ABSTRACT
The classical Tamil Poetry, or the Cankam Literature, comprises two super-anthologies, Ettuttokai or ‘The Eight collections’ and Pattuppattu or ‘The Ten Songs’ and are broadly divided into akam and puram genres. These two sophisticated anthologies follow a system of conventions, codified by Tolkappiyam, the classical theory of literature. The akam/puram poetry are governed by tinai or settings, and porul or content. Translating cankam poetry is a severe challenge as it presents a kind of ‘second language’, due to the strict usage of conventions. Some of the translators are A.V. Subramaniam – Narrinai, J.V. Chelliah – Pattupattu, M. Shanmugam Pillai and David E. Ludden – Kuruntokai, A.K. Ramanujan – The Interior Landscape and Poems of Love and War, George Hart and Hank Heifetz – The Purananuru: Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom and a few others. All these authors have provided an Introduction, Notes, Translator’s Notes, and have identified the problems they encountered while translating. The present essay tries to show some of the variations in the translations especially those of the ‘inscapings’ or ullurai. In attempting translation of these most bewildering compositions, the translators create a ‘third language’.
