Abhanga 3040
Dudhāḷa gāḍhavī jarī jālī pāhe — even if a donkey-mare became milk-giving; pāvela te kāya dhenu sarī — would she reach the dhenu (cow) level.
The verse
दुधाळ गाढवी जरी जाली पाहे । पावेल ते काय धेनुसरी ॥१॥
कागाचिया गळा पुष्पाचिया माळा । हंसाची तो कळा काय जाणे ॥ध्रु.॥
मर्कटें अंघोळी लावियेले टिळे । ब्राम्हणाचे लीळे वर्तूं नेणे ॥२॥
जरी तो ब्राम्हण जाला कर्मभ्रष्ट । तुका म्हणे श्रेष्ठ तिहीं लोकीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Dudhāḷa gāḍhavī jarī jālī pāhe — even if a donkey-mare became milk-giving; pāvela te kāya dhenu sarī — would she reach the dhenu (cow) level. Kāgāñciyā gaḷā puṣpāñciyā māḷā — (if a) crow has a puṣpa-māḷā on (its) neck; hamsāñcī tō kaḷā kāya jāṇe — what does it know of the hamsa's kaḷā. Markaṭe anghōḷī lāviyele ṭiḷe — (a) markaṭa (monkey) bathed and adorned with tilakas; brāhmaṇāñce līḷe vartūm neṇe — does not know how to conduct-itself in brāhmaṇa-līlā. Jarī tō brāhmaṇa jālā karma-bhraṣṭa — even if that brāhmaṇa has become karma-bhraṣṭa; Tukā mhaṇe śreṣṭha tihīm lōkīm — Tukā says: (he is) śreṣṭha in three-worlds.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-imitation polemic by Tukārām, with a striking-and-nuanced caste-position.
The first-three-verses use animal-pretender-images: 1. Donkey-mare-giving-milk doesn't-reach-cow-level 2. Crow-with-flower-garland doesn't-know-hamsa-style 3. Monkey-with-tilakas doesn't-know-brāhmaṇa-conduct
The closing-claim is striking: even-karma-bhraṣṭa-brāhmaṇa is-śreṣṭha-in-three-worlds. This contrasts with-Tukārām's-anti-Brahmin-establishment-texts (2962 anti-fake-guru, 2755 śūdra-vamśī-autobiography) and-with-2973 (inner-quality-over-outer-jāti).
★ Nuanced reading: The verse is best-read as targeting pretenders-who-fake-brāhmaṇa-status, not-as-an-endorsement-of-caste-supremacy. The contrast-set is: (1) a donkey-pretending-to-be-cow, (2) a crow-with-puṣpa-mālā, (3) a monkey-with-tilakas. Tukārām's position seems-to-be: if-someone-is-genuinely-of-a-state, even-degraded that-state outweighs-the-pretense-of-another-state. This is consistent-with-his-svadharma-emphasis elsewhere — be-what-you-are, don't-pretend-otherwise.
Note: this position must-be-contextualized historically. The verse uses 17th-c imagery of caste-and-conduct-distinction that-doesn't-straightforwardly-map-to-modern-readings.
For someone today
Tukārām's anti-imitation polemic. Even if a donkey-mare became milk-giving — would she reach the cow's level? A crow with a flower-garland on (its) neck — what does it know of the hamsa's style? A monkey bathed and adorned with sacred-marks — does not know how to conduct itself in brāhmaṇa-manner. Even if that brāhmaṇa has become karma-bhraṣṭa — (he is) still greater in the three-worlds. The verse permits the recognition that pretense-doesn't-replace-genuine-state, even-when-the-genuine-state-is-degraded.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-imitation/anti-fake-bhakta polemic
- ★ Nuanced caste-position — must-be-read-with 2755, 2962, 2973 for-balance
- Donkey/crow/monkey-pretender animal-imagery
- Bound-to-17th-c social-framework