Songs of Love and Longing

The Tirukkur-al., the highly regarded 2000-year-old text composed by the Tamil poet Tiruval.l.uvar, has three parts. Each kural in the book has two lines: the first consists of four feet, and the second, three. Meena Kandasamy’s feminist translation of the third part of the Tirukkur-al. carries powerful messages about female sexuality, agency and desire

- Meena Kandasamy

FOR all my misgivings over the text, I want to fundamentally distinguish between the first two parts of the Tirukkur- al.—dealing with morality and materialism, society and statecraft—and the third, which is love poetry. Given the underlying fact that the institution of the family is of ultimate importance to the institution of the state, the first two sections demonstrate adherence to the structure of a household, the roles of husband and wife. The third part does not suffer these notions. It is a world that two lovers conjure together: gossip and social censure do not interfere with their sexual passion; instead, they feed its flames. Society does not separate the lovers; it exists outside of them. Love and sex are acts of equality and democracy—without any inherent hierarchy, they are available to everyone.

‘Chastity’ is not what the original text intends, and so to use it there is an imposition of post-dated cultural values on a classical text. As a poet, translator, a woman and a feminist, I wanted to avoid the burden of regressive ideas foisted onto a text that actually burns with longing, only ever concerning itself with shame in order to speak of the shame itself.

So, when my turn came to translate nir- ai in this kur- al., I chose ‘unwavering mind’—after all, nir- ai means fullness, strength, containment. I wanted my translation to incorporate a sense of self-fulfilment, of something that does not have to wander or waver, to challenge the lazy patriarchal notion that women have fickle minds. Here is my rendering of Kur- al. 1251:

The battle-axe of passion breaks down the door of my unwavering mind, bolted with my coyness. Like its close cousin virginity, ‘chastity’—upon which most