Social criticism, the begging flatterer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय देवापाशीं उणें । हिंडे दारोदारीं सुनें ॥1॥
करी अक्षरांची आटी । एके कवडी च साटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
निंदी कोणां स्तवी । चिंतातुर सदा जीवीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भांड । जलो जळो त्याचें तोंड ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What is lacking with God that one must wander door to door like a stray? The pandit toils over letters and syllables for the sake of a single penny. He slanders some and flatters others, always anxious at heart. Says Tuka, such a flatterer: may his mouth be cursed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What is lacking with God, that a man wanders door to door like a stray dog? He strains over letters and syllables, all for a single cowrie shell. He slanders one man and flatters another, his heart always eaten by worry. Tuka says: such a wrangler, may his mouth be burned away.
What it means
Tukaram strikes at the scholar who uses his learning to beg, going from door to door, grinding through holy words for the smallest coin. The poem asks: if God lacks nothing, why grovel before men? The pattern he names is the cycle of slander and flattery that such begging breeds, and the constant anxiety it leaves in the heart. The harsh closing curse is aimed at that grasping, two-faced use of the tongue, not at any one person; it warns the listener against turning sacred words into a tool for gain.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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