Kudinilaiyuraittal

Picture courtesy: http://www.flickr.com

Rather than praising the King or the Chief, this subgenre praises the antiquity and valour of the subject, and why he must be singled out for special honours. Elaborating the situation further, a commentator says that this poem belonging to Karandai Tinai, has the recovery of cattle stolen by the enemy king as its theme. It is customary on the part of the King to offer a grand feast to the battle-scarred soldiers who would accompany him, a theme which went by the name Undaattu. The king meets his soldiers face to face and Avvaiyar was part of the royal retinue and performed the introductions to the King. To the exceptional soldier, the King offered toddy from a bowl of gold. This becomes the stuff of the poem composed by this famous woman poet, Avvaiyar.

Offer the toddy to this man
before you dine O Chief,
fighter of angry wars with tuskers
and well-crafted chariots.
His father’s father, standing unblinking
in the battle like the hub of a wheel
made by the carpenter,
received the spears
meant for your father’s father and perished.
This man, who has his famed valour,
will also shield you from the spear aimed at you,
lord, like the palm-leaf umbrella
sheltering us from rain! (Purananuru: 290)

Tinai: Karandai Turai: Kudinilaiyuraittal

Avvaiyar, portrayed always as an elderly woman poet, must have seen generations of kings and chieftains ruling and dying, though her own favourite was Adhiyaman Neduman. As she outlived many of them, she must have known various generations of kings and the trusted soldiers they went around with. And this poem is proof of this encyclopaedic knowledge which she uses on occasions like this with telling effect. She is bold enough to tell the King to offer the drink to the soldier before he himself eats, a liberty permitted only to poets and bards.