Kabir · doha
बड़ा हुआ तो क्या हुआ, जैसे पेड़ खजूर।
baṛā huā to kyā huā, jaise peṛ khajūr
✦
“What use is being big like a date palm that gives no shade?”
मूल Original
बड़ा हुआ तो क्या हुआ, जैसे पेड़ खजूर।
Hindi / Awadhi, in its own script.
उच्चारण How it sounds
baṛā huā to kyā huā, jaise peṛ khajūr
Read it aloud — IAST transliteration.
अर्थ What it means
What use is being big like a date palm that gives no shade?
A thought about humility.
स्रोत Where it comes from
Kabir (doha)
The 15th-century weaver-poet whose two-line dohas cut through pretence.
Public domain · Ancient / pre-1960 text
When someone asks, “What does your T-shirt say?”
It's from doha, in Hindi / Awadhi. It means: “What use is being big like a date palm that gives no shade?”
That's the whole idea. One line, and a conversation about something that has mattered for a thousand years.
If this stayed with you