Five Malayalam children poems

Five Malayalam children poems

Five  Malayalam children poems 

Translated by

P.R.Ramachander

1.Onnanam  kochu thumbi

Oh  first tiny  dragonfly

“On first  tiny dragonfly ,

Would   you come along with me?”

“If I come with  you ,

What all things would you give me?”

“I would give you place to  play ,

I would give a pond to take you bath,

I would give golden seat  for you to sit,

I would give a golden plate for you to eat  ,

I would give a silver   water pot , to you to wash your hands,

I would give you  a dotted silk to dry your hands m

Oh first  tiny dragon fly,

Would you come along with me.”

2, Ende  Vidhyalayam

(My school)

My school is at the bottom of  the broad sky ,

Where moon and the stars are  showering pure silver rays ,

The sky that  was  shedding tears yesterday ,

 Is laughing today and it sheds milky light  ,

The  snow drops   which   smile even ,

On the top of the thorny bushes  are saying,

The honey bees  which roam flying   there drunk with honey   are saying ,

“This life is sweet  though   it is short ,

Who are   all my teachers, who are all my teachers,

Who are  all not my teachers,

Possibly   all those that are in this world  are teaching me.”

3.Panjara  Kunju

(The sugary  Kunju)

Kujiyamma    had five children,

The fifth one is the   darling Kunju,

Kunju  walked selling sugar ,

The name sugary kunju  stuck to him,

He kept a  gunny bag of sugar  on the boat ,

And sitting on its tip , he rowed,

Kunju got bored    eating only sugar ,

Kunju bit a ginger piece and enjoyed,

Kujiyamma    had five children,

The fifth one is the   darling Kunju,

4. Ona pattu

(song of Onam)

When Mahabali    was ruling the country ,

All the people    were  very much alike,

When they were  living with great joy,

No danger ever occurred to them,

There were no worries  and no sickness,

Infant death were  never heard about,

There was no stealing nor cheating ,

Not even a little tiny lie , tiny lie was told,

All the measures to weigh  and measure,

Were  exactly right and proper ,

False big measures and   small measures ,

And  all sort   of cheating   were also not there.

5. Jnan

(me)

Translated by

P.R.Ramachander

For  several,  several days   I  as a worm,

Slept in the   forest of corals,

Those days without   darkness  and light,

Dragged on slowly   then,

Then below   the leaf of an Arali plant,

Just like a very dear tiny bell,

Jumping and dancing  in the wafting winds ,

I remained   without falling then.

One day  when the sun rose ,

Flapping the  newly rising  wings .

I came out and   became ,

A butter fly with throbbing beauty .

I then went and sat  on the  rose flower,

Which was opening and shining ,

And sat there  attaching myself ,

And just like flower jumping on another flower,

I spend my time eating   the honey from the flower.

Father’s day

Father’s day

A poem by,

P.R.Ramachander

If there  is a day  for the elephant,

They  all say that  there would be one to the  mouse too,

And so since    there   is a mother’s day  ,

There should be one to the father too .

Mother carried us all  with  great suffering and  sweet dreams,

And she delivered us all  after   very great  pains,

It was she   who was   at  our bedside  all the time ,

When we   were  greatly sick and suffering,

It was the father   who  worked  hard and struggled ,

All the time  , so that   we eat what we like ,

So that   we  get educated   as per our dreams ,

And start the life  the way that   we want .

True   he shouted   at us when he was angry,

True   , he hugged us   when we were down,

True  he  loved  us as much as our Mamma ,

But he   never knew how  to show that he also  loved us .

Ler us not  make the father’s day  , a day  of  the  mouse ,

But  let us hug him  , spoil him   with what he wants,

And   tell him  that   we love  him  ,

As  much as we love ourselves  and our Mamma

Who are Sons?

 Who are Sons?

 By

 P.R.Ramachander

        Sanathkumara, the son of Dharma Deva once approached Lord Brahma to learn Sankhya yoga. Lord Brahma agreed to teach him, provided he became his adopted son. Sanathkumara agreed to become the son of Lord Brahma but he told him that unless he was given in adoption by his parents, it would not be of any use. Then he listed 12 different kinds of Sons one can have .They are:- Sons with Rina dhana pinda adhikara, gothra samya and kula vruthi (Son who is responsible for your debts, who can inherit your wealth, who can perform death ceremonies to you, who can claim to be of your gothra and who can do the family’s profession)

Ourasa- he who is an image of oneself, who is born of oneself (Normal son)
Kshethraja- When the husband is impotent or mad or diseased, the child got by the wife through somebody else, obeying her husband’s wishes.
Datha-One who is given by his parents (adopted son with the consent of his parents)
Krithrima-A friend’s Son given by him willingly
Gudolpanna- One who does not know who is his father is (adopted orphan)
Apavidha-One who was lost and found out (adopted missing child) Only Gothra nama (Son who can claim to be of your Gothra and nothing else)
 Kaneena-Girl born to unwed mother
Sahoda- One who was brought up along with one’s children
Kritha-One who was purchased
 Pounarbhavan- A son born to a girl who was given to some body in marriage and again given to some body else.
Swayam Datha-Who gives himself to a family due to poverty or other reasons Parasavan-Son born from a shudhra mother to a Brahmin.  

Iyer women of Kerala

 Iyer women of Kerala

 By
 P.R.Ramachander

 Women play a very important role in the safeguarding of culture of any community. It is they who really teach the next generation about the customs, history, religion and culture to the upcoming generations of boys and girls. A peep as to how they were earlier generations and how they are treated now is what is attempted here. Please remember that I am in my sixties and I had gathered lot of information from my elders belonging to my father’s and grand father’s generation. I am confining my self to the iyer women of Kerala. Grand mother’s generation. Most of the men and women at that time lived in Agraharam’s and Otha Madams across Kerala. Most of men earned their livelihood by money lending, cooking, and music and to a small extent by learning Vedas .The women of that time not only did not earn money but according to the Mithakshara Nyaya which they followed were not supposed to own any immovable assets. Education was almost unknown to them except in a few rich families. They got married before they attained menarche. If the parents were not able to arrange the marriage of their daughters by that time, the whole society of iyers looked down upon them .Because of this most of the poor families gave their darling daughters in marriage to very old widower as second or third wife. There were also instances of selling of these children to Old Brahmins of Andhra. The sale was arranged in Madras town. After marriage even a small girl of seven or eight was supposed to wear the 18 yards sari in the traditional way. They were sent to their husband’s home only after they came to an age and the nuptials were celebrated after that. There was large number of deaths of men and women at that time due to scourges like Small Pox, Malaria, and Plague. There were several cases where the girl after marriage became a widow even before she came to an age. Her head was then shaved off and she was forced to live in her family a life of a widow. It is not an exaggeration to say that most of the Iyer houses had a widow living with them. Because the joint family system prevailed, these innocent girl children were mostly ill treated by their mother in laws. Any rebel girl was sent back to their parents hose and lived alone. They were called Vazhavetti. First pregnancy was a great risk. At least one in 6 of the girls died during their first delivery. The husband happily married another girl as soon as possible. Most of the men partook in temple feasts or took free meals in Ootu purais. The unmarried girls and boys also were allowed in these free food programs. These children were instructed by their mothers to bring home Papadams, Fruits sweets etc which were served to them. They lead a very frugal life. Apart from this was the fact that a good number of men entered in to Sambandam (marriage contract) with Nair or Ambalavasi women. .Wife beating was a very major hobby of most of the men. The wife had not only bear all this but also look after all the heavy work of the house like drawing water from deep wells, wet grinding, looking after cows, cleaning the house as well as courtyard, looking after a hoard of children etc. May be due to their very frugal food habits they outlived their men most of the times. Most of them like their men lost all their teeth before they were 60 and became hunchbacked if they live up to the age of seventy. Looking back, this life appears to be very inhuman but they really enjoyed it. They used to tell stories to their kids sing and also took the leadership in arranging several annual festivals. The family customs were known to them and they implemented these with iron hands. Once they became old (whether they were Sumangalis or widows) the men respected them. It is painful for me to recollect that the word used to chastise a man, woman, boy or girl was Mundai (widow) (Kammannati in Tamil Nadu). Mother’s generation Things did not improve much but most of the men folk started doing jobs or running businesses(Mainly hotels) . This meant that their family fortunes were better. They had better dresses and could buy some ornaments. At least part of them started wearing the normal saris and the Madisar was reserved for special occasions. Due to modern English medicines death during delivery became rare. .Most of the men lived beyond 50 and few of them started celebrating Sashti Abdha Poorthi. They were able to educate their children and once they started earning, they started looking after their mother well. Cracks began to appear here and there in the joint family system. Religion was very important. Love marriages were not known. Divorces and widow remarriages were unknown. When the British government brought the Sarada Act in the thirties to ban childhood marriages, An Athi Rudram was conducted in Palakkad .The population of widows in the agraharam came down. Instead of every house having a widow it was a few widows per street. Wife beating was there but not very common. Mother in laws were uncrowned queens of the family. My generation It is hard to believe that the entire society changed with tremendous rapidity. Child marriages never took place. Girls started getting married after they crossed twenty and the boys when they were nearing thirty. Very large number of iyer boys got into white collar jobs and joint family system ceased to exist. But clannishness was very much there and members of the same mega family felt that they were one. Love marriages were taking place but mostly within Iyers. Widow remarriages and divorces started to happen. Wife beating among iyers was a thing of past. The Hindu Code law gave them equal right to hold property. Many of the woman started taking up jobs to increase the income of the family. They were encouraged in this endeavor by their husbands .Men and women were healthy and normally lived up to around seventy years of age. Hunchbacked men and women or old people with walking sticks became a rare sight. People without teeth , became a very rare commodity. But in spite of all this the women of my generation did not leave their tradition. My next generation. They have changed a lot. Most of them belong to the upper middle class and in most cases women were employed. Love marriages especially outside the caste became not so rare. Widows mostly married. Divorces were taking place with great rapidity. But in spite of all this, I find that still they are the guardians of our families and tradition. When I move with them, I am very proud of belonging to the previous generation of these excellent youngsters. 

Origin of Sambar

  Origin of Sambar

 By P.R.ramachander

You would be all surprised to know that chillies entered India only 400 years back .So also tomato, potato and onion were introductions from our western settlers to India around the same time. Then the common sense question, which all of you should ask is how was Sambar prepared in South India before that and how were the North Indians preparing different Sabjis without Tomato and onion. I have been searching for an answer to this riddle for quite some time I was also intrigued by the name Sambar. No word in any of the south Indian language gave a meaning to that word. I was thinking it has to do something with Sambharam (Collection). But I was not able to connect this word to Sambar. Before 400 years tamarind which is of south Indian origin was being used in all the south Indian states. The preparations were called by various names. It was Pulungari (dish with tamarind in Kerala), Huli in Karnataka, Pulusu in Andhra and Vattal Kuzhambu, poricha Kozhambu, Karai Kuzhambu, Pitlai etc in Tamil Nadu. Ofcourse, the traditional Kerala cuisine did not use chillies or tamarind but relied only on pepper for pungency and Buttermilk and mango for adding sour taste. In most of these cases the souring agent was tamarind and the thickening agent was cooked green gram dal, rice powder or ground coconut paste. Asafetida and Toor dhal which were not available in South India were not used in any of these dishes. The agent which added pungency to all these was still Chilies. Possibly before chillies came, they were using pepper powder .Then all of a sudden I realized that the preparations on the death anniversary days did not use chillies, asafetida as well as toor dhal. The main dish equivalent to Sambar, which was called Pitlai, was prepared using tamarind, pepper and green gram dhal. This must have been the precursor of the different Tamarind preparations mentioned above. When I was toying with this idea, I landed on the write up by Dr.Padmini Natarajan, which I quote Verbatim below: - “South Indian food, people and culture are inexorably linked to a ubiquitous dish as in idli and sambhar, sambhar and rice and so on. Each state in the South prepares it with a typical variation, adapted to its taste and environment. The genesis of this dish has an interesting tale linked to it. The Marathas were ruling Tanjore. Sambhoji was a great cook (the male clan members to note) and very fond of his amti with a handful of the tart kokum thrown in. In a particular season the kokum that was imported from the Maratha homeland did not reach the bare larder of the king's kitchen. Sambhoji was cooking and the minions were shivering in their dhothis to tell him that his favourite dish could not be made that day. A smart Vidushak, who had been elected sous chef for the day, decided to solve the problem. He whispered in the king's ears that the locals used very little tamarind pulp to gain a better sourness to the curry and that Sambhoji should experiment with this variation. Voila, the dish with the tuvar dal, vegetables, spices and the tamarind pulp was cooked and served by the king to his coterie. The court declared the dish an outstanding preparation (they had no choice with the king as Chef) and thus was born sambhoji's amti that in time became sambhar” Thus the modern Sambar which we use is named after a king of Tanjore called Sambhaji. Due to distance from his native place and difficulty in getting Kokum, he used Tamarind and possibly added Toor dhal, which is mainly grown in Maharashtra and Gujarat. He might have added Pure Asafoetida which was used as a spice in Maharashtra. From then on lot of research must have gone in, in getting to the modern version of several types of Sambar. Still I am wondering how North Indian Sabji was prepared without onion and Tomato!

Maandatha-king born to a man

 Maandatha-king born to a man

 Retold by
 P.R.Ramachander

Maandatha was a very valorous king of the Ikshuvaku clan. His father Yuvanaswa married one hundred queens and could not beget a child. He was terribly depressed by this and was wandering from forest to forest in search of holy men. At last he reached a forest where a group of divine sages resided. Seeing him highly depressed, the sages sought the reason for his sorrow. Then he told them that he did not have children. The sages took great pity on the king and decided to perform, the Pooja called Indra daivatha. They filled a pot with water and were making it holy by chanting of several sets of prayers. This continued for several days. One night after the Pooja, the saints were sleeping. At that time Yuvanaswa got very thirsty and could not find water any where. So he entered the Yaga sala and drank all the water from the pot which contained the holy water. Next day the saints found out what has happened. Then they told the king, that this water was supposed to be taken by his queens to get a baby. Since he has taken it, he will have a baby. The apprehensive king became pregnant. After ten months, the child was taken out of the right part of his stomach by cutting it open. The ministers and other learned men advised the king to abandon this unnatural baby in the forest. In the forest, left alone the baby became hungry and started crying. The devas and Indra took pity on the baby and told the baby” Maam Datha (Eat myself)” and made it suck the thumb of its right leg. Milk was produced from this thumb and the baby grew extremely wise and very strong. He was called Maandatha, because of what Indra told him. After Yuvanaswa, Maandatha became the king. Due to his wisdom and valour, he made his country great. He married a virtuous lady called Bindumathi. Two sons called Puruguthsa and Muchukunda were born to him. These two sons became very great and noble kings later. Once there was famine in Maandatha’s country because of the failure of rain for three years. When Maandatha consulted the sages, they told him, “This is Krutha Yuga and during this period only Brahmins are supposed to do penance. But in your country one sage who is not a Brahmin is doing penance. If you find him out and kill him, then everything would be set right.” Maandatha was horrified at the idea and refused to follow their advice. Then as an alternative, they advised him and all his countrymen to observe the penance of Ekadasi along with people from all castes. There was a torrential rain ad the country’s problem was solved. 

Devayani and Yayati

 Devayani and Yayati

 Retold by
 P.R.Ramachander

Devayani was the daughter of Sage Shukra who was the guru of all Asuras and Oorjaswathi. She was cursed by Kacha (see Kacha-Devayani) that she would not marry another Deva. At that time the Asura king was Vrushaparva and Sage Shukra was also living in his palace. The king had a daughter called Sarmishta. Sarmishta and Devayani were very close friends. One day they went to the forest for playing along with several slaves. While they were bathing in the river Indra happened to see them and wanted to play a prank with them. He transformed himself to wind and swept away the cloths of Sarmishta and Devayani. Seeing this, both of them rushed out of the river and tried to get back their cloths. Sarmishta only got a dress of Devayani and was trying to wear it. Devayani caught hold of that dress and tried to pull it out. Sarmishta got very angry and shouted that Devayani’s father was a vagabond and was living at the charity of her father. She and her slaves snatched the dress from Devayani’s hand and pushed her in to a well and left for their homes. At that time a king called Yayati came to the forest for hunting. He felt thirsty and came near the well to drink some water. There he saw Devayani and rescued her. The king left to his kingdom but Devayani did not return home. Shukra and his wife Oorjaswathi got very worried to see that Devayani has not returned. They send a friend of Devayani called Goornika to search and bring her back. Goornika easily found out Devayani but Devayani refused to came back to her father. She said she did not want to live with her father who was living in the charity of Vrushaparva. Goornika went and told about all this to Shukra and his wife. Both of them came to the forest to meet and take back, Devayani. Then Devayani told Shukra and about the happenings n the forest. Shukra became infuriated and informed Vrushaparva that he and his family are leaving his kingdom. Vrushaparva realizing fully well that Shukra was the power behind the Asuras, sought his pardon. Then Devayani told the king that if he sends 100 slaves to serve her including the princess Sarmishta, they would come back. Some time later Devayani met Yayati in a forest where he had come for hunting. She told him that ever since He saved her from the well, she has chosen him as her husband. But realizing that Sage Shukra was the father of Devayani, Yayati told her that he was willing to marry her but only with the permission of her father. Devayani send word to her parents, who came to the forest. They willingly gave in marriage Devayani to Yayati. While Devayani went to Yayati’s kingdom, Sarmishta also accompanied her as her slave. Sage Shukra called his son in law and warned him not even to touch Sarmishta. After some time a son was born to Yayati and Devayani and they named him as Yadu. It was at this time that Sarmishta met Yayati secretly and requested for a son by him. He was scared and refused .But using her wits she made the king Yayati for agreeing for her proposal and son called Druhyu was born to them. Devayani came to know about the birth of a child to Sarmishta but did not know that Yayati was the child’s father. Years rolled by Devayani begot another child called Thurvasu and Sarmishta begot two sons called Anudruhyu and Pooru. Once when Devayani and the king came to the palace garden, Sarmishta’s three sons had also come there. Devayani could see striking similarity of the children of Sarmishta with King Yayati. She called them and asked them, the name of their father. They told without hesitation that it was king Yayati. Angered very much, Devayani returned back to sage Shukra’s and told him about all the happenings. Shukra got infuriated and cursed that Yayati should become an old man. By this time Yayati reached there and craved for his pardon. Shukra then told him that Yayati can exchange his old man status for 100 years, if any one willingly exchanges it for his youth. Yayati came back and called each of his sons and requested them to exchange their youth with him. Only Pooru agreed. Yayati then lived for 100 years as king. After him Pooru became the king.