Abhanga 4348
The verse
गंगा गेली सिंधुपाशीं । जरी तो ठाव नेदी तिशी ॥१॥
तिणें जावें कवण्या ठाया । मज सांगा पंढरिराया ॥ध्रु.॥
जळ क्षोभलें जलचरां । माता बाळा नेदी थारा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आलों शरण । देवा त्वां कां धरिलें मौन्य ॥३॥
Literal translation
Gangā-to-Sindhu — if-not-given-place. Where-to-go — tell-Paṇḍharī-rāya. Jala-disturbed — mother-no-thārā-to-baby. Tukā: came-to-refuge — Deva-why-mauna.
What it means
★ A 3-verse refuge-rejected petition. The Gangā went to the ocean — if he doesn't give her a place, where shall she go? Tell me, Paṇḍharī-rāya. If the water is disturbed for the water-creatures, if the mother gives the baby no shelter — (where shall they go)? Tukā says: I've come to refuge — Deva, why have you taken silence? Two natural-images for the refuge-rejected: (1) Gangā-river arriving at her natural-end (ocean) and being-refused; (2) mother refusing-shelter-to-baby. Both invert the natural-order. Pair with 4267 (only-you-cut-loka-lāja), 4206 (mauna-protest).
For someone today
Tukārām: if-the-Gangā-can't-find-place-at-the-ocean — if-the-mother-doesn't-shelter-the-baby — where-shall-I-go? Why-this-silence, Deva?
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's Gangā-Sindhu refuge-rejected mother-baby-image canonical