Abhanga 3983
The verse
कोड आवडीचें । पुरवीना बाळकाचें ॥१॥
तेव्हां कैसी ते माउली । जाणा काशासाटीं व्याली ॥ध्रु.॥
वत्साचिये आसे । धेनु धांवेना गोरसें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धरि । बाळ टाकिलें वानरीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kōḍa āvaḍīcēm — puravīnā bāḷakāñcēm — (she) doesn't fulfill baby's kōḍa-āvaḍī. Tevhām kaisī te māulī — jāṇā kāśāsāṭīm vyālī — then what māulī is she — know for what she bore (it). Vatsācīye āse — dhenu dhāvenā gōrasēm — for the calf's longing — the cow doesn't run with milk. Tukā mhaṇe dhari — bāḷa ṭākilēm vānarīm — Tukā says: hold this — the baby was thrown by a monkey-mother.
What it means
A 3-verse sharp-rebuke. The-mother-who-doesn't-fulfill-baby's-fondness — what-mother-is-she; cow-that-doesn't-run-with-milk-for-calf-craving; the-baby-was-thrown-away by-a-monkey-mother. Pointed metaphor — the negligent-Lord is-like a-mother-monkey who-discards her-young. Companion to 3959 (positive mother-image), in dialectic tension.
For someone today
Tukārām complains: love-that-doesn't-fulfill-the-loved-one's-fondness is-not-love.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's sharp-rebuke corpus
- Dialectic-companion to 3959 (positive mother-image)