Abhanga 2961
Tukaram names the signs of the moral decline he saw around him, yet insists his devotion to Hari is powerful enough that even the divine force of Shakti serves at his house.
The verse
ऐका कलीचें हें फळ । पुढें होइल ब्रम्हगोळ ॥१॥
चारी वर्ण अठरा याती । भोजन करिती एके पंक्ती ॥ध्रु.॥
पूजितीअसुरा रांडा । मद्य प्राशितील पेंढा ॥२॥
वामकवळ मार्जन । जन जाईंल अधोपतन ॥३॥
तुका हरिभक्ति करी । शक्ति पाणी वाहे घरीं ॥४॥
Literal translation
Aikā kalīñce he phaḷa — hear this fruit of Kali; puḍhe hōīla brahma-gōḷa — ahead, there will bebrahma-gōḷa(cosmic-upheaval). Chārī varṇa aṭhārā yātī — the fourvarṇas(and) eighteenyāti; bhōjana karitī eke panktī — will eatbhojanaat the samepankti(row). Pūjitī asurā rāṇḍā — lewd-women will worshipasura; madya prāśitīla peṇḍhā — (and) drinkmadya(alcohol) inpeṇḍhā(containers, bundles). Vāma-kavaḷa mārjana — (with)vāma-kavaḷa(left-eating, or wrong-side morsel) andmārjana(sprinkling-purification); jana jāīla adhō-patana — people will fall toadhō-patana(downward-fall). Tukā Hari-bhakti karī — does Hari-bhakti; śakti pāṇī vāhe gharī — śakti(his-power, or-the-goddess-Śakti) carries water at (his) house.
What it means
A canonical 4-verse Tukārām Kali-prophecy verse. This is one of the most-specific social-criticism / decline-prophecy texts in the corpus, documenting Tukārām's perception-of-17th-c-Maharashtra-society.
Verse 1: Aikā kalīñce he phaḷa — puḍhe hōīla brahma-gōḷa — hear Kali's fruit — ahead, cosmic-upheaval. The opening eschatological-claim.
Dhrūpada: Chārī varṇa aṭhārā yātī — bhōjana karitī eke panktī — four varṇas and eighteen yāti eat at one pankti. The varṇa-mixing-prophecy: all-castes-eating-together. (In Tukārām's brahminical-framework, this is decline.) However, note that Tukārām himself was bhakti-democratic — pairs with 2864 all-have-adhikāra in Kali-yuga. So this is prophetic-irony: what some-see-as-decline (caste-mixing) is also what-bhakti-makes-possible.
Verse 2: Pūjitī asurā rāṇḍā — madya prāśitīla peṇḍhā — (lewd) women worship asuras — drink madya. The image: cult-of-asura-deities (lower-tantric-cult) with-alcohol-consumption. (Tukārām polemicizes-against the asura-cult-with-mad-pāna.)
Verse 3: Vāma-kavaḷa mārjana — jana jāīla adhō-patana — vāma-kavaḷa + mārjana — people fall down. Vāma-kavaḷa — possibly left-handed eating or vāma-mārga (left-hand-tantra). The mārjana (purification-sprinkling) accompanies. People will fall.
Close: Tukā Hari-bhakti karī — śakti pāṇī vāhe gharī — Tukā does Hari-bhakti — śakti carries water at house. The radical-claim: Tukā doing Hari-bhakti has even-Śakti (the goddess-of-power) carrying-water-at-his-house. (Pairs with 2934 Vedānta-vāhe-pāṇī — same kind of high-thing-as-water-carrier image.)
Note on social-context: This verse is bound-to-its-17th-c-time. The criticism of caste-mixing sits-uneasily with Tukārām's-own-bhakti-democratization (2864, 2369, 2810). The criticism of asura-cult-with-alcohol is consistent with his anti-folk-deity polemic (2374). The verse documents-his-times rather-than-prescribing-modern-norms.
For someone today
Tukaram describes what he saw as signs of moral decay in his own time, calling it "the fruit of Kali" — a coming upheaval where the old social order would come undone, with all castes eating together, corrupt worship of lesser spirits, and heavy drinking. Modern readers should read the caste comment in the context of his own 17th-century world, especially since Tukaram elsewhere insists that bhakti belongs to everyone regardless of caste. What he really wants to stress is the closing claim: no matter how much decline he sees around him, his own devotion to Hari is so powerful that even Shakti herself would serve in his house, carrying water like the lowliest of servants.
मराठी: तुकाराम आपल्या काळात दिसणाऱ्या नैतिक अधःपतनाच्या खुणा सांगतात, त्याला ते 'कलीचे फळ' म्हणतात — म्हणजे येणारा एक मोठा उलथापालथीचा काळ, ज्यात जुनी सामाजिक व्यवस्था ढासळेल, सर्व जाती एकत्र भोजन करतील, हीन देवतांची भ्रष्ट पूजा होईल आणि मद्यपान वाढेल. आधुनिक वाचकांनी जातीबद्दलची ही टिप्पणी तुकारामांच्या सतराव्या शतकातील संदर्भात समजून घ्यावी, विशेषतः कारण तुकाराम इतरत्र स्पष्टपणे सांगतात की भक्ती जातिभेदाशिवाय सर्वांची आहे. या अभंगाचा खरा मुद्दा शेवटच्या ओळीत आहे: आजूबाजूला कितीही अधःपतन दिसले तरी, हरिभक्तीची शक्ती इतकी मोठी आहे की खुद्द शक्तीदेवीसुद्धा त्यांच्या घरी अगदी साध्या सेवकासारखी पाणी भरते.
Where this applies
- The canonical Tukārām Kali-prophecy of social-decay
- Recognizing 17th-c social-criticism in the corpus
- Tukā-Hari-bhakti — śakti-carries-water — bhakti-supremacy claim
- Pairs with 2934 (Vedānta-carries-water), 2374 (anti-folk-deity polemic)
- Documentary-evidence of 17th-c Maharashtra society