Social criticism, the man eaten by anger
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जळों त्याचें तोंड । ऐसी कां ते व्याली रांड ॥1॥
सदा भोवयासी गांठी । क्रोध धडधडीत पोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
फोडिली गोंवरी। ऐसी दिसे तोंडावरी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं । चित्ता समाधान कांहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Cursed be that face; why did his mother bring forth such a one? His brows are always knotted in a frown; anger smolders ceaselessly in his belly. He looks as though he has broken out in a rash, his face covered with it. Says Tuka, such a person's mind never knows even a moment of peace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Cursed be that face. Why did his mother give birth to such a one? His brows are always knotted. Anger burns and crackles in his belly. He looks as if a rash has broken out all over his face. Tuka says: such a one's mind never finds any peace.
What it means
Tukaram draws the portrait of a person consumed by chronic anger. The knotted brows and the smoldering belly are not occasional moods; they are the man's settled state, and they show on his face like a rash he cannot hide. The harsh opening curse is aimed at the condition, the disfiguring grip of rage, not at calling for contempt of the person. The closing line names the real wound underneath the ugliness: a mind locked in anger never tastes a moment of rest. The poem is a mirror held up to what anger does to the one who carries it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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