Old Tamil Poetry

Thinaimozhi 50 – 25

Her friend says:

As pregnant dark clouds mix with air and rise,
sweating male deer leaps up in joy with its doe;
My fine bosomed friend! – our lover will arrive
now, the weather assures us so.

தோழி கூற்று:

கரு இயல் கார் மழை கால் கலந்து ஏந்த,
உருகு மட மான் பிணையோடு உகளும்;-
உருவ முலையாய்!-நம் காதலர் இன்னே
வருவர்; வலிக்கும் பொழுது.

He has gone to earn money. He promised to her that he will come back by monsoon. He hasn’t come back and she is starting to panic. Her friend assuages her saying, “Look at the dark clouds pregnant with water. It is about to rain. As the temparature cools down, the deer which was sweating in the heat leaps up joyously with its partner. Your lover too will come back now and make you joyous like those deers. The rain clouds assure us about that.”

“Clouds pregnant with water” stands for the monsoon bringing good news. ”உருகு மடமான்” – male deer that was melting(in the heat).

பிணை – female deer / doe

உகளல் – jump

வலித்தல் – tells / assures

Thinai Mozhi 50 – 38

To praise him, from the town with fecund fields, Bard,
you needn’t use empty words; get lost!
Fresh white Lily strings in her long tress
tell of his love and indifference.

நல் வயல் ஊரன் நலம் உரைத்து, நீ-பாண!-
சொல்லின் பயின்று உரைக்க வேண்டா; ஒழிதி, நீ!
எல்லு நல் முல்லைத் தார் சேர்ந்த இருங்கூந்தல்
சொல்லும், அவர் வண்ணம் சோர்வு.

He has gone to his concubine’s house and now wants to come back home. So he sends the bard to sing of his good character and gain him entry. She chases away the bard saying “You don’t have to say empty words about his good qualities. The flower strings in his concubine’s long hairs tell about his love for her and indifference towards me”

Thinai Mozhi 50 is a collection of 50 poems , 10 each for the 5 landscapes in Classical Tamil Poetry. Kannan Chendanar is the poet who wrote these 50 poems. Since this was written after the Sangam period, a guesstimate of the period will be 300-500 AD.