kamban's sUrpanakai

Like a picture of a woman sketched against the sky,she stood there

with her heart on fire, her sight fastened to the shining

handsome shoulders of the hero and she could not manage

the strength to pull her eyes free from that vision.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:this is the verse that i first thought of when sUrpanakhai was mentioned in the other thread, but i had forgotten the text and had to look it up and the meaning from another website.  the sandham in this song is just fantastic. just reading it out loud gives a sense of a beautiful but lusty woman.

பஞ்சிஒளிர் விஞ்சுகுளிர் பல்லவம் அனுங்கச்
செஞ்செவிய கஞ்சம்நிகர் சீறடியள் ஆகி
அஞ்சொலிள மஞ்ஞைஎன அன்னம்என மின்னும்
வஞ்சிஎன நஞ்சம்என வஞ்சமகள் வந்தாள்.

meaning: soorpanakai - she who had feet that made tender shining cotton shoots jealous, she who had feet like a lotus flower, of sweet speech, grace of a beautiful peacock, like a swan, like the beautiful vanji creeper (a type of plant found in southern india), she of a venom-like nature came walking in.

so yeah, kamban definitely treated her kindly. but the juxtaposition of great physical beauty (most of the poem) with a mention of a poisonous personal character (just the last two words; slam!) is just fantastic.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:this is the verse that i first thought of when sUrpanakhai was mentioned in the other thread, but i had forgotten the text and had to look it up and the meaning from another website.  the sandham in this song is just fantastic. just reading it out loud gives a sense of a beautiful but lusty woman.

பஞ்சிஒளிர் விஞ்சுகுளிர் பல்லவம் அனுங்கச்
செஞ்செவிய கஞ்சம்நிகர் சீறடியள் ஆகி
அஞ்சொலிள மஞ்ஞைஎன அன்னம்என மின்னும்
வஞ்சிஎன நஞ்சம்என வஞ்சமகள் வந்தாள்.

meaning: soorpanakai - she who had feet that made tender shining cotton shoots jealous, she who had feet like a lotus flower, of sweet speech, grace of a beautiful peacock, like a swan, like the beautiful vanji creeper (a type of plant found in southern india), she of a venom-like nature came walking in.

so yeah, kamban definitely treated her kindly. but the juxtaposition of great physical beauty (most of the poem) with a mention of a poisonous personal character (just the last two words; slam!) is just fantastic.

bw wrote:ah, memories!

the first image is what i imagine surpanaka(i) as. also, my mother used to tell me stories from ramayana, mahabaratha etc. she probably used valmiki's version as her source and she too had described surpanaka(i) as a rakshasi who looked fat, ugly and menacing.

whenever i encounter fat, nasty women, i mentally call them a "surpanaka(i)".

Kris wrote:

bw wrote:ah, memories!

the first image is what i imagine surpanaka(i) as. also, my mother used to tell me stories from ramayana, mahabaratha etc. she probably used valmiki's version as her source and she too had described surpanaka(i) as a rakshasi who looked fat, ugly and menacing.

whenever i encounter fat, nasty women, i mentally call them a "surpanaka(i)".

>>(1)  If she could assume a beautiful form, why didn't she stick with it?
      
     (2) Why is Rama divulging all this info to a stranger he just me?  Seems rather unwise-- information is always                        provided on a need-to-know basis, Rama.

P.S. The story I remember is about Rama cutting her nose off. Rama fighting with a girl-- don't know, makes him seem rather uncool.

bw wrote:

Kris wrote:

bw wrote:ah, memories!

the first image is what i imagine surpanaka(i) as. also, my mother used to tell me stories from ramayana, mahabaratha etc. she probably used valmiki's version as her source and she too had described surpanaka(i) as a rakshasi who looked fat, ugly and menacing.

whenever i encounter fat, nasty women, i mentally call them a "surpanaka(i)".

>>(1)  If she could assume a beautiful form, why didn't she stick with it?
      
     (2) Why is Rama divulging all this info to a stranger he just me?  Seems rather unwise-- information is always                        provided on a need-to-know basis, Rama.

P.S. The story I remember is about Rama cutting her nose off. Rama fighting with a girl-- don't know, makes him seem rather uncool.

obviously, you haven't read your ACKs properly - wasn't it lakshman who cut her nose off?

Kris wrote:

bw wrote:

Kris wrote:

bw wrote:ah, memories!

the first image is what i imagine surpanaka(i) as. also, my mother used to tell me stories from ramayana, mahabaratha etc. she probably used valmiki's version as her source and she too had described surpanaka(i) as a rakshasi who looked fat, ugly and menacing.

whenever i encounter fat, nasty women, i mentally call them a "surpanaka(i)".

>>(1)  If she could assume a beautiful form, why didn't she stick with it?
      
     (2) Why is Rama divulging all this info to a stranger he just me?  Seems rather unwise-- information is always                        provided on a need-to-know basis, Rama.

P.S. The story I remember is about Rama cutting her nose off. Rama fighting with a girl-- don't know, makes him seem rather uncool.

obviously, you haven't read your ACKs properly - wasn't it lakshman who cut her nose off?

>>>Who? The cartoonist?

Beatrix Kiddo wrote:maxai,

it's Surparnakha.... "kha", not "ka"... and she's not a dosai that you made a "kai" out of her too.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Beatrix Kiddo wrote:maxai,

it's Surparnakha.... "kha", not "ka"... and she's not a dosai that you made a "kai" out of her too.

she is known as surpanakai, yes with the "ai" suffix in tamil. words including proper nouns transform as they get absorbed in other languages according to the syntactical rules of the target language. this has happened to christian names too as they were absorbed into european languages from the original aramaic. get used to it.

the original name for the hero of ramAyaNam is not ram as he is known in hindia, but rAmA.  surpanakai is similar.