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POPULAR TAMIL POETRY.

July 5, 1872.]

Attälum palsuveiyir kundrătalavalla Nattalum nanballár nanballar. Kettālum Menmakkal menmakkalé, sangu suttalum

The bad are bad though cherish’d.

Yet when

boil'd,

Sweet milk still sweet remains, and is not spoil’d. And fire but whitens white shells.-Thus we see

Tânmikka venmei tarum. Good men remain good in adversity.

Nanjudeimei tanarintu nagang karantureiyum Anjã purangkedakkunir pambu. Nenjir Karavudeiyār tammei karappar karavār Karavilla nenjattavar.

The cobra, conscious of its poison, hides; Abroad the water-snake unfearing glides. Thus they whose hearts hide guile exposure fear, But secrecy befits not the sincere.

Adakkam udeiyar arivillar endr' enmi

Esteem not witless, nor with ease o'ercome,

Kadakka karutavum véndām. Madei taleiyil

That man whose lips with wise reserve are dumb.

Odum min Öda, oru min varum alavum Waqi irukkumâng Kokku! The last of these stanzas has always struck me, as being a good example of the fact that some

At the sluice-head the stork, whilst fish play by, All withered seems—till the right fish comes night No notice of Tamil Popular Poetry would be complete without mention being made of

Tamil poets possess one of those “faculties di

PATTANATTU PILLAI's writings.

vine” which is a sure note of genuine inspiration, viz:—the faculty of appretiating nature. The epi

unequal: in parts they rise to the level of Sivavakkiyar, but as a whole they are pro characterized

These are very

more by

melodious

thet withered (Tamil, Vādī) is an extremely beau

ductions

tiful one, because it is so extremely true to nature.

verbiage than striking thought. The most re markable poem ever penned by this writer is

Anyone will recognize the felicity of this epithet who has watched a paddy-bird (Kokku) perched

one in which he bewails the loss of his mother.

on the brim of a tank waiting, perfectly motion less, and as if it were but a piece of withered vege

The verses, however, which I have selected have, as far as I know, never been translated

tation, for the rash approach of its finny prey.

before.

-

VERSES PATTANATTU PILLEIYAR PADAL.

Yen pettra täyārum yennei pinam endru Igalntu vittär.

Pon pettra mätarum på vendru Solli Pulambi vittär.

Kon pettra meintarum pinwalam wantu Kuqam uqeittar.

Un pattroliya oru pattrum illei Udeiyavané ! Sollinum, sollin muqivilum, vèda Suruti Tilum,

Allinum, māsattra àgåsa tannilum, Ayntu vittör

Illinum, anbaridattilum, Isan

Iruppatallal Rallinum, sembilumö iruppänenga! Kannutalé.

From various writings of Pattanattu Pillai. When dead, my mother scorns me

Saying “But a corpse is he,’ My gold-bought wife with weeping Cries out “depart' to me;

My sons, my pyre encircling, Their wonted pots let fall;There is no love but Thy love O thou who ownest all!"

In speech, and its conclusion, And in the Vedas too, In darkness, and in heaven's Stainless expanse of blue; In hearts of true ascetics, And in each loving mind, The Lord's unbounded presence Ye certainly may find ; But how in stones and copper, Can ye the God descry, Who in his forehead beareth

The terrible one eye ºf time when he shall be a corpse. His mother will esteem him a useless thing.
 * In these remarkable verses, the poet broods over the

The wife, whom he obtained by pay

ing (as is the Hindu custom) a large sum of money, she too with weeping will not desire him to remain by her side when he is a corpse.

His children will encircle his funeral

pyre, advancing from behind on the left side of the corpse, breaking their vessels of water, as if to say, we thus pay our last bounden service to you ! Thy love only is ever lasting, unaffected by life or death, O God " f Siva.