Abhanga 4471
The verse
हीनवर बीजवर दोघी त्या गडणी । अखंड कहाणी संसाराची ॥१॥
माझे पति बहु लहान चि आहे । खेळावया जाय पोरांसवें ॥ध्रु.॥
माझें दुःख जरी ऐकशील सईं । म्हातारा तो बाईं खोकतसे ॥२॥
खेळे सांजवरी बाहेरी तो राहे । वाट मी पाहें सेजेवरी ॥३॥
पूर्व पुण्य माझें नाहीं वा नीट । बहु होती कष्ट सांगो कांही ॥४॥
जवळ मी जातें अंगा अंग लावूं । नेदी जवळ येऊं कांटाळतो ॥५॥
पूर्व सुकृताचा हा चि बाईं ठेवा । तुका म्हणे देवा काय बोल ॥६॥
Literal translation
Hīna-vara-bīja-vara-two-companions — samsāra-akhanḍa-kahānī. My-pati-very-young — goes-to-play-with-children. My-duḥkha-listen-saī — old-man-coughs-bāī. Plays-till-evening-stays-out — I-wait-on-bed. Pūrva-puṇya-not-aligned — many-kaṣṭa-what-to-say. Near-I-go-body-touch — doesn't-let-tires. Pūrva-sukrta-deposit — Tukā: Deva-what-to-say.
What it means
★★ A rare 7-verse female-voiced mismatched-bride narrative-allegory. Two female companions — one with a too-young (child) husband, one with a too-old (re-married) husband — theirs is the endless tale of samsāra. 'My husband is very young still — goes to play with other children. If you listen to my sorrow, friend — the old-man coughs, sister. He plays till evening, stays outside — while I look on the bed for him. My past-merit is not aligned — I have many hardships, what shall I tell? When I go near, try to touch body-to-body — he doesn't let me near, tires of me'. So this only is the deposit of past-virtue, friend — Tukā says: O Deva — what is there to say? The allegory: the two female-voices are the soul-mismatched-with-the-world (samsāra is portrayed as a-husband-who-is-either-too-young-(immature, fickle, plays-with-children) or-too-old-(coughing, exhausted, doesn't-respond)). Either-way, the soul gets-no-real-meeting. This is the pūrva-sukrta-deposit — the consequence-of-past-merit-mis-alignment. The closing-quasi-protest Tukā-Deva-what-to-say points back-to-the-Lord-as-only-real-partner. Pair with 4454 (dark-narrative anti-bad-wife), 2966-2967 (anti-bad-wife cluster).
For someone today
Tukārām: the-soul-in-samsāra-is-like-a-mismatched-bride — child-husband-too-young-to-respond / old-husband-too-tired-to-respond — neither-meeting — only-the-past-merit-aligned-with-the-Lord-can-give-the-true-meeting.
Where this applies
- ★★ Tukārām's rare female-voiced mismatched-bride narrative — samsāra-as-husband-too-young-or-too-old allegorical