Social criticism, the fraudulent exorcist
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अंगीं घेऊनियां वारें दया देती । तया भक्ता हातीं चोट आहे ॥1॥
देव्हारा बैसोनि हालविती सुपें । ऐसीं पापी पापें लिंपताती ॥ध्रु.॥
एकीबेकीन्यायें होतसे प्रचित । तेणें लोक समस्त भुलताती ॥2॥
तयाचे स्वाधीन दैवतें असती । तरी कां मरती त्यांचीं पोरें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे पाणी अंगारा जयाचा । भक्त कान्होबाचा तो ही नव्हे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who take on a spirit and then give blessings while possessed hold deception in their hands. They sit at the shrine and wave a winnowing fan, and such sinful ones are smeared with sin. By a trick of coincidence, something appears to come true, and the people are deluded. If the deities were truly under their control, why do their own children die? Says Tuka, one who deals in holy water and sacred ash is not even a devotee of God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who let a spirit ride them and then hand out blessings have only deceit in their hands. They sit at the shrine and wave a winnowing fan, and such sinners smear themselves with sin. Once in a while a thing comes true by chance, and all the people are fooled. If the gods were really under their control, why do their own children die? Tuka says: a man who deals in holy water and sacred ash is not even a devotee of God.
What it means
Tukaram strips the mask off the possession-priest who trades on people's fear. The man pretends a spirit possesses him, blesses from the shrine, waves his fan, and calls it power, but it is fraud, and he only piles sin on himself. A rare coincidence that comes true is enough to delude the crowd. Then Tukaram lands the test no fraud can pass: if you truly commanded the gods, your own children would not die. The verse aims at the trade in holy water and ash that preys on the credulous; the one who runs it is not even a devotee, let alone a holy man.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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