Abhanga 3800
The verse
शब्दज्ञानी येऊं नेदीं दृष्टीपुढें । छळवादी कुडे अभक्त ते ॥१॥
जळो ते जाणींव जळो त्याचे दंभ । जळो त्याचें तोंड दुर्जनाचें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येती दाटूनि छळाया । त्यांच्या बोडूं डोया न धरूं भीड ॥३॥
Literal translation
Don't-let-śabda-jñānī-before-eyes — chaḷavādī-kuḍē-abhakta. Burn-jñāna-burn-dambha-burn-tongue-of-durjana. Tukā: if-they-come-to-torment-in-crowd — shave-their-heads — no-fear.
What it means
★ A 3-verse anti-śabda-jñānī polemic with the jaḷō refrain (echoing 3795). Don't let the word-knower come before my eyes — he is quarrelsome, false, faithless. Burn his knowing, burn his pride, burn his tongue. When they come crowding to torment, we will shave their heads — no fear held. The line bōḍūm-ḍōyā (shave-their-heads — a public-humiliation custom in 17th-c. Maharashtra for criminals/disgrace) is fierce social-language. The jaḷō refrain here is a focused-fire version of the broader 3795 jaḷō-mantra.
For someone today
Tukārām: don't-let-the-word-knower-in-my-sight — burn-his-knowing-burn-his-tongue — shave-the-tormentor's-head.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's anti-śabda-jñānī-polemic-with-jaḷō canonical
- Companion-fragment to 3795 (jaḷō canonical refrain)
- bōḍūm-ḍōyā — 17th-c. social-language for public-disgrace