Social media is generally panned for its negative effects on society. Though the criticism is often well deserved, there are instances when social media can catch you by surprise and even prove to be educative. One such handle, which is now increasingly getting noticed by Twitterati and has a following of 12,700, is all about Tamil poetry from earlier centuries.
Old Tamil Poetry, run by 43-year-old Chenthil Nathan, posts translations of Tamil poetry starting from the Sangam era. Usually one image long, these are snippets from anything ranging from Sangam literature to the more recent Thiruppavai. The tweets contain the original Tamil version and a translation of it in English for people who cannot understand the language.
First steps online
Chenthil took the plunge into the internet space with a personal blog in 2003. “I used to translate modern Tamil poetry in my blog on and off since 2003. It was very random,” he says. His efforts then shifted to translating the poems of Bharathiyar in 2007, when he completed nearly 20 of the revolutionary poet’s works in a separate blog.
“Now coming to think about it, from modern Tamil poetry, I was travelling backwards. From modern poetry, I went to Bharathiyar and then from there, my stop was Kamba Ramayanam. In 2012, I started translating Kamba Ramayanam. I translated about 100-120 poems from that,” he says. However, he had to shelve that project since it became monotonous.
The birth of Old Tamil Poetry on Twitter
Following the advice of his friend Lavanya Gopinath, Chenthil started the handle in February 2016, as a random project. “She showed a Twitter handle which posts translations of Greek and Latin phrases and poetry every day. The handle was run by a professor named Joel Christensen. Around that time, I was also reading Sangam literature and had translated a few poems from it,” he remembers.
Twitter’s character limit of 140 back then restricted Chenthil from posting the entire translation of the poems. Hence he experimented first with posting the link to his blog page where the readers can find the entire translation. However, this did not work. “Nobody has the attention span for long posts nowadays. Therefore I started taking screenshots and putting it up. That somehow clicked with the readers,” he says.
Kurunthokai - 325. "My tears fill the valley of my bosom like the wide pond where storks roam"
— OldTamilPoetry (@OldTamilPoetry) April 24, 2019
Blog : https://t.co/zdcIZ3E8gx pic.twitter.com/kHZZoRJJWw
Kurunthokai - 325. Notes about the poem. pic.twitter.com/u0dBLCxjbT
— OldTamilPoetry (@OldTamilPoetry) April 24, 2019
He also got to meet his inspiration Joel Christensen in Chennai, when the latter had flown down a few years ago. “He told me to continue posting something every day, even if I hadn’t translated anything new for that day. It was to keep the engagement going so that the community has something to look forward to,” says Chenthil, pointing out that the tip has helped him build a community, which now has around 12,700 members.
Chenthil says that he mixes up genres and topics to post on the page so that the readers are always kept on their toes. “I also try to make the post relevant to that day’s happenings – political or otherwise,” he shares.
Personal favourites
Sangam literature has around 2,400 poems of which Kurunthogai, a collection of short poems, is one of his favorites.
“More than the fact that the poems are short, the emotions, the similes and metaphors that have been used in those poems are very modern. It makes Kurunthogai attractive,” he says. The best example of famous lines from Kurunthogai which have been extensively used in Tamil cinema is the phrase ‘Red earth mixed with water’. This line is used to denote the togetherness of a couple.
Another collection of poems which is close to his heart is the Puranaanooru, which talks about external feelings and happenings like war, politics etc.
“In Puranaanooru, poet Kaniyan Poongundran begins a poem with the words ‘Yaadhum oore yaavarum keleer’ which means the world is one big family. It was a tremendous jump for that era. While others were fighting for their tiny kingdoms, for someone to rise and say that we are all one family, is something we don’t find in the poems of that time,” he explains. Kabilar and Velliveethiyar are his favourite poets from the Sangam era.
Apart from the Tirukkural, the Silappathikaaram is his eternal favourite. “Because it is about the lives of the common people. Because other epics speak about kings and royalty and hence this is a different take on the society back then,” he explains.
Literature a tracker of religion
Tracking the journey of Tamil literature can be a door to trace the route in which religion spread in Tamil Nadu, he says. “Sangam poetry shows indications of indigenous religious beliefs without an organised structure. They don’t talk much about temples or anything. People prayed to Maayon (a form of Perumal) or Murugan. Organised religion features in literature some time around the second century, inSilappathikaaram,” he says, adding that Bhakti literature came later in the sixth and seventh century.
Speaking more about Bhakti literature in Tamil, Chenthil says that the content of it conflicts with his own personal beliefs about religion. “Just because I am an atheist, I cannot leave those out. And when I translate those, I am scared of making mistakes,” he admits. A part of this exercise was Chenthil’s efforts to translate the Thiruppavai and Thiruvembavai earlier this year. “I want to read those texts for the language,” he says.
Tirukkural and the test of time
Tirukkural, a part of Tamil literature which is known as the common book of the world, was recently criticised for the misogynistic ideas in it. Chenthil accepts the criticism and says that one need not really follow those parts which are not in line with the changing world.
“Any ancient text will have to be placed in the context of its time. The authors generally represent the society which existed in their time. There is no reason to consider those misogynistic portions today,” he says. He, however, adds that this one portion cannot be used to negate or discard the substance of the text.
“If we see political correctness in Tirukkural, then the entire text has to be discarded. On the other end, if we have to follow whatever is said in the text, that also is not possible. I think we have to balance it out. We need not accept Tirukkural as it is, and more importantly we should not accept it for its misogynistic ideas,” he explains.
Fan mail and more
Chenthil, who works in the logistics business, and keeps travelling across Tamil Nadu, says that he tries to use the time effectively to read poems. “Over time, it has now become a second habit of sorts,” he adds. Getting the content to post takes anywhere between a day and three weeks, he quips. The delay happens because of the need to get the right word to be used in the translation.
Speaking about how his work has been received by his followers, Chenthil says that the reception has been great. “Many people email me asking for Tamil names for babies. Some people ask for help to put Tamil verses in their wedding invitations,” he says.
How does he keep track of his posts? “I have a decent memory, so I know what I have done so far. I have translated around 600 poems, so I know each of those 600 poems,” he says. However, he accepts that once when he unknowingly posted a translation of a Tirukkural which he had already posted two years ago, a reader brought it to his notice. “I checked it and found that the translation was exactly the same as I had done earlier except for one word. I was happy that I have been consistent in translating,” he laughs.
Chenthil is now thinking about publishing his translations as books. “It will definitely be released as a Kindle version, but I am not sure about a print edition of the book,” he says, adding that the idea is not yet cemented in his mind.