Abhanga 3003
After a devastating loss, what matters most is not achievement or timing but whether the bond between two people still holds.
The verse
तेणें चि काळें केला । असता अवघा निवाडा ॥१॥
सद्धिासी वेव्हार । कासयासी लागला ॥ध्रु.॥
धरणें ही दिवस तेरा । माझ्या भावें घेतलें ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे उरी । नाहीं तरी नुरे कांहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Teṇe chi kāḷe kelā — by that-verykāḷa(time), (he) made (it happen); asatā avaghā nivāḍā — when allnivāḍā(decision) was-(forming). Siddhīsī vevhāra — kāsayāsī lāgalā — withsiddhi(attainment), what was thevevhāra(business)? — to what (purpose) did (it) attach? Dharaṇe hī divasa terā — thedharaṇa(siege, hostage-fast) was thirteen days; mājhyā bhāve ghētalē — by mybhāva(brother) it was-taken. Tukyā-bandhu mhaṇe urī — nāhī tarī nure kāmhī — Tukārām's-brother says: (the)urī(leftover-bond) — there is none — otherwise — nothing remains.
What it means
A short 3-verse siege-image verse by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām.
The bhakta-brother references a thirteen-day dharaṇa (siege, sit-in-protest, hostage-fast). The traditional dharaṇa is sitting-at-someone's-doorstep without-food-or-water until-the-demand-is-met. The brother says: the dharaṇa was thirteen-days; by my-brother (= because-of-Tukārām's-departure), it was-taken (= undertaken). The thirteen-days-mark may refer to the traditional thirteenth-day after-death (the trayōdaśa-rite), when the family-completes-formal-mourning. The brother extends-his-grief-protest-as-a-formal-dharaṇa-siege.
For someone today
Kānhobā reflects that time itself brought this decision to pass, once everything was already set in motion — what did any attainment or spiritual achievement really have to do with it? He recalls a thirteen-day standoff, undertaken because of his brother's departure, sitting it out the way a griever holds vigil, which may echo the traditional thirteenth-day mourning rite. In the end he says plainly: either some bond between them still holds, or nothing at all remains. It's a reminder that after a devastating loss, what matters isn't achievement or timing, but whether the connection between two people survives.
मराठी: कान्होबा सांगतो की जेव्हा सर्व काही आधीच घडत चालले होते, तेव्हा काळानेच हा निर्णय घडवून आणला — यात सिद्धीचा, कुठल्याही साधनेच्या यशाचा काय संबंध होता? तो आठवतो एक तेरा दिवसांचा धरणे-उपोषण, जे आपल्या भावाच्या (तुकारामांच्या) जाण्यामुळे त्याने धरले — कदाचित हे पारंपरिक तेराव्याच्या विधीशी जुळणारे असेल. शेवटी तो स्पष्टपणे सांगतो — एकतर दोघांमधला बंध अजून टिकून आहे, नाहीतर काहीच उरत नाही. भयंकर दुःखानंतर महत्त्वाचे असते ते यश किंवा वेळ नाही, तर दोन माणसांमधले नाते अजूनही टिकून आहे की नाही, हेच हा अभंग सांगतो.
Where this applies
- Part of Kānhōbā's extended-lament-cluster (2977-3007+)
- NON-Tukārām composition — signed by Tukyā-bandhu
- Thirteen-days-dharaṇa-siege took-my-brother striking-image
- Possibly references trayodaśa-mourning-rite