Abhanga 2750
Bahu hōtā bhalā — (he) was very bhalā (good); parī yē rāṇḍēnē nāsilā — but this rāṇḍa (whore/widow, here = māyā/samsāra personified) has nāsilā (ruined).
The verse
बहु होता भला । परि ये रांडेनें नासिला ॥१॥
बहु शिकला रंग चाळे । खरें खोटें इचे वेळे ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हतें आळवितें कोणी । इनें केला जगॠणी ॥२॥
ज्याचे त्यासी नेदी देऊं । तुका म्हणे धांवे खाऊं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bahu hōtā bhalā — (he) was very bhalā (good); parī yē rāṇḍēnē nāsilā — but this rāṇḍa (whore/widow, here = māyā/samsāra personified) has nāsilā (ruined). Bahu śikalā ranga chāḷē — he learned many ranga-chāḷē (color-plays, deceits-and-tricks); kharē khōṭē iche veḷē — true-and-false (juggled) at her time. Navhatē āḷavitē kōṇī — no one was āḷavitē (calling); iñē kelā jaga-rṇī — she made (him) jaga-rṇī (debtor-to-the-world). Jyāñce tyāsī nēdī dēūm — what-is-whose, she does-not-let-give-back; Tukā says: dhāmve khāūm — she runs to khāūm (eat, devour).
What it means
A sharp diagnostic-verse. Bahu hōtā bhalā — parī yē rāṇḍēnē nāsilā — (he) was very good — but this rāṇḍa has ruined (him). The image of māyā or samsāra as a rāṇḍa (a low-status woman, often translated as whore or widow in the negative-folk-sense, but in this verse functioning as the deceiver-figure). The previously-good man has been ruined by attachment to her.
The dhrūpada: bahu śikalā ranga-chāḷē — kharē khōṭē iche veḷē — he learned many color-plays — true-and-false at her time. Ranga-chāḷē — color-plays, performances-of-deceit. The previously-good man has learned to perform kharē-khōṭē (true-and-false) in her time (according to her schedule). The deceiver has taught her victim deception.
The second verse names the result: navhatē āḷavitē kōṇī — iñē kelā jaga-rṇī — no one was calling (him); she made (him) debtor-to-the-world. Without anyone-calling, without anyone-demanding, she has loaded him with jaga-rṇa (debt-to-the-world). The debt is self-incurred at her instigation.
The close: jyāñce tyāsī nēdī dēūm — dhāmve khāūm — what-is-whose, she doesn't let-give-back; runs to eat. The rāṇḍa-figure prevents the debtor from paying-back (returning what is due); she runs to eat-consume what she has gathered. The greed-mode is total.
The verse is one of Tukārām's most-dramatic personifications of māyā as the deceiver-figure. Compare 2750's rāṇḍa with elsewhere's māyā and trṣṇā-personified.
For someone today
A sharp diagnostic-verse on how good people get ruined by attachment to the deceiver-figure. He was very good — but this rāṇḍa ruined him; he learned color-plays — true-and-false at her time; no one was calling — she made him debtor-to-the-world; what-is-whose, she doesn't let-give-back; she runs to eat. The pattern: previously-good person learns deceit at the deceiver's-time-schedule; debtorship accumulates without anyone-demanding; refund-to-rightful-owners is blocked; the deceiver consumes everything. The diagnostic-test: am I learning kharē-khōṭē at someone's-time (someone else's schedule)? have I become jaga-rṇī (debtor-to-the-world) without anyone-calling for it? If yes, the rāṇḍa-figure is at work.
Where this applies
- Diagnosing the māyā/samsāra-as-deceiver-figure-spoils-the-good-one pattern
- Recognizing learning-deceit-at-someone-else's-schedule as the symptom
- The jaga-rṇī without anyone-calling debt-accumulation pattern
- The runs-to-eat-his-own image of māyā-greed