Endless Song

by Nammalvar, Archana Venkatesan (Translator)

The Tiruvaymoli (sacred utterance or sacred truth) is a grand 1102-verse poem, composed in the ninth century by Sathakopan-Nammalvar, the greatest of the alvar poets. Ingeniously weaving a garland of words-where each beginning is also an ending-the poet traces his cyclical quest for union with the supreme lord, Visnu. In this magnificent translation, Archana Venkatesan transports the flavour and cadences of Tamil into English, capturing the different voices and range of emotions through which the poet expresses his enduring desire for release. The scholarly introduction illuminates the poem's kaleidoscopic brilliance and the traditions of devotional religiosity it inspired.

Genres: Poetry

528 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 17, 2020

Reviews

[Asterix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Archana Venkatesan's translation of this 1100 verse Tamil poem in praise of Vishnu is an unmitigated triumph. This masterpiece of ancient Tamil consists of 10 sets of 110 verses. Each of these sets is further divided into 10 groups of 11 verses. Each group is a mini-narrative of ecstatic devotion to Vishnu. The ancient author, Sathokapan-Nammalvar, is a master of poetic symmetry, linking the groups and sets in unexpectedly delightful ways.

I have always been skeptical of translated poetry, as poetry is inherently about meter and rhythm and sound, which gets lost in translation almost as a matter of course. But Venkatesan has rendered the Tiruvaymoli in an astonishingly compelling rendition. For example, take thess two verses, in which the narrator is a 'gopi,' a female devotee of Krishna:

My shoulders slender as bamboo droop
I grow thin and lonely, still
The pretty cuckoos and flocks of peacocks
Don't notice, but dance and coo.
You've gone to graze your cows,
A single day stretches into thousand aeons
Your lotus eyes cut me, still, Kanna,
You show no mercy.

Kanna, you show no mercy.
When you cupped my breasts, at your touch
Joy flooded crashing beyond the sky, drowning
Thought, washing over me. It ended in a dream.
Desire entered, entered every part of me
I cannot bear it. Don't leave.
Parting kills me. You go
To graze your cows. Don't.

Venkatesan does not make the mistake of translating the poem in an archaic style--she has the confidence to render the beauty of the original in a bold modern form. Take the following verse:

You've entered my breath,
Radiant light of wisdom
Filling the seven beautiful worlds.
My breath is yours
Your breath is mine
I can't describe how this is
I can't describe the way you are.

In addition to the poem itself, this edition contains extensive explanatory notes (helpful if you don't have much of a background in Hindu mythology) and an excellent introduction to orient yourself to the poem.

[Srilakshmi Kochiyil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely peerless rush of poetry.