Social criticism, the harm-doer's own road
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सापें ज्यासी खावें । तेणें प्राणासी मुकावें ॥1॥
काय लाधला दुर्जन । तोंडावरी थुंकी जन ॥ध्रु.॥
विंचु हाणें नांगी। अग्न लावी आणिकां अंगीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाती । नरका पाउलीं चालती ॥3॥
स्वामींनीं स्त्रीस उपदेश केला ते अभंग ॥ 11 ॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The snake must bite, and its victim must lose its life. What does the wicked person gain? People spit on his face. The scorpion stings with its tail; fire burns whatever body it touches. Says Tuka, such people walk the path to hell on their own feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A snake must bite, and the one it bites must lose his life. What does the wicked man gain by it? People spit in his face. The scorpion strikes with its tail; fire burns whatever body it touches. Tuka says: such people walk to hell on their own feet.
What it means
Tukaram looks at the person who lives to do harm and asks the plain question: what does he actually get? The snake, the scorpion, the fire are images of a nature that injures simply because injuring is what it does, and the only return is being spat upon. The point is directed at the harming pattern, the compulsion to wound, not at hatred of the person caught in it. The closing line is the gravest: no one drives such a man to ruin; he walks the road to hell on his own feet, by his own choosing. It is an invitation to examine where one's own actions are leading.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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