Poet Maharasan's 'Words Sprouted in the Land' after receiving good attention in Tamil, now translated into English by the translator Padma Amarnaath. we can say that the translator was fair enough in her work of translation as she has made the piece of literary work as a memorable one with her splendid talent of translation.
All the fifty five poems in the text, originally written in tamil language are truly based on the land of this people who inherited this land with all its ancient civilization and with all its superior culture. To these people this land is the very important factor from which only all the branches of creation emerged out in the society.
Before entering in to Maharasan’s poetry we must make ourselves familiar with the Sangam Tamil literature to understand the core of his poems. People in this ancient soil categorized this land as Thinai and Pozhuthu. This is called the Mudharporul, the base of sangam literature. There are five Thinais in sangam literature called Kurinji (mountainous regions), Mullai (pastoral forests), Marutham (riverine agricultural land), Neithal (coastal regions), and Paalai (arid regions).
As well as we must know about the Perumpozhudhu sufficiently because this is perumpozhudhu denotes the season in the Sangam Tamil literatue. During the perumpozhudhu seasons only the poetic events occur in Marutham thinai. Thus this perumpozhudhu is divided in to six periods, respectively called Kulir kaalam, Kaar kaalam, Munpani kaalam, Pin pani kaalam, Ilavenir kaalam and Mudhuvenir kaalam.
These Thinai and Pozhuthu are very important factors in sangam literature with which one could easily identify the life, economy and the profession of the native people.
So, the land and time are called the Mudharporul in sangam tamil literature. Apart from these there are other two aspects which are included in the sangam literature to understand the core of the verses.
They are called as Karupporul and Uripporul. The people, animals, birds, plants, music and musical instruments and God are called Karuporul meaning the gist or the lives of the Thinai.
The subject of the poems is called the Uripporul, meaning the base characteristic of the poems. Hence in Marutham thinai, the infidelity of the hero and the resentment of the heroine is the Uriporul.
The primary objects and secondary objects are well interwined in sangam literature in Tamil. Before read any poem one should be thoroughly aware of all thes descriptions. Each Thinai has unique feature of its own.
In a broad way the sangam literature was divided in to two major catagories respectively Aham (Inner) and Puram (Outer).
Aham (Inner): It is a type of Sangam literature in which the abstract discussion on human aspects is done. It signifies emotions and sentiments in the form of love, sexual relations, sensuality, etc. Aham poetry has additional categories, such as Ain-tinai (mutual love), Kaikkilai (one-sided love) and Perunthinai (unsuited love). Aham poetry uses metaphors and imagery.
Puram (Outer): It is a type of Sangam literature related to exploits and heroic achievements in the form of Human experiences. Puram is a direct form of poetry. It signifies heroism, customs, social life, ethics, philanthropy, etc. About three-fourths of Sangam poetry is Aham-themed, while one-fourth is Puram-themed. Puram poetry also has categories based on activities like Vetchi (cattle raid), Vanchi (war preparation), Kaanchi (tragedy) and Paataan (elegy and praise) etc. Puram poetry is more direct and includes names and places.
Maharasan's poems sings all these five Thinais in the modern context in the modern form. Even though he depicts all the five Thinais in day to day life, he gives much importance to Marutham thinai. Marutham thinai refers to the paddy fields and adjoining lands. It gets its name from the flowering Marutham tree which grows in farmlands. The people once living in this land were involving in agriculture.
People worked in fields, sowing, weeding and cultivating. The occupation of the people is mainly agricultural. Water buffalo, crocodiles, crabs, lotus, water lilies, herons, fish, pelicans live in the agricultural lands and they find their place rightly in Marutham thinai poems. Water bodies such as wells, ponds, rivers and streams could be seen in marutham land. Vanji, Kanji and Marutham trees grows here. These make the karuporul of marutham thinai poems.
Maharasan comes in the same heretity as he never forgets to record all these features in his poem in the modern time. He carefully gives us the present reality that how far we people are diverted from this blessed life. The people of this heredity, today has almost, lost the legacy handed over to them by their forefathers. They should have inherited all these possessions from their forefathers.
The unforgettable pain that aches his heart is poignantly reflected in every poem. The success of his being a poet is well reflected in this aspect. He is also able to transcend the same feelings to the readers. He begins as
Words, soaked and flowing like liquid,
nurture the land, helping it grow green.
Like a pregnant woman
bearing a child in her womb,
words carry soul
that caresses the land.
To him a word is not a mere tool for doing mere communication. He posses it as a child that carry the breath of its mother. Nothing could escape from his searching eye when he begins to depict the present nature in his poem.
A small plant seen beneath a temple tower called his attention and he immediately describes
beneath the temple tower’s shadow,
the fig plant remains spying.
The fig plant might be a mere plant or it might also be your good old culture. Because at present no one comes forward to save a race which was so superior in knowledge and civilization once upon a time. He writes
Within the sanctum,
the hidden God
as always and even now,
has no plans to step out.
My village‘s sacred folk history
remains unwritten till lost. (verse 2) It kindles the pathos of the present time. When you forget a village to focus, quite naturally you forget your own civilization.
Another remarkable aspect of this poet is he always reminds us the good old days of good old Tamil race which was so superior in its state once upon a time in the world.
There is an inseperable umblical cord that binds Tamilians and Srilankan Tamils together. The brutal killing of the innocent child Balachandran was poignantly depicted in a poem that the small boy's last breathing portrayed by the poet arise uncontrollable pathos in the readers hearts.
When you read these four lines you can definitely come to conclusion that how worst the world is going now in the name of racism.
Aware of his fate of getting killed,
he sits on the altar of racism,
innocently gazing,
Balachandran’s eyes wander unknowingly. (verse 7)
In the good old past, on the mountains of Kurinchi thinai, a well disciplined communal society was built up by our ancestors and that lasted for a long time. It taught the world the real civilization, humanism and the legacy of nature.
Like a deep green tent,
The Mountain mother lies stretched out,
her human children
were sent down gradually.
In the tribe’s land, the immigrants
claimed the forest as their own,
asending slowly step by step (verse 11)
This is how the native of the people were sent away from their lands by the immigrants once upon a time.
Again and again the poet concentrates on depicting the lives of poor people. They are giving their utmost labour in the field but in return gaining nothing as profit in a modern society like this.
We cannot cross them without feeling much guilty conscience. For example in the 18th poem the opening lines begin like this
Faded labour,
innocent lives
and green - hued lands
now resemble tattered clothes,
worn out and decayed.
Similarly in 20th poem a poignant picture of peasant life is captured.
Once who laboured to feed the world,
now stand as a crowd
begging with hands stretched.
for one mouthful of food,
the land was humiliated.
Above all in verse number 21, the poet finishes his lines like this
All faith once held on the land
by this entire clan and crowd,
suffer and die now, on that same land.
Such is the destiny,
this crowd has bought.
The unending pathos continues in the following lines when he writes like this
Hands once filled
with sweet -scented paddy grains,
generously given and donated,
now beg for a grain of cooked rice. (verse 22)
When he describes about the paddy fields, we feel an immense pleasure piercing through our hearts. Because it reminds us the good old days of our people. As everything is gone now, we could see the ashes of the dream only now. In 27th poem he finishes the last Stanza as
In paddy grains and spoken words
she lived like a folklore epic in the village-
the farmer woman, now buried in the soil.
Had she seen today's barren lands,
her heart would ache and weep at this fate.
Similary in verse number 28th the poet’s heart is longing for the land to be cultivated for it’s own pleasure.
The dry rugged lands,
never touched by the plough’s share
yearn for furrows,
lying barren with dry, sticky grass. (verse 29)
Whether it is love or lust our life is chiefly associated with the land in which we are leading our lives. With out seeing the shadows of the Nature, one cannot imagine Maharasan’s poetry ever existed on the text.
The memories of heart is floating over in day to day life as it is well picturised in the opening lines of poem number 31.
The memories of milky white morning,
bursts in summer
like Kapok cotton,
basking in sunlight,
drifting in a gentle breeze
and roams through.
The ecstacy of praising Nature continues in the next poem also as he captures a scene in the sunlight in the morning.
Bathing in sunlight
and smeared with turmeric
the dry brown leaves
swim drifting in the air
arrive, kissing the soil
as they fall to the ground beneath the tree. (verse 32)
The pain that aching them cannot be felt every one as they feel because they are given the life with the agriculture.
Amidst the mushy land, heat and rain
only the rolling and toiling farmers
could feel the sorrow and pain
of losing their land
and witnessing their plants die (verse 35)
A few poems only could go away from the traditional track of this line and they too give us remarkable pleasure.
When he writes in poem number 37 and in poem 53 like this we are able to enterin to a different show of urban culture.
All the empty cups
get marked with lip prints,
heaping tea’s philosophy.
Lingering dreams
flow like pleading imaginations,
stay awake,yet untouched by sleep.
The Neithal thinai (about sea) is well expressed in the following lines in the poem 41.
Foaminng with the sounds of the tide,
she tunes and sings
a lullaby of life,
smiling always-
the sea mother.
If we start to quote the favourite lines they are so close to our hearts, then we will start to quote all the lines of the text. But before closing it reasonably, we should not forget to quote the ending lines of this text in poem 55.
The life blooming
with weight of wings
and scent of blossoms
remain sweet forever.
So I can say that the weight of Maharasan’s words, the aesthetic creation of its blossoms get mingled in our memories and remain there more sweeter for a long long time there.
Equally I am bound to appreciate the translator Padma Amarnaath for her extra ordinary effort for getting this remarkable translation.
Those readers who have the fortune of reading both the original text in tamil and its translation in English will definitly feel that all the literary devices of original text have been well translated in English along with its literary taste. I wish her to have a bright future as a talented translator.
Here again I appreciate poet Maharasan whole heratedlly and wish him to get a tremendous success for this creation in both languages.
With love, Thanges,
Writer & translator.
*
WORDS SPROUTED IN THE LAND,
Author: MAHARASAN,
Translated from Tamil by:
PADMA AMARNAATH,
First Edition, January 2025, Pages 120,
Rs. 100/-
Published by:
YAAPPU VELIYEEDU,
Chennai - 600076,
Cell: 9080514506.
