Social criticism, misplaced mercy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सिंदळीचे सोर चोराची दया । तो ही जाणा तया संवसर्गी ॥1॥
फुकासाटीं भोगे दुःखाचा वाटा । उभारोनी कांटा वाटेवरी ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्प पोसूनियां दुधाचा नास । केलें थीता विष अमृताचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे यासी न करितां दंडण । पुढिल खंडण नव्हे दोषा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The sighs of an adulteress and the pity of a thief belong to the same company. For a trifle, such a one inherits a share of suffering and plants a thorn upon the road. Feeding milk to a serpent only wastes the milk and turns the nectar into poison. Says Tuka, without punishing such people, the spread of wrongdoing cannot be stopped.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The sighs of an unfaithful woman and the pity of a thief belong to the same company. For a trifle such a one reaps a share of sorrow and sets a thorn upon the road. Feed milk to a snake and you only waste the milk; you turn nectar into poison. Tuka says: if such people are not punished, the spread of wrongdoing cannot be stopped.
What it means
Tukaram warns against kindness given to those bent on harm. Sympathy for a corrupt heart or a thief, he says, keeps the same company as the harm itself; indulging it plants a thorn that wounds everyone who walks that way. The image of milk fed to a serpent makes the point exact: good poured into a poisonous nature is not transformed, it is wasted and even turns deadly. The poem urges firm correction rather than soft tolerance, naming the failure to restrain wrongdoing as a way of letting it spread. The target is the pattern of harm and our weakness in coddling it, not a license for cruelty; the firmness is for the sake of the road everyone must share.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →