AKAM 059

Tiṇai:

pālai

Author:

maturai marutaṉilanākaṉ

Translation:

V. M. Subramanya Ayyar (1975) [IFP, unpublished]

Original MS location:

IFP Library [TA LIT-CL 180 (1)(2)(3)]

Original data entry (VYAPTI format):

Ramya (1999-2000, IFP)

Date of last revision:

2005/03/05

Table of contents (by lines):

(1-3) talaivi's sorrow

(4-9) The love of elephants in the forest

(10-15) talaivaṉ appreciated once the talaivi's beautiful back

(16-8) talaivaṉ having gone on a business of acquiring wealth

Colophon(s):

The companion spoke to the Kiḻatti who was changed in mind during talaimakaṉ's separation.

Syntactical link:

see below

Difficult words:

see below

Variant readings:

see below

Notes:

see below

• Friend (9)!

• you have suffered much (2-3)
• your eyes have lost their great beauty (2)
• which can be compared to the flowers blossomed fully in a cool tank, on which bees settle, and which can be compared to each other only (1)
• May you live long (3).
• Without even remembering the time when our talaivar praised and appreciated your back on which your knot (கொண்டை) is moving (14-5)
• and which is beautiful by the great decorations made with the cool, fragrant blue indian water lily flowers that grow in the pleasant, sweet and greenish pools situated on the high mountain of paraṅkuṉṟu (பரங்குன்று) on which sandalwood trees grow, which has been sung by antuvaṉ (அந்துவன்) (10-13)
• and which belongs to murukaṉ (முருகன்) of great anger who has bright and long lance resembling in shape a leaf which destroyed the asura (சூர்) with his relations (10),
• has gone in a way by parting from us, (18)
• bent upon acquiring wealth which is a difficult task, in a distant country (15-6)
• to make your bamboo-like shoulders of big joints become lean (16),
• and is living there (18).
• (In that path) the male elephants (9)
• bend the yā (யா) trees of tall stature (8)
• in order to feed their young female elephants of soft heads, with the beautiful leaves (7);
• and drive away the bees that settle on the temples which are wet with must (8-9).
• (It resembles the scene) when Lord Krishna trampled with his feet the wild lime (6)
• in order to lower it so that the girls belonging to the shepherd caste who bathed in the broad sandy and extensive ghat of the perennial river toḻunaī (தொழுநையாறு) situated in the north (4-5)
• may wear round their waists the cool leaves (5)
• (as sarees) (He will see that sight of elephants and return).

தோழி(9)! நீ (தலைவரைப்பிரிந்து) பெரிதும்(2) வருந்தினை; வாழியர்(3); நின் செண்ணியற்சிறுபுறம்(14) பாராட்டிய காலையும் உள்ளார்(15); தோள் நெகிழப்(16) பொருட்பிணி முன்னிப்(17) பிரிந்து சேண் உறைநர் சென்ற ஆற்றில்(18) களிறு(9) பிடி குழை உணீஇயர்(7) யாஅம் ஒற்றி(8) மிஞிறுகடியும்(9); (அது கண்டு வருவர்).

• .7. உணீஇய வங்குழை.
• .9. படுஞிமிறு.
• .11. சீர்மிகுமுருகன்.
• .12. ஈண்டிப்பொலிநந்த.

(Note The story alluded to here has two different versions
(1) When the shepherd girls were bathing in the river Jumna keeping all their sarees on the bank. Krishnaṉ took them all and got up on the branche of a wild lime tree (குருந்து) tree. When Balarāmaṉ happened to pass that way, Krishna lowered one of its branches so that all of them might hide themselves at the same time in that
(2) Krishnan lowered the branch so that the shepherd girls could wear the leaves of that brach as sarees.

This story is mentioned in cilappatikāram, 17-21-1. There atiyārkkunallār says that the tree was there to kill Krishna, some asura coming in the form of that tree. Cīvakacintamaṇi mentions this story; cf. stanza, 209.