Traditional Poems from Pre-Modern South India

Poetic Justice

Condemn me, O Creator,

to any punishment you see fit

for all the sins I’ve committed.

But the hell of reading poetry

to those who have no taste for it —

not that, not that!

~

Like Day and Night

In broad daylight, she’s scared of a crow.

At night, she swims the river,

swarming with crocodiles.

Beauty has its wiles.

~

Mutual Admiration

When a camel gets married,

the donkey performs the wedding.

Each praises the other.

“What a beauty!” “What a voice!”

~

Kamasutra

It was the very first night,

and the young girl showed surprising skill

in the arts of love —

so much so that her husband held his head

in his hands, a little worried.

But she just laughed and painted a picture

on the wall — a lion cub,

only half-born, already leaping

at an elephant.

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From A Poem at the Right Moment: Remembered Verses from Premodern South India collected and translated by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1998). Included in Vox Populi for noncommercial educational purposes only.

These translations are based on recitations of poems — called catus — in the Telegu and Tamil languages by poets who are working in the living tradition of an oral culture that goes back to the Sanskrit language and perhaps before. There is no equivalent tradition in Western culture.