Social criticism, the empty arguer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वेद शास्त्र नाहीं पुराण प्रमाण । तयाचें वदन नावलोका॥1॥
ताकिर्याचें अंग आपणा पारिखें । माजियासारिखें वाईचाळे ॥ध्रु.॥
माता निंदी तया कोण तो आधार । भंगलें खपर याचे नावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आडराणें ज्याची चाली । तयाची ते बोली मिठेंविण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One whose speech has no authority from Vedas, scriptures, or Puranas is not worth looking at. The logician's body is a stranger to itself, and his gestures are like those of a monkey. He who slanders his own mother has no support; his broken vessel is his only legacy. Says Tuka, the words of one who walks crookedly are without salt.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A man whose speech has no backing from the Vedas, the scriptures, or the Puranas: do not even look at his face. The mere logician is a stranger to his own body. He apes and gestures like a monkey, the way I once did. He who slanders his own mother, what ground does he stand on? A broken pot is all he leaves behind in his name. Tuka says: the man who walks crookedly speaks words with no salt in them.
What it means
Tukaram is attacking a kind of speech, not a particular man. He warns against the clever talker whose words rest on nothing the tradition stands on, and likens his showy gestures to a monkey aping what it does not understand. The slander of one's own mother is the image of cutting off your own root: a person who does this has no support and leaves only a broken vessel behind. The closing line names the test: speech that comes from a crooked life has no flavor, no nourishment in it. The pattern to watch in yourself is talk that performs and argues but is rooted in nothing true.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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