Domestic peace, the wife at last appeased
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बरें जालें गेलें । आजी अवघें मिळालें ॥१॥
आतां खाईन पोटभरी । ओल्या कोरड्या भाकरी ॥ध्रु.॥
किती तरी तोंड । याशीं वाजवूं मी रांड ॥२॥
तुका बाइले मानवला । चीथू करूनियां बोला ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Good riddance, it all came together today. Now I will eat my fill, whether the bread is fresh or dry. How long should I, a mere woman, keep arguing with this man? Says Tuka, the wife was at last appeased by letting her vent her bitter words.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Good, it is over; today it all came together. Now I will eat my fill, whether the bread is fresh or dry. How long should I, only a woman, keep wrangling with this man? Tuka says: the wife was appeased at last, once she had spoken out her bitter words.
What it means
This abhanga closes the cycle of the wife's complaints on a note of release. Having let out all her resentment, she gives up the fight: she will be content with whatever bread there is, fresh or stale, and stop arguing. Tukaram names plainly that letting her speak her bitterness through is what finally settled her. The poem honors a small domestic truth, that anger spoken fully can spend itself and make room for peace, and it lets the long quarrel between household and devotion come to rest.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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