Abhanga 4016
Rituals of piety or displays of grief mean nothing if they are performed for show, with no real feeling behind them.
The verse
कुंकवाची ठेवाठेवी । बोडकादेवी काशाला ॥१॥
दिवस गमा भरा पोट । कां गे नेटनेटावा ॥ध्रु.॥
दिमाख हा कोणां दावा । लटकी जीवा चरफड ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे झोंडगीं हो । फुंदा कां हो कोरडी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Saving-kunkuma — for-bōḍakā-dēvī. Fill-belly-day-passes — why-pretense. Vanity-shown-to-whom — empty-charpaḍa. Tukā: zōṇḍagī — why-dry-sniffle.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-fake-piety polemic. Saving the kunkuma — for a shaved-head deity? Just fill your belly while the day passes; why this forced-tidiness? This vanity — shown to whom? — the soul's fluttering is empty. Vagabond — why this dry sniffle?. The polemic likely targets fake-mourning or fake-asceticism display — saving-kunkuma for an idol that has no use for it; making theatrical mourning-sob in public for show.
For someone today
Tukaram pokes at empty ritual and staged emotion here. He asks why anyone would carefully hoard sacred vermilion for an idol that has no real use for it, when the honest business of the day is simply feeding yourself and getting by, without this forced show of tidiness and propriety. He questions who all this display of importance is even meant to impress, calling it a hollow fluttering of the soul rather than anything real. And he turns pointedly on people putting on a dry, performative sob, asking why they bother crying without any real tears behind it.
मराठी: इथे तुकाराम पोकळ विधी आणि नाटकी भावनांची खिल्ली उडवतात. ते विचारतात, ज्या मूर्तीला त्याची खरी गरजच नाही तिच्यासाठी कुंकू जपून ठेवण्यात काय अर्थ आहे, जेव्हा दिवसाचे खरे काम फक्त पोट भरणे आणि जगणे आहे, या जबरदस्तीच्या नीटनेटकेपणाशिवाय आणि दिखाव्याशिवाय. हा दिमाख कोणाला दाखवण्यासाठी आहे असे ते विचारतात, याला ते आत्म्याची पोकळ तळमळ म्हणतात, खरी नाही. आणि ते थेट अशा लोकांवर टीका करतात जे कोरडे, नाटकी हुंदके देतात, खऱ्या अश्रूंशिवाय रडण्यात काय अर्थ आहे असे विचारतात.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-fake-piety / pretense / theatrical-mourning canonical