Social criticism, tears for a goat
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देखोनि पुराणिकांची दाढी । रडे स्फुंदे नाक ओढी ॥१॥
प्रेम खरें दिसे जना । भिन्न अंतरीं भावना ॥ध्रु.॥
आवरितां नावरे । खुर आठवी नेवरे ॥२॥
बोलों नयें मुखावाटां । म्हणे होतां ब्यांचा तोटा ॥३॥
दोन्ही सिंगें चारी पाय । खुणा दावी म्हणे होय ॥४॥
मना आणितां बोकड । मेला त्याची चरफड ॥५॥
होता भाव पोटीं । मुखा आलासे शेवटीं ॥६॥
तुका म्हणे कुडें । कळों येतें तें रोकडें ॥७॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Seeing the preacher's beard, she weeps and sobs and wipes her nose. Her devotion seems genuine to onlookers, yet her inner feelings are entirely different. She cannot restrain herself; her mind keeps recalling the goat's hooves like anklets. What she cannot speak aloud: she fears a shortage of goats. Two horns, four legs: these are the signs she knows, nodding eagerly. When the goat comes to mind, she dies of restless craving. What was hidden in the heart has come to the lips at last. Says Tuka, crookedness always shows up plain as day.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Seeing the preacher's beard, she weeps and sobs and wipes her nose, and to everyone watching her devotion looks completely genuine. But inside, her feeling is something else entirely. She cannot help herself; the beard keeps reminding her of a goat's hooves. What she dare not say aloud is that she is worried there will be a shortage of goats to eat. Two horns, four legs, those are the signs she knows, and she nods along eagerly. The moment the goat comes to mind she is half-dead with craving. What was hidden in the heart has come out at the lips in the end. Tuka says: crookedness always shows itself plainly, sooner or later.
What it means
A comic, merciless satire on counterfeit devotion. A woman at a religious discourse weeps so convincingly that everyone takes her for a great devotee, but the preacher's beard has only set her thinking of a goat, and the goat of dinner. Her tears are real; their cause is appetite, not love. Tukaram's point lands in the final line, one of his favorite themes: what is truly in the heart will eventually surface at the lips, and crookedness, however well performed, gives itself away in the end. He laughs, but the warning is serious. Display is no proof; only the heart's real object counts.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →