Tamil and Sanskirt
1. Make a quick chart that lays out the distinct qualities of Tamil and Sanskirt lyrics.
2. Select at least one example each from the Tamil and Sanskrit lyrics. Then, write a journal entry comparing the poems you’ve selected, focusing specifically on what is distinctive about each tradition, and how your selections do or do not reflect those characteristics.
Use the following Poems
What he said
Her arms have the beauty
Of a gently moving bamboo.
Her large eyes are full of peace.
She is faraway,
Her place not easy to reach.
My heart is frantic
With haste,
A plowman with a single plow
on land all wet
and ready for seed. (Ōrērullavanār 979)
As the sun rises and sets
As the sun rises and sets,
Comes and goes,
Life is whittling away
day by day,
Engrossed in business,
Weighed down by many tasks,
We don’t know
how time passes,
we witness birth, old age,
misfortune, and death
but they leave us
unshaken.
The world has taken leave of its senses,
drunk on the heady wine
of worldliness
and the gratification
of the senses. (The classical Sanskrit lyric 1060, 1061)
