200

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

And Chola-land the fairest land On all the earth's broad breast :— And of all women

Shortly afterwards the poetess Auveiyar visited Chilambi, and found the poor girl in tears. She told the poetess of her sorrow— how she had given Kamban nearly a thousand rupees, and the poet had scribbled an unfinished stanza in charcoal on the wall, and had hastily left her. Upon hearing this Auveiyar rose up, and finished the stanza as follows:– Ambar Silambi

Yaravinta tälaniyum Sempot silambé Silambul

[July 5, 1872.

between the stately peacock and the strutting turkey-cock. It has been pointed out that the turkey was introduced into India by the Portu

guese about three hundred years ago.f Auveiyar, the reputed sister of Tiruvalluvar, obviously could not have penned the stanza in question.

But on this ground, and it really appears to me on this ground only, some scholars of great learning and undoubted critical acumen, have refused to accredit Auveiyar with the authorship of any portion of the poem containing the stanza.

A defence has lately been set up, in the

assertion that by “Vankoli” Auveiyar meant a pea-hen; but nowhere in classic literature is a pea-hen so denominated. The safest explanation is to reject the stanza as a spurious interpola

—Chilambi tion.

Of Ambel is most sweet,_ And the best of golden anklets

Yet it must be allowed that if the stanza

be a spurious one it is a marvellous imitation

of Auveiyar's style.

In the third line a trick

Those on her lotus-feet !

of alliteration, very frequent in the verses of

Auveiyar for these lines would receive nothing but a little rice-water, to assuage her thirst. And to the present day the poetess goes by the name of Külukkupadi, i.e., “She who sang for some rice-water.””

One of the most popular poems in Tamil is the Mudurei. It is perhaps the most wonderful

Auveiyar, is skilfully adopted. Pollä siragei viritt'—Adinal pá'umé. The alliteration which, as the stanza is in

the Venbā metre, should occur at the first syllable of Adinal is kept in suspension till the

last word is reached, without the ear being offended.

collection of fine similes, within a small compass,

But even if it be allowed that the Mudurei is

in any language. The diction is plain, pure, and extremely beautiful. It has all the marks about it of having been composed by the au

not the work of Auveiyar, it does not affect the

thoress of the Nalvali and the Kondreivendan. Indeed the internal evidence in favour of this

is extremely strong. The phraseology, the rhythmic flow, the copious use of similes and metaphors, all point to her as its author. But there is one stanza in the Müdurei which could

not possibly have been written by Auveiyar, viz., the one beginning :—

main question at issue. Whoever wrote it, and nothwithstanding that it is but a short poem, it occupies a foremost place in Tamil

literature as a composition dear to every Tami lian. It is full of the brightest of Oriental thoughts, conveyed in language at once chaste and highly elegant, and on this account it is perhaps more frequently quoted than any other Tamil writing. I beg the reader carefully to

“Kānamayilada, kandirunta Vänkoli,” &c.

weigh the following five stanzas from the Mū durei, which, I think, must commend themselves

In this stanza a comparison is instituted

widely to the general English taste :-

Siriar kettàlum siriyar siriyaré

Gold vessels, broken, still as gold we prize,

Allātār kettālum enāgum ? Siriya Ponnin kudamudeintal ponnāgum : enágum

And wise men in adversity are wise:

Mannin kudam udeintakkal?

But worthless men, when ruined, what are they Vessels of clay, when broken, are but clay !

Nellukk' ireitta nir väykkal valiyodi Pullukkum angé pusiumām. Tol uligil

When the tank's water to the rice field flows, It feeds the grass which by its channel grows:

Nallar oruvar eruntal avar porutt' Ellarukkum peyyum malei.

Thus for the sake of one good man, on all

In this old world, the gracious rain-drops fall.

• The story is a mere myth. Auveiyar could not possibly have met Kamban, who probably flourished a

t Wide Dr. Caldwell's Dravidian Grammar, p.

centuries after her.

couple of 87.