Kunjunni Kavitha

skp...@delphi.com

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Mar 13, 1994, 11:42:20 AM3/13/94

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Hi !

Kunjunni mash is unparalled in malayalam literature for those
unni kavithakal which speaks volumes.
It is surprising that how can so much truth be accomodated in
just 2 lines or so.
Kunjunni mash like his poetry is a short man. I think 4 feet or so.
He lives like an sage, in ramakrishna matam in calicut (Or he used to
atleast 5 years back). He is a teacher, poet, philosopher,vegetarian
and single.

Here are some of the samples of his unni kavithakal.

1. PoKKaMilaYmaYen PoKKaMennaRinJu Njan.
2. MalaydinJal NaaDinu NashTam, MulaYidinjal NaDiKku NashTam.

There are many like this. Please post them if you know them.
Let's start a Kunjunni Flame Here.

Sudhir Perinchery
Rogers, Arkansas

Devakumar Sreevijayan

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Mar 15, 1994, 6:41:00 PM3/15/94

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Here are some more poems by Kunjunni Mash~. I have taken some
liberties with the way the lines are arranged for the sake of
better readability. The transliteration scheme I follow below
is my own and certainly not well thought out (and quite possibly
inconsistent to boot). I have introduced hyphens to make it easier
to decipher compound words. Tell me if it screws up the reading
rather than making it easier.

(Some clues: The name Nayanar is written n`AyanAr to distinguish between
n` and n. Then there is N of course, as in eNNa for oil and s` as in s`aram
for arrow.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

achan-ammayE pettu
amma-yennE pettu
njan-addEshyam kond-
avar-iruvareyum orumichu pettu.

ARAm divasam daivam
maNNal srishtichu martyanE
Ezham divasam martyan
kallAl daivatheyum tatha.

ithu njAn-ennorotta vara
ithil enikk-enne ezhuthAm
ente kaipadayil thanne

oru samAnthara vara
vannithor-iratta vara-yAyAl
pinne verum Copy-ezhuthu thanne
enteyum gathi.

enikkund-oru lOkam
n`inakkund-oru lOkam
n`amukk-illoru lOkam.

ku kazhinjAl nju
nju kazhinjal NNi
ku-vum nju-vum NNi-yum kazhinjal kunjuNNi
kunjuNNiyum kazhinjalO!

paNdu vishNu
innu vishANu.

uRangAn kidakkumbOl bhArya-bharthAkkanmAr
uRangi kidakkumbOzhO?

njAn poyE njAnam varU.

kuris`-Es`uvil-Es`umO?

kAlam kuRukki-eduppathallO kala.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last one succintly captures Kunjunni Mash's own art, I think.
The above are from my copy of 'Kunjunni Kavitha' published by Current Books.
Fifth edition, 1990.

Dev

P.S: I didn't realize that Kunjunni Mash~ knew Manu all that well. ;-)

Njan

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Mar 15, 1994, 11:32:01 PM3/15/94

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In article <2m5h2c$i...@huey.cc.utexas.edu>,
Devakumar Sreevijayan <devk...@huey.cc.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
>njAn poyE njAnam varU.

>
>Dev
>
>P.S: I didn't realize that Kunjunni Mash~ knew Manu all that well. ;-)

I think he really meant,

njAn poyI njAnavum poyI.

must be a typesetting error...

joseph

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Mar 16, 1994, 3:50:27 PM3/16/94

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In article <2m6241$l...@lace.Colorado.EDU>, ma...@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Njan) writes:
>Devakumar Sreevijayan <devk...@huey.cc.utexas.edu> wrote:
>>
>>njAn poyE njAnam varU.
>>
>>Dev
>>
>>P.S: I didn't realize that Kunjunni Mash~ knew Manu all that well. ;-)
>
>I think he really meant,
>
>njAn poyI njAnavum poyI.
>
>must be a typesetting error...
>

I thought he meant "Njaan Poayae Njaanam Varoo"
which means that only if you get rid of your
feeling of self-importance ("aham bhaavam") you
can become a wise (wo)man.

james joseph jos...@c3.crd.ge.com

Njan

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Mar 16, 1994, 7:26:15 PM3/16/94

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In article <CMrz8...@crdnns.crd.ge.com>,

joseph <jos...@emmax2.crd.ge.com> wrote:
>
> I thought he meant "Njaan Poayae Njaanam Varoo"
> which means that only if you get rid of your
> feeling of self-importance ("aham bhaavam") you
> can become a wise (wo)man.

no kidding! What will world be without interpreters for kunjunni-kavitha!

>james joseph jos...@c3.crd.ge.com