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APRIL 5, 1872.]
TAMIL POPULAR POETRY.
99
translations from the poems of two Tamil popular poets, SIVAVAKKIYAR and PATTANATTU PILLAI. I have shown these translations to several Tamil scholars. One of the most eminent of such scholars in this Presidency has assured me that, in his estimation, my translation is alaost absolutely accurate, although I have written in rhyme. I do not however
desire the reader to lay any stress whatever upon this. But I would draw attention to the fact that, in parallel columns with the stanzas of my translation, I have placed the Romanized form of the Tamil text from which I translate. Thus if my translation be in any particular unfaithful, the scholarly reader will be able at once to detect the flaws.
SIVAVAKKIYAM.
Pandu nån parit' erinta
Pan malargal ettinei; Palile jebittu vitta
Mantirangal ettinei :
Tendanây vilunt'urundu
Konda klam ettinei ; Têr ilukka, vtir aleita,
Mâr adittat ettinei:
THE SHEPHERD OF THE WORLDS. A Detached Piece from the Poems of Sivavakkiyar.
How many various flowers
Did I, in bye-gone hours, Cull for the god, and in his honour strew; In vain how many a prayer
I breathed into the air, And made, with many forms obeisance due.
Beating my breast, aloud
How oft I callei the crowd To drag the village car ; how oft I stray'd
In manhood's prime to lave
Sunwards the flowing wave, And circling Saiva fanes, my homage paid.
But they, the traly wise, Who know and realize
[will ne'er Where dwells the SHEPHERD OF THE WORLDS,
To any visible shrine,
As if it were divine, Deign to raise hands of worship or of prayer.
Mindanay terinta potu
Ireita nirgal ettinei; Milavum Siválayangal
Salntu vantat' ettinei :
Andarkðn iruppidam
Arint' unarnta goanigal, Kanda kovil devam endru
Kei yeduppat'illeiyê.
I would draw the special attention of the reader to these verses. The musical flow of them and their sonorous Homeric conclusion cannot be caught in any translation. The beauty of the thoughts they contain, however, must shine through any language. That there may be no misapprehension I shall now give the exact verbal translation of the original.
“How many various kinds of flowers did I of yore cull and scatter. How many mantras have I said in vain.
SIVAVAKKIYAM.
How often, with obeisance, falling, rolling round I assumed the manifestation of a devotee).
How often have I, beating my breast, called the village to drag the car.
How often, at prime of life, whilst in my wanderings, have I upraised water.
How often have I kept encircling Saiva temples.
The wise who have known and inwardly realized the dwelling place of the Shepherd of the Worlds.
To visible temples, as if they were divine, lift their hands-never ! "
EXTRACTS FROM THE POEMS OF SIVAVAKKIYAR
Nattu veitta dêvaram
Nadámal veitta dêvarum, Suttu veitta dēvarum
SudAinal veitta dêyarum, Kattu veitta dēvarum
Katt' avilka vallarð ? Itu veitt' idattila
Kidapat' andri, yen seyvar?
Gods set up, Gods not set up,
Lords baked, and enbakel Lorde, And Deities bound securely
(To sacred cars) with corde. Say, are these even able
To free themselves when tied ? When placed somewhere, what can they
But in that place abide ?
• Notice the beautiful epithet Shepherd of the Worlda! This word Andarkon is often simply rendered Monarch of the Gods, but I have taken the core magnificent rendering,
- rendering which represents the inner spirit of the original, and which, by the way, has the sanction of my father, the Rev. Dr. Caldwell
