Abhanga 2771
A useful witty accusation prayer. Those who came earlier were made progenyless; such a difficult path — to whom can I complain? In the stripped-naked-rank, he leaves no loincloth. The thief — he stands here, hand-on-hip. The wit is that the complaint-receiver IS the thief. There is literally no one to complain to who is not the perpetrator. The bhakti-relationship permits this kind of playful-cosmic-accusation — recognizing the Lord as the cosmic-stripper who takes-everything from his bhaktas, and stands proudly in his iconic pose afterward.
The verse
येणें मागॉ आले । त्यांचें निसंतान केलें ॥१॥
ऐसी अवघड वाट । कोणा सांगावा बोभाट ॥ध्रु.॥
नागविल्या थाटी । उरों नेदी च लंगोटी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चोर । तो हा उभा कटिकर ॥३॥
Literal translation
Yēṇē māgō ālē — those who came earlier on thismāga(path/trail); tyāñce nisantāna kelē — he made themnisantāna(progenyless, descendantless). Aisī avaghaḍa vāṭa — such anavaghaḍa(difficult) path; kōṇā sāngāvā bōbhāṭa — to whom should I take thebōbhāṭa(outcry, complaint)? Nāgavilyā thāṭī — in thenāgavalyā-thāṭī(stripped-naked-rank); urōm nēdī chi langōṭī — he leaves nolangōṭī(loincloth). Tukā says: chōra tō hā ubhā kaṭi-kara — the thief — he stands here,kaṭi-kara(hand-on-hip).
What it means
A witty bhakti-accusation verse. Yēṇē māgō ālē — tyāñce nisantāna kelē — those who came earlier on this path — he has made them progenyless (descendantless). The progenyless-claim is striking: those-who-came-earlier (the previous-bhaktas) were left without-descendants — the Lord has consumed them entirely.
The dhrūpada: aisī avaghaḍa vāṭa — kōṇā sāngāvā bōbhāṭa — such a difficult path — to whom shall I take the outcry? The path is so avaghaḍa (difficult) that there is no one-to-complain-to. The previous-bhaktas were stripped; there is no surviving-witness to complain-to.
The second verse names the stripping: nāgavilyā thāṭī — urōm nēdī chi langōṭī — in the stripped-naked-rank, he leaves no loincloth. Nāgavalyā-thāṭī — the rank of those-stripped-naked — the Lord doesn't even leave a langōṭī (small loincloth, the bare-minimum-covering).
The close is the wonderful punchline: chōra tō hā ubhā kaṭi-kara — the thief — he stands here, hand-on-hip. The image: the thief (who has-stripped-the-earlier-comers) is standing right-here, hand-on-hip. This is the iconic Viṭhṭhala-on-the-brick posture (compare 2742's kaṭāvari kara — hand on hip). The witty-twist: Viṭhoba IS the thief who stripped everyone before me — and he stands there in his iconic-pose.
This is among the most-playful Tukārām accusations. Compare 2667-2668's Vaiṣṇavas-are-thieves — Tukārām here extends it to Viṭhoba-himself-is-the-thief. The kaṭi-kara posture is named as part of the thief's-stance.
For someone today
A useful witty accusation prayer. Those who came earlier were made progenyless; such a difficult path — to whom can I complain? In the stripped-naked-rank, he leaves no loincloth. The thief — he stands here, hand-on-hip. The wit is that the complaint-receiver IS the thief. There is literally no one to complain to who is not the perpetrator. The bhakti-relationship permits this kind of playful-cosmic-accusation — recognizing the Lord as the cosmic-stripper who takes-everything from his bhaktas, and stands proudly in his iconic pose afterward.
मराठी: एक चतुर आणि खोडकर आरोप करणारी प्रार्थना. आधी आलेल्यांना निपुत्रिक केलं गेलं; इतकी अवघड वाट आहे — कुणाकडे तक्रार करावी? या नागव्या रांगेत त्याने लंगोटीसुद्धा शिल्लक ठेवली नाही. तो चोर — इथेच कमरेवर हात ठेवून उभा आहे. यातली गंमत अशी की तक्रार ज्याच्याकडे करायची तोच चोर आहे. गुन्हेगार नसलेलं असं कुणीच तक्रार ऐकायला उरत नाही, खरोखरच. भक्तीचं हे नातं अशा खेळकर, विश्वव्यापी आरोपाला जागा देतं — देवाला त्या वैश्विक चोराच्या रूपात ओळखणं, जो आपल्या भक्तांकडून सगळं काही घेऊन जातो, आणि नंतर आपल्या ठराविक रुबाबदार पवित्र्यात उभा राहतो.
Where this applies
- When you realize love or devotion has quietly taken everything you thought was yours
- When you want to complain about what faith has cost you but realize there is no neutral judge to appeal to
- When you notice that the people who gave everything before you came out with nothing to show for it, and wonder if that is the point
- When you catch yourself laughing at how total surrender really is, instead of resenting it