Abhanga 2432
The verse
नव्हती हीं माझीं जायाचीं भूषणें । असे नारायणें उचित केलें ॥१॥ शब्दाच्या वोवोनी रत्नाचिया माळा । मुळींच जिव्हाळा झरवणी ॥ध्रु.॥ अर्थांतरीं असे अनुभवसेवन । परिपाकीं मन साक्ष येथें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मज सरतें परतें । हें नाहीं अनंतें उरों दिलें ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: ★ These aren't my bride's ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper ★. ★★ Stringing pearl-garlands of words — from the source the affection-spring ★★. ★ In the meaning-pith is experience-service — in ripening, mind is witness ★. Tuka says: for me, completion-and-beyond — Ananta hasn't let this remain.
What it means
★★ THE PEARL-GARLANDS-OF-WORDS META-POETIC ABHANG ★★. One of the most-celebrated statements about Tukārām's own poetry.
The disclaimer: navhatī hīm mājhīm jāyāchīm bhūṣaṇē — asē Nārāyaṇē uchita kēlē — ★ these aren't my bride's ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper ★. ★ These (abhangs) aren't my-bride's-ornaments (= not-my-personal-poetry); Nārāyaṇa made-them proper. ★ The poetry-is-not-mine — divinely-given.
★★ THE CELEBRATED IMAGE ★★: śabdāñchyā vōvōnī ratnāñchyā māḷā — muḷīmcha jivhāḷā jharavaṇī — ★★ stringing pearl-garlands of words — from the source the affection-spring ★★. ★★ Stringing pearl-garlands (ratna-māḷā) of-words; from-the-source (muḷīmcha) the-affection-spring (jivhāḷā-jharavaṇī = spring of-tender-feeling). ★★ The abhangs as pearl-jewelry strung-by-Tukārām but-the-pearls-come-from-the-source-affection-spring. A foundational meta-poetic statement — Tukārām's poetry is Nārāyaṇa's-jewelry threaded through the bhakta's-affection.
★ HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ★: This image is central to the Vārkarī self-understanding of saint-poetry — the abhangs are not human-compositions but divine-pearls threaded-through-the-bhakta. Compare with Jñāneśvar's similar disclaimers (mājhē bōla mājhē navhē). Used as a hermeneutic-key for-approaching Tukārām's-poetry.
[T]
For someone today
For today: ★ these are not my ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper ★; ★★ pearl-garlands of words — from the source-affection-spring ★★; in the meaning-pith is experience; Ananta hasn't let this remain*.
Where this applies
- ★★ Pearl-garlands-of-words-from-affection-spring ★★. ★★ Śabdāñchyā-vōvōnī-ratnāñchyā-māḷā-muḷīmcha-jivhāḷā-jharavaṇī ★★.