Abhanga 3911
The verse
पतिव्रता ऐसी जगामध्यें मात । भोगी पांच सात अंधारीं ते ॥१॥
भ्रतारासी लेखी श्वानाचे समान । परपुरुषीं जाण संभ्रम तो ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तिच्या दोषा नाहीं पार । भोगील अघोर कुंभपाक ॥३॥
Literal translation
Pativratā-in-world-talk — bhogī-pāñch-sāta-andhārīm. Treats-husband-as-dog — sambhrama-on-para-puruṣa. Tukā: no-pār-doṣa-kumbha-pāka.
What it means
★ A 3-verse anti-hypocrite-pativratā polemic. In the world, the talk goes around that she's a devoted-wife — but in fact she engages with five-or-seven (others) in the dark. She counts her husband the same as a dog; her real excitement is on other men. There is no limit to her sins — she'll suffer the terrible boiling-pot hell. The structural-form is parallel to the anti-hypocrite-householder polemic (3816) — public-virtue, private-vice paired-contrasts. Note: read alongside Tukārām's positive-images of women (mother-as-Lord 2597, yātī-hīna-mati-hīna 2742, etc.) — this is not anti-women, but anti-hypocrisy.
For someone today
Tukārām: public-devoted-wife, private-vice — no-limit-to-the-sin.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's anti-hypocrite-pativratā polemic
- Pair with 3816 (anti-hypocrite-householder paired-contrasts)