Brewing Coffee

Often, I told her that it reminds me of a story that I never got to telling. An unforgettable story that has always been one of my favourites. It's titled Kavi Chakravarthi (Emperor of Poets), a story about a Tamil poet, Kambar who wrote Ramayana in Tamil.

The accolades of a young poet, Kambar was widespread and it reached the ears of the King of Chola, who invited him to his court. Ottraikoothar, an old poet and also the well-acclaimed Kavi Chakravarthy (Emperor of poets) was among the subjects in his court.

The King of Chola, a poetry enthusiast, requested both poets to work on the Tamil version of Ramayana. Upon his request, both poets worked separately on their versions. Ottraikoothar, who initially welcomed Kambar became bitter towards the latter, due to differences in opinions.

One day, the eager king suggested to them to read to him whatever they had written thus far. Kambar read his prologue first. He cited the scene in Ramayana where the monkeys were led by Lord Rama to build the bridge to Lanka to save his consort, Sita.

In his narration, Kambar described that drops of water splashed when the monkeys dropped the boulders into the deep sea. Instead of the usual "thuli" (drop of water), he had used "thumi" to describe the droplets. Ottraikoothar expressed his violent objection and informed the king that there was no such word as "thumi" in the Tamil language. However, Kambar maintained that "thumi" referred to a spray of water, which was smaller than a drop. The old poet was not convinced and he insisted that the young poet was pulling a fast one.

The King of Chola intervened to mediate between the men. He suggested going into the town in disguise to find out whether common folks used the word.

As planned, the disguised men set out to the town. They came across a group of men who spent all day engaging in idle talk under a shelter. The three men joined them and enquired about the weather. The men lamented that it has been pretty bad for there has not been a drop (thuli) of rain for months.

Ottraikoothar was smug for no one seemed to have used the word "thumi". The king and the poets persisted to several other streets, coming in contact with the common folks but none mentioned the word, "thumi". The old poet brought to the king's attention again that such a word does not exist and he requested that they return back to the kingdom. Kambar, who was silent all the while, suggested exploring one more street before returning. The king obliged.

As they walked into the street, the men noticed a woman standing at the veranda of a house, pounding some mixture. She seemed to be the only one in view while they could hear the thundering footsteps of little children running about in the house. Just as the men were getting closer to the house, she turned to the entrance of the house and exclaimed, "Dear children, please do not come here for the spray of liquid (thumi) could get into your eyes." The men froze on their tracks.

The old poet saw red and stormed off. He returned home and tore up his work. Kambar made an attempt to stop him and questioned his behaviour. The old man exclaimed, "The one who appeared was none other than the Goddess Saraswathi (Goddess of Learning and Knowledge). And she would maintain whatever you say as Tamil. I have no place in here."

As years got by, Kambar became the Kavi Chakravarthi.

There are many aspects to this story but I would like to focus on the language debate.

It is said that sankrit is the first language. Over years, many languages were born from this ancient language and have gone through a myriad of changes. It goes without saying that language has no limits and the changes are inevitable. Though purists find it a little hard to digest, the truth still remains that the English language will continue to change in years to come, especially, in this technological age, when new words are coined for convenience. It's a part of life that we need to accept and grow.

The most important aspect of communication is to be understood and it is not always that it needs a language.

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