Social criticism, the man who slanders the Veda
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मातेचीं जो थानें फाडी । तया जोडी कोण ते ॥1॥
वेदां निंदी तो चांडाळ । भ्रष्ट सुतकिया खळ ॥ध्रु.॥
अगी लावी घरा । मग वसती कोठें थारा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वर्म । येरा नाचवितो भ्रम ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who tears at his own mother's breasts: who can restore him? He who slanders the Vedas is a chandal, fallen and ritually impure, a villain. One who sets fire to his own house: where then will he find shelter and rest? Says Tuka, here is the vital point: it is delusion that makes all the others dance.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He who tears at his own mother's breasts: who can mend such a man? He who slanders the Vedas is an outcaste, fallen, defiled, a wretch. He who sets fire to his own house: where will he then find shelter and rest? Tuka says: here is the vital point. It is delusion that makes all of them dance.
What it means
Tukaram stacks up images of self-destruction to expose one pattern. To revile the Vedas is like a child tearing at the mother who fed it, or a man burning down the very house meant to shelter him; you destroy the thing that sustains you and are left with nowhere to stand. He calls such a person fallen and defiled, harsh words aimed at the act, not at any soul beyond saving. The closing line names the real culprit: delusion is the puppeteer that makes all these self-wounding people dance. The warning is to watch for that delusion in oneself.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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