Social criticism, the false-faithful wife
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पतिव्रता ऐसी जगामध्यें मात । भोगी पांच सात अंधारीं ते ॥1॥
भ्रतारासी लेखी श्वानाचे समान । परपुरुषीं जाण संभ्रम तो ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तिच्या दोषा नाहीं पार । भोगील अघोर कुंभपाक ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
She is praised in the world as a faithful wife, yet in the dark she consorts with five or seven others. She treats her husband like a dog and dotes upon other men. Says Tuka, there is no end to her sin. She will suffer the most terrible torments of hell.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the world she is praised as a faithful wife, yet in the dark she lies with five or seven others. She counts her husband as no better than a dog and dotes on other men. Tuka says: there is no end to her sin. She will suffer the most terrible torments of hell.
What it means
Tukaram sets the public name against the private deed: the woman called faithful is faithless in the dark. The sting is the gap between reputation and reality, the honor she keeps in the world while betraying the bond she is honored for. Read past the literal target, this is the figure of pretended devotion everywhere, the soul that wears one face in public worship and gives its real love elsewhere. The warning to examine is whether your own honored name covers a divided heart.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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