AKAM 273
- Tiṇai:
- pālai
- Author:
- auvaiyār
- 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- V. M. Subramanya Ayyar (1975) [IFP, unpublished]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:
- 2006/04/06
- Table of contents (by lines):
- 1-3 The white cranes settling on the shore having contracted their wings
- Line 5 In the dewy season all fields are ripe with their products.
- 5-6 talaivaṉ not knowing that the beauty is eaten by sallowness.
- 6-8 Perhaps talaivaṉ does not know our suffering as he has not a soft heart as ours.
- 9-17 The beautiful metaphor about scandal (அலர்), during the chill northern wind.
- Colophon(s):
- The talaimakaḷ who became confused in mind during separation, spoke thus.
- Syntactical link:
- see below
- Difficult words:
- see below
- Variant readings:
- see below
- Notes:
- see below
TRANSLATION
- Having increased in intensity (9)
- and combining with the chill northern wind which knows no stopping (10)
- the young sprout of longing which appeared in the breasts and grew (11)
- has a long trunk of agony in the weary mind (12),
- has a beautiful branch which is the calumny by a limited circle of ladies (13),
- has spread out shining leaves of insatiable love (14),
- and that tree which is without modesty has been praised by poets (15).
- That tree has enveloped the whole extent of the world (16)
- and has shed flowers of scandal by a larger circle of ladies (17)
- (Even at this time our talaivar has not returned) when the white cranes having green legs and contracted their wings (3),
- have spread themselves sat in the early morning by the side of the fertile sea (2)
- like the garland made of (white) convolvulus which was thrown into the sky with great force (1);
- and when the dewy season which has newly arrived and in which all fields are ripe with their corns, ready for harvest (4)
- does he not know (6)
- our sorrow, (5)
- even when the sallowness eats our beauty, and causes us to suffer (5)
- or, though he knows it, (6)
- as he has no soft heart like ours (7)
- does he not know the nature the world of womenfolk (8)
- How can I understand it (9)?
SYNTACTICAL LINK
வாடையொடு(10) முலையடைத் தோன்றிய நோயவளர் இளமுளை'', நெஞ்சத்து உயவுத்திரள் நீடி(12), அம்பல் அம்சினை (கொண்டு) (13) காதல் தளிர் பரப்பி(14)
நாணில் பெருமரம் (ஆகி)(15) நிலவரை எல்லாம் நிழற்றி(16) அலர் அரும்பு ஊழ்ப்பவும் வாரா தோர்(17) அற்சிரம்(4) பசலைநலியவும்(5) நம்துயர்(5)
அறியார் கொல்லோ(6)? அறியினும்(6) மென்மை இன்மையின்(7) தாம்(6) நம்முடை உலகம் உள்ளார் கொல்லோ(8)? யான் யாங்கு உணர்கு(9)?
VARIANT READINGS
- .1. விசைத் தெழுந்த.
- .7. தன்மையின்மையின்.
- .10. நிலைவரம்பறியா.
- .11. தோய் வரலிளிமுலை.
- .12. உயவுத்திறனீடி.
- .15. நாரில் பெருமரம்
DIFFICULT WORDS
- கூதளங் கோதையின்
- - like the garland of white convolvulus flowers.
- பசுங் கால்
- - having green coloured legs.
- வெண் குருகு
- - a kind of bird called வெள்ளாங் குருகு (veḷḷāṅkuruku)
- வாப்பறை
- - swift wings.
- வளைஇ
- - contracted
- பரப்ப
- - to sit in a long line
- புலம்
- - field.
- புனிறு தீர்ந்த
- - having riped ears of corn
- புதுவரல் அற்சிரம்
- - newly arrived first half of the dewy season.
- பசலை
- - paleness of complexion from love-sickness, sallowness.
- நலம் கவர்
- - eating the beauty
- நலியவும்
- - though it gives trouble.
- மென்மை
- - softness.
- நம்முடை உலகம்
- - nature of the world of women folk.
- நலியவும்
- - though it cause us to suffer.
- வீங்குபு
- - having increased.
- தலை வரம்பு அறியாத் தகை வரல் வாடை
- - northern wind which blows as if there is no end to that season.
- முலையிடை.......முளை
- - the sprout of desire that grew and increased in the breasts.
- அசைவுடை நெஞ்சத்து
- - in the weary mind.
- உயவுத் திரள் நீடி
- - the trunk of suffering having grown long
- அம்பல்
- - calumny by a limited circle of people.
- சினை
- - branch.
- ஆராக்காதல் அவிர்தளிர் பரப்பி
- - having spread out shining leaves of insatiable love.
- புலவர்.....பெரு மரம்
- - the big tree without modesty and praised by poets.
- நிலவரை நிழற்றி
- - having enveloped the extent of this world
- அலர்.....ஊழ்ப்பவும்
- though it sheds flowers which is the scandal spoken by many
NOTES
The white cranes sitting in a circle are compared to a garland made of white convolvulus flowers; akam, 178-8-10
Their legs will be green in colour; it is mentioned in Kuṟuntokai, stanza 25; ""தினைத்தானன்னி சிறுபசுங்கால.....குருகும் உண்டு தான் மணந்த ஞான்றே''
The metaphor about scandal is beautiful.
The Kaḻakam edition has the reading in line no.15 as நாணில் பெருமரம். But other editions have the reading நாரில் பெருமரம். The latter reading seems to be more correct and appropriate.
புலவர் புகழ்ந்த நாண் இல் பெருமரம்: A tree without bashfulness which has been highly praised by poets;
of the four qualities that are special to women நாண் is the foremost.
At the end of the dewy season all fields become ripe for harvesting, that is why fields are mentioned as புனிறு தீர்ந்த அற்சிரம்
calumny is compared to manure that gives nourishment to the crop of காமம்; ""ஊரவர் கௌவை எருவாக'' (குறள், 1147.)
When the talaivi looks at her breasts which could not embrace talaivaṉ, she is reminded of the distress of separation; it is the sprout.
That distress grows in intensity; the calumny that is spread by ladies called அம்பல் is born out of it, when it gets out of control, the sense of bashfulness is destroyed;
then the gossip spreads from a small to a bigger cricle of people. They are respectively metaphorized as trunk, leaves, big tree, and flowers.