Abhanga 3016
What makes you truly human is not birth or appearance but conduct, especially the regard you show to elders, in contrast to indiscriminate, uncontrolled behavior.
The verse
तटाचे जातीला नाहीं भीड भार । लाता मारी थोर लाहान नेणे ॥१॥
परी तो त्या विशेष मानुष होऊन । करी खंड मान वडिलांचा ॥ध्रु.॥
बेरसा गाढव माया ना बहीण । भुंके चवीविण भलतें चि ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे बोकड मातलें । न विचारी आपुले तोंडीं मुते ॥३॥
Literal translation
Taṭāñce jātīlā nāhī bhīḍa bhāra — oftaṭāñce jāti— (there is) nobhīḍa(modesty), nobhāra(weight); lātā mārī thōra lāhāna neṇe — (he) kicks great-and-small, not knowing (distinction). Parī tō tyā viśeṣa mānuṣa hōūna — but (one) becoming aviśeṣa-mānuṣa(special-human); karī khaṇḍa māna vaḍilāñcā — makeskhaṇḍa(regard) for themāna(honor) ofvaḍila(elders). Berasā gāḍhava māyā nā bahīṇa — theberasā gāḍhava(mixed-up donkey) — neithermāyānorbahīṇa; bhunke chavīviṇa bhalate chi — (he) barks without taste — anywhere. Tukayā-bandhu mhaṇe bōkaḍa mātale — Tukārām's-brother says: thebōkaḍa(he-goat) becamemātale(uncontrolled); na vichārī āpule tōṇḍī mute — (he) doesn't consider — urinates in his own mouth.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-low-conduct polemic by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām — separate-theme, post-cluster.
The verse contrasts the low-conduct (donkey, goat) — kicking-all, no-respect-for-elders, no-distinction-of-relatives, urinating-in-own-mouth — with the special-human-being who-makes-khaṇḍa (regard)-for-elders.
Note on social-context: This text uses 17th-c caste-pejoratives (taṭāñce jāti). Must-be-read-historically — Tukārām and his-brother Kānhōbā both honor-mother-and-elders in many texts (2811, 2854, 2896 māyabāpe-Kāśī). The diagnostic-element here is low-conduct (kicking, no-distinction, vulgar), not caste-itself. The animals named-as-images (donkey, goat) are conventional-Marathi pejoratives for uncontrolled-and-vulgar conduct.
For someone today
Kānhōbā's anti-low-conduct polemic. Of (low-rank-jāti) — (there is) no modesty, no respect; (he) kicks great-and-small, not knowing (distinction). But (one) becoming a special human-being — makes regard for the honor of elders. The mixed-up donkey — neither (regards) mother nor sister — barks tastelessly. The uncontrolled he-goat — doesn't consider — urinates in his own mouth. The verse permits the discrimination between vulgar-and-refined conduct with-17th-c-imagery.
Where this applies
- NON-Tukārām composition — signed by Tukyā-bandhu
- Post-cluster (after-॥३७॥-at-3014); separate-theme polemic
- 17th-c anti-low-conduct polemic with caste-pejoratives
- Must-be-contextualized historically