Social criticism, the false role
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पुरुषा हातीं कंकणचुडा । नवल दोडा वृित्त या ॥1॥
पाहा कैसी विटंबणा । नारायणा देखिली ॥ध्रु.॥
जळो ऐसी िब्रदावळी। भाटवोळीपणाची ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पाहों डोळां । अवकळा नये हे॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A man wearing bangles and bridal ornaments on his wrists; what a strange and perverse sight. See what a humiliation this is, O Narayana. Let such a display of hollow titles burn. Says Tuka, one cannot bear to witness such degradation with open eyes.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A man with bridal bangles on his wrists. What a strange and twisted sight. Look at this disgrace, O Narayana. Let such a parade of hollow titles burn. Tuka says: the eyes cannot bear to watch such a falling-off.
What it means
Tukaram is sickened by a man putting on what is not his, wearing bridal ornaments that do not belong to him, and he reads it as a sign of false display. He turns to Narayana and calls the sight a humiliation, then curses the empty titles and boasting it stands for. The harshness is aimed at the pattern of pretending to be what you are not, of dressing up in borrowed honors. The closing line says plainly that such self-degradation is painful even to look at. The mirror it holds up asks whether we are wearing roles and titles we have not earned.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →