LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Proverbs in Tamil and Telugu

A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D.

Introduction

Proverb is short, crisp and pithy. It is frequently used in all cultures to express their wisdom, practical guidance, and as basic truth plainly told. It is condensed and is easily remembered. Proverbs do not exercise any legal authority but is often accepted as something that we all need to understand and follow. Authorship of proverbs is hard to trace and hard to prove. Its domain is human nature and all human activity in terms of our relation to people, objects, events, creation and natural and spiritual realms, etc.

Proverbs may be considered miniature poems in their structure and in their use of features such as alliteration, rhyme and assonance, rhythmic phrasing, balanced opposition and parallelism. These are comparable but not identical to aphorisms and metaphor, etc. There is a proverb in Kannada that equates the Proverbs with Vedas.

i) Proverbs are small scriptures
ii) Proverbs are the storehouse of experience
iii) Proverbs are the storehouse of wisdom
iv) Proverbs is an ornament of language
v) Proverbs may serve as impersonal vehicles for personal communication

An Ugly Face of Proverbs

The above description of the form and function of proverbs does not really reveal some of the ugly facets of the use of proverbs in Indian languages. Some castes, women, professions, processes, etc. are shown in bad light. Use of such proverbs should be discontinued. Only for the sake of description I'm forced to use these ugly proverbs in one or two places in this paper.

Aim of the Article

The present article deals with the linguistic features of Tamil and Telugu proverbs in comparative mood. There are so many linguistic features found in proverbs. Some of these are as follows:

1. Allusion,
2. Alliteration,
3. Parallelism,
4. Rhyme,
5. Hyperbole,
6. Paradox,
7. Metaphor,
8. Simile,
9. Rhythmic phrasing,
10. Personification and
11. Balanced opposition and parallelism.

Tamil and Telugu belong to the same language family, that is, the Dravidian family. The proverbs found in these languages have both similarities and dissimilarities.

1. Allusion: Allusion means the "reference"

Example from Tamil for Allusion

puthusukku vaNNaan kaDusukku veLuttaan
"At first the Dhobi washes the clothes very neatly and sincerely."

In the above example the proverb describes the nature of one particular caste "Dhobi" and it becomes the reference.

Example from Telugu for Allusion

Mundu occina cevvulukkanna venakka occina kommu meelu
"The late coming horns are better than the first coming ears"

In the above Telugu allusion example the parts of the body are compared and concluded which one is better and the comparison becomes the reference.

2. Alliteration: Alliteration means the first letter is same in all the occurrences.

Example from Tamil for alliteration

Cettaal teriyum ceTTi vaaZhvu
"One can come to know the character of Vaishyaa after his death"

In the above example the first letter 'ca' is repeatedly coming in the proverb and it explicit the character of one particular caste.

Example from Telugu for alliteration

atta sommu alludi daanam
"The mother - in law's property was given by the daughter - in law as alms (dhaanam)."

In the above example, the first letter 'a' of the proverb is one and the same and it conveys the reality of the world.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

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