Abhanga 4002
The verse
कांहीं दुसरा विचार । न लगे करावा चि फार ॥१॥
सेट्या ना चौधरी । पांडेपण वाहे शिरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
पाप न लगे धुंडावें । पाहिजे तरि तेथें जावें ॥२॥
जकातीचा धंदा । तेथें पाप वसे सदा ॥३॥
गाई म्हसी हेड । तुप विकी महा द्वाड ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे पाहीं । तेथें पुण्या रीघ नाहीं ॥५॥
Literal translation
Don't-need-other-vichāra. Śēṭi-or-chaudhari — pāṇḍē-paṇa-on-head. No-need-search-pāpa — go-where-it-is. Jakātīchā-dhandā — pāpa-sadā. Cattle-trade — ghee-seller-mahā-dvāḍa. Tukā: no-puṇya-rīga-there.
What it means
★ A 5-verse occupational-polemic. You don't need much further argument: the merchant, the village-headman, the clerk-titles (carried on the head as honors) — these are pāpa-occupations. You don't need to search for sin; if you want it, just go where it is. The custom-tax-officer's job — there sin always dwells. The cattle-buffalo trader, the ghee-seller — these are extremely vile. Into that, puṇya has no entry. 17th-c. Mughal-era Deccan occupational documentary: the jakāti-officer (Mughal-era customs-collector — taking unjust toll), the cattle-trader (who profits from slaughter), the ghee-seller (who adulterates) — all named-as-pāpa-occupations. Tukārām himself was a kuṇabī-trader; perhaps this is from observation of fellow-merchants' practices.
For someone today
Tukārām: don't-search-for-sin — go-to-the-jakāti-office-or-cattle-trade-or-ghee-seller — that's-where-it-dwells.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's specific-occupations-house-pāpa canonical 17th-c. polemic
- jakāti-tax-officer Mughal-era custom-system reference