అయ్య దాసరులకు పెడితే, అమ్మ జంగాలకు పెట్టినట్లు

ayya dasarulaku pedite, amma jangalaku pettinatlu

Translation

When the master fed the Dâsaris (devotees of Vishṇu), the mistress fed the Jangams (devotees of Śiva). Applied to a spirit of contradiction.

Meaning

This proverb describes a situation where both partners in a couple or group are equally charitable, or more commonly, equally wasteful and extravagant in spending resources on outsiders. It is used to highlight a lack of financial coordination or a mutual tendency to give away assets, often leading to the depletion of the household's wealth.

Related Phrases

While the father gave to the Dasaris, the mother gave to the Jangams.

This proverb is used to describe a situation where a husband and wife (or two people in charge) are both overly generous or spendthrift in different ways, leading to the depletion of their resources. It highlights a lack of coordination or mutual recklessness in managing household wealth or assets.

You get gold out of earth and earth out of gold. i. e. you buy land with money.

This proverb highlights the unpredictable nature of luck and timing. It suggests that when one is going through a fortunate period, even a worthless effort (mud) turns into wealth (gold), but during an unfortunate period, even a valuable investment (gold) can turn into a loss (mud). It is often used to describe the irony of success and failure.

Lime put on a wall, money given to a harlot. No return.

This proverb describes a situation where resources (money or effort) are spent with no possibility of recovery or return. Just as you cannot retrieve whitewash once it is applied to a wall, money spent on fleeting, unproductive pleasures or given to unreliable people is gone forever. It is used to warn someone about wasteful expenditure.

Investing in the son-in-law led to the loss of the investment intended for the son.

This proverb is used to describe a situation where someone prioritizes an outsider or a distant relative over their own family, only to end up losing everything. It highlights the folly of misplaced priorities and the resulting regret when a primary responsibility is neglected for a secondary one.

Mother for Dasaris, Father for Jangams.

This proverb describes a situation where both members of a couple are excessively charitable with common resources, often to the point of depleting them. While the mother gives away food or money to one group of mendicants (Dasaris), the father gives to another (Jangams). It is used to satirize households where there is no financial discipline or when everyone is busy being generous at the expense of their own stability.

If you give him butter he cannot swallow it, if you give him your finger he cannot bite it.

This expression is used to describe a person who appears extremely innocent, naive, or passive to the point of being helpless or dull-witted. It often refers to someone who lacks the basic initiative or reaction expected in common situations.

As demure as if butter would not melt in his mouth, and yet cheese will not choke him.

Like breaking into the house of the person who fed you.

This expression describes extreme ingratitude or betrayal. It refers to a person who harms their benefactor or someone who has helped them in their time of need. It is used to condemn the act of biting the hand that feeds you.

When asked to go for hard labor, he turned it into a game.

This expression is used to describe a person who avoids responsibility or hard work by trivializing a serious task or pretending it is a game. It characterizes someone who is lazy or shirks their duties when faced with strenuous labor.

The sins committed and the lamps lit are equal.

This expression is used to describe a situation where the bad deeds or mistakes someone has committed are roughly offset or balanced out by their attempts at atonement or good deeds. It is often used sarcastically to imply that someone's superficial rituals or minor good acts are just barely covering up their significant wrongdoings, or that the accounts of good and bad have been settled.

Giving to an old woman and giving to a childless widow is the same.

This expression is used to describe an investment or a favor that yields no return or future benefit. In a traditional social context, it implies that providing for those who cannot reproduce or contribute back to the lineage is a dead-end expenditure.