Social criticism, the hollow ascetic
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निंदा स्तुती करवी पोट । सोंग दाखवी बोभाट ॥1॥
जटा राख विटंबना । धीर नाहीं क्षमा मना ॥ध्रु.॥
शृंगारिलें मढें । जीवेंविण जैसें कुडें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे रागें । भलतें चावळे वाउगें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The belly alone drives one to slander and to praise. All outward display and loud protestations are for show. Matted hair, ash, and self-mortification are useless without patience and forgiveness in the mind. A corpse, hollow through and through, no matter how it is adorned. Says Tuka, it is in anger that he speaks: this one prattles on, to no purpose at all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is the belly that makes a man slander and flatter. His whole act, his loud noise, is only for show. Matted hair, smeared ash, self-torture: useless, when there is no patience and no forgiveness in the mind. He is a corpse dressed up, hollow without life inside. Tuka says: in his anger he prattles on, saying any nonsense, all of it pointless.
What it means
Tukaram is attacking the pattern of showy religion practiced for the stomach's sake. Hunger and gain are what drive a man to flatter some and slander others, and his loud display is a performance, not devotion. The outward marks of an ascetic, matted hair, ash, harsh penance, are worthless when the inner qualities of patience and forgiveness are missing. Such a person is a dressed-up corpse, decorated on the outside but empty of real life within. The closing line shows the emptiness in action: stung and angry, he just rattles off whatever comes, to no purpose. The warning is meant to turn the listener toward examining their own motives, not toward contempt.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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