Abhanga 3920
Ear-pierced-mudrā — calls-himself-Nāth.
The verse
कान फाडूनियां मुद्रा तें घालिती । नाथ म्हणविती जगामाजी ॥१॥
घालोनियां फेरा मागती द्रव्यासी । परि शंकरासी नोळखती ॥२॥
पोट भरावया शिकती उपाय । तुका म्हणे जाय नर्क लोका ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ear-pierced-mudrā — calls-himself-Nāth. Phērā-asks-dravya — doesn't-know-Śankara. Belly-tricks — Tukā: goes-to-narka.
What it means
★ Verse 3 of the 7-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster. He pierces his ear and puts the (Nāth) ear-ring; in the world he calls himself a Nāth. He goes touring, asking for money — but does not recognize Śankara (the real one). He learns belly-tricks; goes to hell. Specific reference to the Nāth-Siddha movement — Tukārām is criticizing the corrupt fringe of this tradition (the Nāth lineage of Matsyendra-Goraksha, with their distinctive ear-mudrā), not the tradition itself. The Nāth-yogi-as-itinerant-beggar was a common 17th-c. Deccan figure.
For someone today
Tukārām: ear-mudrā-and-Nāth-title-but-asking-money-and-no-real-Śankara-knowledge → naraka.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's Nāth-yogi-type in 7-abhang cluster
- 17th-c. Deccan religious-marketplace documentary witness