Vaigai
Through
Pandya lands your waters flow,
O
Vaigai, witness to ages ago,
When
poets gathered on your fertile banks,
And
kings bestowed gifts of highest ranks.
From
Varushanadu hills you descend,
Through
Madurai's heart your course you bend,
As
ancient as the Tamil tongue itself,
Bearer
of stories, giver of wealth.
In Akam
verse, lovers met by your shore,
Under
moonlight when day was no more,
Your
flowing waters their secret keeper,
As
passion grew stronger, deeper.
In Puram
songs, kings bathed in your stream,
Before
battle, to honor their dream,
Of
victory blessed by your sacred flow,
While
war drums echoed, row upon row.
When
monsoon clouds burst open wide,
You
swelled with fury, with untamed pride,
Carrying
soil to nourish the land,
Where
paddy fields stretched like a golden band.
Chera,
Chola, and Pandya kings
Praised
your bounty in everything,
Your
waters turned fields to emerald green,
The
finest harvests ever seen.
Poets
of Sangam by your banks would sit,
As
words of beauty from their lips would flit,
Comparing
your flow to a woman's grace,
Your
thundering rapids to a warrior's pace.
When
drought scorched the land with merciless heat,
To
your dry bed came many suppliant feet,
Praying
for rain to fill you once more,
As
their ancestors had done before.
O
Vaigai! More than mere water and sand,
You're
the lifeblood of Tamil's ancient land,
Through
Muthamizh's embrace, your legacy flows,
In
verses timeless as your journey goes.
Five
landscapes of Tamil poetic lore,
You've
witnessed all, and so much more,
From
kuṟiñci hills to marutam fields,
The aintiṇai
truths your memory yields.
Ancient
Vaigai, flowing still today,
Though
Sangam poets have long passed away,
Your
waters carry the echoes of time,
When
Tamil culture was in its prime.
*****
