Avvaiyar & Vanja Pugalchi Ani — A Tale from Tamil Sangam

Avvaiyar, the expert at “subtle sarcasm” poems

You may recall “vanja pugalchi ani” from school. There is no proper English translation to it, but it can be loosely translated as a style of Tamil poetry for “subtle sarcasm”. For a casual observer, this type of poetry could sound as flattery, but the hidden intent is criticism. Before we dive further into how Avvaiyar employed this, did you know that there were at least three Avvaiyars over the history of Tamil? Read on!