Sangam Poetry - Puram

A couple of days ago I posted two akam (interior) poems from A. K. Ramanujan's Poems of Love and War. The second major category of Sangam poetry is puram (exterior), which covers topics other than love. For the ancient Tamils, this meant primarily war, the deeds of kings, community values. Here are two puram poems. There is another one, A Young Warrior, at Poems About War:


Harvest of War

Great king,

you shield your men from ruin,
so your victories, your greatness
are bywords.

Loose chariot wheels
lie about the battleground
with the long white tusks
of bull elephants.

Flocks of male eagles
eat carrion
with their mates.

Headless bodies
dance about
before they fall
to the ground.

Blood glows,
like the sky before nightfall,
in the red center
of the battlefield.

Demons dance there.

And your kingdom
is an unfailing harvest
of victorious wars.

Kappiyarrukkappiyanar: on
Kalankaykkanni Narmuticceral
Patirruppattu 35

A Woman and Her Dying Warrior

I cannot cry out,
I’m afraid of tigers.
I cannot hold you,
your chest is too wide
for my lifting.

Death
has no codes
and has dealt you wrong,
may he
shiver as I do!

Hold my wrist
of bangles,
let’s get to the shade
of that hill.
Just try and walk a little.

Vanparanar
Purananuru 255