Abhanga 4231
Na miḷatī ekā eka — jaye nagarīñce lōka — where the people of a nagara don't get-along.
The verse
न मिळती एका एक । जये नगरीचे लोक ॥१॥
भलीं तेथें राहूं नये । क्षणें होईंल न कळे काय ॥ध्रु.॥
न करितां अन्याय । बळें करी अपाय ॥२॥
नाहीं पुराणाची प्रीति । ठायींठायीं पंचाइती ॥३॥
भल्या बुर्या मारी । होतां कोणी न निवारी ॥४॥
अविचार्या हातीं । देऊनि प्रजा नागविती ॥५॥
तुका म्हणे दरी । सुखें सेवावी ते बरी ॥६॥
Literal translation
Na miḷatī ekā eka — jaye nagarīñce lōka — where the people of a nagara don't get-along. Bhalīm tethe rāhūm naye — kṣaṇe hōīmla na kaḷe kāya — good ones shouldn't stay there; in a kṣaṇa, what happens is not known. Na karitām anyāya — baḷe karī apāya — without committing anyāya, (they) cause apāya forcibly. Nāhī purāṇāñcī prītī — ṭhāyīm ṭhāyīm pañchāyatī — no love for purāṇa; councils-factions everywhere. Bhalyā burṛyā mārī — hōtām kōṇī na nivārī — (they) kill good-bad alike; no one prevents. Avichāryā hātīm — deūnī prajā nāgavī — (by putting authority) in avichārī hands, prajā is fleeced. Tukā mhaṇe darī — sukhe sevāvī te barī — Tukā says: a cave — happily inhabit it — that is better.
What it means
A canonical 6-verse anti-bad-city / anti-bad-governance text. 17th-c social-commentary.
For someone today
Tukārām's advice: in a city where neighbors don't get along, where there is no respect for purāṇa, where factions kill good-and-bad alike — better-to-live-in-a-cave.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-bad-city; live-in-cave canonical advice
- 17th-c social-commentary on bad-governance