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Karuththamma album cover
Lyrics & meaning

Kaadu Potta Kaadu

From Karuththamma · 1994

Lyricist
Vairamuthu
Singers
Bharathiraja, Malaysia Vasudevan
Music director
A. R. Rahman
Movie name
Karuththamma
Movie release year
1994
Lyrics added on
23 Oct 2017

Lyrics & meaning

♫ Tanglish lyrics
↻ English translation
{Kaadu potta kaadu
Sengaathu veesum kaadu
Veedu keethu veedu
Yeliyodu yenga paadu..hoo} (2)
Koozhu cholakoozhu
Vengaayam kooda seru
Thai maasam nellu soru..ahaa..
Bhoomi enga bhoomi
Vaanam paathu vaazhum bhoomi
Thoongi poachu enga saami
Kaadu potta kaadu
Sengaathu veesum kaadu
Veedu keethu veedu
Yeliyodu yenga paadu…hooo
Andhi neram vandha
Thalaiyellaam yenni paaru
Aadu maata serthu
Enga veettil ezhu peru
Aaru engae aaru
Ada podaa vetkka kedu
Mazhai vandha thanni odum
Maru naalae vandi odum
Kannu peththa kannu
En kannu kuttiyum onnu onnu
Kanji oothum enga mannu
Kaadu potta kaadu
Sengaathu veesum kaadu
Veedu keethu veedu
Yeliyodu yenga paadu…hooo
Kakaa elapaara
Karuvela maram irukkku
En makka elapaara
Mamarathu nizhal irukka
Kokku pasi aara
Kokkulathu meen irukku
En makka pasi aara
Makki pona nel irukka
Maadu thathai maadu
Idhu odum romba thooram
Vaazhkai thathai vaazhkai
Idhu pogum romba kaalam
Kaattu kallikulla
Ullaadum vaalapola
Ullaara kanneer pongum
Sollama ullam pongum
Patta marathu mela
Etti paarkum onaan pola
Vaazha vandhom bhoomi mela
{Kaadu potta kaadu
Sengaathu veesum kaadu
Veedu keethu veedu
Yeliyodu yenga paadu…hooo} (2)
Koozhu cholakoozhu
Vengaayam kooda seru
Thai maasam nellu soru..ahaa..
Bhoomi enga bhoomi
Vaanam paathu vaazhum bhoomi
Thoongi poachu enga saami
Kaadu potta kaadu
Sengaathu veesum kaadu
Veedu keethu veedu
Yeliyodu yenga paadu…hooo
This land is a barren wasteland,
A land where red dust winds blow.
Our home is a thatched hut,
Sharing our life with rats is our plight... hoo!
Porridge, fermented millet porridge,
Take a raw onion on the side.
Rice comes only in the harvest month of Thai (mid-January)... aha!
This land, oh our land,
A land that survives looking up at the sky for rain,
Our God has fallen fast asleep.
This land is a barren wasteland,
A land where red dust winds blow.
Our home is a thatched hut,
Sharing our life with rats is our plight... hoo!
When evening falls,
Count all the heads in our house:
Counting the goats and cattle too,
We are seven souls in all!
Where is the river? What river?
Oh forget it, what a shame!
When it rains, water flows,
The very next day, bullock carts ride over the dry sand!
The young calves born to our cattle,
And my own dear children, each and every one,
This soil barely feeds them with plain gruel.
This land is a barren wasteland,
A land where red dust winds blow.
Our home is a thatched hut,
Sharing our life with rats is our plight... hoo!
For a crow to rest,
There is a thorny babool tree.
For my people to rest,
Is there the shade of a mango tree?
For a crane to quench its hunger,
There are fish in the pond.
For my people to quench their hunger,
Is there even a handful of spoiled grain?
The ox is a tired, plodding beast,
Yet it drags on for a long way.
Life is a tired, plodding journey,
Yet it goes on for many years.
Deep inside the wild cactus,
Like a lizard's tail twitching hidden from sight,
Tears well up silently within,
Without a word, the heart aches and weeps.
Like a garden lizard peeking out
From atop a dried-up dead tree,
We have come to live upon this earth.
This land is a barren wasteland,
A land where red dust winds blow.
Our home is a thatched hut,
Sharing our life with rats is our plight... hoo!
Porridge, fermented millet porridge,
Take a raw onion on the side.
Rice comes only in the harvest month of Thai (mid-January)... aha!
This land, oh our land,
A land that survives looking up at the sky for rain,
Our God has fallen fast asleep.
This land is a barren wasteland,
A land where red dust winds blow.
Our home is a thatched hut,
Sharing our life with rats is our plight... hoo!
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Beyond the translation

Overall song meaning

This poignant folk song from the 1994 movie Karuththamma portrays the severe hardships, poverty, and resilience of villagers living in arid southern Tamil Nadu. The lyrics describe a harsh existence where families live in basic thatched huts alongside rats, depend entirely on rainfed agriculture, and eat simple millet porridge with onions, getting proper rice only during the post-harvest month of Thai.

Writing craft

Poetic devices

Simile (Upamai)

“Patta marathu mela / Etti paarkum onaan pola / Vaazha vandhom bhoomi mela”

Compares human survival on dry, lifeless land to a garden lizard clinging to a dead tree.

Contrast / Rhetorical Parallelism

“Kakaa elapaara Karuvela maram irukkku / En makka elapaara Mamarathu nizhal irukka”

Contrasts the availability of basic shelter/food for birds and animals against the stark lack of comfort and nutrition for poor human villagers.

Personification

“Thoongi poachu enga saami”

Personifies God as being asleep to highlight the feeling of divine abandonment felt by suffering villagers.

Monai (Alliteration)

“Kaadu potta kaadu / Sengaathu veesum kaadu”

Repetition of initial consonant sounds across lines for rhythmic folk pacing.

Did you know?

Trivia

The song is composed by A. R. Rahman for Bharathiraja's award-winning film Karuththamma (1994). Lyricist Vairamuthu captured authentic southern Tamil agrarian folk idioms to illustrate extreme rural poverty and drought.

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