CHAPTER THREE

METONYMIC METAPHORS

CHAPTER 111

METONYMIC METAPHORS

Kuruntokai~s - enriched by a variety of similes. The simile is rhetonc ~n

the oldest form and Tolkappiyar gives four broad divisions of similes. The ~ ~ m i l e

1s used by the poet to intensify and heighten the aesthetic aspect of poetry. It 1s

used not only by poets but also by common people to illustrate and drive home

their point of view. The poetic simile found In ~ufunfokaiuses both animate and

~nanimate objects of nature to kindle the unagination and to deepen the appreciation

and vlslon of the rdea put forth. Scholars have always tned to classlfy similes and

Tolkapp~ar mentions four fundamental divisions According to hun, a simile can be

formed with an acti\*lty or result, shape or colour ( T o l k d ~ p ~ p m 'Pomhr~kdram' -

' (/vamav~,wl'- crinrrum 1). A smile IS employed as a beaut~fill drapery to dress up

the idea to be communicated. Tolkappiyar observes that the object used as a t h g

compared in the simile must be superior to the object that 1s compared ( TokdDD~wm-

'Porulaitkdram' -' Urrzmay~yal' - citciram 3). Hence, the best thing wlthln the

genus must be chosen for comparison, and there must be some common ground of

comparison between the two things wholly or partially. Flora and fauna and other

natural phenomena were used by the Kurunroku~ poets for companson. There is

no record extant that these poets wrote exclusive nature poems glorifying her

various aspects, Nature had always been the ~nseparable backdrop In all the

contexts, where intense human feelings were expressed, as a mute witness, an

active participant, a catalyst or a source of solace to suit the need.

Metaphor is generally defined as a word that denotes a referent other than

its normal one.

A metaphor produces a 'psychic res~stance' In the listener and there is a sort of break in the flow. It excites attention and requires interpretation for understanding the purport. The actual referent of the word has to be taken as different from its normal one. But in some way connected with it , elther through simllanty or through some other relation .... The three essential conditions necessary for metaphor are a)The inapplicability or the unsuitability of the primary meaning in the context b)Some relation between the primary and the actual referent of the word and c)Sanct~on for the transferred sense

by popular usage, or a definite motive justify~ng the transfer.'

The metaphors used in Kuruntokoiare not mere metaphors in the general

sense of the word as they are an integral part of the complete thought process

expressed In the poem. The object of comparison and the referent have so many

aspects In common that one dissolbes into the other producing an implicit

comparlson. A.K.Ramanu]an calls this an 'inset'. and adds that

the inset 1s essentially a "metonymy", and in presentra relationship, where both terns are present, u,here the s~gnifier and the signified belong to the same universe, share the same "landscape". Both are parts of one scene. Such a metonymy, rather than metaphor, is .he favorite poetic figure of the classical Tam~ls Metaphor implies diversity ("seeing similars, in dissimilars" said Aristotle), to be unified by comparison. Poetry for the Tamils does not unify a multiverse but expresses a universe from wlthln, speaking through any of its parts. The man belongs to the scene, the scene represents the man. (Poems 246-2471,

Nature is suggestive, symbolic and instructive. Every aspect of

nature represented a symbol for the Kuruntokaipoets to illustrate an

~ n e x p l i c a b l e inner meaning. T h e rainwater on the red soil 1s an

lnsignlficant natural phenomenon, repeated millions o f t lmes with the onset

of every monsoon. But this seemingly unimportant incldent happens to

signify t h e predestined union o f two loving hearts, thus s t ress ing the loss of

~ n d i v i d u a l identity and the gain of the common identity. T h e man and h ~ s

love, b lessed b y Providence, can never suffer any separation. T h l s hope

sugges ted through the natural phenomenon of the mingl ing o f ramwater with

red soil is ca l led iraicci, Such sugges t ions are very important to understand

the emotional and aesthetic aspect o f Kurunroka~ verse .

Kuruntoko! abounds in allegories A n allcgory 1s also a kind of

sugges t ion , but with a definite d ~ f f e r e n c e Prof. T P . M e e n a k s h ~ s u n d a r a n

compares such allegorical suggestions to algebraic formulas where the terms

used are replaced b y respective concrete numbers at a later stage.2 Thls

kind o f an allegory is known as u//uyui, hlghly Yuggestlve o f a hldden

meaning i i //u(ai helps the poet in condensing the concentrated emotion info

a compact capsule and 11 is rightly called a veiled c o ~ n p a r ~ s o n because ~t

c a r l ~ e s an inner import. According to Toihapplyar's poetlc tradition, only a

fzw characters are allowed to employ this i m p l ~ c l t Imager) In their

speeches. O f these, the herolne and her maid enjoy a speclal favour. and

this kind of poetic contrivance is used to intensify the aesthetic sensibility.

T h e veiled expression can be formed by using symbols denoting action,

result, shape , colour and birth or class (To/kdpul~@-'Porululikdram' -

' Uwmayiyaf ' - critttram 2 5 ).

Tamlzhannal has made an exhausttve study of u l l u p r and in hts

book o f the same tttle makes the following observation

U//u-rat 1s a suggestive meaning o f a poem It occurs in the form o f description o f land uI/u+-t uvarnani 1s to be understood together wlth the meantng o f the poem The meaning o f the poem becomes complete and g a ~ n s In value, only by thls implied slmile In other words, it is planned and expressed by the poet, and understood by the scholars who know the tradttion It IS functional in a poem not ornamental U l f u p i occurs mostly In Marutam .\'eyral and Kuruli/t poems U N w r mostly contains the impeachment of the hero-the

crr t ic~sm and the correction of the hero

Tam~zhannal in the same context also makes a very valuable study

comparing the Dhvanr theory o f Sanskrtt wtth u l l u p i and yatcct

In U//u/ai, Ufunurur, Nukui, Cultu and C~ruppu are to be compared w ~ t h Dhvarii theory of Sanskrit In /raicci, they suggest something beyond the11 textual meanins /raiccr and Cfrunumt are to be c lass~f ied as K i ~ < a D1iva111, .\'uklkiii and C~ruppu as Vu~lhu Dhi~unt and Curu ~ n d CNl~rar U~vrnom as A lunkdru D h vunr

The similes. images, metaphors, symbols and allegories are employed

by the poets o f the origlnai to carry the complete weight o f the emot~onal

expertences communicated A translator has to take utmost care while

attempting to transport this to a forelgn readlng dudience and the Engllsh

renderings of the select _Kurun~okut poems are analysed thoroughly in thls

chapter to assess the approprtateness and correctness of the translated

versions

KURUNTOKAI 8

Kurunfokut verse 8 is the courtesan's complaint In the form of a

dramatic monologue. She retorts furiously on hearing that the hero's w ~ f e

had spoken of her d e s p a ~ r ~ n g l y The p o e t - ~ ~ a n k u t i Vankandr uses u l / ~ t ,

the veiled compar~son and a s i m ~ l e to bring out the contrast in the

behaviour of the hero In two ent~rely d~fferent contexts Ttie hero belongs

to the neyrai tract where the r ~ p e mango which falls from a tree that has

grown b e s ~ d e a field, IS made an easy meal by a vdiar flsh that lives in the

pond nearby. The fortunate fish has made the least effort for this hearty

meal The hero spoke big of the courtesan when he was u ~ t h her In her

quarters but the moment he went back to his house he became a willing

s la \e to his son's mother Her power ober h ~ m u n s so absolute and

domltleering that he behaved l ~ k e a mirror Image of her, a ]mere puppet to

her W I S ~

L ~ k e all Kuruntokui poems, thls verse is also in one long sentence

w ~ t h a vetled comparison In the first half and a simile in the second The

ull~+rai stresses the easygotng nature of the hero u h o seems to be u~nn i i lg

fabours w~thou t trylng for them whereas the s ~ m l l e throws Iigllt on his

c o n d ~ t ~ o n e d behavlour in the presence of his allegedlq dggresslie wlfe

kajagi mi t tu vilaintuku timpajam pajaga vi lai katiru mirrag

emmi: perumoji kairit tammi!

kaiyunkilun tirkkat tirkkum

e i p p i v a i pdla

mevaga ceiyuntag putalvag r l i k e

This poem has been translated by Shanmugam Plllai and Ludden,

M L Thangappa and A K Ramanujan The commentators affirm the context

to be the speech of the mlstress when she heard that the man's wlfe had

spoken 111 of her The right comprehension of thc context alone w ~ l l enable

the reader to fathom the anger and anguish found in the courtesan's

compialnt In her fury, she refuses to acknowledge the man's uife 's soclal

status and sarcast~cally labels her "his son's mother", hlntiny that his ulfe 's

role stops wlth merely mother~ng his son

Shanmugam P i l l a~ and Ludden's English version of the original IS

followed by an explanatron where it I S s a ~ d that the context of the poem I S

the reaction of the courtesan when she heard that "the hero had spoken 111 of

tier" Hence the fish mentioned In the veiled compdrlsoii necessarily refcrs

to the courtcsan u h o neber went out of her \%ny to win the man's attention

The mdn uooed lier lo win her favour when he was u'itli lier and was a

happ) \ictim to her feminine charms Hence he hds no rlght to bellttle her

in the presence of his wife to appease her fury

T h a t man from the village where ca rp in the pond snatch r ipe mangoes as they fall f rom trees beside the field :

(~ ta l l c s not in the or tp~nal)

Shanmugam P~ i l a i and Ludden have used thc uo rd "snatch" to denote

the manner in which the fish came to possess the ripe maiigo "To snatch"

means "to make a sudden effort to seize something'' and thts c h o ~ c e o f the

word definitely acknowledges the "effort" made elther by the lady or the

man, to whomsoever the word "fish" may refer The orlglnal does not make

any such acknowledgement as there 1s no reference to either the courtesan

taklng dellberate efforts to entice the man or the man making conscious

moves to wln her favour The word "snatch" dlstorts the entlre grace of the

allegory by ignoring the passlvlty on the part o f the flsh

You know he comes f rom where t he f resh-water s h a r k in the pools catch with their mouths t he mangoes a s they fall, r i pe f r o m the t rees on the edge of the field.

( ~ t a l ~ c s not In the original)

A K Ramanujan's ve r s~on is closer to the splrlt of tlie u/lu.rai, as he

uses a safer word "catch" But he adds the phrase " w ~ t h the11 mouth"

attempting to explain the obvious, succeeding In causing only an amusing

effect ("catch wlth the11 mouth" - naturall) the only way for d fish to hold

Unfortunately, M L Thangappa has gone nowhere near the allegory

The mlsiress in h ~ s verslon simply accuses the mdn of i i l i i~np thro\bn to the

u ~ n d all his p rom~ses by becomlng ohedlent to h ~ s u i f c W~thour tile

~mpl l c i t comparison used in the or lg~nal . M L Thanydppa's translated

version suffers an unwarranted mutilation

Ah, this fickle man Has gone back T o his wondrous wife Throwing to the wind All his promises, And how obedient He has become to he r !

And how obedient He has become to'her ! He now dances to her tune Even as the very image Of herself l o the mirror Is she not the mother Of his son ?

Cankam poets have never used any idea or word redundant to the

context, and their time-proven fame is the legitimate reward for their skill

in communicating concrete emotlons In a condensed form M L Thangappa

as a translator, has not done justice to the simile either

The original compares the hero to a mirror image - "dtippdvai". The

simile is rude and pungent, expressing every atom of the anger felt by the

courtesan In an a c ~ d tone To her, the man I S nou a mere i~feless puppet,

inefficiency incarnate, a "thing" Even his mobility is at the mercy of his

wife His actions are not his, as he has become a mirror Image. The last

l ~ n e of the poem portrays him to he one eager and desirous to fulfil every

wlsh of his "son's mother". The Courtesan's sneer is the outcome of her

injured ego. M.L. Thangappa's version completel! falls lo capture this

punch in the s ~ m i l e . The speaker, in h ~ s rendering, wails ueakly

Is she not the mother Of his son?

Shanmugam Plllai and Ludden's version is faithful to the original to

the extent of translating the meaning of the simile.

b u t now, in their house, he lifts his a r m s a n d legs, like a n image in the mi r ro r a puppe t to every wish of his son 's mother

In the original, the counesan makes a vengeful emphas~s on the man's

inefficiency in the last word of the poem "rdykk?" (meaning, oheylng his son's

mother ONLY). There is no such emphasis in Shanmugam Pilla~ and Ludden's

version and it appears anaemic aesthetically

Kurun toka ipoems have the magic of promoting the evolution of one

smgle emotion in all its intensity wlthin the canvas of a few l ~ n e s Every

word adds depth and density to the emotion, a l low~ng it to he dissolved and

distributed Into every syllable of the poem A K Ramanujan's intuitive

response to the spirit of the original as a poet-translator helps h ~ m appraise

the poem as a whole after analysing every component. But thls intuition

sometimes encourages factual errors also. In the context, the courtesan's

target rival is the man's wife. HIS lmpl~cl t obedience to h ~ s w ~ f e , rather

"onl)" to his wife, injures and hence infuriates her H e 1s his wife's

"mirror image". But A K.Ramanujan3s version c l a ~ m s the man to be a slave

not only to his wife but also to the "others" in h ~ s house.

According to his English rendering,

Now, back in his house, when others raise their hands a n d feet, he will raise his too.

( I t a l~cs not In original)

Her verbal attack is very venomous In the last word of the original.

But, A .K . Ramanujan adds an adjective of affection to the man's son's

mother in his rendering.

l ike a doll in a m i r r o r he will shadow every last wish of his son's dear mother

(Italics not in original)

Malice or mischief. the motive behind the choicc o f t h ~ s word is not

clear. Nonetheless, it does distort dangerously the emotion meant to be

comeyed in the original, from one of wounded pride to an Impotent

irritation. A.K.Ramanujan's mlssing the tone of the ur~pporu/ is conspicuous

In h ~ s commentary for the poem In 'Afterword' of The Interior Landscaoe.

He states.

By comparing herself with the mango, the concubine is reproaching herself for being accessible The last l ~ n e also contrasts his carefree cavalier treatment of her with the tight- k n ~ t family in which he is now hemmed (P.1 10)

KUR UNTOKAZ 1 8

Verse 18 of Kurun~oka~ is "Her friend's advice to the man", after

one of his nocturnal visits, entreating him to arrange for an early marriage

with the girl. The friend of the he ro~ne holds a very responslbie posllion In

the poems of akam literature, as she guides and guards the he ro~ne

providing an emotional anchorage and intellectual companionship. Her

prime concern is always for the physical safety and mental peace of the girl

In t h ~ s verse, the poet Kapilar employs a strlking uilurai to describe

the insensitive, complacent temperament of the man He hails from the

mountam slopes, where the jackfruit tree bears fruits very close to its

roots, and it is well protected by a bamboo hedge But the predicament of

the g ~ r l IS in total contrast to thls. No one can really assess the intensity of

the acute agony she undergoes. Like a fully ripe jackfru~t that hangs

precariously from a slender branch, she is weighed down by her ever-

growlng love for this man. Her life is too frail to contain thls heavy

cmotlon. Hence, the situation demands an immediate actlon from the hero In

arranging h ~ s marriage w ~ l h her at the earl~est.

The u//<rai of this poem focusses our attention on the reason for the

man's complacency. In h ~ s land, he is used to seelnp the jackfru~ts doubly

secure - on the one hand they enjoy the protection offered by the fence of

bamboo and on the other, as they grow so close to the root and thereby to

the ground, they will not suffer any damage due to falling. The simile

employed In the second half of the poem b r ~ n g s 11; tlie total contrastive

context In which the g ~ r l IS left to battle alone as she I S defenceless against

the o f f e n s ~ \ e gossip of the people Her love In a b u n d ~ n c e threatens to

sever the very chord of her life. She 1s l ~ k e a "g~an t " f r u ~ t suspended

per~lously on a u,eak stem

vCral vel i verkkdt palsvin cAragdfa cevviyai y fkumat i y j rak tu arinticicdr* clra! c i ~ u koKup perurnpaJan tfinkiyankival

uyir tavacci[itu k lmamd perite

O n deep observation, o n e can a lways s ingle out the word f rom the

verse that ac ts a s a n axis o n whlch the comple te poem revolves. In this

poem the key word happens to be an insignificant looking relative pronoun

"that" - aktu. In the context, the tone o f the friend is o n e o f urgency and

a larm, a n d w ~ t h a vehemence s h e induces the man to act ~ m m e d i a t e l y a s

there I S virtually n o t ime to spare.

It i s expected o f the translators to capture the anxiety a u d ~ b l e In the

tonc of the f r ~ e n d , and hence the key word "that" requl res due neightage .

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden, K.S.Sr in ivasan and A K . Ramanujan have

translated t h ~ s poem. The version o f K.S.Sr1nlvasa.n is in one s ~ i n p l e shorr

s tanza , whi le Shanmugam P ~ l l a i and Ludden and A K Ranlanujan have

d ~ v l d e d the poem in to t n o parts according to the rheroric used in the

o r i g ~ n a l . Both have used the technique of lndentlng ,i few lines specifically

to transport the emotion conveyed in the original. Sometlrnes the silence

sandwiched In between the words may suggest the subtlest shade of

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden 's \e rs ion of the i , / /ugi of the poem

has deliberately shifted the focal polnt of the image from the i n s e n s ~ t i \ ~ ~ y

of the m a n t o the ext reme sweetness of the jackfrult and the young bamboo

fence

0 m a n of s loping hills w h e r e t h e sweetes t j a c k f r u i t g r o w s by t h e r o o t of t h e t ree , fenced in b y y o u n g b a m b o o :

T h e super la t ive adjective '!sweetestu, and the qualifier "young" are

nowhere sugges ted in t h e original. VFral vF/i means a bamboo hedge and

' v i r k f l t p a l d " refers t o a particular type of jackfruit tree that bears fruits

c loser to the root , thereby minimis ing injury to the fruit even in the case of

an a c c ~ d e n t a l fall . Both the phrases spot light only the safety enjoyed by the

f r u ~ t that grows in h is land, and not t o its sweetness Hcnce the message

of the u l l g r a i is totally lost In Shanmugam P ~ l l a i and L u d d e n ' s version.

The u / l u r a i i s followed b y a request from her friend - "rer r i : j~a i i i k u n ~ a i i " -

meanlng "be good to her". Shanmugam P l l l a ~ and L u d d e n ' s translation of

this request reads "be klnd to her!". T h e irrelevant exclamation mark at the

end o f the sentence comple tes the damage d o n e to the s p ~ r ~ t o f the ul/u-rui

that started in the previous line with the s h i f t ~ n g of the s i g n ~ f i c a n c e The

c h o ~ c e o f the word "kind" is also not appropriate In the g i \ e n context

because "kindness" need not a lways mean "goodness".

In t h e simile Shanmugam Plllal and Ludden have used the a d j e c t ~ \ c

"huge" t o denote the b ig size o f the fruit and "tiny" to suggest the

slenderness of the stem that carries the frult The orlglnal uses words

"c~(.u" and "perun~" which d o literally mean "tlny" and "huge" . But the

context warrants a better choice of words that would suggest the danger

implled through these contrastive q u a l ~ f i e r s The last llne of the o r i g ~ n a l

urges ~ m m e d i a c y of action on the part of the hero, because no one but him

can be aware of "that" (akru) condition o r state which the girl is in.

unfortunately, the version of Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden merely puts

forth a lacklustre question

W h o knows wha t a s ta te she is in?

thus f a ~ l ~ n g to echo the tone of exlgency In the o r~g ina l

K S Sr in l~asan ' s verslon makes a dull renderlng of the ui/u-rai

0 man f rom hilly t r ac t - where jack-trees thr ive along the bamboo hedge -

Though he uses the verb "thrive" to suggest the safety enjoyed by the

jackfruit in the man's land, the effect is one of inadequacy and

incompleteness His verslon uses the word "good" u n l ~ k e "klnd" found in

Shanmugam P ~ l l a i and Ludden's transldt~on

d o be good to her, quick. for, who can tell?

Through the word "quick" K.S.Srln~\asan tries to capture the

compelling nature of the problem in hand, but unfortunately, he too

overlooks the hint given by the friend In the original, referr~ng to "that"

state of the girl He seems to be satisfied with thc simple question

suggesting helplessness rather than insistence His renderlng of the slmilr

reads better than that of Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden because of the

appropriateness shown In the choice of certain words Thc girl IS l ~ k e a

"giant" fruit that hangs from stem "so thin" The uord "g~an t " expresses

more completely the d~fference between the normal (huge) and the

alarmingly abnormal (giant) nature of growth, obvious In the girl 's love for

the man. K.S.Srinivasan continues to carry the effect thus created, 1111 the

end of the poem

he r love does weigh; b u t life is weak !

"Weigh" carries completely the burden of the "g~an t " l r u ~ t

A.K.Ramanujan in his version uses the word "almost" to Indicate the

nearness of the fruit to the roots of the tree, thus capluring the sense o f

securlty ensured to the fruit in the original.

0 man of t he mountain slopes where the jackfrui t t ree has f rui t almost on its roots with the small live bamboo for its fences

By translating vSra1 vSlias "the small live bamboo for its fences". he has

suggested that the tree has a bamboo hedge that had grown naturally around

11. The or~ginal does not make any suggestion to the bamboo b e ~ n g "small"

and " l ~ v e " But 1yer In his commentary for the phrase "v i r a / v F / i " says,

" c~urn~ innkr l ik iya k ~ / ~ ' S l ~ y a ~ y u t a i y a " and these words when translated do

mean "the small l ~ v e bamboo for its fence". By translating the commentary

and not the text, A.K.Ramanujan has shifted the signilicance from the

u l l g r a ~ to the unwarranted details

In the next two lines, A.K.Ramanujan has cxpla~ned what has been

just h~n ted upon by the friend. The poet in him m ~ g h t have lnsunctibely

felt the danger of incompleteness that would go u i th a simple request like.

"be good to her", Instead of abandoning the verse at the mercy o f

madequate words conveying an incomplete meaning, he has opted to err on

the right s ~ d e , to use the forbidden tool of "explanation"

be good of thoughts and think of mar r i age No one knows of her s ta te

The first sentence of the above quoted passage has expressed completely

what the irlend had in her mind, pressurlsing him to ponder o \ e r an early

marriage, but A.K.Ramanujan too has mlssed the word "akiu"

"Explanatton" is a double-edged weapon that could make or mar a

poem While translating the simile, A.K.Ramanujan has fallen prey to this

weapon. The simile in the original does not group the girl along w ~ t h

ankbody else who suffers a s i m ~ l a r predicament. The word "ciraf" In the

third llne of the orlginal reiers to just the l i~ l ly s ~ d e She is specifically

compared to "a" giant fruit suspended dangerously from "a" slender bough.

A.K.Ramanujan re:iders irrelevant explanations to the uord "cdrffi".

thus rulning the rare beauty o f a striking s ln~ i l e completely

She is like those other trees on the slopec. their giant jacks hanging f rom slender boughs

(Itallcs liot In orlglnal)

These lines do suggest a plurality in the compar~son ik111ch 1s tolally absent

In the o r ig~na l

Yet the concluding lines of A.K.Ramanujan's vc r s~on ,

her b rea th i s short, a n d he r love great beyond bear ing

sanc t~on the fullest j u s t~ce to the anx~ous tone rnalnta~ned In the or~glnal

"Uyir" in the original does not mean lus t life, but suggests strongly the

endurance o f a person, who has been made to carry tremendous burden,

under stressful c o n d ~ t ~ o n s , silently. The friend of the g ~ r l is obviously

desperate when she anxiously urges the man saylng,

uyir tavaccki tu k imam6 pet i te

The phrase "uyir ravacc~ritu" indicates that they are runnlng short o f time,

and that the situation is one of serious import. A.K.Ramanujan has

captured the sptrit o f this SOS call by adding two words, "beyond bearing"

to sensitlse the man to the situation

KUR UNTOKAI 42

Kuruntokat 42 is what her friend said to the man who was desirous

of meeting the g ~ r l at night. The g ~ r l ' s friend ~ndlrcct l ) informs l i ~ m that

such clandestine visits may have to be given up in future. The poet

Kapilar uses here a natural phenomenon as a convenient backdrop for the

context and the poem employs an ulfu(oi to brlng out the nature of the land

o f the man. He hails from a place, whcrc the waterfall w h ~ c h cascades

down a cavern would declare to the world that there had been a torrential

raln the previous night Even if the i n i t~a l desire that the man had for thc

eirl should cease, his intense love for the g ~ r l and thelr earnest r e l a t~onsh~p

should not diminlsh

kdmarnojiva tdyigurn y imat tuk karuvi mdrnajai v i jn fega varuvi vitarakat tiyampu n l tavem to&arpun teyumd n igvay ig ipe

The key word o f the poem is "iyampu" that occurs in the third sentence,

which means "to sound, say, utter; iyam sound, word, musical instrument"

(DEDR 398) The torrential rain that came d o n n at midnight rn~gh t have

gone totally unnoticed had it not been for the swell in the waterfalls the

next day. The sudden increase in the quantity of the water that rushes

down the crevices of the caverns, does declare loudly that there had been a

rain, the previous night. So the unnoticed downpour had left behind a

noticeable evidence. In the same way, the man who is most desirous of

meeting the girl, invarlably at night may feel that the11 secret relationship is

safely hidden from the world. But , the physical changes that may appear

on the body o f the girl n i l1 ce r t a~n ly betray them. by loudly declaring their

lo! r

The word "kdmam" in the original refers only to the physical

attraction and passlon which the man has for the girl at the initial stages of

them love. He is eager to meet her, and the responsible f r ~ e n d of the girl

pollrely refuses to arrange for such meetings. The man may leave the scene

visibly unchanged even after many visits but that w ~ l l not be the case with

the girl. The girl's friend not only refuses h ~ m a tryst now, but also

suggests that she would not guarantee any more In the future. She is

equally anxious to know if this inability to enjoy clandestine love would

weaken his relationship with the girl. The purpose behlnd the speech of the

friend is to make the man aware of the danger which the girl may run into

if she is not guarded from him in time.

Shanmugam Pillal and Ludden, A.V.Subraman~an, G.L.Hart,

A.K.Ramanu]an and P.h .Appuswamy have translated this piece.

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden have taken care to grasp the message

In the u l l ~ p i o f the original and have succeeded in conveying it in their

version too.

0 man f rom the land where a waterfall in t he cleft of a mountain declares tha t a g rea t ra in fell in torrents last night:

The verb 'declares' is very appropriate to the context. The tone of

the friend is one o f apprehension and doubt throughout the poem, as she I S

apprehensive o f a s ~ m ~ l a r "loud dzclarat~on" of the l o \ e a f f a ~ r b e t ~ e e n the

man and the g ~ r l and doubtful if the relationship would n e a r out once the

passion ceases The anxiety expressed In her bolce I S dudlble in the

translated version also

A . V Subramanian's version of the u//u.roi is very crouded and wordy

and reads an explanation rather than a translation

Chieftain, on the slopes of your hill Waterfal ls cascade down with a roar T h a t echoes to the high heavens long a f t e r T h e rains of t he night have ceased to be. H e r hear t ' s involvement with you shall Flourish even if you do not meet!

Amidst the unnecessary verbiage, the spirit of the poem is totally lost and

his choice of the word, "echo" to denote "ryampu" also fails to convey the

correct meaning. The following lines are the ~ r r e l e ~ a n t additions while he

attempts to explatn the implicit comparison:

H e r love shall live on undiminished Unnourished by nightly t ryst .

Hart 's cholce of the word "desire" to denote "kdmam" 1s quite

appropriate to the context. Both "passion" and "des~re" refer only to the

physical aspect of love and that is what is meant in the o r~g ina l . But Hart

has conlpletely lost the meaning of the ulli+rat when he refers to the man as

one from

.... where a great midnight ra in beats down with thunde r a n d lightning a n d makes a waterfall resound through a cave,

The ortglnal does not stress the light and sound effects that accompany a

"great midnight r a ~ n " but the unexpected abundance in the quantlty of water

which falls down announcing the occurrence of the ralii to the uorld that

was unaware of it. The lapse on the part of the translalor proves too dear.

because the verslon not only looks pale but also reads wrong

A.K.Ramanujan's version refers to the "morn~ng uaterfalls n ~ a k ~ n g

music in the caverns" and his translat~on reads llke a passage glorifying the

scenic beauty of a hill resort The waterfall mentioned in the or ig~nal has

been assigned a specific duty o f mak~ng a very vltai and serious

announcement.

E v e n if pass ion s h o u l d pass , 0 m a n o f t h e hills w h e r e

a f t e r t h e long t e m p e s t u o u s r a i n s of n i g h t

t h e m o r n i n g ' s water fa l l s m a k e music in t b e caverns ,

would o u r l o ~ e a lso pass wi th t h e pass ion ?

T h e cankam poets can never be accused of empty verbiage and a sounding

cataract was not ~ n t r o d u c e d by Kapilar In the poem to "make music" but to

"make known" something significant It is s o unfortunate that such a

brilliant plece of verse, should d ie an ignoble death under the banner of

"translation"

P K Appuskarny 's version reads clumsy, "full of sound and fury,

s i g n i f y ~ n g nothing"

0 Chief of t h a t f a i r l a n d W h e r e r o a r i n g water fa l l s echo I n t h e d a r k a n d m i d d l e n ight F r o m wi th in rocky clefts a n d caves L o n g a f t e r t h e p o u r i n g r a i n A r m e d wi th t h u n d e r a n d l ightning H a d c o m e d o w n in heavg t o r r e n t s !

The nature of the ram and the manner in which ~t occurred d o not matter as

much as the e v ~ d e n c e it had unknowingly ieft behind. He uses lots of

words to have the least Impact on the reader

KUR UNTOKAZ 1 12

Kurunfokai 112 1s what the girl s a ~ d to her frlend. in a tone of

desolation and d e s p a ~ r , when her man had delayed long in arranging for

rhelr marriage. Her love for the man and rheir relationship is no longer a

secret as there is already enough of evil g o s s ~ p around to unnerve her but

she is still unsure of what her next move should be If she allows the

scandalous words to disturb and scare her, she should let her passlon

wither away. If she gives up her love for the man, she will be left behlnd

with only shame and this helpless state fills her with intense remorse and

self-pity Her feminine charm, whlch was relished by her man once, has

become her cause of worry as he does not seem to show any haste in

arranging for an early marriage and she too cannot go back to the physical

and mental state in which she was before she came to know him.

The poet of this verse, xlattur Kilar employs an effective simile to

portray the pitiable predicament of this girl In her own words, she

compares her feminin~ty consumed by the man, to a branch broken from a

trce by a bull elephant. The branch has been torn away from the tree and IS

left suspended, hanging from a flimsy fibre The broken branch has not yet

touched the ground. The powerful emotion condensed w:tliln a compact

comparison of seven words, is highly suggestlbc of the g ~ r l ' s vulnerdble

condi t~on I t also indicates the ~ m p o s s ~ b ~ l ~ t y of any complete recover).

from her present state and the situatloo could be sabed on14 if the

~rresponsible man shows any sign of sensitivity

kauvai yaficir k i m a m eykkum ellara vitigC ullatu n i n e perunka lbu v inka murintu nilampatia ndrutai ociyil arrC kan ticip tdliyavar un ta eg nalagC

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden, A.V.Subramanian, A.K.Ramanujan

and K.S.Srinivasan have translated this verse. The f ~ r s t two lines of the

orlginal describe the girl 's dilemma in taklng a decision, Immersed in

sorrow, she wonders if she should let her passton fade away fearing the

gossip. The original uses the word "kauvar" to mean scandalous talk. If

she attempts to give up her love to put an end to the gossip only shame

will be her share of the bargain.

All the four translators have succeeded in echoing the agonislng

uneasiness felt by the girl. A.K.Ramanujan and A.\.'.Subramanian have

translated "kauvai" as "scandal" and Shanmugam P~ l l a i and Ludden have

chosen a milder word "gosstp". Though both the words do sound appropriate

in the gtven context, "scandal" IS more correct whtle assessllig the impact of

'kiiu>ai" on the gtrl "Scandal" 1s more rulnous th3n "goss~p" and the former

can drtve a person to take drastic decisions. K S Srln~vnsan's makes light of

the sttuation by uslng the phrase "wagglng tongues" to denote "kuuvai"

The phrase " e l arc vlirn8'' in the second l ~ n e of the or ig~nal means

"to stop this wicked talk". Shanmugam Ptllat and Ludden ha,e translated

" e l " as "abuse", A.V.Subramanlan as "calumny" and A.K.Ramanujan as

"dlrty talk". A.K.Ramanujan's phrase sounds odd, because the usage is not

just a contemporary one, but also one that belongs to a "ci t~f ied" register.

Though K.S.Srlnivasan's verslon does not habe a litcral translattoll for the

word, " e l " , it reads well as ~t has retained the sense successfully.

The original verse employs an astonishing economy in the use o f

words to express effectively the desolate state o f the girl. The powerful

simile utilizes seven words to paint a vivid verbal picture.

perurikaJku vanka murintu nilam patla

nZrutai ociyil

These words fathom the pathos in the present state o f the girl, who is like a

branch broken by a bull elephant. The branch that has been twlsted away

from the tree has not yet fallen, but is desperately c l l ng~ng on to the tree

with the help o f its flimsy fibre. Her physical self resembles this broken

branch after her having allowed the man to enjoy her charm. "avar unta en

nulag?" is the finishing phrase of the poem, where "na/ag" specifically

refers to the virgin self of the g ~ r l .

It is the typical tralt of the bull elephant to twist ~ t s trunk round a

leafy branch of a tree, breaking the boughs thoughtlessly to feed on the

foliage, and there are ample occasions when the bull elephant would indulge

In t h ~ s destructive "sport" for no spec~f i c reason. The o r ~ g ~ n a l uses the

uo rd "perunkaiiru" to refer to the bull elephant Though the d ~ c t ~ o n a r ~ c s

do not eliminate the allowance to translate 'ka/(ru" as "elephant", lirernry

usage and the given context refer to only a huge male e lephant5 Tamil

l~ t e r a ry language has a spec~f i c term " p r l t " to denote the female e ~ e p h a n t . ~

The man in the poem is compared to the male elephant for both his physical

strength and reckless behaviour.

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden have translated the term "perumkal~m"

merely as "a huge elephant" ignoring the reference to the sex of the beast. Words

in the onginal verse are dynamic and decisive, a l~ve and accurate and "ka(,rd' in

the orlglnal IS not an absent minded choice of AIatNr &far, who directly hits at

the nature of a bull elephant, and its capacity to cause an Irreparable damage to the

tree that had satisfied its hunger.

A.V Subramanian and A.K. Ramanujan have also committed the

same grave error. It is rather painful to note that they have carelessly

dropped even the vital adjective "perum" and have merely said "an

elephant". Fortunately for the original, all the three have retained the

s~gnificance of the phrase "nrilutaioctyil' by translating it as "fibrous bark"

and "fiber of the bark"

W h ~ l e translating a simile (that too like the one in the present verse),

the translator should remain well guarded against amb~guity, but

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden and A V.Subran?anian habe fa~led miserabl?

in tackling this tricky problem.

In a cornplaln~ng tone the girl in Shanmugam Pil la~ and Ludden's

kcrsion goes on to compare herself filth a broken brancli

it is like a branch with fibrous bark, broken by a huge elephant that bent it low, h u t still not fallen to the ground

"That" in the fourth line refers to the "huge elephant" and " ~ t " In the same

llne Indicates the broken bough and so far, the translation I S clear. But In

the last llne, the reader 1s left t a make hls own choice between "that" and

"it" and wonders "what" has still not fallen to the ground

This dangerous ambiguity 1s optimal in A.V.Subraman~an's version

A striking simile that should have effortlessly evoked sympathy for the girl

succeeds in producing only a comic effect The rendering reads thus :

Look, even l ike the b ranch Broken by a n elephant , s tanding a t a n angle Not touching the g round below, N i t h the f ibrous b a r k showing 4 r e my feminine graces Devoured by the chieftain !

W ~ t h the punctuation marks playing terrlble mischief, one gets the picture

not of a broken branch dangling helplessly, but only that of an elephant

standing at an angle, not touching the ground below, with the fibrous bark

showlng! The word "devoured" makes the chleftain look a fam~shed

A.K. Rarnanujan, while saving his ve r s~on from this casualty, falls a

victim to verbosity, and hence the rendering reads l ~ h e an elaborate

commentary on the s im~le :

..... is now like a branch half broken by an elephant, bent , not yet fallen to the ground, Still a t tached to the mother t ree by the fiber of its ba rk .

There is also a special reference to "the mother tree" in

A.K.Ramanujan's version, which is not to be found In the original.

K.S.Srinivasan seems to be the only translator who has succeeded in

capturing the anguished tone of the girl in his r ende r~ng As mentioned

ea r l~e r , he has not done a word-by-word translation. There are one or t h o

words which have been left untranslated But he has taken adequate care in

choosing the most eloquent words that would speak for those that were

silenced. His version, like the original i s concise and compact

Look, my fr iend, my v i r t ue which he slipped dangles , like a twisted bough to rn a p a r t by e l ephan t male.

The word "dangles" takes care of the phrase "ritlampatid' of the original

whlch means "not yet fallen to the ground" The phrase " ta is ted bough" IS

the most appropriate expression, for it does not just stop w ~ t h translating

the word "murlnru" but clearly emphas~ses the t yp~ca l may In which a

"kai[ruU would break a bough; the expression "torn apart" IS suggestive of

the fibrous nature of the object that is subjected to t h ~ s treatment. Had the

concluding words of the verse been "an elephant male" or "a tnale elephant"

it would have read better, yet the words "elephant male" guarantee hls

success

KUR UNTOKAZ 36

In Kuruntokai, there are plenteous occasions where the g ~ r l ' s mental

f o r t~ tude surfaces to offer confidence and courage to tier anxious friend

regarding the loyalty of the man. The g ~ r l , u ~ t h a dauntless splrlt, would

console her f r ~ e n d not to grieve over the man's delay In getting married

She would hide the disquietude o f her own troubled heart and put on a

brave front, just to quell her friend's apprehensions

Kurun toka i 36 portrays one such occaston u here the girl assuages

her agitated Friend. The poem is by Paranar, who employs an effective

implicit comparison, ul lgrai , to induce courage in the mind of the friend.

The man has made inviolable promises to assure the glrl of h ~ s deep

affection for her and as he held her in his arms he made a solemn vow that

he would abide in her heart eternally and uould not bear to ltve ui thout

her. He hails from a land where the mrinaicreeper used to seek support by

c l i ng~ng onto a sleeping elephant. though a s o l ~ d boulder uould ile close

by I t is strange that the vine should choose a moving object for a

permanent support lgnortng the access to the an immo\eable rock that

mould offer a more permanent and rellable support to the creeper

turuka layalatu mina i m i k k o t i tuAcu kal i~ivaruri kupra n i t a p

neficu ka lap ika niyaleli y i p e c a

n a p d n mananta Aiprai rnarravap

t i v i v a ~ c i ~ a m u r a t t a t u ndyd td j i n i ~ vayipinC

The glrl 's compartson bears a hldden refercnce to hcr choice of the

man who has now been absent long enough to cause anxicty She has taken

a blg rtsk by maktng this choice and tt is she who should grteve as the

situation suggests. If there 1s yet another soul who should feel equally

heavy at heart, it is none but the man who made boastful promises. His

consctence bore evtdence to all that he said on thc day o f thetr union The

girl expresses her concern for the grief of her friend and consoles her that

s h e need not feel sad. T h e essence of the of the original 1s the reference to

the cholce m a d e by the mdnal creeper, because 11 I S suggestive of the fdct

that the vine wi l l have t o suffer w ~ t b o u t a solid support. once the elephant

m o v e s away. Shanmugam P ~ l l a i and Ludden, K . S Srlnivasan and

A.K.Ramanujan have translated t h ~ s verse.

Shanmugam Pillai and Luddetl h a ~ e translated thls i m p l l c ~ t

compar ison wi thout caring for the suggestion. The ~ / / i < r u / I S rightly called a

veiled comparison because it demands a great deal o i lntuitlon and mental

agility on the part of the reader to grasp the meaning o f the seemingly

unrelated d e s c r l p t ~ o n of the man 's land and 11s s p e c i f ~ c nature. Shanmugam

Pillai and Ludden have made no effort to make even a pass lng reference to

t h e significance o f the specific choice made by the creeper . T h e m a n In the

version I S ,

from t h e hilly l a n d w h e r e a minai v i n e clings to an e l e p h a n t t h a t s leeps by a bolder ( S I C )

The cholce of the word "boulder" to refer to " f r ( luku/" is \.er). appropriate

because a boulder is a large stone that has been rounded by water or

weather . T h e word i s suggestive of the reason behind the mistaken cholce

m a d e by the creeper. B u t unfortunately the appropriateness of the choice

has been left completely unused. l r o n ~ c a i l y , the commentary that follows

Shanmugam P ~ l l a l and Ludden 's translation speaks at length about the

" m ~ s t a k e " on the part of the vlne

A.K.Ramanujan 's version gives a very murky plcture o f a vivid

image presented in the original. The translator glves a wrong interpretat~on

to the ullu-rar by statlng that

t he mdnai creeper t ha t usual(r. sp rawl s on large round stones sometimes takes t o a sleeping e lephant .

(Itallcs not in the original)

The ordginal does nowhere make any reference to "the usual

behavlour" and "the spec~a l hehaviour" of a creeper Vor does the vine

consciously search for a "large round stone". Such explanatory phrases not

only dlstort the meaning of the lmp l~c l t comparison but also mutllate the

purpose behlnd employing such highly perfected litcrary techniques.

Through Kurunrokuzpoenis, one understands ho\\ the r a n k a m poets

had repeatedly put their poetic skills to the test. They had never accepted

the luxury of using a larger canvas to palnt a symbolic verbal plcture. This

inimitable style can be both brain-teaslng and exasperating ~f clarity In

comprehension is wanting.

K S.Srtnlvasan has ach~eved success in glvlng a s~gnlf icant co~npact

form to his verslon, after sacrificing a few aspects found In the original

He has succeeded rn retaining the spirit o f lhc u l / u j a / in lhis transiation.

though the impllcit comparison stands aloof and a&d.) from the rest of the

poem, bearing no re la t lonsh~p to the rest o f the speech made by the girl

The orlginal is o f one long sentence made of Images expressing a single

powerful emotion The technique used In the original to link the i r / f q a i

with the rest of the poem is to m a k e the u//u/ai sugges t t h e salient feature

o f t h e man 's land.

K.S.Sr in ivasan in his translation misses to g ive this vital l ink. T h e

verslon does not bear any evldence to denote that the hero halls from a hilly

place where the manai creeper opts for an elephant instead o f a boulder a s a

suppor t

T h e c r e e p e r seeks t o hold t h e e l e p h a n t c u b as leep t h o u g h sol id r o c k lies bes ide l l r should bc a salld rock i

T h e verb "seek" is highly appropriate in suggesttng a willing option made

by the creeper and the phrase "elephant cub" is suggestive o f the boulder

that lies bes ide . T h e original makes a reference to only "kaiiru" that means

"an elephant ' ' and there is no specific mention about the young one of an

elephant But the a l l o u a n c e taken by the translator does not tamper u i t h the

splrit o f the poem In anyway It rather helps In glving a more picturesque

verslon of the original. T h e word "though" succeeds in rendering the desired

effect by c o m p l e t ~ n g the message partially suggested by the verb "seek" that

occurs in the first l ine. The seemingly redundant a d j e c t ~ v e "solid" has a

well-defined purpose. T h e creeper has Ignored a solid suppor! and has

chosen a movable object instead.

KURUNTOKAI 11 9

Kuruntoka~ heroes are men of tremendous p h y s ~ c a i might and mental

srainina T h e akant man stands for intellect, nobilily and courage

(_To/k@pp~yurn 'Poruiurikdram' cJrr~mrn 299). h h i c h form the core of his

character and the essence o f h ~ s d y n a m ~ c personality. H e r o ~ c effort,

purpos ive activity and concern t o fulfill worldly o b l i g a t ~ o n s like seeking

for tune are h ~ s Inherent m a s c u l ~ n e q u a l ~ t i e s . But the same man has an

;motional s ~ d e too , with passionate craving and I ~ m i t l e s s love for a woman

Thus the &ugroo hero is a c o n f l ~ c t ~ n g c o m b ~ n a t ~ o l l of "the man" and

"the lover", the former insistent on his m a t e r ~ a l mlss lons and t h e latter

~ m m e r s e d in emotional experiences

Kurunrokai 119 by t h e poet Catti Natanar, d e s c r ~ b e s the emot ions of

the hero , experienced in the initial stages of h ~ s evolution f rom "the man"

in to "the lover". T h e poem is what the man said after his spontaneous

sexual union with the glrl.' H i s rneetlng i v ~ t h the g ~ r l becomes a happy

prologue to a passionate r e l a t ~ o n s h ~ p that follows. He has bcen leading an

unchcched and unchallenged l ~ f e s o long. but after his meeting the girl,

n o t ~ c e a b l e changes have occurred in h ~ s psyche which a s t o n ~ s h h ~ m

~ m m e n s e l y Till now, he w a s unaware that the seemingly u,eak and t ~ r n ~ d

can also evert tremendous emotional pressure on the strong and n l ~ g h t y .

T h ~ s b e u , ~ l d e r ~ n g experience bewitches him none the less, and he expresses

h ~ s sweet s u f f e r ~ n g to h ~ s i n q u ~ r i n g friend

c i ~ u v e l laravin avvarikkurulai k i c a ~ l n a i anarikiyianku ilaiyaval muIaivll eyijxal vajaiyutaik kaiyal em anankiyoIP

T h e poem uses a forcible s ~ m ~ l e to portray the c o n d ~ t ~ o n of the man 's

e x c ~ t e d passionate self. Just l ike the mighty jungle elephant that was

subdued by the striped young one of a small white snake, he too has been

conquered by a young girl with sparkling teeth and banyled wrists.

The simile is appropriate to the context in more than one sense. The

cherished pride o f the man was very much akin to that of the jungle

elephant which had never been r~val led by anyone, even by those of equal

might But in the most unguarded moment, rhe elephant was overpowered

by a young snake which by its venomous blte had left the mammoth

writhing in pain. The man is also in a similar state of mind after having

been smitten by the youthful charm of the girl. He is overwhelmed by his

love for her and he complains that she torments him

Shanmugam P i l l a~ and Ludden, A.K.Ramanu~an, P.N.Appuswamy and

M.L.Thangappa have translated t h ~ s small poem

cjruvel l a r a v i ~ avvarikkurulai k8aa y2gai anarikiydanku

The simlle In the original 1s descript~ve o f the size and colour of the adult

snake whose striped young one is as polsonous as its parent. The smallness

of size and s~ lve ry shade help the snake, as a convenient camouflage to

assault unnoticed. The original stresses the contrast between the "kurulai"

(the young one) and the " k @ ~ a y@cal' in both their stature and nature. This

vital contrast adds depth and dimension to the ~nexpiicable suffering of the

man.

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden have done a crlsp and clean ~ o b of

translating the original in the most convincing way, g~v ing due weightage to

the words in the original, to build up a cumulative thrust

Jus t like the s tr iped young of the small white snake torment the forest elephant..

The word "avvar~" has been missed, and the version would have read better

wlth the ~ncluslon of that word whlch means "beautifully striped"

A K.Ramanujan's version does not make any d ~ s t ~ n c t ~ o n betueen the

adult snake and its young one. The original makes t h ~ s distinction to

augment the contrast between the victor and vanquished. A.K.Ramanujan

has not g ~ v e n any importance to the word "kuru lu i ' , Hence his translation,

As a little white snake with lovely s tr ipes on its young bod) troubles the young elephant

lacks vigour and vitality and "llttle" need not necessartly mean "young" but

may merely refer to anything small in stature

P N.Appuswamy3s rendering of the simlle reads pleonast~c u'lth

unwanted descriptions

T h e s lender youngling Of the silver-snake I s s t r iped in beauty: Yet it convulses with pain T h e lordly elephant T h a t roams the wild

M.L.Thangappa's translation has not adhered to the descr~ptlons of

the snake as ment~oned in the original, and the translator seems to habe

sacrificed the spirit of the strlking simile to achieve a concise form

Even as the little snake

s tr ikes a t the mighty elephant and fells him

The word used by the man In the original to denote the nature of the

a f f l ~ c t ~ o n caused by both the young snake and the young girl IS, ananku (V)

w h ~ c h means "to suffer, be d~stressed, be slain, to a f f l~c t ; n pain, aff l ic t~on,

k~l l ing;" (DEDR 56(b)). This keyword has been translared In four

lnterest~ngly different ways, according to the translators' inference of the

Intensity of suffering Implied by the word.

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden have used the word "torment" to

suggest the severity while A.K.Ramanujan has made use of a weaker

equivalent - "trouble". P.N.Appuswamy's c h o ~ c e is "convulse" whereas

M.L Thangappa has settled for "fell".

lyengar makes an explicit reference ro the word "ananku" (V) in his

comnientary for this poem. The word means "aff l ic t~on" but In this context,

11 means ' a f f l ~ c t ~ o n through touch", thus m a k ~ n the s~milar i ty between the

snake and girl accurate and striking.8

The cho~ce made by Shanmugam P ~ l l a ~ and Ludden 1s more appropriate

than that of others because "torment" communicates completely the paln suggested

through the orig~nal. A.KRamanujan's optlon "trouble", sounds very negatlve

without a positive qualifier. "Convulses" used by P.N.Appuswamy IS too l~teral and

jerky, glvlng more Importance to the seizure and spasm caused by a snake bite

than the emotional turbulence induced by the love of a g ~ r l Though "fell" is

suggestive of the absolute defeat of the might of the beast and p r~de of the man, it

rs more appropnate to fell a tree and an enemy, than a lover.

The second half of the poem describes the girl who is responsible for

the man's suffering with special reference to certain aspects of her

appearance. This description though, highly compact and crisp, follows a

logical pattern in accordance with the sequence of certain actions that

culminated In the emotional experience of physical unlon of the lovers. The

man says that the girl was young - "ilaiyuvul" - that she had a set of

sprouted teeth that sparkled - "mulai v d ey(r/alU (of which he had a

glimpse when she indicated to him her willingness through a smile); and

that she had bangled wrlsts - " volai utui kkaiyul" (of which he came to

knon during their ~ n i o n ) . ~

"iluiyu~,al' has been translated by A.K Ramanujan and

P.N Appuswamy as "this slip of a girl" and "this young slip of a girl"

respect~vely. Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden term her "boung girl" and

M L Thangappa uses the word "damsel". A11 these choices have succeeded

in capturing the sense of the or~glnal .

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden's version has rendered mu la^ rdl

eyi<rul' as "with bright teeth like tender sprouts" and In the commentary

that follows this rendering, they repeatedly refer lo "sprouts" in the noun

form. "She may be tender and innocent, with tiny teeth that resemble

sprouts .... Her teeth are like sprouts in that they are young and pointed, like

leaves when sprouting."10

A.K.Ramanujan's version of this poem is found in both The Interior

lands can^ and Poems of Love and War and he calls this poem (along with

ten others) a revised version of translation from The Interior ~ a n d s c a a e . "

In the 'Afterword' of The Interior Landsca~e , he makes a passing reference

to this poem while discussing the width and range of the man's imagery

according to literary conventions.12 "The revlsed version of the translation"

of t h ~ s poem has a revis~on made in its format only. In both the versions,

he has translated the phrase ' m u l a r v f l e y ~ r a l ' as

he r teeth like sprouts of new rice.

Scholars like Iyengar, Arankanar and Somasundaranar have expla~ned

the term mul la^" as a verb meanlng "to grow" or "to sprout" and nowhere

In the commentary do they mention the use of " m u l a i " as a noun, meaning

"sprout", the germinated seed.13 Though according to Pattum Tokaivum and

Kalaka Tamil Akarathi " m u l a i " may be used as a noun. the context in the

poem, warrants " m u l a i " to be used only as a verb

U V.Caminata Iyer, in his commentary for the poem, has explained

the phrase " m u l a i v@ eyicra!' as "the girl with teeth that shines like

bulrush shoot" ( n d n r t l m u l a i y a r ~ p d g ~ r a oLi)ulaiyap&a/u~ uta~yavalum), an

explanation that is extremely unique. T h ~ s explanation should have been

responsible for P.N.Appuswamy's version,

with teeth tha t gleam like bulrush shoots.

A study of the various possible meanlngs for the word rnuiai%11I be a

valuable intellectual exercise.14

The phrase " va/oi uraik kaiyal" has been given a thoroughly wrong

significance by A.K.Ramanujan and P.N.Appuswamy who have translated it

as " her wrists stacked with bangles" and "rows of golden bangles that

shine upon her slender arms" respectively

According to akom conventions, as has been mentioned elsewhere,

ur~pporui - the human element is the most vital aspect. There are poems

where karu (native element) and mutal (the first element) may be found

missing. But no akam poem can be written withour the uripporu/ Emotions

expressed are the most significant facets of an nkam poem Unfortunately,

by using the phrases and words that are totally absent in the original, the

translator may give the spirit of the original the capital punishment

In the original, the phrase "valai ufaik katjal" is used to suggest the

pliysical intimacy betneen the girl and the man." M . L Thangappa's

"bangled wr~s t s " 1s the closest t ranslat~on of the o r ~ g ~ n a l and " valai", be ~t

single or "stacked", "golden" or of some mean metal, should have had for

the poet of the original, a better purport than being merely ornamental.

KUR UNTOKAZ 127

The girl 's friend is an extremely intelligent individual whose astute

nature had almost served as a moral shield for the gullible girl. The

friend's speech is always indicative of her w ~ t and wisdom and w ~ t h great

sagacity she would tackle the man's falsehood acting as a conscience keeper

whenever he went astray.

Kuruntoka~ 127, by 0;am Pokiyar, presents the picture of the man

seeking adm~ss ion into the girl's house after having been with other women.

Anticipating an emotional showdown, the man sends a messenger ahead to

speak well of him. But the girl's friend w ~ t h consummate skill sees through

the d e c e ~ t of the messenger and refuses the man admission saylng that the

messenger he sent was a thoroughbred I ~ a r .

kuruku kolak kulitta kentai ayalatu urukeju tirnarai vd;mukai verljurn kajaniyam patappaik ksrici yljra orunic pinan poyyagika ulla pinarellarn kaJvar pdlvarni yakapricindrkkC

The poet employs an implicit comparison to make the man realise

that no longer can he take the girl for granted, explo~t ing her Innocent faith

to satisfy his ends. The man belongs to a prosperous billage en r~ched by

kdfic~ trees and paddy fields where the kenfad fish that had had a narrow

escape from the beak of a heron would dive deep into the water to save its

11fe As it had seen death face to face, it would shudder at the s ~ g h t of

anything that resembles the heron and would swim away in fear on seeing

the white lotus bud. As one of the messengers sent by the man proved a

Ilar, all the women who were left to grieve by the man would take every

messenger for a liar. Hence the man need not expect the girl to be carried

away by his false oaths

The fish that had made a lucky escape from the beak of the heron is

compared to a girl who escaped from falling a prey to the fraudulent speech

of the bard, whlch glorified the-praiseworthy behaviour of the man.I6 This

wisdom gained from a near-death experience has made the fish instinctively

stay away from even an innocent lotus bud as 11 bears a close resemblance

to the head of the heron. In the same way, the girl too would remain

guarded against her man's falsehood. The reference to the kdrici trees and

paddy fields hints that he had taken to ignoble and useless ways in splte of

possessing valuable and worthy things. Straying away from the girl's love

and resorting to terrible falsehood would but leave him blameworthy.

kuruku koJak kulitta kentai ayalatu

urukeju tlmarai v i e mukai verurjm

The shock of the fish would not have been so Intense had 11 d ~ v e d into the

water on merely seeing a heron approach~ng. Hence Its fear of death is

strong enough for even a white lotus bud to glve it the scare of its life

The poem makes this m ~ x e d feeling of fear and r e l~e f move from word to

word with ease and grace, that the complete essence is contained t ~ l l the last

word of the u / / u / o ~ ; w~thou t any spill over. The meanlng melts and moves

until ~t is absorbed absolutely by all the words. As Robert Frost puts ~ t ,

" L ~ k e a piece of ice on a hot stove, the poem must rlde on ~ t s own

melting."" Hence m~ss ing even a single word would interfere u i th the

flow of thought and meaning thereby causing damage to the end-piece

Shanmugam P ~ l l a i and Ludden, A.K.Ramanu~an and A.V.Subramanian

have translated this poem. Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden's commentary

that follows the translated version explalns the nature of the lmplicit

comparison and the deceitful behaviour of the man and the bard, but the

translated piece fails to make that relevant suggestion in its content. It

reads more like a narration of two actions totally unrelated

Where kentai fish dive deep in a pond as herons leap at them and they a r e frightened by bright-coloured lotus nearby

In Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden's translation, the fish have escaped

from the leaping herons and the plural~ty suggested through the pronoun

"then)" and the \ e rb "are" lndlcate a collective experience of a group of fish

- an unwarranted indication that nullifies the spirit o r the II//LI.~RI The

translator might have done thls to relate the exper~ence of the fish w ~ t h that

of the women who were deserted by the man and fooled by his messenger.

Even In that case, there is an unnecessary shift In the meanlng

The strong fear experienced by the fish I S so great that it influences

the fish's immediate and future actions, and as the scare spreads over the

present and the future, the fish does not stop with just di\lng deep but also

stays away from the white lotus bud. The original niakes a very specific

reference to this as "tcimarat v#~mukat". If the fish are "frightened by

bright coloured lotus" (obviously the ones in full bloom), then, the "fear" is

totally unreasonable because a b r~gh t coloured lotus never looks like a

heron

A.K.Ramanujan and A.V.Subramanian ha\c done a comparat~vely

better job. A.K.Ramanujan indents the ullurar to gain better meaning

through the format of the poem and takes adequate care in letting the fish

alone slip from the beak of the heron and not the sense and s p ~ r i t of the

poem. HIS translation,

the small barbus fish slips sometimes from the heron's beak and dives into the water bu t fears ever af ter the white bud of the lotus

(Itallcs not In original)

does contain the ease and grace of the original, though one wonders how the

Kuruntokaipoet could refer to barbus, a fish found "exclusively' along the

western Atlantic coast Phrases thoughtfully added l ~ k e "some times" and

"ever after" enhance the beauty of the comparison. When A.K Ramanujan

uses a powerful phrase "must seem" one could feel the signif~cance belng

effortlessly shifted from the exper~ence of the fish to that of the girl and

other %omen. The girl's friend says :

Since one of your minstrels was a l iar , all your minstrels must seem liars to the women you abandon

(Italics not In orrginal)

Though A V.SubramanianSs style of translation 18 verbose, the spirit

of the poem is left to some extent unstrained. Unlike the fish in

A K Ramanujan's version that "slips", the f ~ s h in A . V Subraman~an ' s

rendering, "had managed to wriggle out the beak of the crane", but the

original does not give the credit of the escape to the fish. The form of

the lotus bud is highlighted in A V.Subramanian's verslon also, making

the fear o f the fish justifiable. Yet, it 1s a great p ~ t y that the terse and

Incisive K u r u n t o k a i p o e m should be translated in a rambling fashion,

leaving the sentences to w o r n their way.

KUR UNTOKAI 325

Poet Nannakaiyar, in Kurunrokoi325 employs an exqutsite metaphor

to describe the extreme grief of the girl who holds her unbecoming

behaviour responsible for her man's leaving her in search of fortune. Her

friend's words of solace make her only more regretful over this self-

imposed state of desolat~on and despair. The man has had the habit of

teaslng the girl with hls fake decisions of departure, and on one such

provocative situation she may have asked htm to leave her alone. Her

words of irritation were taken for consent and were gladly ca r r~ed out b>

him and now his absence fills her with profound grief More than the pangs

of separation, what beats her is her own sense of guilt that makes her wish

to know his whereabouts. Her unending sorrow has made her shed such

plent~ful tears that the space between her breasts has nou become a great

pond where the herons look for prey. This br i i l~ant piece has been translated

by Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden, A.V.Subramanian. G.L.Hart and

karurikdl venkuruku meyum perumkulam a y i ~ ~ e n itaimulai nirainte

The Images used in the o r ~ g ~ n a l describe the endless tears of the g ~ r l

caused by her incessant sorrow and her tears u e r e so profuse that the space

between her breasts has become a great pond "perumkulam". uhe re the

black legged white herons search for prey-"karunkd/ venkuruku mfyum".

The metaphor's prlme purpose, as Somasundaranar rightly says, is to

enhance the aesthetic delight and poetic sensibility and thereby express the

poignancy of the grief. l 8 The paln of partlng and agony caused by the

lover's absence are integral aspects of all love episodes but the girl 's plight

in this poem has an added significance because her grief is tinged wlth

guilt. L~teral translations can be hlghly damag~ng to the original in more

than one way, because they not only mutilate the spirit of the poem but also

debase the message conveyed.

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden have made an ~ l l o g ~ c a l option for the

literal meaning of the word "miyum" which means "to graze". "Graze' IS

to "feed on growing herbage as do cattle and sheep".19 The origlnal does

not make even the wildest possible reference to "graze" and obviously

"black legged white herons" are not expected to "graze". Thus a

magnificent metaphor has been marred by the meticulously chosen absurd

word.

G.L.Hart3s perfunctory and insensate rendering of the metaphor is

unpardonable because as a translator he should have taken great care in

grasping the relevance of every word in the original. " n < r ~ i n t i " 1s the

concluding word of the or~ginal , and the word "niraral" used as a verb means

"to fill''. The space between the breasts has become a great pond because

of the ceaseless tears of the girl and G.L.Hart3s version has completely lost

the keyword "n[rainrPt. The enormity of this lapse is shocking as well as

saddening.

T h e space between my breasts bas become empty like a great pond where white herons with black legs search for prey

(Italics not in original)

The version leaves the metaphor "empty" bereft of sense and beauty.

Though commentators speak at length of the significance of this

metaphor and quote similar ones from other poems of akom genre,

Iyengar stresses the need for diligence while interpreting this poem.20 He

says that the significance of the metaphor lies In the phrase "perumku/am",

stressing the unremitting grief of the girl, and this stress should not be

sh~f ted by rephrasing the metaphor to read " venkuruku miyum ku/amU

highlighting the feeding ground of the birds. A.V.Subramanian and

A.K.Ramanujan have made this dangerous shift and thus have sacrificed the

s p i r ~ t of the poem.

A.V.Subramanian has taken impermissible liberty with the original

and has introduced unnecessary descr~ptive terms that damage the delicate

beauty of the metaphor. One should remember that the poem is in the form

of the speech of the girl who struggles to appease her guilty conscience

through perpetual tears. Kurunrokaipoems never make loud suggestions of

the extremely delicate facets of love and never do they lure the attention of

the reader through discomfiting descriptions. The metaphor in the context is

used by the original to highlight the intensity of the sorrow of the girl only.

T h e t ea r s f rom my eyes Fill the interspace Between my burgeoning breasts mak ing it a pool W h e r e proudly s t ru t t he cranes with lean dusky legs.

(Italics not in original)

"Burgeoning" breasts and the cranes that "proudly strut" are fortunately not

mentioned in the original

A.K.Ramanujan has shifted the stress from the "prrumku/am" to

"kuruku mtyum kuiam" thus l o s ~ n g the purport of the poem

T h e place between my breasts is filled with tears a pool where black-legged while heron feed on fish.

( l t a l~cs not in o r~g ina l )

G.L.Hart 's "search for prey" is a better cholce than A.K.Ramanujan's "feed

on fish" because the latter definitely gives an undue stress to the word

"m<vum", thus maklng the grief of the g ~ r l totally inslgn~ficant

KUR UNTOKAI 399

Very subtle changes take place in the behav~our , physique and mental

makeup of the girl when she 1s afflicted with love-sickness, technlcall!

known as "kdmandj ' The girl 's friend, because of her intimate

companionship w ~ t h the girl will make an early detection of the diagnostic

symptoms of "kdmandy. The physique of the girl would undergo obvlous

changes like loss o f weight, indicated by her bangles becoming loose

"kaivalai nekiltal', and the spreading of pallor on her body "pacappu uiral'.

These physical changes, exhibitive of the intense love felt by the girl for the

man, give ample scope for the Kuruntokaipoets to employ stunning similes.

Kuruntokai 399, by Paranar is a compact poem of just four lines,

where the girl expresses the need for an early marriage w ~ t h the man. He is

keen on continuing his relationship with the girl In secrecy and is in no

haste for the marriage. The body of the girl has already started showing

external symptoms, and she tells her f r~cnd that her body's pallor responds

to the touch of the man \'cry much like the moss that has grown on the

surface of the water in the water tank of the town. The pallor d~sappears

whenever he touches her and appears a g a ~ n the instant he leaves her.

rirunkegi unturaittokka

p i c i y a c C pacalai k i talar

totuvuJi totuvu.li n idk i

v i tuvul i v i tuvuj i parattaldce

T h ~ s poem has been translated by Shanmugam P i l l a~ and Ludden, Kamil .V.

Zvelebil, A,\'. Subramanian, A.K.Ramanujan and G.L.Hart.

"Pacala~" has been translated as "pallor" by Shanmugam Pilla~ and Ludden

and Kamil V. Zvelebil while A.V.Subramanian has qualified it as "sickly pallor",

and A.K.Ramanujan has specified it as "body's pallor". G.L.Han3s uses "paleness"

to mean '>acalaiM (Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden have referred to "pucappu Grlul'

as growing pale in Kuruntokai371).

The phrase "~irunkFgi" has been translated in a descr~ptive fashion

by both Shanmugam Piilai and Ludden and Kamil V . Zvelebll and both have

given astonishingly slmilar (same?),rendering in English for the simlle of

the poem.

M y pallor is like My pallor is like the green algae green algae growing on the pond growing on the pond Where the village gets its drinking water; Where the village gets its

drinking water: -Shanmugam Plllal and Ludden - Kamil .V. Zvelebil

(Itallcs not in original)

Of course, the definite article that precedes "green algae", the conspicuously

insignificant difference in the format and the punctuation mark are the vltal

aspects of Kamil V.Zvelebil's version that speak of hls o r i g l n a ~ i t y . ~ '

A.V.Subraman~an's verbosity does not spare this snccrnct s ~ m i l e also

and h ~ s versron reads long

You notice dear , how on my skin, A sickly pallor spreads, Even like the d a r k green moss Growing on the water T h a t keeps away when people use T h e water in the pond

A.K Ramanujan, sharply conscious of the fdct that brevlty IS one of

the most beautiful aspects of Kuruntokai, has taken care to use economy In

words His version of the metaphor is both concise and correct.

Like moss on water in the town's water tank;

the body's pallor clears

Ironically, this hard earned correctness is considerably lost towards

the close of the poem whose reason is discussed later in this chapter

It is-rather a disgusting choice of word made by G.L.Hart who has

translated "prici" as "scum". The dictionary meaning for scum is, "a film

or layer o f foul or extraneous matter that forms on the surface of the

liquid"". Erudition and gentility of a society as seen through 11s literature

are meant to be respected and when G.L Hart's rendition reads.

Like the scum on the well f rom which towns folk d r i n k

the reader is prone to wonder if this version of the s i ~ n ~ l e IS not an

outrageous insult to the cultural sophistication of a society w h ~ c h has

produced a vintage classic like Kurunfokai.

Translators like A.K.Ramanujan and Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden

have taken great care in communicating through the v ~ s u a l appearance of

their versions by uslng a half-line format, b u t the syntax order of the

Kurun toka ipoem I S a vital intrinsic part of ~ t s total structure and any

distortion of its syntax does not always produce a des~rab le effect When

irnpl~cit comparisons, similes and metaphors are put to spatial arrangement,

there is an apparent lack of logical harmony bet*een the elements of a

sentence that comes out glaringly. The meaning of a Kurun toka ipoem is

both sign bound and content bound in the sense that individual words and

thought groups or association of ideas accumulate meanlng as the poem is

read For example, A.K.Ramanujan's rendering of K u r u n ~ u k i ~ 399 distorts

the syntax of the original by shunting words to and fro In such a jumpy and

jerky fashion that the appropriateness of the simile is adequately lost by the

time a reader reaches the close of the version.

Like moss on water in the town's water tank:

the body's pallor clears

as my lover touches and touches,

and spreads again. as h e lets go,

as he lets go.

Translation and interpretation are t u o entirely different activities

though every reading is an interpretation, that encourages better translation

But as can be seen in the version quoted abol'e, the s ~ m ~ l e stays completely

cut oif irom the significant suggestion it makes, looklng like an

iilterpretation of the original as ~nferred by the Iranslator. Such inierences

do ~nterfere with the reader's appreciation of the s ~ m i l e .

Insisting on fidelity to the or~ginal , both in mariner and matter, is too

tall a c l a m to be satlsfactorlly ach~eved, and the desire of the translator to

reproduce that magic of the original which makes ~t endlessly enjoyable and

fascinat~ng should not go unappreciated. Methodological problems are many

ivh~le translating various p o e t ~ c techniques. ul l~~rai , slmile, metaphor and

other highly perfected literary techniques were employed to make

themselves accountable for discharg~ng the duty of correct and complete

communication - the creation of a winsome verbal picture was merely

incidental and not intentional. A Kuruntokuipoet can never he held

culpable of using any poetic technique needlessly. Most of the mistakes

and blunders discussed in this chapter could have been easily avoided if

only the translators were more alert and thorough with the literary

conventions that operate in the akam genre

NOTES AND REFERENCES

' K. Kunjunni Raja, Indian Theories of Meaning (Madras: Adayar Library

and Research Centre, 1963) 231-232.

* Prof. T .P . Meenakshisundaran. A Historv of Tamil Literature (Annamalai

Nagar Annamalai University, 1965) 28.

' Tam~zhannai . Toikaooivar's Poetics : Imolred Meanine (Ullurafi (Madurai

: Meenakshi Puthaka Nilayam, 1986) 10

R.Raghava Iyengar, Kuruntoka~ Vilakkam (Annamalai Kagar: Annamalai

Unlvers~ty, 1993) 40-41

Iyengar considers the speech of the courtesan vengefully sarcastic

because the hero who flattered her to win her charm became mute as a

puppet in the presence of his wife. He also gibes a d~fferent interpretation

for the first half of the poem and says that the nature of the fish that enjoys

the f r u ~ t on which it does not have a c l a m can be compared to the nature

of a concubine who with least effort is capable of winning a man u h o

legitimately belongs to another woman Thls Interpretation is used by

Shanmugam Pillai and Ludden.

' (a) "kal(ru," Tamil Moli - Akarati. Tam~l-Tarn11 D~ctionary, 19Sled.

(b) "kal~ru," Kalaka Tamil Akarati, 1974 ed

(a)"piti," Tamil Moli - Akararl

(b)"pici," Kalaka Tamil Akarati

' Kamil.V.Zvelebil, Literarv Conventions in Akam Poetry (Madras: Institute

of Asian Studies, 1986) 4-5.

Here Zvelebil makes an account of the first actual phase of kalavu as

technically mentioned ;yqrka~-p-punarccr The hero makes a gentle

approach to the woman; real is~ng that she, too, desires him, he pralses her

beauty, convinces her of his love, promises never to forsake her, and enjoys

union with her. iyqrkai-p-punarcci has four main phases as far as the

hehaviour of the ralarvan and talarv~ is concerned. 1 . v2rka1-y-unarrta/. the

expression of amorous desire; 2 .mqrurtal : (the tuiui \ i ' s ) refusal; 3 .

utafiparal : (the ralaivi 's) consent; 4. kgrram . the unlon. There are

several sub-phases also to iyqrkai-p-punarcci

Iyengar, 40-41.

Iyengar in his commentary for this poem ~ndicates that the key word

ananku ta l generally means 'to cause pain'. As t h ~ s poem is 'what He said'

after ijgrkai-p-punarcci, the word gains added significance. It means

affliction through touch. In this sense, there 1s a striklng s ~ m ~ l a r i t y between

the young snake and girl. It also refers to the difference in the size and

mighi of the conqueror and the conquered

Kamil.V.Zvelebil, Literary Conventions in Akam Poetry (Madras: Institute

of Asian S tud~es , 1986) 5 - 7

Zevelebil categorises fifteen sub-phases of iygrkat-p-punarcci of

which two specific phases will suit one of the descr~ptions about the g ~ r l

mentioned in this poem.

(a) mu-ruvar ku~rrppunurtralmeaning that the ralarvi or the yirl

lndlcates boldly to the hero her wll l~ngness through a s m ~ l e Thls poem, the

speech of the man makes a specific definition of the g ~ r l as mulai vd/

ey(rra/ All the commentators say that the man came to know of this aspect

of her beauty when she gave her consent and expressed her willingness

through a smile

(b) The phase ment~oned earher IS followed by an rntens~ve embrace

as a prelude to the unlon and lt is technically called muyankal u-rurtui The

man describes the glrl as va/ai j~utaik kaiyu/ The commentators feel that

thls description indicates the union of the two The intensive embrace can

be cross referred to Akandncfu 142-iot~kor r,arukr/a muyankigai

l o M Shanmugam P ~ l l a ~ and D a v ~ d E Ludden. Kuruntokai, An Antholozy

of Classical Tam11 Love Poetry (Mddural Kudal Publishers) 4 6

" A K Ramanulan, Poems of Love and War (Delhi Oxford University

Press, 1985) 305

l 2 A K Ramanujan, The Intertor Land- ( D e l h ~ Oxford University Press,

1994) 114

I' See Iyengar 192, Chouriperumal Arankan, Kuruntoka~ Mulamum Uralvum

(Velur Vldyaratnakara Press, 1915) 125, P V Somasundaran, Kuruntokoi

(Chenna~ Salvasidhanta Press, 1978) 173

l 4 See Tamll Moll-Akarathi, Tamil-Tam11 Dictionary, 1981,

Kalaka Tamil Akarath~ 1974 ed

l 5 See lyengar 192, U \I Cam~na ta lyer, w o & (Madras Kablr Press,

1947) 264

16 U V Caminata Iyer, Kurunrokar (Madras Kabir Press, 1947) 280,

P V Somasundaran, Kuruntokar (Chennai Saivasidhanta Press, 1978) 185

U V Caminata Iyer in his commentary for t h ~ s poem explains why

the girl's friend considers the messenger from the man a liar The

messenger spoke h ~ g h of the man saying that his character and conduct were

good, and he would not forsake the girl Towards the end of the poem,

there is a reference to the women, who were left to grieve by the man and

this speaks of the extra-mar~tal relationships the man had w ~ t h other women

Somasundaranar in his commentary also holds the same view

I' Robert Frost, "The Figure A Poem Makes," American L i t e ra tu re -h

Antholorv 1890-1965, ed Egbert S Oliver (New Delhi Eurasia Publishing

House, 1967) 384

Somasundaranar 659-660

l 9 See Webster's Fncvclonedic Unabr~deed Dictionarv of the Enelish

Laneuaee, 1989 ed

2o Iyengar 483-484

Girish Karnad, "Another Light on AKR," The Hlndu, 22 Sept 1993

Literary Review xv

Girish Karnad makes a brilliant comparative study of

A K Ramanu~an's and Kamil V Zvelabil's English versions of Basava's

Kannada Vacanas A K Ramanu~an's version I S titled "Speaking of Siva"

Ten years after the publication of this book by Penguin, Kamil V Zvelabil

published his work titled "The Lord of the Meeting Rivers" The Or~ginal

was wrltten by Basabanna, a Veera Salva poet and the phrase Koodala

Sangamadeva was the signature line o f the poet found in all h ~ s verses

After much thought over the untraslatab~llty of this phrase, A K Ramanujan

translated 11 as "the lord of meetlng r~vers"

Kamil V Zvelehrl has u t ~ l ~ z e d this phrdse to tltle his ~ e r s ~ o n and ui th

the same guilt-free conscience has been llftlng entire berses from

A K Ramanujan's verslon to pass them off as h ~ s own, published by

UNESCO, Pans Karnad, In h ~ s plece, expresses h ~ s amazement at the

silence of the "academic community" regarding thls l~terarg r e p l ~ c a t ~ o n

because both the books have been publ~shed b) very s e l l - k n o n n publ~shers

The s t r ~ k ~ n g s ~ m i l a r ~ t y in the versions of Shanmugam P l l l a~ and

Ludden and Kamil \' Zvelab~l makes one uonder ui th G ~ r ~ s h Karnad, "If

Imltatlon 1s flattery, uha t I S plaglar~sm?"

7 7 -- See X'ebster's Enc~clonedlc Unabr~dred Dictionarv of the Enelish

Laneuaee, 1989 ed