A section from the journey
The Women Poets
In the Sangam age, women were not only sung about. They were singers. Many of the named poets were women, and their poems were kept and honoured beside the men's. The most famous is Auvaiyar, a poet of wisdom and plain truth, who even served a king as his trusted envoy. Her voice was respected across the Tamil land.
In our walk through the love-poems, we heard women sung about, longed for, waited for. Now I want to turn that around, and tell you something easy to miss but worth treasuring. In the Sangam age, women were not only sung about. They were the singers.
A good number of the named poets of the Sangam were women. Their poems were not set aside or forgotten. They were gathered into the same collections, quoted by the same scholars, honoured beside the men's, with no apology and no lesser shelf. Their voices simply belonged.
The most famous of them all is a poet called . Across the Tamil land her name is still beloved, spoken with warmth, as one might speak of a wise grandmother whose sayings everyone knows.
Auvaiyar was a poet of wisdom and of plain truth. She wrote of how to live well, of true friendship, of generosity, and of what makes a person worthy. Her lines are short and clear, the kind that lodge in the memory and come back to you when you need them. And she was fiercely her own person, beholden to no one.
Nor was she only a maker of verses at the edge of a court. She served the chieftain , one of the great patrons, as his trusted envoy. He sent her to carry his word to other kings. Think of that: a poet, and a woman, chosen as the voice of a ruler before other rulers.
Hold this picture as we leave the poems behind. To find women poets not at the margins but at the very heart of a literature, two thousand years ago, is a rare and precious thing. The Tamil tradition gave them that place. We should pause, and honour it.
Auvaiyar's wisdom has lasted two thousand years because people kept repeating it. Whose plain words of wisdom do you still carry with you, and pass on without even thinking about it?
We have heard how the akam poems sing of women in love. But here is something to hold onto: in the Sangam age, women were not only the subject of poems. They were among the poets themselves. A good number of the named Sangam poets were women, and their work was gathered, quoted, and honoured beside the men's, with no apology. The most famous of them all is Auvaiyar. She was a poet of wisdom and ethics, plain-spoken and fiercely her own person. She wrote of right living, of friendship, and of how to measure a true human being. And she was no mere ornament at court. She served the chieftain Adiyaman as a trusted envoy, carrying his word to other kings. Her voice was respected the length of the Tamil land. To find women poets at the centre of a literature, two thousand years ago, is rare and precious. The Tamil tradition gave them that place, and we should pause to honour it.
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