Tamil Proverbs – Part 15
This the 15 part of the Tamil proverb series.
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1.எட்டினால் குடுமியைப் பிடிக்கிறது , எட்டாவிட்டால் காலைப் பிடிகிறது.
2.கொல்லைக்குப் பல்லி , குடிக்குச் சகுனி
kollaikku palli, kudikku saguni
He acts as a Palli plant to the garden, and as Saguni to the family.
Explanation:
கொல்லைப்பல்லி kollai-p-palli
, n. < id. +. A parasitic plant, Buchnera asiatica; பூடுவகை. (W.)
Buchnera asiatica (Striga asiatica) is a serious agricultural pest as it parasitises important crop species including corn, rice, sorghum, and sugar cane, often causing substantial yield reductions.
And its well know story of Sakuni’s act to destory the race of the Pandavas and Kauvravas.
Said to people who will do bad deeds to the place where they are.
Striga asiatica - Kalli
http://www.magalieskruin.com/images/2006_0501rietvlei0043.jpg
3.முளையில் கிள்ளாதது முற்றினால், கோடாலிகொண்டு வெட்ட வேண்டும் .
mulayil killathathu muttrinal, kodali kondu vetta vendum.
What is not plucked at the bud is left to mature, it will have be cut using an axe.
Explanation:
Bad habits should be stopped at the start, else it will be really difficult to stop it.
Neglected evil is hard to destroy.
4.தாழ்ந்து நின்றால் , வாழ்ந்து நிற்பாய்.
Thaalnthu ninral , vaalnthu nirpaai.
If you are ready to bow , you will grow high in life.
Explanation:
If you are humble , you will be successful in your life.
” Better bend the neck than bruise the forehead.”
5.பேச்சுப் பேச்சு என்னும் ; பெரும் பூனை வந்தால் கீச்சுக் கேச் சென்னும் கிளி .
pechu pechu ennum; perum poonai vanthal keechu keechu ennum kili.
The parrot will immitate your voice , but when the big cat comes its voice will start to screech.
Explanation:
Said of people who boast a lot when their superiors aren’t around.
6.ஓடுகிற கழுதை வாலைப் பிடித்தால் , உடனே கொடுக்கும் பலன் (உதய்).
oodugira kaluthai vaalai pidithaal, udane kodukkum palan (uthai).
If you catch the tail of a running donkey you will get immediate result(you will be kicked)
Explanation:
Avoid getting into companion ship with bad people. You will get into deep trouble with such relationship.
” Beware of the hind part of a mule, and all sides of a priest.”
7.பூவுடன் கூடின நாரும் மனம் பெற்றற்போல் .
poovudan koodina naarum manam petrathu pol.
Like the fiber which holds the flower, gets the fragrance of the flower.
Explanation:
If you live with good surrounding then you would also tend to be good. So its better to live with good people.
8.தேன் ஒழுக பேசி , தெருவழியே விடுகிறது .
Then oluga pesi, theruvaliye vidugirathu.
He would speak honey coated words and then lead you to the streets.
Explanation:
Said of people who speak sweet words but never actually help you in any way. The deeds are just in words not in action.
“Sugared words generally prove bitter.”
9.இன்பமும் துன்பமும் எடுத்த உடலுக்கு இயல்பு .
Inbamum thunbamum edutha udalukku iyalbu.
It is natural for this body to experience happiness and sadness.
Explanation:
The life is filled with experience and some are happy ones and some are sad ones. You can lead a steady life if you understand both happiness and sadness are part of life.
10.குலத்துக்கு ஈனம் கோடாலிக்காம்பு.
kulathukkum eenam kodalikkaambu.
The handle of the axe degrades its race.
Explanation:
The axe handle which is made of wood aids in humans felling the tree . This proverb is said to people who act as a degradation to their own family.
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Reference : A classified collection of Tamil Proverbs by Rev. Herman Jensen
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Related post:
Tamil Proverbs:
- Ancient Wisdom – Tamil Proverbs
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 2
- Tamil Proverbs – part 3
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 4
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 5
- Tamil proverbs – part 6
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 7
- Tamil Proverbs – Part8
- Tamil proverbs – Part 9
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 10
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 11
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 12
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 13
- Tamil Proverbs – Part 14
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Ancient and Unique Nature of Tamil – Part 3
Unique Nature of Tamil
According to Dr.Zvelebil Tamil literature possesses at least two unique features.
- Tamil literature in its beginnings and in its first and most vigorous bloom, is almost independent of Sanskrit and Aryan influences.
- Tamil Literature is the only literature which is classical and modern.
Tamil is the only literary Dravidian Language whose Meta Language is Tamil. The meta Language of Tamil is always been Tamil and never Sanskrit.With conscious effort Tamil can be used without any Sanskrit origin word. This is observed by A.K.Ramanujan when he says, “In most Indian languages,the technical gobbledygook is Sanskrit;in Tamil,the gobbledygook is ultra-Tamil.”[13]
Tamil is probably the only ancient language in India which bears the reflection of life style and emotion of an entire people who lived in that period. Though its heroes were idealized and heroic as Kailasapathy observes “What is pertinent is the fact that both poems (akam,puram) are dealing with aristocratic society- a society dominated by warlike chiefs.” [14]
Kamil Zvelebil accepts this fact but also points out that these Old Tamil heroes were very close to the land, the economic basis of existence, though he probably did not do any manual work himself; he did not live in huge castles, but in villages in big houses called manai,akam,il and only occasionally in small fortress(very similar to present day village headmen, who are associated with day to day activities of the village and are not isolated from the common man).
Kailasapathy also points out that slaves, servants, errand men etc. are not entitled to be portrayed as the heroes in the poems treating the five divisions of Mutual Love. He also gives references from Tolkappiyam and works of commentators like Ilampuranar and Nachinarkiniyar[15].
Zvelebil observes that though these heroes were Idealized men and women; it wasn’t essentially life of sacerdotal or ruling nobility, of priestly class, of nuns, monks, or of elite group or groups of society. These poems have captured the basic human experience in the best possible way making it one of the truly classical piece of literature.
Zvelebil also points out the difference between Tamil literature from other literatures of India “it (Sangam literature) is very different all strata of Sanskritic literature – from the Vedic literature which is literature of sacerdotal class, from the great epics which are the literature of the ruling barons, from the classical literature which is par excellence the literature of the “man about town”, of the naagarika; it is also different from the Buddhist and Jaina texts, since these are mostly the literature of the monastic orders,of monks and nuns.However this does not mean that it is ,in its finished form, as we have it “popular” literature of folk literature.”[16]
The poets of the Sangam age include 20 women contributing 140 poems. The poets also belonged to all classes of the society- princes, chieftains, peasants, brahmins, merchants, potters, black smiths and carpenters by birth. [17]
Both Kailasapathy and Zvelebil agree on the basic fact that the early poetry of the Tamils is founded on a secular, oral bardic tradition – in sharp contrast to the Vedic poetry and comparable rather with the Greek or Welsh bardic literature. The essential philosophies of the early Tamils were also different from that of the Sanskrit, Vedic literature.(Scope this topic beyond this article, hence I am avoiding going into details.)
Dr.Zvelebil observes that the poets of Ancient Tamils to the present day writers have mastered the technique of suggestion, of allusion, of interference and wordplay, of complex use of imagery and multiple overtones [18].
To end this essay I would like to quote A.K.Ramanujan opinion on Sangam literature, “In their antiquity and in their contemporaneity, there is not much else in any Indian Literature equal to these quiet and dramatic Tamil poems. In their value and stances, they represent a mature classical poetry; passion is balanced by courtesy, transparency by ironies and nuances of design, impersonality by vivid detail, leanness of line by richness of implication. These poems are not just the earliest evidence of the Tamil genius. The Tamils, in all their 2000 years of literary effort,wrote nothing better. “[19]
Part1- Tamil origins and Ancient nature
Part 2 – Sanskrit the magic wand?
Foot Notes:
[13] Language and Modernization by A.K.Ramanujan, pg. 31
[14] Tamil Heroic Poetry by K.Kailasapathy, pg.11
[15] ibid., pg.11-12
[16] The Smile of Murugan : On Tamil Literature of South India by Kamil Zvelebil, pg. 12
[17] ibid., pg.12-13
[18] ibid., pg.22
[19] The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology by A.K.Ramanujan, pg. 115
Reference and Further Study:
- The Smile of Murugan : On Tamil Literature of South India by Kamil Zvelebil
- Companion studies to History of Tamil History
- Tamil Literature by Kamil Zvelebil
- Poems of Ancient Tamil: Their Milieu and Their Sanskrit Counterparts by George L. Hart
- Tamil Heroic Poetry by K.Kailasapathy
- The Eight Anthologies by J.R. Marr
- The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology by A.K.Ramanujan
- Pattupattu: Ten Tamil Idylls by J.V. Chelliah
- A History of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar by K.A.Nilakantasastri
- Early Tamil Epigraphy : From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. by Iravatham Mahadevan
- Tamil Lexicon – University of Madras
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