Confession, the decorated corpse
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पोटीं शूळ अंगीं उटी चंदनाची । आवडी सुखाची कोण तया ॥1॥
तैसें मज कां गा केलें पंढरिराया । लौकिक हा वांयां वाढविला ॥ध्रु.॥
ज्वरिलियापुढें वाढिलीं मिष्टान्नें । काय चवी तेणें घ्यावी त्याची ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मढें शृंगारिलें वरी । ते चि जाली परी मज देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A boil on the belly and sandalwood paste on the body; what pleasure can such a person enjoy? O Lord of Pandhari, why have You treated me this way, increasing my worldly reputation to no purpose? When fine dishes are placed before one burning with fever, how can he taste their flavor? Says Tuka, a corpse has been decorated on the outside; that is what has become of me, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A boil burns in the belly while sandalwood paste is rubbed on the body; what pleasure can such a person feel? O Lord of Pandhari, why have You done this to me, building up my name in the world for nothing? Fine dishes are set before a man burning with fever; how can he taste their flavor? Tuka says: a corpse has been dressed up on the outside. O God, that is what I have become.
What it means
Tukaram turns on his own public reputation and calls it a torment. He gives two images of the same false comfort: cooling sandal paste smeared over a body with a boil eating it from within, and rich food laid before a man too feverish to taste anything. The outward honor the world has given him only mocks the sickness inside. He addresses Panduranga directly and asks why his name was raised so high to no purpose. The verdict on himself is unsparing: a corpse with no life in it, merely ornamented on the surface. The poem points the reader at the gap between an admired exterior and an inner state that admiration cannot heal.
Confession and Sin
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