Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Year andha nilavu

A favourite of mine. This song is about a man who marries a blind girl who is waiting for the friend of the hero and hasn’t seen or heard him in ages. Due to some twist of fate, the friend is not able to make it back home and the hero is forced to meet her and she thinks it’s the friend, and he married her out of compulsion. 

Yaar andha nilavu

Yaen indha kanavu

Yaaro solla yaaro endru 

Yaaro vandha uravu 

Kaalam seiydha kolam 

Ingu naan vandha varavu


[It is customary for poets to equate women with the moon]

Who’s that moon (girl)?

Why this dream? 

Hearing (someone say it’s one person)

Seeing it’s someone else

Someone else (totally different, this new relationship) came (into my life)

It‘s the design (workings) of Time (ie: fate)

This, my being, here. 


Maalayum manjalum maariyadhe oru sodhanai 

Manjam nenjam maaruvadhe oru vedhnai 

Deiyvame yaaridam yaarai Nee thandhthayo? 

Un koil deepam maaruvadhai Nee ariyayo? 


[maalai refers to exchange of garlands at weddings, manjal is turmeric but refers to the ‘thali’ (a yellow thread with a traditional ornament) a woman wears at wedding that pronounces she is married]


The way the garland and turmeric changed was (cause for great) sorrow,

The change in the bed and the heart was (cause for) lamentation

Oh God, who did you give to whom? 

Don’t you know that the lamps in your temple have changed?


{Here the poet is using lamps in temple for people in a wedded life]


Aadiya naadagam mudiyavillai oru naalile

Angum ingum shanthi illai silar vaazhvile 

Deiyvame, yaaridam maedail nee nindrayo?

Indru yaarai yaaraai nerinile nee kandayo?


The play (we took part in) didn’t end in a day 

Here or there, there’s no peace in life for some (souls)

Oh God, whom did you stand next to on the stage (at the wedding?) 

Now who are you seeing in place of whom? 

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