Social criticism, the thief and his reward
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जायाचे अळंकार । बुडवूनि होती चोर ॥1॥
त्यांसी ताडणाची पूजा । योग घडे बया वोजा ॥ध्रु.॥
अभिलाषाच्या सुखें। अंतीं होती काळीं मुखें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे चोरा । होय भूषण मातेरा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who steal a wife's ornaments become thieves. The fitting reward for them is a beating, and that is what destiny arranges. In the pleasure of coveting, their faces turn black at the end. Says Tuka, the only ornament fit for a thief is dust.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who steal a wife's ornaments become thieves. The fitting worship for them is a beating; that is what fate arranges. In the pleasure of their coveting, their faces go black in the end. Tuka says: for a thief the only ornament is dust.
What it means
Tukaram presses the same charge, now in the figure of a jewel thief. To steal what is not yours makes you a thief, and the only honor such a one earns is the beating destiny brings him. The sweetness of grabbing what you covet ends in a blackened, disgraced face. The closing line strips the thief bare: the only ornament that suits him is dust. Aimed at the borrower of holy words, it warns that stolen finery never adorns; it only exposes, and the wanting that drove it ends in shame.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →