Fragile than a flower, love-making is;
few know how to savor it properly.
மலரினும் மெல்லிது காமம்; சிலர், அதன்
செவ்வி தலைப்படுவார்.
Making love is not just physical union of bodies. Various factors such as right partner,right time and right setting have to come together for one to enjoy it to the fullest. It has to be handled carefully or it may all go wrong. Few people in the world enjoy it right.
Larger than the earth, loftier than the sky,
lot more deeper than the ocean,
is my love for the man from the hillside,
where copious honey is drawn
from dark stemmed Kurinchi flowers.
நிலத்தினும் பெரிதே வானினு முயர்ந்தன்று
நீரினு மாரள வின்றே சாரற்
கருங்கோற் குறிஞ்சிப் பூக்கொண்டு
பெருந்தே னிழைக்கு நாடனொடு நட்பே.
This is a well known poem from Kurunthokai (Kuru – short, Thokai – anthology. Anthology of 400 short poems). He is waiting for her. Her friend thinks that this clandestine relationship is going nowhere and chastises her. She replies saying my love for him is larger than the earth, loftier than the sky and deeper than the ocean. Bees drawing honey out of flowers in the hillside is a metaphor for their intimacy in the hillside. She indicates to her friend that their love has been consummated.
Kurinchi flowers bloom once in 12 years. (They last bloomed in Nilgiris in 2006). Honey from them is rare to obtain and sweeter. The poet uses it with the adjective great – பெருந்தேன் (great honey). I have used copious. Bees are not explicitly mentioned in the original poem but implied. I have maintained the same in translation.
These lines written 2000 years ago, reminds one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s lines “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / my soul can reach” from her “How do I love thee” sonnet. Similar lines are also found in Petula Clark’s 1960s song My Love “My love is warmer than the warmest sunshine / Softer than a sigh / My love is deeper than the deepest ocean/Wider than the sky.”
Her friend says:
O’ man from the hills! You wish to cross
hot barren lands in this summer month, fine;
The wealth you earn by going across,
is it sweeter than seeing
your loving wife’s first born son smile?
தோழி கூற்று:
வேனில் திங்கள் வெஞ் சுரம் இறந்து
செலவு அயர்ந்தனையால் நீயே; நன்றும்
நின் நயந்து உறைவி கடுஞ் சூல் சிறுவன்
முறுவல் காண்டலின், இனிதோ
இறு வரை நாட! நீ இறந்து செய் பொருளே?
The arid landscape poems (பாலைத் திணை) in Sangam literature talk about separation. In this poem the man from the hills wants to go across the arid lands in summer to earn his wealth. His wife doesn’t want him to leave. So she sends her friend to dissuade him. The friend asks him, “All the wealth you earn by going across, is it more precious than seeing the smile of your first born son?”
It is not clear from the poem or its commentary whether she is still pregnant or has already given birth. I lean towards seeing it as a poem written from the point of a pregnant woman. She wants him to be near her when she births his first son.
Every town’s our home town; every man, our kinsman;
Good and evil happen not because of others;
Pain and relief happen on their own;
Dying isn’t something unknown;
Neither do we rejoice that life is a joy,
Nor in disgust, do we call it a misery;
Since we know from words of wise men
‘Our precious lives follow their destined course,
Like rafts following the course of a mighty river
Clattering over rocks after a downpour
from lightning slashed skies’,
We aren’t impressed by the mighty;
Even more, we don’t scorn the lowly too.
யாதும் ஊரே; யாவரும் கேளிர்;
தீதும் நன்றும் பிறர் தர வாரா;
நோதலும் தணிதலும் அவற்றோரன்ன;
சாதலும் புதுவது அன்றே; வாழ்தல்
இனிது என மகிழ்ந்தன்றும் இலமே; முனிவின்,
இன்னாது என்றலும் இலமே; ‘மின்னொடு
வானம் தண் துளி தலை இ, ஆனாது
கல் பொருது இரங்கும் மல்லல் பேர் யாற்று
நீர் வழிப்படூஉம் புணை போல், ஆர் உயிர்
முறை வழிப்படூஉம்’ என்பது திறவோர்
காட்சியின் தெளிந்தனம் ஆகலின், மாட்சியின்
பெரியோரை வியத்தலும் இலமே;
சிறியோரை இகழ்தல் அதனினும் இலமே.
This poem by Kanian Poonkundranar (Astrologer from Poonkundram) is one of the most famous poems of Sangam Literature. He lived in the village of Mahibalanpatti (in Sivaganga district today). He was a wise man, but never wrote in praise of kings or benefactors as was the practice then. When he was asked why he didn’t do so, this poem was his answer. You can either read this poem as surrendering to the inevitability of life or as a proclamation of independence from man made boundaries. This poem is that of a global citizen, who doesn’t reduce himself to an identity.
There are no boundaries for humans. Every town that we go is our home town. Every person we interact with is our kin (like Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, whole world is one family). Good and evil in our lives occurs not because of others, they come by themselves. (This can also be read as Good and evil are inherent in us, and not dependent on external factors). Pain and its relief happen on their own. Dying isn’t something new, it has been happening since ages. So we do not rejoice that life is blissful. At the same time we aren’t bitter about life being a misery. Wise men have already written down that our lives, though precious to us, follow their predetermined course. Just like rafts following the course of a great river that flows noisily over rocks after a downpour from the skies. Life happens on its own with hardly any control by the individual. So we do not wonder at those who are superior to us. Neither do we scorn those who are inferior to us.
It is with trepidation that I set out to translate this poem. AK Ramanujan’s translation of this poem is well known and well received. I have borrowed heavily from him. However I differ from AKR on the following points.
1. ‘Rafts drifting in the rapids of a great river’ is good imagery. However the original poem says rafts following the course of the river, not drifting. A friend pointed out that rafts don’t drift in rapids but are hurtled forward. Literal meaning of those lines in the original is ‘Rain drops from lightning streaked skies fall down and gush over the rocks noisily and flow as a mighty river. Like a raft following the course of the river, our precious lives too follow a predetermined course’. Here the river is equated to fate and our lives to rafts. So rafts follow the course of the river, they do not drift.
2. He translates திறவோர் காட்சி as ‘vision of men who see’. The commentaries by U.Ve.Saa. and Avvai Duraisami Pillai interpret it as “நன்மைக் கூறுபாடு அறிவோர் கூறிய நூல்” literally “books of those who know good and evil”. I have decided to go by their commentaries.
3. For the word முனிவின் he uses ‘anger’. U.Ve.Saa. interprets it as வெறுப்பு – loathing. So I have followed U.Ve.Saa.’s commentary and used disgust.
4. He skips the word அதனினும் – ‘more than that’ in the last line. That is crucial to this line. “We do not look at the mighty people with wonder. More importantly, we do not scorn those who are lower than us”.
Her friend says:
Yesterday, all that you and I did was
to chase bees that swarm the fine pollen of flowers,
in the grove circled by backwaters with banks
of white sand deposited by dashing waves,
nothing else did we do on the sly; even if we did so,
it hasn’t spread for others to know –
then what does mom think? – even after seeing
the round stemmed flowers that have bloomed
like our eyes, in shark infested shallow waters
where herons feeding on prawns croak noisily,
she doesn’t tell us, ‘those small lilies
with tender leaves, why don’t you go pluck them’.
தோழி கூற்று :
நீயும் யானும், நெருநல், பூவின்
நுண் தாது உறைக்கும் வண்டினம் ஓப்பி,
ஒழி திரை வரித்த வெண் மணல் அடைகரைக்
கழி சூழ் கானல் ஆடியது அன்றி,
கரந்து நாம் செய்தது ஒன்று இல்லை; உண்டு எனின்,
பரந்து பிறர் அறிந்தன்றும்இலரே-நன்றும்
எவன் குறித்தனள் கொல், அன்னை?-கயந்தோறு
இற ஆர் இனக் குருகு ஒலிப்ப, சுறவம்
கழி சேர் மருங்கின் கணைக் கால் நீடி,
கண் போல் பூத்தமை கண்டு, ‘நுண் பல
சிறு பாசடைய நெய்தல்
குறுமோ, சென்று’ எனக் கூறாதோளே.
This poem is in Neithal thinai , the coastal landscape. He is waiting in the grove near the seashore to meet her. They have met there earlier too. But her friend warns her that it is not good to keep meeting clandestinely. People of the hamlet might start to gossip. So the friend says to her, “Listen, yesterday we were just chasing bees in the grove and did nothing else. Even if we did something, nobody knew. Do you think your mom knows? Normally when she sees flowers blooming in the shallow waters she’ll ask us to go and pluck them. But today she isn’t asking us to go to those shark infested waters where herons croak noisily. So maybe she knows. Let’s not go to the grove today”
The poem has two beautiful sets of metaphors. First is the bees swarming the flowers – like how he is following her relentlessly. When the friend says we chased the bees away, she means that you didn’t fall for his words. But the friend isn’t sure. So in the next line she says even if we did, nobody knew. The second metaphor is Shark – him, lily flowers – her, and the croaking herons – gossiping village people.
Tender are you, Anicham* flower! May you prosper!
Softer than you, is the girl I yield to.
நன்னீரை வாழி யனிச்சமே நின்னினும்
மென்னீரள் யாம்வீழ் பவள்.
அனிச்சம் (Anicham) is a flower often mentioned in Sangam poetry. Possibly a type of Pimpernel, though there is no consensus among scholars. This flower was so tender and delicate that it droops when it is smelled. The girl whom he has fallen for is softer than that flower.
நன்னீரை – நல்ல நீர்மை உடையது – Fine / Tender quality
அனிச்சம் – scarlet pimpernel (?)
மென்னீரள் – மென்மையான நீர்மை உடையவள் – Soft natured girl
வீழ்பவள் – (one whom I) fall to
 | Arunan on Kulasekara Alwar – … |
 | Brindha on Thirukkural 675 |
 | Old Tamil Poetry on Kurunthokai 126 |
 | dagalti on Kurunthokai 126 |
| dagalti on Kurunthokai 126 |
Old Tamil Poetry 