Abhanga 3760
Khadyōtem phulavile ravipuḍhe ḍhunga — the firefly puffs its rear before the sun; sākṣī tamva jaga ubhayatām — the world is witness to both.
The verse
खद्योतें फुलविलें रविपुढें ढुंग । साक्षी तंव जग उभयतां ॥१॥
आपल्या आपण नाहीं शोभों येत । चार करी स्फीत दाखवूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
खाणार ताकाचें आसातें माजीरें । आपणें चि अधीर कळों येतें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जळो मैंदाची मवाळी । दावूनियां नळी कापी सुखें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Khadyōtem phulavile ravipuḍhe ḍhunga — the firefly puffs its rear before the sun; sākṣī tamva jaga ubhayatām — the world is witness to both. Āpalyā āpaṇa nāhīm śōbhōm yeta — one cannot shine by oneself; chāra karī sphīta dākhavūni — the spy makes (one) puffed-up by showing-off. Khāṇāra tākāchem āsātem mājīre — the buttermilk-eater (low-fare-eater) (still) arrogant; āpaṇe chi adhīra kaḷōm yete — himself is found-out as restless. Tukā mhaṇe jaḷō maimdāchī mavāḷī — Tukā says: burn the cheat's gentleness; dāvūniyām naḷī kāpī sukhem — showing the throat (tube), (he) cuts (it) with pleasure.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-hypocrisy polemic with sharp images. Firefly-puffing-rear-at-sun (futile-display); one-cannot-shine-alone, a-spy-puffs-one-up; buttermilk-eater-still-arrogant, found-out-by-his-own-restlessness; cheat's-gentle-pose — burn-it — he-smiles-while-slitting-the-throat. Among Tukārām's most vivid 17th-c social diagnoses of false-gentleness.
For someone today
Tukārām warns: self-puffery-before-the-sun-is-absurd; the-truly-dangerous-person-is-the-one-with-soft-words-and-a-hidden-blade.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's firefly-at-sun + mainda-cuts-throat-smiling canonical anti-hypocrisy
- Companion to the fake-renunciate/fake-guru polemics (2844-2847, 2962)