While translating the popular poem "Yayum Gyayum Yaaraakiyaro" from Kurunthogai, a Sangam period work, Thangappa uses a lucid language and brings the poetic beauty as it is in his translation for a foreign reader. The verse describes how the hearts of a romantic couple, who are no kin to each other, mingle at once by love.
The late M.L. Thangappa (March 8, 1934 – May 31, 2018 ), a bi-lingual poet, translator, and recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award, used to recite poems by heart from the ancient corpus of Sangam literature even while he was a boy. Such a passion and practice of the poet for Sangam lyrics, later, led him to render them into English. His book Love Stands Alone, a selection from Sangam Tamil poetry, was published by the reputable Penguin Classics. The unique work is a gateway for western readers to admire the beauty of ancient Tamil poetry.
Noted author and historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy, who is a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, was instrumental in getting Thangappa’s work published by the reputable Penguin Books. More importantly, Venkatachalapathy’s detailed foreword for Love Stands Alone serves as a guide for a western reader to know the historical, literary, and linguistic backgrounds of Sangam poetry.
“Thangappa’s understanding of the Sangam poems is more intuitive than erudite. He was also a nature enthusiast who bicycled long distances and could identify many a flower and plant by Sangam nomenclature” says Venkatachalapathy in his foreword to the book.
On the uniqueness of Thangappa’s translation of Sangam poems, Venkatachalapathy notes:
“It has been said that great works of literature should be translated anew for every generation. In a manner of speaking, Thangappa has done that himself, revising his translations for every generation”
While translating the popular poem “Yayum Gyayum Yaaraakiyaro “from Kurunthogai, a Sangam period work, Thangappa uses a lucid language and brings the poetic beauty as it is in his translation for a foreign reader. The verse describes how the hearts of a romantic couple, who are no kin to each other, mingle at once by love. The appropriate simile, which the Sangam age poet used to describe the blend of the two hearts, is vivid in Thangappa’s translation,
Your mother and my mother
do not know each other.
Your father and my father
are not related either.
As for you and me,
How do we know each other?
And yet,
like the mingling of rainwater
with red soil,
our hearts have mingled
The lyrics in the corpus of Sangam literature were written as per the rules formulated in Tolkapiyam, the available, earliest treatise on Tamil grammar. Standing by the dicta of Tolkappiyam, the lyrics reflect their respective landscapes and the imagery associated with the landscapes.
For instance, how vivid the following poem with beautiful imagery, while a girl, who fears her lover's dalliance, speaks in the English translation of Thangappa
When my lover wedded me secretly,
there was no witness
but the cheat himself.
If he goes back on his pledge
what can I do?
But there stood a heron on slender, greenish legs
shaped like millet’s stem
looking for fish
in the shallow stream.
Noted author and historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy, who is a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, was instrumental in getting Thangappa’s work published by the reputable Penguin Books. More importantly, Venkatachalapathy’s detailed foreword for Love Stands Alone serves as a guide for a western reader to know the historical, literary, and linguistic backgrounds of Sangam poetry.
“Thangappa’s understanding of the Sangam poems is more intuitive than erudite. He was also a nature enthusiast who bicycled long distances and could identify many a flower and plant by Sangam nomenclature” says Venkatachalapathy in his foreword to the book.
On the uniqueness of Thangappa’s translation of Sangam poems, Venkatachalapathy notes:
“It has been said that great works of literature should be translated anew for every generation. In a manner of speaking, Thangappa has done that himself, revising his translations for every generation”
While translating the popular poem “Yayum Gyayum Yaaraakiyaro “from Kurunthogai, a Sangam period work, Thangappa uses a lucid language and brings the poetic beauty as it is in his translation for a foreign reader. The verse describes how the hearts of a romantic couple, who are no kin to each other, mingle at once by love. The appropriate simile, which the Sangam age poet used to describe the blend of the two hearts, is vivid in Thangappa’s translation,
Your mother and my mother
do not know each other.
Your father and my father
are not related either.
As for you and me,
How do we know each other?
And yet,
like the mingling of rainwater
with red soil,
our hearts have mingled
The lyrics in the corpus of Sangam literature were written as per the rules formulated in Tolkapiyam, the available, earliest treatise on Tamil grammar. Standing by the dicta of Tolkappiyam, the lyrics reflect their respective landscapes and the imagery associated with the landscapes.
For instance, how vivid the following poem with beautiful imagery, while a girl, who fears her lover's dalliance, speaks in the English translation of Thangappa
When my lover wedded me secretly,
there was no witness
but the cheat himself.
If he goes back on his pledge
what can I do?
But there stood a heron on slender, greenish legs
shaped like millet’s stem
looking for fish
in the shallow stream.