The wife's complaint, the husband lost to God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मज चि भोंवता केला येणें जोग । काय याचा भोग अंतरला ॥१॥
चालोनियां घरा सर्व सुखें येती । माझी तों फजीती चुके चि ना ॥ध्रु.॥
कोणाची बाईल होऊनियां वोढूं । संवसारीं काढूं आपदा किती ॥२॥
काय तरी देऊं तोडितील पोरें । मरतीं तरी बरें होतें आतां ॥३॥
कांहीं नेदी वांचों धोवियेलें घर । सारवावया ढोर शेण नाहीं ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे रांड न करितां विचार । वाहुनियां भार कुंथे माथां ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This husband of mine has set me going in circles; has he renounced anything at all? All comforts walk right past our door, yet my humiliation never ends. Whose wife am I supposed to be, dragging along like this? How much more misery must I pull out of this household? He gives nothing; the children will tear everything apart. It would have been better if they had died. He will not let me breathe; the house has been washed clean and there is not even cow dung left for plastering. Says Tuka, the wife grumbles and groans under her burden without ever stopping to think.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This husband of mine has set me going in circles. Has he given up anything at all? Every comfort walks right past our door, and my humiliation never ends. Whose wife am I, dragged along like this? How much more misery must I pull out of this household? He gives nothing. The children will tear everything apart. It would be better if they had died now. He lets me have nothing; the house is scrubbed bare, and there is not even cow dung left to plaster the floor. Tuka says: the wife grumbles and groans under her burden, and never once stops to think.
What it means
Tukaram speaks in his wife's voice to dramatize the cost of his own devotion as the household sees it. She is worn out: comforts pass them by, the children go hungry, the house is stripped to nothing, and she feels publicly shamed. Her bitter words are real and her hardship is real. But Tukaram lays a quiet judgment under the lament with his closing line: she carries the weight without ever pausing to ask what it is for. The poem turns the complaint back on us, asking whether we too only groan under life's burden and never stop to consider where our true wealth lies.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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