Enduring Love, Enduring Sorrow: A Study of Emotional Continuity in Arirang and the Tirukkural

Abstract

This paper examines the common emotional ground of love and separation in Arirang, a Korean folk song and in Pirivattramai (Separation Unendurable) in Chapter 116 of the Tirukkural. Both traditions have their own linguistic, cultural, and historical contexts, but they both express a human experience of longing that is transcultural and transcendent. Often Korea’s unofficial national song, the Arirang is in several regional versions, each expressing sorrow, yearning and the pain of separation in natural imagery, through mountains, rivers and faraway roads. Likewise, the verses of the Tirukkural on separation illustrate the sophisticated emotional psychology (aga ilakkiyam) of Tamil tradition: love-in-separation (pirivu nilai) becomes an art of poetic endurance. Using a comparative approach and an emotional perspective, this paper reveals that Arirang and Tirukkural use rhythm, metaphor, and culture symbolism to make separation not only a painful experience but also a state of spiritual depth. The paper proposes that the Han concept in Korea resonates with the Tamil concept of steadfast love (anbu) that persists in the absence of. The research is of value in the bridging between the two traditions as it sheds light on the universality of emotional expression and commonalities of the human condition in Asian folk and ancient poetics.