Pullainga Perulathan

Beyond the translation

Overall song meaning

Pullainga Perulathaan is a poignant mother's lament on extreme poverty and starvation. She contrasts the irony of naming poor children with precious names like Thangam (Gold) and Vairam (Diamond) against the tragic reality where they lack even basic porridge. Her hungry children look up at the sky, metaphorically viewing the star-lit sky as a plate of rice grains and the glowing moon as a ripe mango, both tantalizingly out of reach. The mother directs her sorrowful anger towards the Creator, questioning why social inequality exists. She demands to know why God created high and low classes among human beings just as He formed mountains and valleys on the physical earth, asking what pleasure He finds in the unending plight of the poor.