Abhanga 2848
Jātīñcī śiṇḍaḷī — (she who is) a śiṇḍaḷī (unchaste one, prostitute) by jāti (caste, birth, kind); tilā kōṇa vamśāvaḷī — for her, who (asks for) the vamśāvaḷī (lineage, family-tree)?
The verse
जातीची शिंदळी । तिला कोण वंशावळी ॥१॥
आपघर ना बापघर । चित्ती मनीं व्यभिचार ॥ध्रु.॥
सेजे असोनियां धणी । परद्वार मना आणी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे असील जाती । जातीसाठीं खाती माती ॥३॥
Literal translation
Jātīñcī śiṇḍaḷī — (she who is) a śiṇḍaḷī (unchaste one, prostitute) by jāti (caste, birth, kind); tilā kōṇa vamśāvaḷī — for her, who (asks for) the vamśāvaḷī (lineage, family-tree)? Āpa-ghara nā bāpa-ghara — neither āpa-ghara (own-house) nor bāpa-ghara (father-house); chitti manī vyabhichāra — in (her) chitta-and-mind is vyabhichāra (adultery, unfaithfulness). Sējē asōnīyā dhaṇī — in the sējā (bed) — having the dhaṇī (husband, master); para-dvāra manā āṇī — (she) brings para-dvāra (other's door, other's man) to (her) mind. Tukā says: asila jātī — (those of) aśila (high-class, well-born) jāti; jātīsāṭhī khātī mātī — for the sake of (their) jāti, they khātī mātī (eat mud — i.e., ruin themselves).
What it means
A short satirical verse. Jātīñcī śiṇḍaḷī — tilā kōṇa vamśāvaḷī — (of) a born-unchaste one — who (asks for) the lineage? The opening-image: a woman who is unchaste-by-nature — no-one asks her lineage; her inner-disposition is what-matters.
Āpa-ghara nā bāpa-ghara — chitti manī vyabhichāra — neither own-house nor father-house — in (her) chitta-mind is vyabhichāra. The diagnostic-detail: she has neither home of her own nor a father's home; her inner-state is what defines her.
Sējē asōnīyā dhaṇī — para-dvāra manā āṇī — in (her) bed having the husband — (she) brings the other's-door to mind. The decisive-detail: even with her husband in her bed, her mind goes to another's-door. The physical-marriage does not contain the inner-vyabhichāra.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe asila jātī — jātīsāṭhī khātī mātī — those (claiming) high-class jāti — for the sake of (their) jāti, eat mud. The satire: those-who-boast-of-aśila-jāti (claiming-high-caste) are for-the-sake-of-their-jāti, eating-mud (ruining themselves). The caste-pride is itself a form of unchastity-of-mind — both involve mistaking-outer-form for inner-essence.
Note: This is a satirical-verse using the image of the unfaithful-wife (a common Marathi-bhakti image) to attack caste-pride. The structure: just as the inner-disposition of unfaithfulness is unaffected by outer-marriage-status, so the inner-emptiness of caste-pride is unaffected by outer-jāti-claims. Both rely on outer-appearance while inwardly-being-rotten.
For someone today
A satirical anti-caste-pride image. Of a born-unchaste one — who asks the lineage? Neither own-house nor father-house — in (her) chitta-mind is vyabhichāra. In (her) bed having the husband — (she) brings other's-door to mind. (Those claiming) high-class jāti — for the sake of (their) jāti, eat mud. The verse uses the inner-vyabhichāra-despite-outer-marriage as parallel to outer-caste-pride-despite-inner-emptiness. The diagnostic-claim: outer-status (marriage, caste) does not contain inner-disposition. Anyone claiming-high-jāti while-being-inwardly-rotten is eating-mud. The image is harsh but the point is clear: check the inner-disposition, not the outer-claim.
Where this applies
- The satirical born-vyabhichāra-jāti-pride-eats-mud image
- Recognizing inner-vyabhichāra is unaffected by outer-marriage-status
- Anti-caste-pride: those-who-boast-jāti waste their lives
- The outer-status doesn't contain inner-disposition principle