Social criticism, the bookish quarreler
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शब्दज्ञानी येऊं नेदीं दृष्टीपुढें । छळवादी कुडे अभक्त ते ॥1॥
जळो ते जाणींव जळो त्याचे दंभ । जळो त्याचें तोंड दुर्जनाचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येती दाटूनि छळाया । त्यांच्या बोडूं डोया न धरूं भीड ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I will not allow those who deal in mere book-knowledge to come before me. Those contentious deceivers are no devotees. Let their cleverness burn. Let their pretense burn. Let the face of such wicked ones be scorched. Says Tuka, when they come pressing to harass, I will shave their heads and show them no courtesy.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I will not let the men of mere book-words stand before my eyes. These quarrelsome cheats are no devotees. Let their cleverness burn. Let their show of piety burn. Let the wicked one's face be scorched. Tuka says: when they crowd in to harass me, I will shave their heads and show them no respect.
What it means
Tukaram is drawing a hard line against people who turn scripture into a weapon for argument. He refuses to even look at those who deal in book-learning while picking fights, because contentiousness and devotion cannot live in the same person. The fire he calls down is not on the man but on the pattern: the cleverness, the pretense, the wicked use of knowledge to bully. When such people press in to harass him, he promises he will not soften with courtesy but will publicly disgrace the bullying itself. The warning turns back on the reader: am I using what I know to fight, or to love?
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →