Sunday, October 08, 2006

Solving Sorrows - Part 1

Tamil Literature does not only have in abundance, great songs with indepth meaning but also songs about way of life. Songs that would guide people through the various trials and tribulations of life. Most people get vexed, depressed, disoriented due to the problems and the sorrows they face. Of course, those are parts and parcels of human life, but succumbing to these is not the point of living the life. Tamil literature has umpteen number of songs that guide people on how to deal with the sorrows and troubles they face. How to come out of it and how to attain a peaceful and sucessful life. Many of us have faced and are facing difficulties in our life each tuned for our own dimension. But how we have handled them makes what we are. So what is the solution to all our sorrows and how to handle and live our life. Lets look at a song goes like this













"Aaaveena Mazhai Pozhiya Illam Veezha
Agathadiyaal Mei Nova Adimai Saaga

Maaveeram Pogudhu Endru Vidhai Kondoda

Vazhiyilae Kadankaaran Mariththukkolla
Saavolai Kondoruvan Yedhirae Thondra

Thallavonna Virundhuvara Sarpam Theenda
Kovendhar Uzhudhunda Kadamai Ketka

Gurukkal Vandhu Datchinagal Kodu Yendrarae"


The song illustrates a sequence of events that happen to a man in those days. Lets the see the meaning. "The man had a cow which gave birth to a calf; At that time rains poured like anything making things worse. And even worse his house got destroyed by the rain. At that time, his wife got sick; His servant died. And later the wetness in the land had was drying up, so ran with the seeds to sow for cultivation; On the way, a creditor - person who gave him a loan - caught hold of him. At that time, a messenger brought him a death message. Following that, there came unavoidable guests. And he was bitten by a snake. Then the officials from the king came asking for the tax money. Finally, among all these situations, the Gurukkal - priest of the temple - came asking for donations."

Aaa - Cow, King, God (in this context, Cow)
Eena - produce offspring

Mazhai - Rain; Pozhiya - Pouring
Illam - home, house; Veezha - Fall, destroy

Agathadiyaal - Wife (Agam: Home, Adiyaal: female companion) Mei - Body;
Nova - Pain, suffer

Adimai - Servant; Saaga - dies
Maa - Land; Eeram - Wetness
Pogudhu - Going; Endru - like

Vidhai - seeds; Kondoda - Kondu (take, have) + Oda (run)

Vazhi - Way, Path;
Kadankaaran - Person who gave the loan; Mariththu Kolla - block, stop

Saavu - Death; Olai - Message; Kondoruvan - Kondu + Oruvan (a man)

Yedhirae - Against; Thondra - Appear;

Thallavona - Unavoidable; Virundhu - Guests; Vara - come;

Sarpam - Snake; Theenda - Bite, do harm;

Kovendhar - King;
Uzhudhunda - Uzhudhu (Cultivate) + Unda (derive benefit, Eat);

Kadamai - Duty, Tax; Ketka - Ask;

Gurukkal - Priest of the temple; Vandhu - come;
Datchinaigal - donations;
Kodu - give;
Yendrarae - a person saying something, in this context asking donations
.

Now when you read the meaning of the poem, most of you would have had a gentle smile. It does not mean a sadist expression of laughing at the man in trouble. But all that you can do if you were in that situation would be to smile. That, is the solution to handle and tackle the troubles and sorrows in life. Take things in life with a smile, no matter how difficult it is and don't get dejected or depressed. This is what Thiruvalluvar says in his Kural.









"Idukkan Varungaal Naguga Adhanai

Aduthoorvadhu Agudhu Oppadhill"
- Thiruvalluvar Thirukkural


meaning, "Laugh your trouble/sorrow away. There is no other way to conquer woes."

Idukkan - Sorrow, trouble

Varungaal - Varum (Come) + Kaal (Suppose)
Naguga - Smile, Laugh
Adhanai - a pronoun referring a thing, here, trouble

Aduthoorvadhu - Aduthu (Next, Other) + Thoorvadhu (conquer)

Agudhu - Like, similar
Oppadhil + Oppadhu (Comparing, Matching) + Ill - (Not existing)


So why to worry, when you can laugh your sorrows away. Great people have realised this truth and gave it to us, which we should pass it on to the generations to come. Take life as it happens, what is destined to happen will happen. Prepare for the worst; expect the best; take what comes.

More to come, until then...

15 comments:

kvijayendran said...

Nalla post da. Ennai madiri oru nanban irunda, nee nichiam adikadi sirika venum. Nee 621'du Thirukuralai nalla follow pannara.

R. Prabhu said...

Thanks Vijayendra Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Excellent! Thanks for bringing this to the limelight. :-)

R. Prabhu said...

Thanks Isha!

Anonymous said...

This is a great bolg spot. I was doing some research on Tamil literature and I gained a lot from your blog on Kamban.

I read that there are Sanskrit verses containing just one letter "Ya" and another one with just "Pada". I was curious to find out if there are any similar works in Tamil.

R. Prabhu said...

Thanks Anon! I am happy that the blog was helpful. Yes, indeed, there are songs in Tamil Literature that consist only the letters in the "Ka" sequence and "Tha" sequence. Will post those songs in the days to come! Thanks, once again.

Meerambikai said...

Dear Prabhu,

Your writings and contents are excellent. I lived in Kumbakonam for a few years and I have visited the Dharasuram temple at the time when some renewal construction was in progress. I took some photographs also. I left Kumbakonam soon after that and later I read the news that some antiques were found during the construction.

Your service to Tamil literature is very much appreciable. I suggest you use the Tamil transliteration software Azhagi
which is unicode compliant and freely downloadable to create tamil contents and post the contents in Tamil alphabets which will be easier to read.

Hope to see more and more such useful contents here.

I take pleasure in inviting you to share your experiences with the readers of my website mazalais.com being run for children.

akr

R. Prabhu said...

Thanks AKR Sir, your comments were encouraging. The reasons I did not use Tamil text to write content to my blog are
* Initially, I had problems in displaying Tamil font across browsers, so I felt that it would be better to write the content in English
* Only if I use English as a medium, I will be able to communicate the treasures of Tamil, to the non-Tamil world
* To help many readers who want content both in English and Tamil

Thanks once again Sir.

Anonymous said...

Prabhu,
aavinna mazhai pozhiya madhiri, vazhakayila thodar kasttam vandha manidargallil oruvan naannum,,ippodhu ennal ezhundhu nadakka mudiyadhu,konja naal aahum,i was fully fully depresed by serial failures added to that i met with a major accident which kept me on bed for past 1 year.....innum nondi nondi taan nadakkiraen.....aanal idai padikkum podhu edho oru energy vandhadhu pola irrukku.
ungal blogin muzhu aartham niraveri vittadhu pol ulladhu...vera enna vennum oru ezhthallannukku ennai pola oru jeevan adai padittu arudalo illai amadhiyo adaivadai thavira.......ungal ennam niraveriyadhil ennakku mikka mazhilchi..........

R. Prabhu said...

Dear Anonymous,

Thangalukku naerndha innalgalai padikkumbodhu miga varutham adaigiraen. Anaalum oru perumai pada vendiya visayam enna vendral, Ivalavu nandandha pinnum, vazhkaiyai edhirkollum thangal thannambikkai-kum vidaamuyarchikkum kandippaga andha Dheivam Thunai Nirkkum. Thaangal viraivil gunam petru pala saadhanaigal seiyya ellam valla iravanai prarthikindraen. Oru pazhamozhi solluvaanga - "Nithya Gandam, Poorana Aayusu" appadina eppozhudum kastatha paakuravanga romba kaalam nalla iruppaanga. Adhu maadhiri namma padura kashtam nammalai oru pudam potta thangamaai maatri vidum. Neengalum nalam perumbodhu oru pudam potta vilai madhippattra thangamaai jolipeergal. Ellam Avan seyal!!

Anonymous said...

thanks! nice compilation!

Unknown said...

👌very nice

R. Prabhu said...

Thank you Chitra Sundar Madam!

Mohna Priyanka said...

Been binge-reading your blog and it's amazing!

I was wondering who wrote these lines, and couldn't find any information online. Do let me know if you are aware. Thank you.

R. Prabhu said...

Thank you Mohna Priyanka, glad that you like the posts. The verse above is from Viveka Chinthamani - a collection of many poems written by unknown poets. There is a post on Viveka Chinthamani as well, do read it.