February 21st is International Mother Tongue Day and with that in mind, I bring you the kural poetic form, an integral part of Tamil poetry since forever. And of course, Tamil is my mother tongue.

I have wanted to feature the kural for way too long on my blog but somehow stayed away from doing so. One reason being that attempting it truly is tough for the requirements within make for many if-then rules. Two, while Tamil is my mother tongue, I never learned to read or write it as a child. Reason being I grew up in a different state and did learn to read and write two other Indian languages (Hindi and Kannada) in addition to English. Though I do have a rudimentary knowledge of the Tamil script having attempted to learn it later in life, and can manage to read and write at an elementary school level.

So read on to learn more about the kural poetic form as well as other usual things I include in my Sunday Scribblings each week.

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Poetic Sundays: The Kural

As I mentioned earlier, today’s poetic form is the kural picked because it is a Tamil poetic form. Tamil is my mother tongue and February 21st this week celebrates International Mother Tongue Day!

So What is the Kural?

The Kural is an ancient Tamil poetic form and in the simplest terms, it is a couplet with 4 words in the first line and 3 in the second line. It usually adheres to metrical patterns and grammar of the “venpa” stanza, which is considered one of the most difficult and highly esteemed stanzaic structures of Tamil literature. This makes it hard to translate to other languages. However, we can adapt it a little to write in English.

Characteristics of the Kural

So the anthathi’s elements are that at its most basic, it is:

• stanzaic: is a self-contained couplet, each composed with four words in the first line and three words in the second line. Can be written in a series or any number of kurals as long as each could stand alone.
• metered (but in this case, optional): uses the traditional metrical pattern is known as “kural venpa”. However, this does not translate well to the English language so feel free to use a different meter (or none).
• unrhymed: While devoid of traditional end-rhyme, the Kural thrives on a sophisticated interplay of assonance and consonance. Within each line, key vowel sounds harmonize, and consonants repeat exactly across the two lines. You can use the etukai as one way to do this (though not mandated): it typically involves the exact repetition of the second syllable in both lines
• untitled: poets may choose to title or leave their verses untitled
• often themed: Many kural compositions are dedicated to universal truths, life lessons, morality, human experiences. So kind of like little proverbs or aphorisms
• uses parallelism (optional): try to use parallel ideas and images across the two lines (along with those sounds)

My First Attempt at the Kural (in English)

First word I uttered
Mom heard it.
~ Vidya @ LadyInReadWrites

Further reading, h/t, and references

• How I Embarked on a Literary Translation of The Kural, the Classical Tamil Masterpiece
• About Kural
• Kural (poetic form)

Recently

On My Blog And the Homefront

Here are my posts since the last Scribblings post

• How Toy Story Captures the Magic of Childhood Play
• Love Letters Found in Books: A Literary Treasure Trove
• Sunday Scribblings #176: Nest Poems and Other Wonderful Things: I Me Mommy

Valentine’s Day was mostly quiet as we spent it at home and usually do really nothing much. Though I did get some flowers and cheesecake (one of my fav desserts)….<3 And we then drove down to San Luis Obispo to pick up my son for the long weekend as he had been under the weather for the week before. So it is really nice to have him home this weekend. Staying indoors anyway as it is a stormy weather weekend throughout.

Upcoming

On My Blog and On the Homefront

Hope to get a few different posts like I had originally planned with a weekly schedule so long ago. My dd has her whole week off from school so it is going to be more relaxed this coming week because of that. And it is going to be raining for the first half (definitely not complaining of the rain after those years of drought earlier).

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of February include: Helen Fielding, Marissa Meyer, and Ryū Murakami on Fen 19th; Richard Matheson and Sally Rooney on the 20th of February; Anais Nin, Chuck Palahniuk, Erma Bombeck, W.H. Auden on the 21st of February; Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edward Gorey on the 22nd; W.E.B. Du Bois and Francesca Simon on the 23rd; Gillian Flynn, Wilhelm Carl Grimm, Laila Lalami, and Rainbow Rowell on the 24th; Anthony Burgess on the 25th
• The 20th of February is Clean Out Your Bookcase Day and while I did clean out one bookcase (the biggest one in our home) recently, the rest are waiting their turn so maybe I should get to them this week!
• International Mother Language Day is on the 21st of February
• World Thinking Day is on the 22nd of February (#WTD2024). This year’s theme is Our World, Our Thriving Future.
• A fun holiday to celebrate on the 23rd with Pinocchio Day (Since I first read the story, I have it here with the literary celebrations!)

Foodie Celebrations

• February 19th is National Chocolate Mint Day and the start of National Pancake Week
• Then the 20th of February brings us National Cherry Pie Day and National Muffin Day
• followed by National Grain-Free Day and National Sticky Bun Day on the 21st
• Then, on the 22nd of February, it is National Cook a Sweet Potato Day and National Margarita Day. Being the last/fourth Thursday in Feb also makes the 22nd National Toast Day and National Chili Day!
• And something I have made way too often now – it is  National Banana Bread Day on the 23rd
• The 24th is National Tortilla Chip Day
• End the week with National Chocolate Covered Nut Day on the 25th of February

Other Celebrations

• It is Family Day on the 19th of February as well as Tug of War Day. And of course, Presidents Day as well here in the USA
• Then the 20th is World Day of Social Justice. It is also National Love Your Pet Day, National Comfy Day, and National Leadership Day.
• The 21st is Card Reading Day, a day to get out those old cards you have collected over the years and cherish those memories.
• Founders Day Scouts on the 22nd of February honors Lord Baden-Powell and his wife Olave (who was the first Chief Girl Guide!!)
• On the 23rd, it is World Peace and Understanding Day
• Followed by Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day on the 24th of February
• And then, it is time to be quiet for it is Quiet Day on February 25.

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon