‘Coo – Coo,’ the rooster crows,
and a chill runs through my heart.
Dawn has come
like a cruel sword
to tear me apart
from my lover’s arms.
(What the girl said to herself)
Marutam
--- Allur Nanmullai
Kurunthokai 157.
This is a poem from the Sangam Literature. I had read it in my text books long back when I was a school student. Even as a school student I had a special liking towards the Sangam Literature in Tamil. They are simple and direct. Moreover and more importantly they are universal in nature.
I had also an implicit desire to read the poems in its English translations. I was searching for A. K. Ramanujan’s and George Hart’s translations. But they were always in the list of out of stock books. However I could get a copy of M. L. Thangappa’s translation of selected poems in Sangam Literature.
The translation is superb (at least to my taste). A sample is provided at the beginning of this article. Let me also give you another three more poems and you can judge yourselves about the translation.
Dawn has come
like a cruel sword
to tear me apart
from my lover’s arms.
(What the girl said to herself)
Marutam
--- Allur Nanmullai
Kurunthokai 157.
This is a poem from the Sangam Literature. I had read it in my text books long back when I was a school student. Even as a school student I had a special liking towards the Sangam Literature in Tamil. They are simple and direct. Moreover and more importantly they are universal in nature.
I had also an implicit desire to read the poems in its English translations. I was searching for A. K. Ramanujan’s and George Hart’s translations. But they were always in the list of out of stock books. However I could get a copy of M. L. Thangappa’s translation of selected poems in Sangam Literature.
The translation is superb (at least to my taste). A sample is provided at the beginning of this article. Let me also give you another three more poems and you can judge yourselves about the translation.
LIKE THE SWEET MILK
Like the sweet milk of a cow
spilt on the ground
going to waste
without being sucked by the calf
or collected in a vessel,
the speckled beauty of my complexion
is being eaten away
by the pallor of lovesickness,
neither enjoyed by my lover
nor retained by me.
(What she told her friend)
Palai
--- Velliveethiyar
Kurunthokai 27.
THE FIRE OF LOVE
I feel an urgency to get up
and smash things,
to knock and break my head,
to send out violent shrieks
as if in mad frenzy.
This cool night breeze
kindles the fire of love in me.
But this callous village
is sweetly sleeping.
(What the girl told her friend)
Palai
--- Avvaiyar
Kurunthokai 28
RAINWATER AND RED SOIL
Your mother and my mother
do not know each other.
Your father and my father
are not related either.
As for you and me,
how do we know each other?
And yet,
like the mingling of rainwater
with red soil,
our hearts have mingled.
(what the lover told his beloved after their first meeting)
Kurinji
--- Chempulapeyanirar
Kurunthokai 40
Like the sweet milk of a cow
spilt on the ground
going to waste
without being sucked by the calf
or collected in a vessel,
the speckled beauty of my complexion
is being eaten away
by the pallor of lovesickness,
neither enjoyed by my lover
nor retained by me.
(What she told her friend)
Palai
--- Velliveethiyar
Kurunthokai 27.
THE FIRE OF LOVE
I feel an urgency to get up
and smash things,
to knock and break my head,
to send out violent shrieks
as if in mad frenzy.
This cool night breeze
kindles the fire of love in me.
But this callous village
is sweetly sleeping.
(What the girl told her friend)
Palai
--- Avvaiyar
Kurunthokai 28
RAINWATER AND RED SOIL
Your mother and my mother
do not know each other.
Your father and my father
are not related either.
As for you and me,
how do we know each other?
And yet,
like the mingling of rainwater
with red soil,
our hearts have mingled.
(what the lover told his beloved after their first meeting)
Kurinji
--- Chempulapeyanirar
Kurunthokai 40
Book: LOVE STNADS ALONE: SELECTIONS FROM TAMIL SANGAM POETRY.
Publisher: Penguin/Viking, Price: Rs. 399/-
P.S.: Good and a scholarly introduction to this text and to Sangam poetry is also given by erudite scholar A. R. Venkatachalapathy.
Publisher: Penguin/Viking, Price: Rs. 399/-
P.S.: Good and a scholarly introduction to this text and to Sangam poetry is also given by erudite scholar A. R. Venkatachalapathy.
Extremely poetic and dreamy .. Someone said " unfulfilled love is always beautiful "
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