- Lyricist
- A. Maruthakasi
- Singers
- T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela
- Music director
- Pendyala Nageswara Rao
- Movie name
- Kalaivanan
- Movie release year
- 1959
- Lyrics added on
- 6 Feb 2025
Lyrics & meaning
Beyond the translation
Overall song meaning
This powerful song from Kalaivanan (1959) is a dramatic rhetorical challenge directed at the Almighty. The singers question God's existence, compassion, and silence in the presence of evil, tyranny, and unjust human suffering. They mock the idea of a stone idol possessing a stone heart and demand that the divine power manifest itself to protect righteousness.
Writing craft
Poetic devices
Simile (Upamai)
“Uruvai pola unadhu Nenjam karungal aandha”
Compares God's heart turning to cold black stone with His inanimate stone idol (Uruvai pola unadhu Nenjam karungal aandha).
Rhetorical Questioning (Vinaa)
“Deivam nee thaana / Dharmam nee thaana”
Uses a series of sharp questions challenging God's presence, mercy, and silence to evoke strong emotion.
Alliteration / Monai
“Un thanmai un unmai”
Repetition of starting sounds like 'Un' in 'Un thanmai un unmai' and 'Urudhi / Unnai'.
Mythological Allusion (Apostrophe)
“Netri kannain oozhitheeyil Suttu adhai posikkidu”
Directly invokes Shiva's attributes—Netrikkan (third eye fire) and Neelakanda (blue-throated eater of poison)—to destroy evil.
Did you know?
Trivia
Kalaivanan (1959) was a famous Tamil film starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao and P. Bhanumathi, with music composed by Pendyala Nageswara Rao. The song vividly combines classical devotional metaphors with dramatic social commentary written by legendary lyricist A. Maruthakasi.
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