401 replies to this topic

[Mamallan]

lekha thank you. the vowel and consonant transforms from malayalam to kannada were interesting to read about.

here are a few from me in thamizh.

kUzhukkum Asai, mIsaikkum Asai (he wants to have the stew and yet doesn't want to get his mustache wet).

kuppura vizhunthAlum mIsaila maNNu ottalai (he fell on his stomach but insists he didn't get mud in his mustache).

anjil viLayathathu aimbathil viLayuma? (if it doesn't bend when it's five, will it bend when it's fifty?)

nAn piddicha muyalukku mUNE kalu (to insist that the rabbit one has caught has only three legs).

mayile mayilenna irakkai podathu (if you ask the peacock to shed its feathers too politely it won't)

puli pasithalum pullai thinnathu (a tiger won't eat grass no matter how hungry it is).

eta: i am rereading the malayalam proverbs in the older part of the thread and having fun parsing them. i notice lekha has one that contradicts exactly what we say about hungry tigers. maybe tamil tigers are more discerning than malayali tigers. :-)

eta 2: adding a couple more before i hit the sack.

al®panukku pavishu vandhA artharathrila kudai pidippan (the nouveau rich are the ones who use an umbrella in the dead of the night).

vidiya vidiya ramAyaNam kettuttu sIthakki rAman chithappannU sonnAnAn (after listening to the ramayanam till daybreak, he says rAmA is sItha's uncle - specifically father's younger bro).

this one is not a proverb but a kuRaL (from the thirukkuRaL) which those of us who've enjoyed the company of infants and toddlers will surely appreciate:

kuzhalinidhu, yAzhinidhu enbar, thammakkaL
mazhalaich chol kELAdhavar

those who haven't heard the sweetness of babytalk will claim that the flute and the harp are melodious.

Edited by Mamallan, 30 September 2007 - 07:50 AM.

[lekha]

mammallan, there's an intrinsic melody in these proverbs and sayings that helps to make them memorable, no?

incidentally, what are they called in tamil? we call them pazhamcholle in malayalam - meaning "ancient sayings" - and there's a pun here - because pazham is also fruit - when one comes out with one of these platitudes during a conversation, one can be sure of getting the response, "Adhey, ee Banana-talk onnu vide" ("just leave off this banana-talk")

Quote

nAn piddicha muyalukku mUNE kalu (to insist that the rabbit one has caught has only three legs)

in our part of the world, i'd go a bit further -  i'd insist that the rabbit that i'd caught had two horns - nyan pidicha moyalinu randu kombe!


yeah! that's an interesting contradiction, about the tigers -  i smiled at the thought of the malayali tiger sitting down to a nice bowl of alfalfa greens while the tamil one paces hungrily!

Edited by lekha, 30 September 2007 - 11:51 AM.

[Mamallan]

absolutely love them lekha; they inform us so much about the cadence of our language and about the culture of the ancient people. we call it pazhamozhi (singular)/pazhamozhigal (plural). pazhanchol(-le) would also be a thamizh word although it is not used. love the pun on oldness and fruit. it would be in thamizh too. it makes me want to learn malayalam. although i shouldn't be too surprised. bhadriraju krishnamurthi says as much in his book - that the order of splitting off from proto dravidian is telugu first, then kannada, and next malayalam and thamizh.  as you've pointed out, there is also the geographic closeness. not surprisingly for a thamizh speaker the ease of understanding them is in reverse order.  having known many kannadigas growing up, i had erroneously assumed that kannada and thamizh are closer than malayalam and thamizh. i realize now that it is not so.

some of the malayalam words that you, shyama and groomlake have casually used  in this thread and other conversations elsewhere in AS, i recognize as ancient thamizh words which are in disuse in colloquial usage and only used in a literary sense.

related Q - is malayalam like thamizh also diglossic? i.e. is there a rather large difference between the casual and formal language?

eta: hahaha - nearly missed your retort in yellow and noticed it only upon rereading.

Edited by Mamallan, 30 September 2007 - 05:30 PM.

[Rumali Roti]

Mammalan and Lekha,

Sometimes I find myself repeating out loud some of the words and phrases used here, to see how they might sound.  I've no way of knowing if I'm pronouncing them right or accenting the correct syllable -- I imagine my vocal experiments would bring you much laughter (too many syllables, I keep stumbling!).  

How I wish we had all been made to learn south Indian languages as school children.

[groomlake]

lekha, on Sep 29 2007, 08:49 AM, said:

you'll find striking similarities between kannada and malayalam too - when we moved to bangalore, learning kannada became a game - the /p/ phoneme in malayalam transposes to /h/ in kannada - so all we had to do was substitute and extend the unstressed schwa vowel ending to "u"! e.g. palle (tooth) - hallu, paale (milk) - haalu! and words like paambe (snake) - haavu

Indeed so! I remember this place called 'Hogenakal' a cataract on the Cauvery south of Bangalore, where, by mere substitution of the 'h' with 'p' was transformed to 'pogenakal' perfectly understandeable as "smoking rock" (poga= smoke, and kall= rock), an apt description of the thunderous rapids.

But t'was quite a discovery for me!

Mamallan, I share your sense of discovery- there're more similarities, I feel, between Tamil and Malayalam than betwen Tamizh and Kannada or Telugu. Telugu has the greatest influence of Sanskrit amongst all dravidian languages, so i've heard.

Even culturally, the border districts between KL and TN, like Palakkad and Trivandrum have a strong Tamizh influence including surnames like 'Pillai' for example.

[Mamallan]

groomlake, on Sep 30 2007, 07:28 PM, said:

lekha, on Sep 29 2007, 08:49 AM, said:

you'll find striking similarities between kannada and malayalam too - when we moved to bangalore, learning kannada became a game - the /p/ phoneme in malayalam transposes to /h/ in kannada - so all we had to do was substitute and extend the unstressed schwa vowel ending to "u"! e.g. palle (tooth) - hallu, paale (milk) - haalu! and words like paambe (snake) - haavu

Indeed so! I remember this place called 'Hogenakal' a cataract on the Cauvery south of Bangalore, where, by mere substitution of the 'h' with 'p' was transformed to 'pogenakal' perfectly understandeable as "smoking rock" (poga= smoke, and kall= rock), an apt description of the thunderous rapids.

But t'was quite a discovery for me!

Mamallan, I share your sense of discovery- there're more similarities, I feel, between Tamil and Malayalam than betwen Tamizh and Kannada or Telugu. Telugu has the greatest influence of Sanskrit amongst all dravidian languages, so i've heard.

Even culturally, the border districts between KL and TN, like Palakkad and Trivandrum have a strong Tamizh influence including surnames like 'Pillai' for example.

totally loved the hoge=pogai transformation! same meaning in thamizh, and what a poetic description of water falling on a rock and creating mist.  just too lovely.  now hogenakal holds a special meaning for me.

[Mamallan]

lekha, on Sep 29 2007, 10:19 AM, said:

you'll find striking similarities between kannada and malayalam too - when we moved to bangalore, learning kannada became a game - the /p/ phoneme in malayalam transposes to /h/ in kannada - so all we had to do was substitute and extend the unstressed schwa vowel ending to "u"! e.g. palle (tooth) - hallu, paale (milk) - haalu! and words like paambe (snake) - haavu

thinking about this some more, it seems that thamizh sits somewhere midway between kannada and malayalam. so milk is pAlu in colloquial thamizh, and simply pAl (no vowel at the end) in the formal written version. tooth is pal in the written formal version and pallu in the spoken version. snake is pAmbu in both the written and spoken versions. so we often retain the 'u' vowel ending from kannada and also the 'pa/pA' consonant from malayalam.

eta: and this talk of tooth has brought forth another pazhamozhi:
siru (or siriya) thurumbum pal kuttha udhavum - even a tiny splinter is useful for picking teeth.

Edited by Mamallan, 30 September 2007 - 09:39 PM.

[groomlake]

Mamallan, on Sep 30 2007, 05:18 AM, said:

puli pasithalum pullai thinnathu (a tiger won't eat grass no matter how hungry it is).

eta: i am rereading the malayalam proverbs in the older part of the thread and having fun parsing them. i notice lekha has one that contradicts exactly what we say about hungry tigers.

lekha, on Mar 27 2006, 03:44 PM, said:

gati ketta puli pulum tinnum - in bad times a tiger will eat grass too.

maybe tamil tigers are more discerning than malayali tigers. :-)

Haha!

Maybe Malayali tigers try to survive by 'adjusting' (reminded of Wildflower's Punju sayings post)



Am reminded of a Tibetan saying from Alexandra David-Neel's book that goes something like:

"If you know how to adjust to your surroundings, even Hell would be fairly comfortable"

[moonstruck]

In the interest of the sentiment: वसुधैव कुटुंबकम् here are some equivalent (i guess)  proverbs in assorted languages.

Mamallan, on Sep 30 2007, 06:48 AM, said:

...
here are a few from me in thamizh.

kUzhukkum Asai, mIsaikkum Asai (he wants to have the stew and yet doesn't want to get his mustache wet).

Have his cake and eat it too! (English)

Quote

kuppura vizhunthAlum mIsaila maNNu ottalai (he fell on his stomach but insists he didn't get mud in his mustache).

पडलो तरी नाक वरच! (Marathi)

Quote

puli pasithalum pullai thinnathu (a tiger won't eat grass no matter how hungry it is).

खाईन तर तुपाशी नाहीतर उपाशी! (Marathi)

Quote

vidiya vidiya ramAyaNam kettuttu sIthakki rAman chithappannU sonnAnAn (after listening to the ramayanam till daybreak, he says rAmA is sItha's uncle - specifically father's younger bro).

सगळ रामायण ऐकून विचारतो, रामाची सीता कोण? (Marathi)

fixed typo: सीत to सीता

Edited by moonstruck, 02 October 2007 - 01:44 AM.

[vAtraT]

moonstruck, on Oct 1 2007, 10:33 AM, said:

In the interest of the sentiment: वसुधैव कुटुंबकम् here are some equivalent (i guess)  proverbs in assorted languages.
Etc.

That was neat!
Almost seems like someone deliberately comes up with one in each language to match the other one.

Actually, the more "basic human condition" the metaphor, the more likely it is that a saying will exist in many languages.

What may be the English/Marathi/Bengali/Tamil/... version of
sIr salAmat to pagaRI pachAs
?

[moonstruck]

vAtraT, on Oct 1 2007, 09:20 PM, said:

What may be the English/Marathi/Bengali/Tamil/... version of
sIr salAmat to pagaRI pachAs
?

alas, nothing in Englais or Mharati comes to mind at the moment.

[Mukta Sunit]

This particular dialogue written by Pu La has almost become like a proverb/epiphany for me :

"Bembtya , devaane anek praani banavale ; pan tyaacha laadka praani mhanje Gadhav. Mhanoon tyane gadhavache thode thode ansh pratyekaant ghaatlele aahet. Jagaat Kumbhaar thode; gaadhave faar. Tasmaat, Kumbhaar ho , Gaadhavaanchaa toTaa naahi !"

My feeble attempt :
A father telling his son : "Bembtyaa,  (there is no translating "Bembtya") , God created a lot of creatures , but his favorite creation was the Donkey. Thus, he put a small element of the donkey into everyone. In this world , there are a whole lot of asses, hardly and pot-maker. The bottomline : Try becoming a pot-maker ; no dirth of donkeys !"

Edited by Mukta Sunit, 02 October 2007 - 01:48 AM.

[aravindhan]

Sorry for not being around to answer the questions that folks here asked, but I see they've been answered very ably.  I had to laugh at the White House-Iraq explanation for the wolf-sheep proverb - that captures its spirit much better than anything I could have said.

Just a quick digression on the Malayalam-Tamil relationship: a good bit of Sangam, post-Sangam and devotional Tamil literature was written by people from what is today Kerala, for example the padhirrupatthu, the Silappathikáram, the songs of Cheraman Kulasekara Perumal, and so on.  Even as late as the 1500s, the first European missionaries treated Malayalam and Tamil as being essentially the same language - with the result that Tamil and Tamils were called "Malabar" and "Malabars" until the last decades of the 18th century.  Even today, there're heaps of olais in libraries in Europe which are catalogued as being in "the Malabar language", and which could be either Tamil or Malayalam.  But there's tonnes to say about this, and I'd rather not hijack this wonderful thread.

Mamallan, on Sep 30 2007, 02:18 AM, said:

kuzhalinidhu, yAzhinidhu enbar, thammakkaL
mazhalaich chol kELAdhavar

I must say I acquired a whole new level of appreciation for that kural after my daughter was born.  Also, these kurals are so frequently used that they've virtually acquired the status of proverbs.  Somewhat like "yáthum úré yávarum kélír" ["Every place is our home, all folk are our kin"], which in origin is the first line of a song in Purananuru, but has become a saying in its own right.

Here're a few more pazhamozhis I like:
kallai kandál náyai kánóm, náyai kandál kallai kánóm.
[When one finds a stone, one doesn't find a dog; when one finds a dog, one doesn't find a stone]

tinai vidhaitthavan thinai aruppán, vinai vidhatthavan vinai aruppán
[One who sows millet reaps millet, one who sows deeds reaps deeds]

mey solli kettavanum illai, poy solli vázhndhavanum illai
[None has suffered for speaking the truth; none prospers for speaking falsehood]

thannír vennír ánálum neruppai avikkum
[Hot water can still put out a flame]

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

[Rumali Roti]

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

Does this refer to the pleseant experience of viewing a verdant landscape?  (If something else, please explain.)

[aravindhan]

roshna, on Oct 1 2007, 09:40 PM, said:

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

Does this refer to the pleseant experience of viewing a verdant landscape?  (If something else, please explain.)

Yes, it does.  But in typical Tamil ullurai ("inner meaning") metaphor style, it has a second implied meaning - that that distant green may not cool the eye as much if you get closer to it; i.e., that pleasant things are often all the more pleasant if you keep your distance from them.

[hima]

roshna, on Oct 2 2007, 02:10 AM, said:

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

Does this refer to the pleseant experience of viewing a verdant landscape?  (If something else, please explain.)

Interesting... this reminds me of a Telugu proverb:

"Doorapu kondalu nunupu"
(Mountains in the distance appear to be 'smooth'.)

It means that we always tend to romanticize what is not within our reach or far away from us - distance makes everything seem more appealing than it really is. As Thomas Campbell wrote in The Pleasures of Hope, "Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, and robes the mountain in its azure hue."

Eta: Am not sure that the Tamil proverb has the same meaning.

Edited by hima, 02 October 2007 - 02:31 AM.

[hima]

A few more in Telugu ...

"Gaadida sangeetaaniki onte aascharyapadite, onte andaaniki gaadide moorcha poyindanta"
(While the camel marveled in wonder at the donkey's music, the donkey swooned over the camel's beauty.)

"Daridrudi pelliki vadagalla vaana"
(A hailstorm for a poor man's wedding.)

"Satram bhojanamu, matham nidra"
(Satram*-style meals, Matham**-style sleep.
*Satram = an inn or guesthouse for travelers, usually with shared accomodation
**Matham = convent, monastery.)

"Paanakamulo pudaka"
(A small stick in a sweet drink.)

"Tochi-tochanamma todikodali puttintiki vellindata"
(She didn't have anything to do so she went to her co-sister*'s mother's house.
*Co-sister - a strange English term we've coined for the person who is your husband's brother's wife. I think in Hindi that person would be called "Jethani".)

Edited by hima, 02 October 2007 - 02:48 AM.

[moonstruck]

aravindhan, on Oct 2 2007, 02:28 AM, said:

roshna, on Oct 1 2007, 09:40 PM, said:

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

Does this refer to the pleseant experience of viewing a verdant landscape?  (If something else, please explain.)

Yes, it does.  But in typical Tamil ullurai ("inner meaning") metaphor style, it has a second implied meaning - that that distant green may not cool the eye as much if you get closer to it; i.e., that pleasant things are often all the more pleasant if you keep your distance from them.

hima, on Oct 2 2007, 02:29 AM, said:

Interesting... this reminds me of a Telugu proverb:

"Doorapu kondalu nunupu"
(Mountains in the distance appear to be 'smooth'.)

It means that we always tend to romanticize what is not within our reach or far away from us - distance makes everything seem more appealing than it really is. As Thomas Campbell wrote in The Pleasures of Hope, "Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, and robes the mountain in its azure hue."

Eta: Am not sure that the Tamil proverb has the same meaning.

Marathi - दुरून डोंगर साजरे (duruun dongar saajre) (the mountains are pleasant to look at, from a distance!)

[Mamallan]

aravindhan, on Oct 2 2007, 02:28 AM, said:

roshna, on Oct 1 2007, 09:40 PM, said:

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

Does this refer to the pleseant experience of viewing a verdant landscape?  (If something else, please explain.)

Yes, it does.  But in typical Tamil ullurai ("inner meaning") metaphor style, it has a second implied meaning - that that distant green may not cool the eye as much if you get closer to it; i.e., that pleasant things are often all the more pleasant if you keep your distance from them.

roshna: it has similarities to, "the grass is greener on the other side".
aravindhan: i am enjoying your posts, especially the references to the similarities between malayalam and thamizh and the information about sangam and post-sangam literature written by people in malayalam lands. i wonder if you've read the recent series called "sangachchittirangal" published in ananda vikatan as a weekly feature a couple of years ago by the thamizh and malayalam essayist jayamohan.  since you made a reference to sangam era literature, i wonder if you've read a three volume commentary on sangam poetry by silamboli chellappan called "sanga ilakkiyaththEn". oh and before i forget, welcome to AS. it's great to see a thamizh literature enthusiast posting on AS.

i know exactly what you meant about "kuzhalinidhu....". it really does come home when we first hear out own kids talk, doesn't it?

Edited by Mamallan, 02 October 2007 - 07:33 AM.

[Mamallan]

vAtraT, on Oct 1 2007, 09:20 PM, said:

moonstruck, on Oct 1 2007, 10:33 AM, said:

In the interest of the sentiment: वसुधैव कुटुंबकम् here are some equivalent (i guess)  proverbs in assorted languages.
Etc.

That was neat!
Almost seems like someone deliberately comes up with one in each language to match the other one.

Actually, the more "basic human condition" the metaphor, the more likely it is that a saying will exist in many languages.

What may be the English/Marathi/Bengali/Tamil/... version of
sIr salAmat to pagaRI pachAs
?

a rough english translation might help in finding a thamizh equivalent if one exists. i am quite thrilled that i can still read devnagiri script.
sagaL ramayaN EkUn vichArtO, rAmAchi sIthA kON? did i read that right? don't think i'd have figured out the meaning if i didn't already have the context.

Edited by Mamallan, 02 October 2007 - 07:36 AM.

[notsogifted]

moonstruck, on Oct 1 2007, 12:03 AM, said:

Mamallan, on Sep 29 2007, 09:18 PM, said:

vidiya vidiya ramAyaNam kettuttu sIthakki rAman chithappannU sonnAnAn (after listening to the ramayanam till daybreak, he says rAmA is sItha's uncle - specifically father's younger bro).

सगळ रामायण ऐकून विचारतो, रामाची सीता कोण? (Marathi)

Mamallan, on Oct 1 2007, 09:57 PM, said:

sagaL ramayaN EkUn vichArtO, rAmAchi sIthA kON? did i read that right? don't think i'd have figured out the meaning if i didn't already have the context.

yes, i think you read that perfectly. and that is very similar to the bangla one that we have bandied around AS before:
"saat kaando ramayan poRe, sita kaar baap"  - after reading the seven kaand ramayan, (s)he asks whose father was sita?

vAtraT, on Oct 1 2007, 09:20 PM, said:

What may be the English/Marathi/Bengali/Tamil/... version of
sIr salAmat to pagaRI pachAs
?

i think this translates roughly to: if the head is safe, it's possible to have fifty turbans
can't come up with something in english or bangla that captures the sentiment.

Edited by notsogifted, 02 October 2007 - 08:30 AM.

[vAtraT]

aravindhan, on Oct 2 2007, 02:54 AM, said:

dhúratthu pachchai kannukku kulumai
[A distant green cools the eye]

Is there a "Grass is greener ..." thought in this?
There certainly is in this:

hima, on Oct 2 2007, 03:29 AM, said:

"Doorapu kondalu nunupu"
(Mountains in the distance appear to be 'smooth'.)

aravindhan, on Oct 2 2007, 02:54 AM, said:

mey solli kettavanum illai, poy solli vázhndhavanum illai
[None has suffered for speaking the truth; none prospers for speaking falsehood]

That's a lie, and you know it, you rich #$%^!

moonstruck, on Oct 2 2007, 05:02 AM, said:

Marathi - दुरून डोंगर साजरे (duruun dongar saajre) (the mountains are pleasant to look at, from a distance!)

Um. Can we stay away from this one?  I'm kinda sensitive about it.

Mamallan, on Oct 2 2007, 08:27 AM, said:

i am quite thrilled that i can still read devnagiri script.
sagaL ramayaN EkUn vichArtO, rAmAchi sIthA kON? did i read that right? don't think i'd have figured out the meaning if i didn't already have the context.

You get an A- for that effort, Mamallan!
The only part which may be called a minor error is "EkUn".  The first syllable is actually a dipthong: "aikUn".

notsogifted, on Oct 2 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

i think this translates roughly to: if the head is safe, it's possible to have fifty turbans

Yes'm, NSG, the literal translation is spot-on.  The underlying sentiment, though, is: First things first; don't sweat the details.  Hey, I just came up with TWO English saws for it, didn't I?!?

Edited by vAtraT, 02 October 2007 - 08:37 AM.

[notsogifted]

vAtraT, on Oct 1 2007, 11:03 PM, said:

notsogifted, on Oct 2 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

i think this translates roughly to: if the head is safe, it's possible to have fifty turbans

Yes'm, NSG, the literal translation is spot-on.  The underlying sentiment, though, is: First things first; don't sweat the details.  Hey, I just came up with TWO English saws for it, didn't I?!?

kindasorta...very close, but don't you think the hindi one has a sense of urgency that's missing in these?

[hima]

notsogifted, on Oct 2 2007, 08:46 AM, said:

vAtraT, on Oct 1 2007, 11:03 PM, said:

notsogifted, on Oct 2 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

i think this translates roughly to: if the head is safe, it's possible to have fifty turbans

Yes'm, NSG, the literal translation is spot-on.  The underlying sentiment, though, is: First things first; don't sweat the details.  Hey, I just came up with TWO English saws for it, didn't I?!?

kindasorta...very close, but don't you think the hindi one has a sense of urgency that's missing in these?

Here's a Telugu proverb with a similar sentiment (perhaps not the same urgency?)-
"Parigetti paalu taagadam kanna, nilabadi neelu taagadam melu"
Instead of running while drinking milk, it's better to stand still and drink water.

[lekha]

Quote

related Q - is malayalam like thamizh also diglossic? i.e. is there a rather large difference between the casual and formal language?

mammallan, i'm not very sure of my facts here, but i think diglossia in malayalam is not as profound as it is in tamil though there certainly exist features that separate the "formal" and "informal" types of spoken/written malayalam.

generally the language displays differences across geographies, caste, community and religion - there are 3 main dialect forms in malayalam across the state - based on the old kingdoms - travancore, cochin and malabar - the dialects are the tiruvitankoor (travancore), the central - with  (2 distinct variations - thrissur (held by purists to be the least coloured by "outside" influences and the palakkad (heavily influenced by tamil, given the proximity to tamil nadu - here we must also mention the delightful blend of tamil/malayalam spoken by the palakkad iyers)) and finally the northern dialect spoken in the regions closer to the northern sea-coast - this includes the heavily arab-ised Maplah malayalam and the kannur dialect which has wonderful influences from tulu and konkani.

however, barring exceptions all dialects are understood all over the region, though i must say they do lead to some amusing contretemps! e.g. a cousin who married a girl from kannur would regale us with tales of how his new in-laws served steamed bananas and requested him, "mone, aa tholi eduththange chaadikala" - meaning "just throw away the skin." (in our palakkad idiom this would translate to "son, take that skin and jump")

[vAtraT]

hima, on Oct 2 2007, 01:38 PM, said:

notsogifted, on Oct 2 2007, 08:46 AM, said:

vAtraT, on Oct 1 2007, 11:03 PM, said:

notsogifted, on Oct 2 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

i think this translates roughly to: if the head is safe, it's possible to have fifty turbans

Yes'm, NSG, the literal translation is spot-on.  The underlying sentiment, though, is: First things first; don't sweat the details.  Hey, I just came up with TWO English saws for it, didn't I?!?

kindasorta...very close, but don't you think the hindi one has a sense of urgency that's missing in these?

Here's a Telugu proverb with a similar sentiment (perhaps not the same urgency?)-
"Parigetti paalu taagadam kanna, nilabadi neelu taagadam melu"
Instead of running while drinking milk, it's better to stand still and drink water.

Kuwait Mama, I think this one's a bit different.  It says to me: "Given the choice between a more attractive but potentially unachievable option and a sure thing -- choose the sure thing."  Something close to yours is: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Let's continue with this -- instead of merely identifying saws in various languages, let's also see if we can come up with one in another language which means the same or almost the same.

[moonstruck]

Mamallan, on Oct 2 2007, 07:27 AM, said:

i am quite thrilled that i can still read devnagiri script.
sagaL ramayaN EkUn vichArtO, rAmAchi sIthA kON? did i read that right? don't think i'd have figured out the meaning if i didn't already have the context.

Wow, I missed this. That is right 'on-spot." mamallan, are you sure you don't speak Marathi?

vAtraT, on Oct 2 2007, 08:33 AM, said:

moonstruck, on Oct 2 2007, 05:02 AM, said:

Marathi - दुरून डोंगर साजरे (duruun dongar saajre) (the mountains are pleasant to look at, from a distance!)

Um. Can we stay away from this one?  I'm kinda sensitive about it.

why??

coming back to "sIr salAmat to pagaRI pachAs" or "सर सलामत तो पगडी पचास!":
it means:
“Save your head first (life) in an emergency, don't worry about your pagaRi If you are alive, you can acquire pachaas (many) pagaRis later on."

[Mukta Sunit]

vAtraT, on Oct 2 2007, 08:33 AM, said:

moonstruck, on Oct 2 2007, 05:02 AM, said:

Marathi - दुरून डोंगर साजरे (duruun dongar saajre) (the mountains are pleasant to look at, from a distance!)

Um. Can we stay away from this one?  I'm kinda sensitive about it.

why??

Moonstrusk , dont ask why. "Dongar pokharoon undir nighnaar tyaatun ! " (By excavating a mountain, all you might get out is a rat - a Marathi proverb.) By the way the 2nd half of "Duroon Dongar Sajre" is "Javal jaata paadre !" (When you approach near them, they start stinking !) ....

[Mamallan]

moonstruck, on Oct 3 2007, 12:50 AM, said:

Mamallan, on Oct 2 2007, 07:27 AM, said:

i am quite thrilled that i can still read devnagiri script.
sagaL ramayaN EkUn vichArtO, rAmAchi sIthA kON? did i read that right? don't think i'd have figured out the meaning if i didn't already have the context.

Wow, I missed this. That is right 'on-spot." mamallan, are you sure you don't speak Marathi?

no. but having spent  significant lengths of time in the company of maharashtrians - an aunt by marriage, a close friend and roommate in grad school etc.,  the sound of the language is very familiar, though i understand very little of it; but it does seem like someone who has even a passing acquaintance with hindi would be able to at least have a shot at understanding some words.

[Indraraj]

It seems this thread is getting strong and interesting (especially with those South Indian dishes of idioms and phrases) day by day and as I was away from forum for quite a considerable period, I spent almost three hours just to read again and again. Let me add couple of Marathi (barring few,  I fear these are typical Kolhapuri….so may be rather hard to find in regular printed literature)

“मुंगळा चावला म्हणून रडतोय तर आत्या म्हन्त्ये डोंगळा सोडू काय?”
Transliteration : “Mungala chawala mhanoon radatoy tar Aatya mhantye Dongala sodu kaay?”

चक्कर आली म्हणून पितो पाणी तर डोक्यावर नारळ !
Trans : “Chakkar aali mhanoon pito paani tar dokyaawar Naaral”

चाळणी म्हणते सुईला तुझं भोक मोठं !
Trans. : “Chalani mhanate suyeela tuze bhok mothey !”

खयाली पुलाव केत्ताबी खाव !
Trans. : “Khayaali pulav kettaabi khaav !”

गावभवानीला कुंकवाची काळजी
Trans. : “Gaavbhavanila Kunkawaachi kalaji”

देवळाला गेला अन मशिदीत उगवला
Trans. : “Devalala gela an Mashidit ugawala”

पावना म्हणून आला अन मेव्हणा होऊन बसला
Trans. : “Pavana mhanoon aala an Mevhana houoon basala”

व्याजाला भुलला आणि मुद्दलाला मुकला
Trans. : “Vyajala bhulala aani Mudalala mukala”

दहा शहाणे बघा एक मिळतो, एक गाढव बघा दहा मिळतात
Trans. : “Daha shahane bagha ek milato, ek gadhav bagha daha milatat”

काकडीसाठी काकडा कशाला ?
Trans. : “Kaakadisaathi Kakada kashala?”

आधी होत वाघ्या, त्याचा केला पाग्या पण त्याचा येळकोट काय जाईना
Trans. “Aadhi hota vaghya, tyaacha kela paagya pan tyaacha yelkot kaay jaeena”

गावगल्लीत पैलवान भारी, वेशीबाहेर पाठ लावी
Trans. “ Gavgallit Pailwaan bhari, Veshibaher path laavi”

कारकुनी तिढा मढ्याला थांबवी
Trans. : “Karkuni teedha Madhyala Thmabavi”

माहेरची काडी बांधीन तिची माडी, सासरचा कोट का लावू त्याला बोट ?
Trans. : “Maaherchi kaadi bandhin tichi maadi, Sasarcha kot kaa laavu tyaala bot?”

वाळल्या अंगाला लयी खाज !
Trans. : “Walalya angaala layee khaaj !”

अस्वलाच्या ढुंगणाला केसांचा दुष्काळ
Trans. : “Aswalaachya dhunganala kesancha dushkaal !”

पोत्याखाली आरी अन चांभार पोराला मारी !
Trans. : “Potyakhali Aari Un Chambhar Porala Maari”

I wish able translators like Vatrat, MS and Moonstruck would provide perfect meaning of these phrases and idioms to Non-Marathi AS members.