संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3972 of 4582

Abhanga 3972

Nijasejecī anturī — pādaliyā kōṇa mārī — the wife on the nuptial bed — if she passes wind, who kills her.

Tukārām's extreme-irreverent humility-and-protection text

The verse

निजसेजेची अंतुरी । पादलिया कोण मारी ॥१॥ तैसा आम्हासी उबगतां । तुका विनवितो संतां ॥ध्रु.॥ मूल मांडीवरी हागलें । तें बा कोणे रें त्यागिलें ॥२॥ दासी कामासी चुकली । ते बा कोणें रें विकली ॥३॥ पांडुरंगाचा तुका पापी । संतसाहें काळासि दापी ॥४॥

Literal translation

Nijasejecī anturī — pādaliyā kōṇa mārīthe wife on the nuptial bed — if she passes wind, who kills her. Taisā āmhāsī ubagatām — Tukā vinavitō samtāmso when (you) are weary of us — Tukā petitions the sants. Mūla māṇḍīvarī hāgalēm — tem bā kōṇē re tyāgilēmthe child shat on the lap — who, dear, discards it. Dāsī kāmāsī chukalī — te bā kōṇēm re vikalīthe servant missed work — who, dear, sells her. Pāṇḍurangāñcā Tukā pāpī — santasāhēm kāḷāsi dāpīthe pāpī Tukā of Pāṇḍuranga — by sants' help threatens-back Time.

What it means

A 4-verse extreme-irreverent humility text. Three earthy-domestic similes (wife's-flatus, baby's-mess, servant's-mistake) — none-merits-rejection — Tukā the pāpī therefore petitions the sants, by-whose-help even-Kāḷa is-held-back. Striking domestic candour rare in religious literature.

For someone today

Tukārām pleads: small-faults-don't-merit-rejection; intimacy-bears-with-faults; the-sants'-protection-keeps-even-the-pāpī safe-from-Time.

Where this applies