a translation of one of the many poems that celebrate this shade of the Kaurava prince. for a beautiful tamil original (in english script), go here. the others bear with me:
~~
the disease of suspicion-
is never in my being.
for I am a king who can respect
the friendship that flowers
between a man and a woman.
my friend must have arrived,
looking for me,
my wife must be attending,
with a smiling face.
what could the two be talking,
all this while.
what could they be doing,
all this time.
no such worries,
trouble my heart,
with a pace as steady
as my mind,
I walk back home
to find them both.
entering my palace,
a scene I see,
strange as one,
ever can be.
in my friend's grasp,
is my wife.
a broken chain
is spilling its pearls.
how well the wise spoke:
"all that you see,
is but a lie.
and all that you hear,
is mere falsehood."
but how do I tell them,
of what I have gleaned?
by speaking too much,
I would be a boast.
and by speaking none,
confusion would reign.
All I need are two words,
to put them at ease.
the pearls don't still,
for the king's crown,
the pearls call upon,
laughing on the floor.
to pick them up is quite easy,
it doesn't call for much sense.
to string them is a little harder,
calling for untiring attention.
without merely collecting,
I can string them as well.
tell me, my beautiful wife,
tell me, my dearest friend,
"should I pick them up,
or string them as well?"
~~
"edukkavo, kokkavo?"
Saturday, 19 June 2010
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13 comments:
Thanks for the link and for the tamil version in english script. I am not too good with tamil, but this was really good.
The Karnan-Duryodhanan relationship is beautiful, but I have never come across this aspect.
btw, what does "negiztha" mean? Putting at ease?
Hi,
Thank you for this. I have read it and it is really intriguing. I have never come across this before. Duryodhan is shown in a completely different light and I wonder at it. You know how he comes across with respect to Draupadi.Of course, he gave Karan a lot of respect. I am wondering, despite that, what allowed him to be so 'understanding' of this relationship between his wife and Karan, or am I reading this wrong? I wish you would post more of such related stuff, one would be able to understand the different aspects of the heroes and villains of the Mahabharta. This particular poem is so intriguing, and I think the last two lines especially,since they can mean many things, depending on the tone used to speak.Don't you think so?
Hi,
Thank you for this. I have read it and it is really intriguing. I have never come across this before. Duryodhan is shown in a completely different light and I wonder at it. You know how he comes across with respect to Draupadi.Of course, he gave Karan a lot of respect. I am wondering, despite that, what allowed him to be so 'understanding' of this relationship between his wife and Karan, or am I reading this wrong? I wish you would post more of such related stuff, one would be able to understand the different aspects of the heroes and villains of the Mahabharta. This particular poem is so intriguing, and I think the last two lines especially,since they can mean many things, depending on the tone used to speak.Don't you think so?
Duryodhana may not have been imaged as so evil had Puneet Issar not played him
@ L:
thanks L. and that was the closest I could think of negiztha. my dictionary failed me.
@abha: thanks abha, for reading it. and yes, the last two lines can be interpreted in so many ways. let your poet's pen speak many such ideas.
as for being "understanding", I would put it to his trust in Karna, who had by then proved his unswerving devotion many times. Whether duryodhan trusted bhanumathi that much could still be debated. :)
@ pesto: hey pesto! what a cheerful name!
thanks for stopping by... and yeah, puneet issar etched duryodhan's evilness for us. :) :)
that was fantastic reading. :-) reinforces my belief that most villains rock. :-D and yes - seems better than Rama, and wittier, too. I feel proud to be able to read Tamizh.
Thanks
@vidya:
cheers man! good for you!
I can read tamil, but I would take months if I attempted a book.
It felt very stupid when I had to read Kalki in english... but then, there I am. :(
Feels better to see someone in the same boat. I regret those summer vacations when as a child ,I dodged my mother trying to make me learn Tamizh.... and yes felt silly reading Ponniyin Selvan in English, but the translation was seamless and felt like it was an original piece.
@L:
yeah... :)
I loved the translation too... I used to read it in between shoots, where I was crew. LOL :D :D
that gripping, it used to be... imagine, what we would have then done if had actually read it in tamil with kalki's genius writing... stopped breathing I suppose. :) :)
That's just so beautiful. Karna is my favourite character and i somehow have never hated duryodhan because what he did was human. The pandavas don't have the right to be good and he shouldnt be evil as everybody did what was good for them. Duryodhan was a reat king and a good friend. And that counts for a lot. I want to read more about them. Can you help me?...love your blog by the way!...do see mine if you get the time!
by the way...my blog is called
http://conversationswithoutborders.blogspot.com/
hey aastha,
thank you so much!!
you know, I was just wondering if I am any good... and reading your comments at that moment felt really good. :-) :-)
I will check your blog.
cheers,
~window siller :-)
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