Abhanga 3351
Devotion can include honest protest, questioning even the divine's hardness rather than only offering quiet, unquestioning praise.
The verse
नित्य नित्य पूजा करी श्रीकमळीं । तेणें तुझें काय केलें ॥१॥
एकला चि जरी देऊं परिहार । आहे दुरिवरी सीमा ॥ध्रु.॥
पडिला भूमी परी नयेची करुणा । दांत पाडियेले दोन्ही ॥२॥
ऐसा कठिण कोण होईंल दुसरा । उखळीं कांडविलें शिर ॥३॥ सिभ्री चक्रवर्ती करितां यज्ञयाग । त्याचें चिरिलें अंग ठायीं ठायीं ।
जाचऊनि प्राण घेतला मागें । पुढें न पाहतां कांहीं ॥४॥
कोंडिलें दार हा काय कहार । सांगतोसी चित्त कथा ॥५॥
पाडिला विघड नळा दमयंतीमधीं । ऐसी तुझी बुद्धि हरि ॥६॥
वधियेला मामा सखा पुरुषोत्तमा । म्हणे बंधु तुकयाचा ॥७॥
Literal translation
Nitya nitya pūjā karī Śrī-Kamaḷīm — teṇe tujhe kāya kele — daily Śrī-Kamaḷī (Lakṣmī) does pūjā — what have you done by-it. Ekalā chi jarī deūm parihāra — āhe duri-varī sīmā — alone I would give a-response — the line is far. Paḍilā bhūmī parī nayechī karuṇā — dāmta pāḍiyele dōnhī — (Lord) fell on bhūmi — no karuṇā came — two teeth broken. Aisā kaṭhiṇa kōṇa hōīmla dusarā — ukhaḷīm kāmḍavile śira — who-else so kaṭhin — head pounded in mortar. Sibhri Chakravartī doing yajña — body cut piece-by-piece. Tortured prāṇa, took (it) from-behind, not-looking-ahead. Closed the door — what kahāra? kathā with chitta you tell. (Lord) split Naḷa-Damayantī. Tukyā-bandhu says: killed (the) māmā — sakhā Puruṣōttama.
What it means
A 7-verse NON-Tukārām polemic by Kānhōbā (signed bamdhu tukayāñcā). The bhakta-brother enumerates the Lord's-mythical-violences (Vāmana-falling, Sibhri-cut-in-pieces, head-pounded-in-mortar, prāṇa-tortured, door-closed, Naḷa-Damayantī-split, Kamsa-killed) as accusation-of-Lord's-hardness.
This is part-of the Kānhōbā-corpus woven-into the-Tukārām-gatha (cf 2977-3014 main-cluster).
For someone today
This verse, composed by Tukaram's brother Kanhoba, is a bold and confrontational prayer that lists moment after moment when the Lord has acted harshly in the old stories, someone falling and losing teeth with no mercy shown, a devotee cut to pieces during a sacrifice, a head crushed in a mortar, life tortured out of someone from behind without warning, doors shut on people in distress, a marriage torn apart, and even a close relative killed. Rather than only offering sweet praise, the poet dares to hold God accountable for this history of hardness, asking bluntly what has been done in return for constant devotion. It shows that bhakti can include honest protest and confrontation, not only comfort and gratitude.
मराठी: हा अभंग तुकारामांचे बंधू कान्होबा यांनी रचलेला आहे आणि तो एक धीट, आव्हान देणारी प्रार्थना आहे, ज्यात जुन्या कथांमधील देवाच्या कठोर कृतींची एकामागोमाग एक यादी दिली आहे, कोणी पडून दात तुटले तरी दया आली नाही, यज्ञात एका भक्ताचे तुकडे तुकडे केले गेले, डोक्याला उखळीत ठेचले गेले, इशारा न देता मागून जीव छळून घेतला, संकटात असलेल्यांसाठी दार बंद केले, एक विवाह उद्ध्वस्त केला, आणि जवळच्या नात्यातल्या व्यक्तीलाही ठार केले. फक्त गोड स्तुती करण्याऐवजी कवी धाडसाने देवाला या कठोरतेच्या इतिहासाबद्दल जाब विचारतो, सतत केलेल्या भक्तीच्या बदल्यात काय दिले हे थेट विचारतो. भक्तीमध्ये केवळ सुख आणि कृतज्ञताच नाही, तर प्रामाणिक तक्रार आणि आव्हानही असू शकते, हे यातून दिसते.
Where this applies
- NON-Tukārām polemic by Kānhōbā (Tukyā-bandhu)
- Catalog of Lord's mythical-violences