Abhanga 2848
An outer label, whether marriage or high birth, cannot fix or hide an inner disposition; people who lean on caste pride while inwardly corrupt only ruin themselves.
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) aśiṇḍaḷī(unchaste one, prostitute) byjāti(caste, birth, kind); tilā kōṇa vamśāvaḷī — for her, who (asks for) thevamśāvaḷī(lineage, family-tree)? Āpa-ghara nā bāpa-ghara — neitherāpa-ghara(own-house) norbāpa-ghara(father-house); chitti manī vyabhichāra — in (her) chitta-and-mind isvyabhichāra(adultery, unfaithfulness). Sējē asōnīyā dhaṇī — in thesējā(bed) — having thedhaṇī(husband, master); para-dvāra manā āṇī — (she) bringspara-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, theykhātī 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
This is a sharp satirical verse. Tuka pictures a woman whose unfaithfulness is simply part of her nature — no one bothers asking about her family lineage, because her inner disposition is what defines her, not her home or her name. Even lying beside her own husband, her mind wanders to another man's door; the outward form of marriage does nothing to contain what's happening inside her. Tuka then turns this image on people who boast about their high caste and pure lineage: if their inner life is just as corrupt, their pride in birth is worthless — they are, as he puts it, eating mud for the sake of that pride. The point is blunt but clear: what matters is your actual inner disposition, not the outer label you claim.
मराठी: ही एक धारदार उपरोधिक रचना आहे. तुकाराम महाराज अशा स्त्रीचे चित्र रंगवतात जिचे व्यभिचारी वर्तन तिच्या स्वभावाचाच भाग आहे — तिची कुलवंशावळ कोणी विचारतही नाही, कारण तिचे घर किंवा नाव नव्हे तर तिची आंतरिक प्रवृत्तीच तिला ओळख देते. आपल्याच नवऱ्याशेजारी असतानाही तिचे मन दुसऱ्याच्या दाराकडे धावते — विवाहाचे बाह्य रूप तिच्या आतल्या वृत्तीला थोपवू शकत नाही. मग तुकाराम महाराज हेच चित्र उच्च जातीचा आणि शुद्ध वंशाचा अभिमान बाळगणाऱ्यांवर लागू करतात — जर त्यांचेही आंतरिक जीवन तितकेच भ्रष्ट असेल, तर त्यांचा जन्माचा अभिमान निरर्थक आहे — ते, त्यांच्याच शब्दांत, त्या अभिमानासाठी माती खात आहेत. मुद्दा कठोर असला तरी स्पष्ट आहे — महत्त्वाची असते ती खरी आंतरिक प्रवृत्ती, बाहेरून मिरवलेला दावा नव्हे.
Where this applies
- When someone boasts of their family background or status while their actual conduct stays corrupt
- When a person's outer commitments, like a marriage or a title, don't match where their mind and desires actually go
- When you're tempted to judge someone's worth by their pedigree or claimed status rather than their character
- When you notice pride in one's birth or rank being used to cover up an inner emptiness