194 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIII, 



These two poems which I have now translated are a fair 

 sample of the short poems which were in vogue nearly 

 two thousand years ago in Tamil-land, and display great 

 powers of observation, and are well worth careful study 

 by students of Tamil literature. My translation can give no- 

 adequate idea of the rhythm and the terseness and felicity 

 of expression of the originals ; for, after all, the best prose 

 translation (which mine does not pretend to be) of a poem 

 can only " tell the story without the song." 



I. — KURINJIPPATTU. 



Mayest thou prosper, mother ! Pray, hear me with 

 patience. 



My lady, whose brilliant brow, soft hair, and lustrous 

 body were pre-eminent among women, is over-borne by a 

 grief that no medicine can cure, — so painful that I have till 

 now kept its cause from you. 



Seeing her beauty fade, and her limbs waste ; seeing too 

 that others have noticed her bracelets slipping off her wrists, 

 and that the desire for solitude is daily growing upon her T 

 then tossed in mind, not knowing the cause, thou didst seek 

 the help of soothsayers. 



Learning from them that her condition was due to the 

 malignant devas* prayers with incense and flowers didst 

 thou offer, and yet her health hath improved not, and thou 

 art still in sorrow, much perplexed. 



Jewels made of gold and set with pearls and rubies, lost 

 or tarnished, may yet be replaced, but when appropriate 

 action, loftiness of purpose, and the desire to act in confor- 

 mity with the prescribed modes of social life fail, the wise 

 declare that even the Devarishis^ have no power to prevent 

 the consequences. 



Transgressing the rare restraints placed by her father — - 

 possessor of stately chariots — forgetful of the duty to parents 

 and elders, which teacheth us to wait until they choose for 

 us husbands, she hath chosen for herself a lord. If I inform 

 thee, my mother, that this form of marriage, called gdn- 

 dharvam, is sanctioned of old as consistent with chastity and 

 modesty, shall I deserve blame ? Certainly not. Praise, I 

 think, will be my due. 



Thy daughter, unable to bear the distress of a concealed 

 love, timid-eyed, bereft of energy, and in bitter anguish, is 

 thus resolved : — 



* Devas, spirits. 



f Devarishi, a saint of the celestial class. 



