Social criticism, the pious slanderer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हुंदकी पिसवी हलवी दाढी । मणी वोढी निंदेचे॥1॥
त्याचें फळ पाकीं यमाचे दंड । घर केलें कुंड कुंभपाक ॥ध्रु.॥
क्रोध पोटीं मांग आणिला अंतरा । भुंकोनि कुतरा जप करी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे स्नान केलें मळमूत्रें । जेवविलीं पितरें अमंगळें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He sobs and shakes, strokes his beard, and counts the beads of slander. The fruit of that ripens into the punishments of Yama, making his home a pit of torment. With anger in his belly and impurity in his chitta, he barks like a dog while going through the motions of prayer. Says Tuka, he has bathed in filth and fed his ancestors with abominations.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He sobs and shakes, he strokes his beard, he tells his beads of slander. The fruit of that ripens into Yama's punishments; he has made his home a pit of torment. With anger in his belly and filth in his heart, he barks like a dog while going through his prayers. Tuka says: he has bathed in filth and fed his ancestors with foul things.
What it means
Tukaram strips the mask off a show of piety that is really cruelty. The man weeps and fingers his rosary, but each bead he counts is an act of slander, so his devotions earn the punishments of death, not release. Inside he carries anger and impurity, and his prayer is only barking. The closing image is deliberately revolting: his ritual bath and his offering to the ancestors are defiled at the root, because no outward rite cleans a heart full of contempt. The warning is to examine whether our own devotion hides the same rot.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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