Social criticism, the crow that seeks filth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लाडाच्या उत्तरीं वाढविती कलहे । हा तो अमंगळ जातिगुण ॥1॥
तमाचे शरीरीं विटाळ चि वसे । विचाराचा नसे लेश तो ही ॥ध्रु.॥
कवतुकें घ्यावे लेंकराचे बोल । साहिलिया मोल ऐसें नाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय उपदेश खळा । न्हाउनि काउळा खतें धुंडी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Indulgent words only breed quarrels; this is the nature of tamasic people. In a body ruled by tamas, only impurity dwells; not even a trace of discrimination exists. One may enjoy a child's innocent prattle, but enduring malice is another matter entirely. Says Tuka, what use is preaching to the wicked? A crow, even after bathing, goes searching through filth.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Indulgent words only swell quarrels; this is the foul nature of tamasic people. A body ruled by tamas holds only defilement; not a trace of discernment lives there. A child's innocent prattle one can enjoy; but to endure malice is another thing entirely. Tuka says: what use is preaching to the wicked? A crow, even after a bath, goes looking through filth.
What it means
Tukaram describes the nature ruled by tamas, the heavy darkness in which quarrels grow and no power of discernment survives. He marks a sharp difference between a child's harmless babble, which can be indulged, and a grown person's malice, which should not be tolerated. The closing image lands the claim: preaching to such a person is useless, for he returns to his old foulness the way a crow, washed clean, still flies straight back to filth. The point is the durability of the pattern, not contempt for the soul; teaching cannot fix what keeps choosing its own corruption. It is a caution to examine where one's own nature keeps returning.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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