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Old 07-10-2012, 04:29 PM   #6
Beerinkol

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Dec 2006
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Let me add to the above comment. The poem is a retort I heard against Kamban and not oTTakkUththar. But it does not matter. I read it as kamban and avvaiyar engaged in a satiric argument when Kamban asked avvaiyar to answer a riddle in his poem which started as " நாலிலைப் பந்தலடி..." ---four-leafed creeper plant---(I don't recall the remaining lines right now). It also contained veiled abuses. There were so many "அடி" in the poem. Those were integrated into the words to make another meaning such as "bottom", "foot" etc., Still avvaiyAr took offense to that word since it is a form of addressing a younger or inferior woman, and decided to pay him back by using veiled abuses and ending with "அடா" at the end.

correction of ரூதுவனே ---> தூதுவனே (messenger); சொன்னயது ---> சொன்னாய் அது

Now she gives counter-abuses as ugly, buffalo, mUdEvi 's mount which is a donkey(elder sister of SridEvi referred to as periyammai), kuTTic cuvar (roofless enclosure) normally used as an adjective for an ignoramus, and Rama's messenter, hanuman (monkey---another abusive term). The straightforward abusive term in the last line is "whom do you think you are addressing". But she was actually answering the riddle in the last line. When Kamban said "nAlilaip pandalaDi..." and a few other features of the creeper plant, avvaiyAr knew what it was. The creeper is "aarai" which is a species of spinach (ஆரைக் கீரை). She said in short, "You moron, you are talking about ஆரைக் கீரை.
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