More on "Siledai"
Sornam Sankara
One can find verses of KaalamEgap Pulavar and many other poets (16-19
century) in any 'thanip paadal thirattu'.The best one seems to be the
one compiled by Pulavar Manickam, published by Manivasagar Nilayam,
Chidambaram.
KaalamEgam wrote 'cilEdai's on many pairs like, 'paambu-eL',
'civan-thEngaai','thirumaal-kaikadigaaram (watch)', 'panaimaram-vEsi
(prostitute)' and also wrote many verses with juggling words like numbers,
alphabets, measures (units), names etc.
eg.
sankararkkumaaruthalai sanmugarkkumaruthalai
ainkararkkumaaruthalai
sangaip pidiththOrkkumaaruthalai
Piththa, nin patham pidiththorkkumaruthalippaar !
(dont remember fully..)
Meaning:
sankararkkum aaru thalai - sivan has aaru (gangai) on his head
sanmugarkkum aaru thalai - karthigeyan has six heads
ainkararkku maaruthalai - vinaayakar has maaru thalai - different
sangaip pidithOr = Thirumal sleeping with his head on the banks of Cauvery
river in Srirangam - aaru thalai
The last line is supposed mean that those who surrender to these Gods
should get 'aarudhal'.
He has written many sarcastic verses also.
The two which remember are:
1) kaarenRu pEr padaiththaai kaganaththuRum pOdhu
neerenRu pEr padaiththaai neduntharaiyil vandhathin pin
vaaroru menmulai aaychiyar kai vandhathin pin
mOrenRu pEr padaiththaai muppErum peRRaayE
meaning:
When you reside in the sky you have the name 'kaar' - mazhai - rain
When you come down to earth your name is 'neer' - water
When you reach the hands of this lady your name is 'mOr' - buttermilk.
So you got the three names.
This is to tease a buttermilk vendor and means her buttermilk is nothing
but water.
2)
kaththum kadal chUzh naagai kaaththaan caththiraththil
aththamikkum pOdhil arici varum - kuththi
ulaiyilida ooradangum Oragappai annam
ilaiyilada veLLi ezhum
meaning:
At Kaaththaan chaththiram (inn) on the roaring shore of naagappattinam
the paddy (rice) will arrive when the sun sets.
When the pounded rice is cooked the whole village (or town) will go `sleep
When a scoop of rice is served it will be early morning.
May be there were no fast food restaurants in Nagapatnam those days.
M. Sundaramoorthy
sun...@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu
A few more
==========
1. Kadigaimuthuppulavar
Kadigai muthup pulavar was also a well known Siledai poet of the beginning of
this century. Once he was carrying a big bundle of materials meant for his
wife's death anniversary. Seeing him going in the hot sun with the headload,
somebody asked him why did he carry that in the sun. Immediately he quipped
with a siledai as "Thalaivithivasam".
Two meanings
Thalaivi thivasam = wife's death anniversary
Thalai vithi vasam = it is all my fate !
When he was about to die, all his close relatives were with him. It was a
custom, when people know that somebody is going to die after illness or age
during the last stage, everyone close to him will soak a cloth in milk and pour
the milk in the mouth of the dying person. If the milk tastes sweet and if
he swallows it w/o any problems, he will go to heaven. If the milk is bitter,
he will not reach heaven.
When this was done with our Pulavar, he immediatly spit the milk out.
Everyone was worried about it and started whispering something. Then he
reacted in Siledai, " paalum kasakka villai; thuniyum kasakka villai".
(meaning: milk is not bitter; the cloth is also not washed properly).
2. Irattaippulavar:
Two poets, one of them was blind and the second one was handicapped and cannot
walk. But they were very good in poetry and siledai. I forgot the names. May
be someone may remember. The blind poet used to carry the handicapped poet on
his shoulders and the blind will walk with the guidance of the handicapped
poet. They were travelling various places and composed many poems in Tamil.
One Siledai from them,
mukkalukkeha mun, munnaraiyil veezha mun
^^^^^^^ ^^^^
akkalaraikkal kandu anja mun, Vikki iruma mun
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^
mahaNikkeha mun, .....
^^^^^^
one should visit the temple of Ekambara Nathar.
Meaning:
--------
mukkal, arai, araikkal, iruma and mahani all represent various measures
3/4, 1/2, 1/8, 2/16, 1/16 respectively. But the meaning of the poem is
different. It is as follows,
mukkalukkeha mun = moontru kalhalukku eha mun = before going to the
stage of three legs
munnaraiyil veezha mun = mun naraiyil vaazha mun = before the frontal hair
become white
akkalarikkandu anja mun = kalar (one of the three, eman, kalan and
thoodhan who come to take away the life) =
before fearing of Kalar
vikki iruma mun = before coughing to die
mahaNikku eha mun = before going a piece of land for burial
(ma kani = periya kani nilam)
Before all these things happen, one should worship Ekabara Nathar in his
temple.
Similarly poems like " Pon aa varai ilai kai poo" etc are nice examaples for
siledai.
S. Sankarapandi
Ramesh Vaidhyanathan
I remember reading a song by Barathiyar in which "Siledai" was
used beatifully. When Barathiyar was young, he was asked to
write a poem which ends with the line,"Barathi Chinnap Payal"
(meaning: Barathi is a cheap guy!) by a person named
"Ganthimathinathan" who was jealous of Barathiyar.
Barathiyar accepted the task and wrote a poem (I don't remember
the complete verse) which ends like this:
Karathupol Nenjirunda Ganthimathinathanaip "Par Athi Chinnap Payal"!
meaning:
"Look at this guy Ganthimathinathan with his heart as dark as the
clouds in the sky - very cheap guy!"
-Ramesh Vaidhyanathan.
Asokan
>From: M. Sundaramoorthy <sun...@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu (M. Sundaramoorthy)>
This reminds me of an alleged encounter between the poet
ottakkooththar and the poetess auvaiyaar. ottakkooththar
is often portrayed as the "bad guy". As the story goes,
once ottakkooththar wanted to address auvaiyaar using the
prefix "adi", which is normally reserved for females
who are "below" one's stature or females who are very
close. auvaiyaar was neither of these to ottakkooththar.
So, he resorted to silEdai. They encountered a plant
called "aarai" which simply had four leaves and a base.
ottakkoothar posed the following riddle:
naalilaip pandhaladi
which breaks down to "nalu + ilai + pandhal + adi" and
could be interpreted as "A pandhal of four leaves [and a] base" or
"A pandhal of four leaves, *adi*". Thus ottakkoothar managed to
address auvaiyaar with the prefix "adi", in a subtle manner
without breaking protocol. Undaunted, auvaiyar replied,
rather generously, in kind:
ettEkaal latchaNamE EmanERum pariyE
mattil periyammai vaakanamE - muttamER
kooraiyillaa veetE
aaraiyadaa chonnayadhu
In Tamil, the numbers eight and quarter are represented by
the letters "a" and "va". "ettEkaal latchaNam" is therefore
"avalatchaNam"(ugly). Eman = yaman; pari = horse = vehicle;
"EmanErum pari" is therefore erumai(buffalo), the vehicle of Yama.
I am not sure what is the vaakanam (vehicle) of periyammai (another deity).
I think it is a donkey. "muttamER koorayillaa veetu" means "a house
without a roof on top", a rather unflattering reference. The last
line which breaks down to "aarai + adaa + chonnay + adhu",
could be interpreted as "it is the *aarai* that you referred to
thus" or as "who did you address thus?" (aar = who)
All of this is from memory. The exact words in the exchange
may be different from what I have written. But I think the
gist is the same.
kaNNadhaasan's also made good use of wordplay. I am reminded
of a song that had the following sentence:
"malaith thEn enReNNi malaiththEn"
Regards,
- Asokan
neelakanta sundaresan
>In article <1992Jun22.0...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> ssan...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Sornam Sankara) writes:
Does anybody know what "oTTakkootthan pATTukku ireTTaiTh ThAzhpAL"
means?
Also "tila kATTa makida bandhanam"
I know that the latter term was used by kambar to defeat ottakkootthar
in one of their encounters...
Neel.
Suresh Srinivas
> Also "tila kATTa makida bandhanam"
>
> I know that the latter term was used by kambar to defeat ottakkootthar
>in one of their encounters...
I remember a sanskritized version of the above (which involved a
court jester and a poet). It's quite possible to have a tamil folklorish
variant.
The story goes as follows:
A learned poet comes to the court of a king and challenges the poets
and the scholars in the kings court. The court poets and scholars fare
miserably against him. The poet then gives an ultimatum to the king
that he has to surrender his kingdom (or some such similar thing) if
no one defeats him.
The king then calls upon the jester to come up with something and the
next day the jester comes to the court with a bundle in his hand
wrapped in a silk cloth. The poet asks him what he has in his hand.
The jester replies "Tila kashta mahisha bandhanam". The poet thinks it
is some book he hasnt heard and asks for time till the next day to
answer questions. He promptly packs up that night and leaves thinking
he might be defeated.
The king is very happy and curious too. He asks the jester about this
unknown book. The jester replies that it isnt a book but is a bundle
of sticks (kashta?) that is tied with a rope used for tying a buffalo
(mahisha bandhanam) (the translation is very accurate, my sanskrit is
rusty!).
--Suresh
Ps: The names of the king, jester and poet escapes me at this point.
Ramana Idury
>> Also "tila kATTa makida bandhanam"
>The story goes as follows:
>
>The king is very happy and curious too. He asks the jester about this
>unknown book. The jester replies that it isnt a book but is a bundle
>of sticks (kashta?) that is tied with a rope used for tying a buffalo
>(mahisha bandhanam) (the translation is very accurate, my sanskrit is
>rusty!).
>
>--Suresh
>
>Ps: The names of the king, jester and poet escapes me at this point.
We have the same version of the story in Telugu too. The king is Sri
Krishna Devaraya, and the jester is Tenali Ramakrishna. I believe he is
popular in Tamil too as Tenali Raman. The translation is correct but
not complete. The word 'Thila' means sesame seeds. The jester carries
sesame seeds, sticks and a rope. I don't remember the name of the poet
though.
-- Ramana
Asokan
[...]
>Undaunted, auvaiyar replied, rather generously, in kind:
> ettEkaal latchaNamE EmanERum pariyE
> mattil periyammai vaakanamE - muttamER
> kooraiyillaa veetE
> aaraiyadaa chonnayadhu
I remembered one piece that I missed:
ettEkaal latchaNamE EmanERum pariyE
mattil periyammai vaakanamE - muttamER
kooraiyillaa veetE kularaaman RoodhuvanE
aaraiyadaa chonnayadhu
Now it looks more like a veNpa...I hope this is complete.
kularaaman RoodhuvanE = kularaaman + thoodhuvanE
= the messenger of Rama
= Hanuman
= monkey
That is a choice list of insults: ugly, buffalo, donkey(?), roofless house
and monkey.
While at it, does anyone know the rules for the forms of
various types of traditional verse(marapuk kavithai)?
From observation (both in English and in Tamil) it seems
as if the rules do not specify anything about the contents,
but merely the syntax and meter etc. Is that always true?
I am particularly interested in "akaval". What is the
precise definition of an "akaval"?
Regards,
- Asokan
neelakanta sundaresan
I am not sure if I am answering the right question,
thirukkural is a 2-liner with the first line consisting of 4 words and
the second line of 3 words.
In abhirami andadi has it that the last word of every verse should be
the first word of the following one ...
Olagappan Manickam
The article below is written using the ADAMI transliteration
scheme (well, more or less!). A translation is at the end.
______________________________________________________________
auvaiyaar kambanaich chaadiyathu
--------------------------------
oru kaalaththup pulavargalaana auvaiyaar,kambar,ottakoothar,
pughazhEnNthiyai vaiththu pala kathaigaL undu. uthaaranath-
thirkku - "naalilaip panNthaladi","ottakoothan paattukku
irattaith thaazhpaaL". avaigalOdu ithuvum ondru.
**auvaiyO Ezhai naadOdip pulavar. kambanO selvaththil mithakkum
arasavaip pulavan. Chozha mannanin (kuzhOthungan?) aatharuvu
petravan. Chozha mannan "ivanai velluvadharkku aaLillai" endru
kambanaip perithaagap pugazhthaanaam. ithanai virumbaatha auvai
intha venbaavaip paadiyathaagak kathai.
viragar iruvar pugazhnthidavE vEndum
viral niraya mOthirangal vEndum - araiyathanil
paNYchEnum pattEnum vEndum avar kavithai
naNYchEnum vEmbEnum nandru
- ula. manickam -
______________________________________________________________
**Auvaiyaar was a poor wandering poet while Kamban was floating in
wealth. Kamban was patronized by the Chola king (Kulothungan?) and
served in the king's court. The story goes that the king praised
Kamban as the unbeatable and in disgust Auvai sang the above verse.
A rough translation of the verse is as follows:
a bunch of cheats (viragar) should praise him; expensive rings
(mOthirangal) should cover his fingers; Cotton (paNYchu) and
silk (pattu) clothes should adorn his waist (arai); then his
poems(kavithai), be they as bitter as the poison (naNYchu) or
the neem (vEmbu), are the best!