Abhanga 4034
No matter how vast the wealth, power, or conquest, like Ravana's golden city and captive gods, none of it travels with you when you die.
The verse
पाषाण परिस भूमि जांबूनद । वंशाचा संबंध धातयाचा ॥१॥
सोनियाची पुरी समुद्राचा वेढा । समुदाय गाढा राक्षसांचा ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐसी सहस्र त्या सुंदरा कामिनी । माजी मुखरणी मंदोदरी ॥२॥
पुत्रपौत्राचा लेखा कोण करी । मुख्य पुत्र हरी इंद्रा आणी ॥३॥
चौदा चौकडिया आयुष्यगणना । बंधुवर्ग जाणा कुंभकर्ण ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे ज्याचे देव बांदवडी । सांगातें कवडी गेली नाहीं ॥५॥
Literal translation
Stone-paris-Jāmbūnada — vamśa-sambandha-dhātā. Gold-Lankā-ocean-moat — solid-rākṣasa-army. 1000-kāminī — mukharaṇī-Mandodarī. Uncountable-sons — Indrajita-defeated-Indra. 14-chaukaḍī-āyuṣya — Kumbhakarṇa-brother. Tukā: Devas-his-prisoners — not-a-kavaḍī-went-along.
What it means
A 5-verse Rāvaṇa-mortality narrative. His vamśa was of touchstone-and-Jāmbūnada-gold-soil. A gold city with ocean's moat, a solid army of rākṣasas. A thousand beautiful concubines, chief-queen Mandodarī. Uncountable sons-and-grandsons — chief son Indrajita defeated Indra. Life of fourteen chaukaḍīs (cycles); brother — Kumbhakarṇa. Even the Devas were his prisoners — but at his end, not a single kavaḍī (cowrie) went with him. A comprehensive Rāvaṇa-wealth-and-power inventory — gold-soil, gold-city, ocean-fortress, vast army, thousand wives, uncountable progeny, fourteen-life-cycles, Devas-as-prisoners — and the closing puncture: not-a-kavaḍī-went-along. Pair with 3823 (langōṭi-gōvarī canonical mortality), 4004 (canonical old-age).
For someone today
Tukaram paints a lavish picture of Ravana's power: a golden city ringed by the ocean, a fortress army of demons, a thousand beautiful wives, more sons and grandsons than could be counted, a son who defeated even the god Indra, a brother as mighty as Kumbhakarna, and even the gods themselves held captive. Yet Tukaram's point lands hard at the end: when Ravana died, not even a single small coin went with him. All that grandeur, all that conquest, stayed behind. The lesson is a blunt reminder that no matter how much power or wealth you accumulate, none of it travels with you in the end.
मराठी: तुकाराम रावणाच्या वैभवाचे मोठे चित्र उभे करतात, सोन्याची नगरी, समुद्राचा वेढा, राक्षसांची अजस्र सेना, हजार सुंदर स्त्रिया, मोजता न येणारे पुत्रपौत्र, इंद्रालाही हरवणारा पुत्र, कुंभकर्णासारखा बलाढ्य भाऊ, आणि खुद्द देवही त्याचे कैदी. पण शेवटी तुकाराम एकच थेट मुद्दा मांडतात, रावण मेला तेव्हा त्याच्याबरोबर एक कवडीही गेली नाही. ते सगळे वैभव, ती सगळी सत्ता, इथेच मागे राहिली. यातून हा स्पष्ट धडा मिळतो की कितीही सत्ता किंवा संपत्ती जमवली तरी शेवटी त्यातले काहीही सोबत जात नाही.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's Rāvaṇa-wealth-doesn't-go-along-at-death canonical mortality-narrative
- Pair with 3823 (langōṭi-gōvarī mortality), 4004 (old-age)