Social criticism, sacred duty made a trade
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जगीं ब्रह्मक्रिया खिस्तीचा व्यापार । हिंडे घरोघर चांडाळाचे ॥1॥
आंतेजा खिचडी घेताती मागून । गािळप्रधानि मायबहिणी ॥ध्रु.॥
उत्तमकुळीं जन्म क्रिया अमंगळ । बुडविलें कुळ उभयतां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसी कलयुगाची चाली । स्वाथॉ बुडविलीं आचरणें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In this world the sacred rituals have become a trade of exploitation. People wander from house to house seeking scraps. They beg for scraps of food and in their greed have abandoned their own mothers and sisters. Born in a noble lineage, their conduct is reprehensible, and they have sunk both families. Says Tuka, such is the way of this dark age. Self-interest has corrupted all practice.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In this world the sacred rites have been turned into a trade for gain. He wanders house to house after scraps. He begs for leftovers, and in his greed he has cast off his own mother and sister. Born in a noble line, his conduct is foul, and he has sunk both families. Tuka says: such is the way of this dark age. Self-interest has drowned every right practice.
What it means
Tukaram exposes how the holiest duties can be hollowed out into a business of begging and gain. The picture is harsh: a man going door to door for scraps, so given over to greed that he abandons even his own mother and sister and disgraces the good family he was born into. The poem's grief is that high birth and noble lineage cannot save conduct once self-interest takes the wheel; the form remains while the substance rots. He names this as the mark of the dark age, but the lesson points inward, to ask whether our own observances have quietly become transactions and who we have set aside to keep them.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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