Abhanga 2771
Yēṇē māgō ālē — those who came earlier on this māga (path/trail); tyāñce nisantāna kelē — he made them nisantāna (progenyless, descendantless).
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 this māga (path/trail); tyāñce nisantāna kelē — he made them nisantāna (progenyless, descendantless). Aisī avaghaḍa vāṭa — such an avaghaḍa (difficult) path; kōṇā sāngāvā bōbhāṭa — to whom should I take the bōbhāṭa (outcry, complaint)? Nāgavilyā thāṭī — in the nāgavalyā-thāṭī (stripped-naked-rank); urōm nēdī chi langōṭī — he leaves no langōṭī (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.
Where this applies
- The bhakti-thief-stands-Viṭhoba-style-hand-on-hip image
- Recognizing the those-who-came-earlier-were-stripped pattern
- Wit-and-warning: the path is hard, to whom shall I complain when the complainee IS the thief?
- The Viṭhoba-on-the-brick-iconographic-pose-as-thief-stance witty-identification