Compiled by London swaminathan
Article No.1908; Dated 3 June 2015.
Uploaded at London time: 20-56
Tamil language is rich in proverbs. There are more than 20,000 proverbs. Percival, Rev.J.Lazarus and Herman Jensen had compiled and published them hundred years ago. Later lot of books appeared in Tamil; but there are lot of proverbs not included in these volumes. There is scope for lot of research as well. They have to be compiled subject wise and compared with proverbs in other Indian languages.
Some of the proverbs have some stories or interesting anecdotes behind them. I have given below only five proverbs with the stories behind them. It can be compared with proverbs in other Indian languages.
1.His own deeds will burn him, and a cake will burn the house
(Tan vinai tannaich chudum, Ottappam veettaich chudum)
Pattainathu Adikal was a great saint and poet. He used to eat with men of all castes. High caste Hindus did not do such thing in his days. So when his sister saw this, she was very angry. She tried to change his ways; but Pattinathar saw every one equal following the Upanishadic dictum Sarvam Brahma Mayam ( God is in everything), tat tvam Asi (You are That) and Isavasyam Idam Sarvam….. (Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord).
But his sister was not convinced with his explanation or behaviour. She thought him better dead and so baked a cake with poison in it and gave it to him. Hindu saints had power to know what was happening around them. Knowing his sister’s bad intention and took the cake and threw it on the roof of her house. And he said the words in the proverb. By a miracle it set the house on fire. Thus the evil woman’s plan was spoiled.
2.The Old Woman finished her Ten miles, and so did the Horse
(Kizaviyum Kadam, Kuthiraiyum Kadam);kadam is ten miles.
The story is that a man having performed the proper religious ceremonies hastily mounted his horse and set off for heaven. At the same time an old woman performed some ceremonies, with all her heart slowly and carefully, and her real piety brought her to heaven before the man on horseback.
There is an equivalent English saying, “God knows well which the best pilgrims are”.
Actually this happened in the case of Avvaiyar and Sundaramurthy Nayanar. When Sundaramurthy Nayanar and Cheraman Perumal Nayanar travelled to heaven using their elephant and horse, Avvaiyar was there before the two devotes who were using the fast track. When they asked how come that old lady was before them, she told them that she prayed to Lord Ganesh (elephant headed God) who lifted her with his trunk and placed her at the entrance of the heaven. This proverb covers that anecdote as well.
3.To you Bebe, and to your father Bebe
(Unakkum Bebe, unga Appanukkum Bebe)
A man pressed by his creditors was advised by a friend, to whom also he owned money, to escape from their importunities by feigning madness. The debtor accordingly did so replying to them all like a madman. He just said bebe, which is a nonsense word without any meaning. The plan was successful and the creditors were cheated. Then the friend asked that the debt due to himself should be paid. But he himself received the treatment he had advised the deceitful debtor to use to others. The proverb is also used about children who have no respect for others.
Equivalent English proverbs:
Trickery comes back to its own master
He falls into the pit, who leads another into it.
4.This is the law of my caste, and this is the law of my belly
(Ithu en Kulacharam, Ithu en vayitracharam)
Potters are predominantly Saivaites. But the potters in Sri Rangam were asked by the Vaishnavaites to put the Vaishnava mark on their foreheads; otherwise the Brahmins won’t buy their pots for the temple. One clever potter, having considered this difficulty, after making the Saivaite symbol (Vibhuti/Holy Ash) on his forehead made a big Vaishnava mark on his stomach. When rebuked for so doing by a Brahmin, he replied as above.
5.Like the jester that was bitten by a snake
(Pakadiyai Pambu Kadithathu Pola)
Applied to one who so often tells lies that if he happen to speak the truth no one will believe him. Or to a child that constantly feign sickness to avoid going to school, and is not believed to be ill when it is really sick. Once the jester was bitten by a snake and he cried for help. No one believed him. They thought he was just joking. It is similar to Crying Wolf Story in Aesop fables.
We have a similar story in India. A boy shouted for help saying that the tiger was coming. When the villagers gathered with all the weapons he was just laughing. He did it a few times and one day he encountered a real tiger. When he cried for help no one came forward thinking that he was trying to fool them once more. The tiger mauled the boy to death.
1.தன் வினை தன்னைச் சுடும், ஓப்ட்டப்பம் வீட்டைச் சுடும்
2.கிழவியும் காதம், குதிரையும் காதம்
3.உனக்கும் பேபே, உங்கப்பனுக்கும் பே பே
4.இது என் குலாசாரம், இது என் வயிற்றாசாரம்
5.பகிடியைப் பாம்பு கடித்தது போல
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