The wife's worry, the husband gone god-mad
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां पोरा काय खासी । गोहो जाला देवलसी ॥१॥
डोचकें तिंबी घातल्या माळा । उदमाचा सांडी चाळा ॥ध्रु.॥
आपल्या पोटा केली थार । आमचा नाहीं येसपार ॥२॥
हातीं टाळ तोंड वासी । गाय देउळीं । देवापासीं ॥३॥
आतां आम्ही करूं काय । न वसे घरीं राणा जाय ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे आतां धीरी । आझुनि नाहीं जालें तरी ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What will your children eat now? Your husband has become a god-mad devotee. He shakes his head, sways, and wears garlands; he has abandoned all trade and livelihood. He has settled his own belly's needs but has given no thought to ours. With cymbals in hand and mouth gaping, he sings away at the temple near God. What are we to do? He will not stay at home; he roams off to the woods. Says Tuka, be patient, woman; things have not yet reached their end.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What will your children eat now? Your husband has become a god-crazed devotee. He shakes his head, sways, and wears garlands; he has dropped all trade and livelihood. He has settled his own belly and given no thought to ours. With cymbals in hand and mouth wide open, he sings away at the temple, close to God. What are we to do? He will not stay home; he wanders off to the woods. Tuka says: be patient, woman; it has not yet come to its end.
What it means
Once more Tukaram voices the wife as she watches her husband disappear into devotion. He has thrown over the family trade, wears the bhakta's garlands, and spends his days singing with cymbals at the temple, leaving the children's future a question. Her worry is genuine and the strain on the home is real. But the closing line, again in Tukaram's own voice, asks for patience: things have not reached their end. The poem sets the household's fear beside a quiet trust that the God the husband sings to has not finished the story, and invites the listener to wait rather than judge too soon.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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