Abhanga 3821
The verse
पायां लावुनियां दोरी । भृंग बांधिला लेंकुरीं ॥१॥
तैसा पावसी बंधन । मग सोडवील कोण ॥ध्रु.॥
गळां बांधोनियां दोरी । वांनर हिंडवी घरोघरीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे पाहें । रीस धांपा देत आहे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Leg-tied-rope — bhrnga-bound-by-children. So-you'll-fall-bandhana — who-will-release? Rope-on-neck — monkey-led-house-to-house. Tukā: see — bear-panting.
What it means
A 3-verse captivity-warning text. Putting a rope on its leg, children have bound a bee. So will you fall into bondage — then who will free you? Putting a rope around its neck, they lead the monkey house-to-house. See, says Tukā — the (street-show) bear is panting (in chains). Three vivid 17th-c. street-life images — children with bees on a string, the snake-charmer's monkey, the dancing-bear panting in performance — each a metaphor for the soul caught in samsāra-display.
For someone today
Tukārām: don't-end-up-like-a-rope-bound-bee-monkey-bear — performing-while-bound — no-one-will-free-you.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's bee-monkey-bear captivity-images canonical mortal-bondage warning
- 17th-c. street-life as bondage-metaphor