Old Tamil Poetry

Puranaanooru – 196

To grant if it is possible
or to refuse if not possible,
is the practice of gallant men;
To promise when not possible
or to refuse when possible,
these two cause supplicant’s grief
and also lead to patron’s shame;
Your action is like that;
I’ve seen what my ancestors did not;
May your sons be free of illness;
I too, without cursing the heat or idling in rain,
will be on my way to my impoverished home,
a hole in a rock guarding us from the wind,
thinking of my chaste young wife who awaits me
with not a jewel on her but modesty;
May you have a good day.

ஒல்லுவது ஒல்லும் என்றலும், யாவர்க்கும்
ஒல்லாது இல் என மறுத்தலும், இரண்டும்,
ஆள்வினை மருங்கின் கேண்மைப் பாலே;
ஒல்லாது ஒல்லும் என்றலும், ஒல்லுவது
இல் என மறுத்தலும், இரண்டும், வல்லே
இரப்போர் வாட்டல் அன்றியும், புரப்போர்
புகழ் குறைபடூஉம் வாயில்அத்தை;
அனைத்து ஆகியர், இனி; இதுவே எனைத்தும்
சேய்த்துக் காணாது கண்டனம்; அதனால்,
நோய் இலராக நின் புதல்வர்; யானும்,
வெயில் என முனியேன், பனி என மடியேன்,
கல் குயின்றன்ன என் நல்கூர் வளி மறை,
நாண் அலது இல்லாக் கற்பின் வாள் நுதல்
மெல் இயல் குறு மகள் உள்ளிச்
செல்வல் அத்தை; சிறக்க, நின் நாளே!

Poet Aavoor Moovan Kilar has come to the Pandya King’s (Ilavanthikai Palli Thunjiya Nanmaran) to sing his praise and get gifts. The King neither gives a gift nor refuses, but keeps on dragging his feet. The poet is upset and wrote this poem. “Either to give or say it’s not possible to give is what gallant men do. To promise when it’s not possible and to refuse when it is possible cause grief to the supplicant and also bring shame on the benefactor. What you are doing is similar to that. Your ancestors were generous men who gave gifts to my ancestors. But I have seen what my ancestors haven’t seen. I will be on my way to my impoverished home where my wife awaits me. I won’t wait anymore here in your court even if the sun is scorching or it is raining. My home is nothing but a hole in a rock. My wife has no jewels but her innate modesty. But don’t think I am cursing you. My your sons be free of illness. May your day be good”

Even when one is upset by actions of the other, it is still a practice in Tamilnadu to say “May you be well” (நல்லா இரு) instead of cursing. This habit seems to be a left over from the Sangam era. A poets curse was thought to be potent. So he did not curse the King but just spoke about his own poverty and helplessness. At the same time, he doesn’t want to give up his self respect. Hence he says he won’t wait any more in the court but be on his way to his home. Some commentators interpret ‘poverty stricken hole in a rock home, that just protects from the wind’ as ‘our home which just protects us from the wind, where poverty hangs like a millstone’.

This poem from 2000 years ago says that things haven’t changed much. Tamil poets are impoverished yet imperious.