संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2363 of 4582

Abhanga 2363

Calling yourself God's servant while stealing and twisting a true teacher's words to build your own reputation is fraud, and Tukaram names it plainly.

When you catch yourself repeating someone else's insight as though you thought of it first

When you notice someone dressing up borrowed wisdom as their own to look impressive

When you have to decide whether to credit the person who actually taught you something

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

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

When someone copies a teacher's or writer's words and passes them off as their own original insight
When a public figure's pious image does not match how dishonestly they built it
When a colleague takes credit for an idea that actually came from someone else
When you are tempted to borrow someone's hard-won words without giving them credit