Abhanga 3906
The verse
खिस्तीचा उदीम ब्राम्हण कलयुगीं । महारवाडीं मांगीं हिंडतसे ॥१॥
वेवसाव करितां पर्वत मांगासी । ते पैं विटाळासी न मनिती ॥ध्रु.॥
मांगिणीशीं नित्य करीतसे लेखा । तोंडावरि थुंका पडतसे ॥२॥
आशा माया रांडा नांव हें कागदीं । आठवीना कधीं नारायण ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे देह जालें पराधीन । पांडुरंगाविण गति नाहीं ॥४॥
Literal translation
Khistīchā-udīma — Kali-yuga-brāhmaṇa — wanders-Mahāra-Māngī-vāḍī. Business-with-Mānga — doesn't-think-viṭāḷa. With-māngiṇī-daily-lēkhā — spit-on-face. Āśā-māyā-rāṇḍās — Name-on-paper — never-Nārāyaṇa. Tukā: dēha-parādhīna — no-gati-without-Pāṇḍuranga.
What it means
★ A 4-verse anti-corrupt-brāhmaṇa polemic. The Kali-yuga brāhmaṇa's business-of-strife: he wanders the Mahāra and Mānga neighborhoods. Doing trade with the Mānga, he doesn't think it defilement (because money pulls). With the Māngiṇī he does daily-account — spit on his face! Desire and illusion are his wives; the Name (of Nārāyaṇa) is only in his account-book — he never remembers Nārāyaṇa. The body has become slave-to-others; without Pāṇḍuranga, no path. Sociologically precise: the brāhmaṇa who maintains ritual-untouchability publicly but breaks it in commercial dealings with low-castes for money — and his real Name is the account-ledger, not Nārāyaṇa. Compare 3741 (clap-for-vulgar-jokes), 3816 (anti-hypocrite-householder), 3873 (anti-mercenary-kathākāra).
For someone today
Tukārām: the-Kali-yuga-brāhmaṇa-does-business-with-untouchables-for-money — but-never-remembers-Nārāyaṇa — the-real-Name-is-on-his-ledger.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's Kali-yuga-corrupt-brāhmaṇa-business-but-no-Name polemic
- Pair with 3907 (continuation), 3741, 3816, 3873