Social criticism, bhakti over birth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अभक्त ब्राह्मण जळो त्याचें तोंड । काय त्यासी रांड प्रसवली ॥1॥
वैष्णव चांभार धन्य त्याची माता । शुद्ध उभयतां कुळ याती ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐसा हा निवाडा जालासे पुराणीं । नव्हे माझी वाणी पदरींची ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आगी लागो थोरपणा । दृिष्ट त्या दुर्जना न पडो माझी ॥3॥
नामदेव व पांडुरंग यांनी स्वप्नांत येऊन स्वामींस आज्ञा केली कीं कवित्व करणें - ते अभंग ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let the face of a devotionless Brahmin be burned! What whore gave birth to him? Blessed is the Vaishnava, even if born a cobbler. Blessed is his mother; both his lineage and caste are purified. This verdict has been established in the Puranas; these are not my own words from my own pocket. Says Tuka, let fire consume all claims to greatness. May my eyes never fall upon such a wicked person.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let the face of a Brahmin without devotion be burned. What woman gave birth to him? Blessed is the Vaishnava, even if born a cobbler. Blessed is his mother; both his lineage and his caste are made pure. This verdict is set down in the Puranas; these are not my own words from my own pocket. Tuka says: let fire take all claims to greatness. May my eyes never fall on such a wicked person.
What it means
Tukaram overturns the whole ranking of caste and stakes everything on devotion. A Brahmin with no love for God he treats as worthless, while a devotee born a cobbler he calls blessed, his very lineage and birth made pure by his bhakti. He guards himself against the charge of merely venting by insisting the verdict is scriptural, not his private opinion. The fire he calls down is aimed not at any person's body but at the pattern of hollow pride in high birth, the impulse to claim greatness from status while the heart stays empty; the warning is one we are meant to turn first on ourselves.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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