Feb 14, 2006

Kaadhal Seiveer!!



Here is a quick and simple translation of a beautiful song, on the occasion of the V- Day..

Yakkai thiri; Kaadhal sudar

Yakkai (body) is a wick; love is the flame. The whole purpose of the wick is to light; flame helps that. Without flame, the wick is useless. The wick sacrifices itself for holding the flame.

Jeevan nadhi; kaadhal kadal

Soul is a river; love is the sea. All the rivers, no matter how long, big and violent they are; they ultimately mix in the sea. The sea takes in all the rivers; and rivers that mix in the sea lose their identity and they are just called sea.

Piravi pizhai; kaadhal thirutham

Birth is a mistake; love is the correction. Don’t regret at being born; there is love. The god does the mistake of creation; and then he corrects it with love. Without being corrected, a mistake can never stand alone. It will always remain a mistake.

Irudhayam kal; kaadhal sirpam

Heart is a stone; love is the sculpture. A stone can serve several functions; as a simple paper-weight, to kill someone, to build home, as a resting place, etc., but a sculpture on it changes it totally. It gives beauty to the stone, which was missing altogether but always hidden beneath.

Jenmam vidhai; kaadhal pazham

Birth (again) is a seed; love is the fruit. A seed, after growing up tall as a tree, becomes a tree and gives fruits. The fruits most often define the use of the tree. The seed is bitter; the fruit is sweet. The fruit came from the seed; or the other way around? (

Lokam dwaitham; kaadhal advaitham

The world is dual; love is singular. World, by and large, is made of men and women; love is made of only one – the pair. Two is better than one? Why does everybody want to be #1?

Sarvam soonyam; kaadhal pinnyam

(Thanks to Yours Truly, I am able to complete this missing link):

Everything (sarvam) is zero (soonyam). Love is infinite (pinniyam). IMHO, it is amazing!! The reciprocal of zero is infinity. Vairamuthu says all in the world is equivalent to nothing (and useless); and love is everything. Truly amazing!!

Maanudam maayam; kaadhal amaram

Life is an illusion; love is undying.

Wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day!!


25 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for that Raju. I have heard that song a million times, but I couldn't understand the lyrics, but when you right out the lyrics, you truly appreciate the song. anyways happy valentines day to everyone, have a jolly time with ur partners.

NaiKutti said...

when i first heard the song, i was wondering what is yakkai and then after a couple of weeks found the meaning of it... a very good song with good music and awesome lyrics!... am sure ur translation would help many!

Balaji said...

wow nice job raju. never really listened to the lyrics on this song but after reading this post, i went back and listened to the song again :)

Devilish Angel said...

Good explanation for the words...
Happy Valentine's day Raju...

Vishnu said...

Gud Work Raju... thanks man

Happy V-DAY ! :)


Cheers!
:)

Yours Truly said...

One of my most favourite ones :) The opening "Fanaah" - ARR's voice booms and rocks!!!

And I was thinking it was Sarvam soonyam kaadhal pinniyam
Am not sure..but I guess piNNiyam means boundless - soemthing which doesn't have a limit
Vairamuthu vaazhga!!

TamilPonnu said...

Raju, Happy vday..!!

Raju said...

Nitin, when I listened to the song first, the beat attracted me more than the lyrics; after multiple listens, I came to appreciate the true meaning of the lyrics.
----------------------------------------------------------
Karthik, ThirukuRal has a KuRal on 'Yaakkai'.. -'PuRathuRuppellam...'. An amazing song - a true blend of classic lyrics and upbeat music..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balaji, thanks.. Vairamuthu hardly writes crap nowadays.. I think there are many more songs like this which have some nice hidden meanings, buried beneath some rocking music..

Raju said...

Vanathi, Thanks and you too!!
------------------------------------
Vishnu, nandri..
-----------------------
Yours truly, yeah.. ARR uses his unique voice nicely for this one..

May be it is Sarvam.. makes sense. piNNiyam means the tamil equivalent of infinity? That would fit in perfectly.. scientifically, soonyam and piNNiyam are reciprocals, ille? ( 1/0 = infinity). WOW!!! Thanks for the explanation. I would add it now and complete the song.. :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priya, thanks and u too!!

Me too said...

Kalakkal(I've been thinking long for a good thamizh word and not insult these Vaira(muthu's) varigal but couldn't come up with one!! What a shame!) post! Except for the first lines, haven't really paid much attention to the lyrics. Like you've said, the words get the beating from the loud music beats!!

mitr_bayarea said...

Raju-

nice meaningful post, have always liked the opening Fanaah on this song and thought that ARR had sung this beautifully; Fanaah is his daughter's name.

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Happy Valentine's day.! to you too.

Isn't this song in 'Ayudha Ezhuthu'.!! Nice song indeed!

Mitr - Thanks for the update on Fanaah.! Didn't know about ARR's daughter until I read it here.

ashok said...

thanx raju for enlighting us:)

Raju said...

Aparna, mikka nandri.. One segment of your comment reads 'What a Shame!) post!'. :-) Enna solla varreenga? ;-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mitr, illeengo.. 'Fanaah' in Arabic means destruction. His daughters' names are Kathija and Raheema. Someone has mislead you. ARR's voice is indeed very nice.
---------------------------
Narayanan, Welcome, after a long time!!! Thanks for the wishes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashok, ennanga, kindal panreengala? :)

aruna said...

useful post!! though this is my fav. song,.. didnt get to understand every line...Good job !!..

Raju said...

Aruna, like many others said, the 'pub-like' music of Fannah was the focus for most listen(er)s; so no wonder that the lyrics werent thought about much..

Me too said...

I just wanted to say that it is such a shame that I couldn't come up with a good thamizh word for this vaira varigal song other than 'kalakkal'! I thought the bracket separated the two! Sorry for the confusion!!

Raju said...

Aparna, Oops.. sorry... I was just pulling ur leg.. of course I knew what you meant.. just played a prank.. :-)

Me too said...

"just played a prank.. :-" - Oho! Indha vellai ellam seiveengala?! Thamizh dhaan theriya maatengudhunnu nenachen, ennoda English-um puriya maatengudhey makkalukku-nnu payandhutten!! :)

Raju said...

Aparna, LOL.. :-) unga thamizhukku enna kurai?

Adiya said...

Salute for your explanation.
Interesting aspect in this song is that it doesn't have any Verb to it( mainly in the pallavi part ). its set in the Uvamanam / Uvameyam pattern.

DiamondPearl is awesome

-a

Raju said...

Adiya, welcome here...

True.. no verbs is something I thought about the song few days b4 thinking about the post but forgot to mention.. good catch. Uvamanam/uvameyam.. wow.. hearing the words after a long long time.. :) Thanks for ur salute..

Anonymous said...

wow.. superb explanation. kalakitta raju.. never been so keen abt the lyrics n observed..

Raju said...

Rohini, thanks so much.. Even I didnt pay much attention to the lyrics the first few times I listened to the song.. :)

www.teruel-3d.com said...

What namely you're saying is a terrible mistake.