Abhanga 66
Helping a wicked person makes you culpable for what they do. The wicked meeting the wicked breeds fire. Cut the nose — others will learn.
The verse
दुर्जनासि करी साहे । तो ही दंड हे लाहे ॥१॥ शिंदळीच्या कुंटणी वाटा । संग खोटा खोट्याचा ॥ध्रु.॥ येर येरा कांचणी भेटे । आगी उठे तेथूनी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे कापूं नाकें । पुढें आणिकें शिकविती ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: One who helps a wicked person — he too receives the same punishment. The harlot and her procuress meeting on the path: false-with-false company. Rotten meets rotten — fire rises from that meeting. Tuka says: cut their noses (publicly); afterward others will be instructed.
मराठी: दुर्जनाला साह्य करणारा — त्यालाही तोच दंड मिळतो. शिंदळी आणि कुंटणी वाटेवर भेटतात — खोट्याचा खोट्याशी संग. एक रोचक दुसऱ्याला भेटतो — तिथेच आग उठते. तुकाराम म्हणतात — नाक कापा; पुढे इतर शिकतील.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| दुर्जनासि करी साहे | "(one who) helps a wicked person" |
| तो ही दंड हे लाहे | "he too gets the punishment" |
| शिंदळीच्या कुंटणी वाटा | "the harlot's procuress on the path" |
| संग खोटा खोट्याचा | "false-with-false company" |
| येर येरा कांचणी भेटे | "rotten meets rotten" |
| आगी उठे तेथूनी | "fire rises from there" |
| कापूं नाकें | "let us cut (their) noses" (a public-shaming punishment in old Marathi context) |
| पुढें आणिकें शिकविती | "henceforth others will learn" |
What it means
A bad-company warning. The structural claim: complicity is real. Helping the wicked makes you receive the same punishment. The procuress-and-harlot image makes the principle concrete: two compromised parties amplify each other rather than canceling out. The closing — कापूं नाकें, पुढें आणिकें शिकविती — cut their noses publicly so others will learn — invokes the harsh deterrent-by-example tradition. Tukaram is willing to be unsentimental here; the bhakti-tradition is not a recipe for avoiding judgment but for judging clearly. [T]
For someone today
When someone you're close to is causing harm and you keep helping them — Tukaram's claim is uncomfortable: you are receiving the same punishment their actions accrue. Helping the wicked is not neutral. The cure is not loud confrontation; it is withdrawal of the help. The fire that rises from the meeting of the wicked needs your kindling to keep going. Decline. The withdrawal is not cruelty; it is the refusal to be the seventh log on the fire.
मराठी: तुम्ही जवळच्या कुणाला सतत मदत करत असाल आणि ते हानी पोहोचवत असतील — तुकारामांचा अस्वस्थ करणारा दावा: त्यांच्या कृतींची तीच शिक्षा तुम्हालाही मिळते. वाईटाची मदत निरपेक्ष नाही. उपाय जोराचा वाद नाही; मदत काढून घेणं. वाईटांच्या भेटीतून उठणाऱ्या आगीला तुमचं इंधन हवं असतं. नकार द्या. ही क्रूरता नाही; आगीवर सातवं ओडकं न होण्याचा नकार आहे.
Where this applies
- Helping someone causing harm. You are receiving their punishment.
- Groups reinforcing worst patterns. Withdraw.
- Public example for others' sake. Sometimes the boundary is the teaching.