālō-Harichē-dāsa-mhaṇa'ūna-avaghā-nāsa.
- Called-others'-as-own.* Bachamangaḷa-mhaṇatī-ēkāñchē-āpulē.
- Broke-saints'-words-made-them-ornaments-for-self. Mōḍūni-santāñchī-vachanē-āpaṇām-bhūṣaṇē.
- Such-poet-establishes-self-in-world.* Kavī-jagāmadhīm-rūḍha-dāvī.