Abhanga 4454
The verse
बाईंल चालिली माहेरा । संगें दिधला म्हातारा ॥१॥
सिधा सामग्री पोटाची । सवें स्वारी बइलाची ॥ध्रु.॥
जाता पाडिली ढोरानें । सिव्या देती अन्योविन्ये ॥२॥
न सावरी आपणातें । नग्न सावलें वरतें ॥३॥
फजित केलें जनलोकीं । मेला म्हणे पडे नरकीं ॥४॥
गोहाची हे गेली लाज । गांजितां कां तुम्ही मज ॥५॥
तुका म्हणे जनीं । छी थू केली विटंबणी ॥६॥
Literal translation
Bāila-went-to-māhēra — old-husband-given-along. Siddhā-sāmagrī-pōṭa — svārī-of-bullock-along. Going-knocked-down-by-cattle — curses-aspersions. Doesn't-control-self — naked-shadow-above. Fajita-in-public — dying-falls-in-naraka. Gōha-lāja-gone — why-do-you-torment-me. Tukā: in-jana — chī-thū-vitambaṇī.
What it means
A 6-verse dark-narrative — a comic-pathos vignette of a household scene gone-bad. The wife went to her mother's house — (her) old husband was given along as company. She carried the food-supplies — along came the riding-bullock. Going, (he) was knocked-down by the cattle — curses and meaningless-jeers. He cannot recover himself — naked, the shadow-fell from above. The public made a mockery — saying when-he-dies he falls in hell. The family's honor has gone — why do you torment me? Tukā says: in the world — they made spitting-mockery. The reading: this is among-Tukārām's-bitter anti-bad-wife / anti-disrespect-of-elder narratives — a hard-realist sketch of family-disorder. Contextualize: balance against respect-for-mother-and-sant-women elsewhere (2896 mother-father=Kāśī; 2810 includes Janī/Mīrā). Companion to 2966-2967 anti-bad-wife cluster.
For someone today
Tukārām: when-the-bāila-takes-the-old-husband-as-burden — bullock-knocks-him-down — public-laughs — family-honor-gone — Tukā-says: the-world-makes-spitting-mockery.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's dark-narrative of household-disorder + public-mockery canonical (contextualize)