संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3978 of 4582

Abhanga 3978

Tukārām warns: kīrtana-attendance is-discipline, not-casual; no-eating, no-smoking, no-prattling, no-boredom.

Tukārām's graphic kīrtana-etiquette warning with tobacco-reference

The verse

पानें जो खाईल बैसोनि कथेसी । घडेल तयासी गोहत्या ॥१॥ तमाखू ओढूनि काढला जो धूर । बुडेल तें घर तेणें पापें ॥ध्रु.॥ कीर्तनीं बडबड करील जो कोणी । बेडुक होउनी येइल जन्मा ॥२॥ जयाचिये मनीं कथेचा कंटाळा । होती त्या चांडाळा बहु जाच ॥३॥ जाच होती पाठी उडती यमदंड । त्याचें काळें तोंड तुका म्हणे ॥४॥

Literal translation

Pānēm jō khāīla baisōni kathēsī — ghaḍel tayāsī gōhatyāwhoever eats pāna seated in kathā — gō-hatyā is incurred. Tamākhū ōḍhūni kāḍhalā jō dhūra — buḍel tem ghara teṇēm pāpēmwhoever pulls out tobacco-smoke — by that pāpa his house drowns. Kīrtanīm baḍabaḍa karīl jō kōṇī — beḍuka hounī yeil janmāwhoever prattles in kīrtana — comes to birth as a frog. Jayāciye manīm kathēcā kaṇṭāḷā — hōtī tyā cāṇḍāḷā bahu jāchawhoever's mind feels kantāḷā for kathā — that chāṇḍāḷa suffers much torment. Jācha hōtī pāṭhī uḍatī yamadaṇḍa — tyāñcem kāḷēm tōṇḍa Tukā mhaṇetorment on back, yamadaṇḍa flies — Tukā says: his face is blackened.

What it means

A 4-verse graphic kīrtana-etiquette. Pāna-in-kathā = gō-hatyā; tobacco = house-drowning-pāpa; prattle = frog-rebirth; boredom = chāṇḍāḷa-torment-yamadaṇḍa-blackened-face. Among early 17th-c Marathi tobacco-references (cf. 2844-2847).

For someone today

Tukārām warns: kīrtana-attendance is-discipline, not-casual; no-eating, no-smoking, no-prattling, no-boredom.

Where this applies

Related verses