Social criticism, the false ascetic
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय सर्प खातो अन्न । काय ध्यान बगाचें ॥1॥
अंतरींची बुिद्ध खोटी । भरलें पोटीं वाईट ॥ध्रु.॥
काय उंदीर नाहीं धांवीं । राख लावी गाढव ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुसर जळीं । काउळीं कां न न्हाती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Does a serpent eat grain? Does a crane truly meditate? The inner intention is corrupt; the belly is full of wickedness. Does a mouse not run on the threshing floor? Does a donkey roll in ash for purification? Says Tuka, does a crocodile not live in water? Yet crows never become clean by bathing.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Does a serpent eat grain? Does a crane really meditate? The intention inside is false; the belly is full of wickedness. Does a mouse not run on the threshing floor? Does a donkey rub itself with ash to get clean? Tuka says: does a crocodile not live in the water? Yet crows never come clean by bathing.
What it means
Tukaram is exposing piety that is only a pose. Each image names a creature that wears the outward marks of holiness while the inner nature is unchanged: the crane stands stock still as if in deep meditation but is only watching for prey; the donkey rolls in ash like an ascetic smeared with sacred ash but is no purer for it; the crow bathes again and again yet stays a crow. His point is that fasting, stillness, ash, and ritual washing prove nothing when the heart inside is greedy and corrupt. The poem turns the reader toward honest self-examination: do not mistake your own holy appearances for a changed heart.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →