Kuṟuntokai

• Translated to English by Professor A. Dakshinamurthy as 'Kuruntokai– An Anthology of Classical Tamil Poetry' • Translated to English by Dr.Jayanthasri Balakrishnan. It shall be noted that she was awarded doctorate in the early days of career for her study in the English renderings of the text. • Translated to Assamese as 'Kurundoheir Kabita' by Bijoy Sankar Barman ==Example==

A beautiful poem from Kuruntokai is the famous Red earth and pouring rain by the Sangam age poet Sembula Peyaneerar. This poem is the verse 40 in the Kuruntokai anthology. The image of "red earth and pouring rain" evokes pictures of the first monsoon rains falling on the red-earthed hills typical of the Tamil lands to mingle with the dry, parched soil forming a cool, damp clay, and of the flowers blooming in the rain. The mood created is that of lovers, clandestinely meeting in the hills, their hearts waking suddenly, unexpectedly, to each other. A second level of meaning is created by the imagery of progression. The poem opens with the possible bonds of friendship, and then kinship, between the parents. Then, it moves to bonds formed by two people learning and getting to know each other. From these abstractions, it comes to concreteness with the picture of red earth in the rain, drawing a parallel with the lover's journey from aloneness to union. Finally, there is the image of the kurinji flower itself. Though never mentioned in the poem, it is nonetheless present as a fundamental part of a landscape of hills. A kurinji flower only blooms once in twelve years, the period associated in Tamil tradition with the coming of a girl to sexual maturity. Unspoken, but present, in the poem through the image of the flower is a sense of a woman awakening to herself and to union. ==In popular culture==

The influence of Kuruntokai can be seen in contemporary Tamil movies. The 40th poem has been used in the song Narumagaye in Iruvar and in the song Yaayum in Sagaa which was itself a remake of the song Yaayum from the Singapore Tamil drama Kshatriyan. The very first poem of Kuruntokai was vigorously referred to in the composing of song Senthoora in Bogan. In Kochadaiyaan (2014), the song Idhyam contains several reference from 18th and 38th poem of Kuruntokai. Recent usage is the song Nallai Allai in Katru Veliyidai (2017) film directed by Maniratnam which was inspired by the 47th poem authored by Neduvennilavinār. ==See also==