Taḻal in the millet fields

taḻal (தழல்)

Source term: taḻal: sling, also bull-roarer

taḻal (தழல்): a hand-whirled bird-scarer, also glossed sling. taṭṭai: a struck clapper for scaring birds. kuṟiñci: the hill landscape of Sangam poetry, setting of millet-guarding and of lovers' meetings.

On the hills where the millet ripened, girls kept the parrots off with noise. Tamil poems of the Sangam age give them two bird-scarers: the taṭṭai, a clapper that was struck, and the taḻal, which, the commentators say, was whirled by hand until it sounded of itself and sent the parrots flying. In one short poem of the Kuṟuntokai the taḻal becomes a love token. A girl remembers the festival where a young man found her. He gave her a taḻal, a taṭṭai and a skirt of leaves, told her they suited her, spoke sweet lies, and carried off the beauty her mother had guarded.

Particulars

Object

A hand-whirled bird-scarer that sounds of itself.

Function

Whirled by hand by girls guarding ripening millet, its sound drove away parrots and other birds; it also figures as a lover's gift.