Abhanga 4198
The verse
परिसें गे सुनेबाई । नको वेचूं दूध दहीं ॥१॥
आवा चालिली पंढरपुरा । वेसीपासुनि आली घरा ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐकें गोष्टी सादर बाळे । करीं जतन फुटकें पाळें ॥२॥
माझे हातींचा कलवडू । मजवाचुंनि नको फोडूं ॥३॥
वळवटिक्षरीचें लिंपन । नको फोडूं मजवांचून ॥४॥
उखळ मुसळ जातें । माझें मन गुंतलें तेथें ॥५॥
भिक्षुक आल्या घरा । सांग गेली पंढरपुरा ॥६॥
भक्षीं मपित आहारु । नको फारसी वरो सारूं ॥७॥
सून म्हणे बहुत निकें । तुम्ही यात्रेसि जावें सुखें ॥८॥
सासूबाई स्वहित जोडा । सर्व मागील आशा सोडा ॥९॥
सुनमुखीचें वचन कानीं । ऐकोनि सासू विवंची मनीं ॥१०॥
सवतीचे चाळे खोटे । म्यां जावेंसें इला वाटे ॥११॥
अतां कासया यात्रे जाऊं । काय जाउनि तेथें पाहूं॥ १२॥
मुलें लेंकरें घर दार । माझें येथें चि पंढरपूर ॥१३॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसें जन । गोवियेलें मायेंकरून ॥१४॥
Literal translation
Listen-sunabāī — don't-spend-milk-curd. Āvā-set-out-Paṇḍharpura — came-back-from-village-gate. Mind-broken-utensils. Don't-break-without-me kalvaḍū / vaḷavaṭa-plaster / ūkhaḷa-musaḷa-jātēm — my-mind-stuck-there. If-bhikṣuka-comes — say-I-went-Paṇḍharpura. Eat-measured-don't-make-much-of-side-curry. Sūna: very-well, go-in-joy — sāsubāī gather-welfare abandon-past-desire. Sāsū-hearing in-mana: co-wife-tricks-false — she-wants-me-gone. Now-why-yātrā — children-family-house, my-Paṇḍharpura-is-right-here. Tukā: such-people-covered-by-māyā.
What it means
★★ THE canonical 14-verse comic-satirical narrative. Listen, daughter-in-law, don't spend the milk-and-curd. The frame: the mother-in-law (āvā) sets out for Paṇḍharī, but only reaches the village-gate before turning back. Her instructions to the daughter-in-law are domestic-detail-cascade: don't break the broken-utensils; mind the kalvaḍū-pot; don't break the wall-plastering; my-mind-is-stuck-in-the-mortar-pestle-grinder; tell beggars I'm gone; eat-measured. The daughter-in-law's enthusiastic agreement (go in joy, abandon past desire) reads to the mother-in-law as co-wife trickery (the daughter-in-law wants her gone). The mother-in-law then thinks: now why go to the yātrā — children, family, house — my Paṇḍharpura is right here. Tukā's verdict: such people are covered-by-māyā. A rare-Tukārām-comic-narrative-mode that diagnoses false-pilgrimage-resolve — the heart wasn't actually free for Paṇḍharī; the mind-stuck-in-mortar-and-pestle gave it away. Pair with 4178 (worldly-relative's-lament).
For someone today
Tukārām: the-mother-in-law sets-out-to-Paṇḍharī, gets-as-far-as-the-village-gate, suspects-the-daughter-in-law's-agreement-as-trickery, and-decides — my-Paṇḍharpura-is-right-here; such-people are-covered-by-māyā.
Where this applies
- ★★ Tukārām's THE comic-narrative of-false-pilgrimage-resolve canonical
- Pair with 4178 (worldly-relative's-lament)