Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/225

 POPULAR TAMIL POETRY.

JULY 5, 1872.]

POPULAR TAMIL POETRY. By ROBERT CHARLES CALDWELL, M.R.A.S.

Second Paper.

HERE are two phases of Popular Tamil Poetry. SivavAkkiy AR, for instance, has written nothing, as far as I know, which may not

word, there is not a single stanza in the whole of the epic, which a common Tamilian labourer

Hindu were to be asked to point to the first

or artizan, upon first hearing it, could understand When, therefore, wandering and appretiate “Kavirayar”—i.e., native minstrels, sing the Rāmāyanam to a crowd in bāzārs, or upon festive occasions to assem lages in the houses of Hindus, a running comment is kept up, either by the singer or an assistant, explaining the meaning of the verses as they are recited. On the other hand, the most ignorant of Tamilians can understand such a popular poem as the Vivéha Chintánani—a shrewd and plainly-worded poem,

Popular poem in the Tamil language, he would,

possessing a good deal of real artistic merit.

undoubtedly, point to it. Wandering minstrels recite it night by night in the streets of every town in Southern India where Tamil is spoken.

Thus in Tamil there are two kinds of popular poems, poems which require a commentary,

be classed as popular poetry ; and three-fourths of the writings of the classic Auvery AR, who has been called the Sappho of Southern India, are strictly of this class. But, beyond this, there is a great deal of difficult and abstruse

poetry in high Tamil, which has been popu larized. The Rándyanam of KAMBAN, for example, is an elaborate poem, written in a

highly polished poetical diction ; and yet, if a

There is a subtle and wonderful charm about

and poems which do not. It perhaps may be

this poem. It contains by far the finest ideal descriptions of scenery to be found in Tamil

advisable, ere passing on, to give one brief specimen of classic poetry of the highest order which has been popularized by frequent quo

literature. The magic muse of VIBAMAMUNI was only able to reflect this beauty ; for it is

tation and common use. Here is a stanza from the Tembávani of Vi RAMAMUN1—

well-known that BEschi wrote his Tembérani

in direct imitation of KAMBAN's Rāmāyanam.

Besides this, the palm must be awarded to KAMBAN as the most facile and brilliant of

Tamil versifiers. The Rāmāyanam is written in a metre called the Viruttam, one of the most

plastic, and perhaps the most harmonious, of Tamil metres.

And the whole poem, lit up

in every part by alliterations, assonances, mimetic words, and rhymes, leaps and sparkles like a sun-lit sea.

There is a ripple in the

stanza which describes a running stream, there is a flutter in the verse which depicts a

banneret quivering in the breeze." For seven centuries KAMBAN's masterpiece has delighted Hindus of all classes.

It is the Folk-Song of

Southern India. And yet, will it be credited that, unless it were explained to him word by
 * Beschi imitated Kamban in the most elaborate manner,

Oli nákkodu văn sular pugala, Oli nákkodu pan manipugala,

Kali nákkodu par pul pugala, Kamal nakkodu kā malar pugala, Teli nákkodu nirppunal pugala, Tinamé pugalappaduvöy ni 2– Ali nákkodu nān unei pugala, A riyā mügei unarttayó

It is the most famous verse in a famous poem, and may be thus translated :-

Whilst Thee, with tongues of splendour, the orbs of heaven praise ;

Whilst gems to Thee their voices, with tongues of brilliance, raise;

Whilst unto Thee wood-warblers, with tongues ofjoyance, sing ; Whilst wood-flowers Thy sweet praises, from tongues of fragrance fling ; of his stanzas, makes the flags flutter a warning to Rāma,

and gloried in so doing. The aim of the great Italian was

as if motioning him to go away.

to supplant the R a.m. Å y an a m in a measure. He wished to present to Christian natives a poem which would be to them what the R a may an am was to other Hindu religionists. So Beschi, called by his admirers W i r a -

tonishing simile. When the Holy Family are returning from

m a mun i v ar, or “the Heroic Devotee,” composed his Tem b a van i, a poem which reproduces in a fashion the Biblical narrative, and the heroes of which are Christ,

the Blessed Virgin, and Joseph. Pursuing his imitation of Kamban to wonderful extreme-, Beschi gives us, in his poem,

the song of the rice-reapers in Palestºne / ... In the text I allude to another extraordinary imitation. Kamban, in one

Beschi reverses this as

Egypt, the ltalian poet makes the flags flutter the three

travellers a welcome, waving their folds as it to say ‘come, come !' I have neither the Rāmāyanam of Kamban, nor the Te whivani of Viramāmuni before me as I write, or I should

verify by quotation these strange stanzas. As a whole I consider the Rāmāyanam the greater poem : parts of the Tembárani, however, are superior to any parts of Kamban's oem. And Beschi was undoubtedly the greater genius. These two poets, together with Tâyumānavar and Tiruval luvar, must be ranked in the very first class of Tamil poets.