AKAM 256
- Tiṇai:
- marutam
- Author:
- Maturaitamiḻkkūttaṉār kaṭuvaṉ maḷḷaṉār
- 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- V. M. Subramanya Ayyar (1975) [IFP, unpublished]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)
- HTML conversion, text revising & editing:
- jlc
- Date of last revision:
- 2006/04/25
- Table of contents (by lines):
- 1-7 Description of the village belonging to talaivaṉ and the pranks of the tortoise
- 7-13 The companion telling talaivaṉ the water sports he enjoyed in vayyai with one harlot.
- 14-21 The public scandal and an incident used as a simile for that.
- Colophon(s):
- The friend of talaivi refused intercession on behalf of talaimakaṉ
- Syntactical link:
- see below
- Difficult words:
- see below
- Variant readings:
- see below
- Notes:
- see below
TRANSLATION
- Chief of the village (7)
- where the tortoise with sharp nails (2)
- which hated sleeping without any work (2)
- in the low jungle of creeper vaḷḷai of long leaves, and intertwining nature (1)
- goes out of it like the stone thrown on the surface of the water which goes hopping (3),
- drinks the drop of toddy falling from the tender palmyra fruit in order to fill its splitting mouth (4)
- in the broad ghat (3),
- crawls with a gait with joy born out of drinking the spilt toddy (5),
- stirs up the big and pleasant looking fields (6)
- and hides itself among the soft leaves of neighbouring water lily (7).
- Do not tell lies; I know your deception (8)
- you do not know that your clandestine dealings with a harlot have become well-known (9)
- Yesterday (9)
- you enjoyed water sports with a harlot with beautiful coated with collyrium (10),
- in the river Vaigai(10)
- which brought beautiful freshes, as a matter of right (11)
- Though the friends of the harlot tried to keep it a secret without being known is the village folk they were unable to do so (12)
- it has given room for a big scandal (13)
- (That scandal) is greater than the loud noise of the village assembly of unrivalled eminence (21)
- when in Kaḷḷur which is famous from early times, and abounds in fields of different kinds of flowers to make them beautiful (14)
- and eminent having sugar-cane fields in plenty (15),
- a virtueless person had intercourse with a young girl of beautiful forehead (16)
- and swore unrightteously and cruelly denying his cruel act (17)
- the members of the assembly interrogated the witnesses who had knowledge of this incident, (and found him guilty) (18),
- they bound him securely to a big branch full of leaves (19)
- and poured on his head (as punishment) lime powder (20)
SYNTACTICAL LINK
ஊர(7)! நின் மாயம் அறிவல்(8); அகவே(8) கையகப்பட்டமை அறியாய்(9); நெருநை(9) மடந்னயொடு(10) வையைப்(10)
புனல் உரிதினின் நுகர்ந்து(11) பரத்தை ஆயம் கரப்பவும் ஒல்லாது(12) கவ்வை ஆகின்று(13); (அது) கள்ளூர் அறனிலாளனை(17)
வெஞ்சூள் அறிகரிகடாஅய்க்(18) கிளைபற்றி(19) நீறுதலைப்பெய்த ஞான்றை(20) அவையத்து ஆர்ப்பினும் பெரிது(21).
VARIANT READINGS
- .5. நுகர்வாருந்து.
- .8. பொய்யானறிவல்.
- .15. கரும்பயல்.
DIFFICULT WORDS
- நொடி
- - sound.
- நொடி விடு கல்
- - hopping stone
- உழக்கி
- - having trampled down, having stirred up.
- பகுவாய்
- - splitted mouth.
- நுங்கு
- - tender fruit of palmyra.
- அயலது
- - adjacent.
- ஒடுங்கும்
- - hiding.
- மாயம்
- - deception.
- திறன் இல் வெஞ்சூள்
- - a cruel oath without any prinicple
- அறி கரி
- - witness who had knowledge of the incident.
- கடாஅய்
- - having interrogated.
- முறி ஆர் பெருங்கிளை
- - big branch having leaves.
- செறியப் பற்றி
- - having tied securely.
- கடாஅய்
- - having interrogated
- முறியார் பெருங்கிளை
- - big branch having leaves
- செறியப்பற்றி
- - having tied securely
- நீறு
- - lime powder.
- தலைப்பெய்த
- - poured on head
- வீறு சால் அவையம்
- - the vilage assembly of great excellence.
- ஆர்ப்பு
- - uproar.
- பொதும்பு
- - shrub
NOTES
நொடிவிடு இல் in line 3 can also be interpreted as a stone making a sound.
நுங்இற்கள் - means toddy tapped from the palmyra tree.
The tortoise enjoying toddy and turning itself upside down is mentioned in akam, stanza 356, ll.1-4.
The verbal participle நிறைய - will go with அருந்தும்
in line 5.
கையகப்பட்டமை in line 9 means that it is well known.
The incident mentioned in ll. 6-21 in this ; A sinner outraged the modesty of a young girl and abandoned her. She hodged a complaint against him and appealed to the village assembly for justice.
The culprit denied completely that he had not committed anything like that. The members of the village assembly summoned witnesses who had knoweldge of this and their deposition was that he was guilty.
So they awarded him the punishment he deserved. Perhaps it was the custom in those days to tie such guilty persons to a three-forked branch of a tree and pour on his head lime powder.
The inner meaning of the description of the prank of the tortoise :
The talaivaṉ disliked sleeping in his house and went to the harlot's house, enjoyed water sports with her and with that pride he stayed with the harlot living in his house.