Satire, the lavish wedding as hell
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दिवट्या वाद्यें लावुनि खाणें । करूनि मंडण दिली हातीं ॥१॥
नवरा नेई नवरी घरा । पूजन वरा पाद्याचें ॥ध्रु.॥
गौरविली विहीण व्याही । घडिलें कांहीं ठेवूं नका ॥२॥
करूं द्यावें न्हावें वरें । ठायीचें कां रे न कळे चि ॥३॥
वर्हाडियांचे लागे पाठीं । जैसी उटिका तेलीं ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे जोडिला थुंका । पुढें नरका सामग्री ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
With torches and music and a feast laid out, they prepare the bride in all her finery and place her hand in the groom's. The groom takes the bride home, and the priest receives his ritual offering. The bride's family and the groom's family are honored; do not hold back anything that has been pledged. Let the couple bathe and prepare properly; can they not understand what is fitting? The wedding guests follow behind, squeezed like oil from sesame. Says Tuka, all this accumulated show is merely spit, preparation for hell.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Torches and music, a feast laid out, the bride dressed in all her finery, her hand placed in the groom's. The groom takes the bride to his house; the priest is paid his offering. The two families are honored; hold back nothing that was pledged. Let the couple be bathed and made ready. Can they not see what is fitting? The wedding guests trail behind, pressed like oil squeezed from sesame. Tuka says: all this heaped-up display is only spit. It is provisions for hell.
What it means
Tukaram walks through a grand wedding step by step, the torches, the music, the feast, the dressed bride, the paid priest, the honored families, the trailing guests, and lets the show build to its full size. He is not praising any of it. The squeezed guests and the long list of obligations expose how much vanity and expense are demanded of everyone. The verdict cuts through the whole spectacle: all this accumulated splendor amounts to no more than spit, and far from earning merit it is provisions a person packs for hell. The point is not the ceremony itself but the hollow pride and waste that have taken it over.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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