‘MAYILE’ VAA

Our national bird is ofcourse one of the most beautiful birds in the entire wide world. The unique natural colours that makes it stand out of the crowd, the wonderful regions that it is spread in, the beautiful noises that it makes. It is ofcourse a wonder about how beautifully God has designed each of the living things! Well comparing a girl to a peacock can be considered as a compliment for sure! In tamil the word ‘mayil’ is used a lot in many songs, acting as a metaphor to the girl’s beauty, her unique qualities etc. Today at Raaga.com, we take a look at Tamil songs that places considerable importance on ‘Mayil’ and in a way compares the lady in lead with the beautiful bird.

Rewinding way back to the black and white era, the song ‘Aadavendum mayile’ from the movie ‘Arunagirinaathar’ is a wonderful example. Although not entirely descriptive about the nature of the lady in comparison with the bird, the song uses the word ‘mayil’ in grand manner and talks about the beautiful ‘dance’ that a peacock is famous for. But the highlight here is the presence of the girl – so we could also take it as making a comparison between the ‘dance’.

A popular song is ‘Mayil pola ponnu onnu’ which totally fits the fact that a woman is being compared to a peacock – the characteristics perse. This song appears in the movie Bharathi. A romantic duet in Illayaraja’s music is ‘mayile mayile’ from the movie Kadavul amaitha media. This song brings out wonderful compliments that the man says to his girl, comparing her to the beautiful bird yet again. 

The movie Ragasiya police had the famous song ‘Mayil thogai alaithal’ – placing importance to one of the striking feature of the bird – its wings. In the song ‘Mayil irage’ from the movie Ah Aah, a romantic duet , there is emphasis on the slow and gentle nature of the bird’s features. The song ‘vellai mayil’ from Samar is one of the most seducing songs but for a difference talks about the vellai mayil – the peahen which essentially in the real sense is the female. But isn’t it an irony that women in songs have always been compared to the peacock and not the peahen?