- Tamils - a Trans State Nation. 'To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise!' - Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C.
- Two prominent translators present the first complete English-language edition of one of India's greatest works of classical literature: the Purananuru. This anthology of four hundred poems by more than 150 poets between the first and third centuries CE in old Tamil—the literary language of ancient Tamilnadu—was composed before Aryan influence had penetrated the south.
Purananuru Poems In Tamil With Meaning Dictionary
Puranaanooru – 187
Inhabited at some places, deserted at others,
depressed at some places, raised at others;
wherever your men are good,
Blessed land, you are good too.
நாடா கொன்றோ காடா கொன்றோ
அவலா கொன்றோ மிசையா கொன்றோ
எவ்வழி நல்லவ ராடவர்
அவ்வழி நல்லை வாழிய நிலனே.
They are called Sangam Tamil works. Though Tamils are banned from using ‘SA’ beginning words tSangam Age Tamil scholars used the Sanskrit word ‘Sangam’. Tamils used it to mean academy and assembly of poets. Of the 18 Sangam works the most important book is Purananuru, part of Eight Anthologies. Other ten works are made into a separate book.
Purananuru Poems In Tamil With Meaning Tamil
This poem by Avvayar, written around 2000 years ago, says that a land doesn’t have any innate characteristic of its own. It is as good as its citizens are. She says to the land – You are a settlement (inhabited) at some places, a forest (deserted) at others; depressed at some places, raised at others. You don’t have any defining characteristic. You are as good as the citizens who occupy you are.
I have chosen to use inhabited / deserted instead of the literal meaning country/forest for ease of understanding in English.