Social criticism, the two-faced flatterer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जेणें मुखें स्तवी । तें चि निंदे पाठीं लावी ॥१॥
ऐसी अधमाची याती । लोपी सोनें खाय माती ॥ध्रु.॥
गुदद्वारा वाटे । मिष्टान्नांचा नरक लोटे ॥२॥
विंचु लाभाविण । तुका म्हणे वाहे शीण ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The same mouth that praises to one's face turns around and slanders behind one's back. Such is the breed of the base; they swallow gold and eat dirt. Just as fine sweets turn to filth when they exit through the anus, so does the base man reduce all that is good to waste. Says Tuka, like a scorpion that stings for no profit, such a person toils only in vain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The same mouth that praises you to your face turns and slanders you behind your back. Such is the breed of the base: they let gold slip away and eat dirt. Fine sweets, passing out through the body, turn into filth; just so the base man turns all that is good to waste. Tuka says: like a scorpion that stings for no gain, such a person only wears himself out.
What it means
Tukaram exposes the two-faced flatterer, the one whose praise to your face is reversed into slander the moment your back is turned. He calls this a base disposition that throws away what is precious and feeds on what is worthless, gold let go, dirt eaten. The blunt image of sweets turning to filth as they pass through the body shows how such a person degrades whatever good comes near them. The scorpion that stings without profit names the futility: this malice gains nothing, it only exhausts the one who carries it. The poem points at the pattern of duplicity, inviting the listener to test their own tongue against it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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