Quote for the day!

ഉന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തു-
ന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്താളെയുന്തു്

(According to legend, the very first couplet in
മഞ്ജരി inspired by which കൃഷ്ണഗാഥ was written.)

Friday, February 26, 2010

Solution to the Riddle

Umesh is right. The correct answer is വാരണം.

Interestingly വാരണം comes from വാരണ which means obstruction. Elephants were used in war as obstructions.

വാണം is the തത്ഭവം of ബാണം, arrow.

രണം is from Sanskrit. It means "that which makes noise", of course, a war does make some noise.

Not sure about വാര. My dictionary says it is of Portuguese origin. Anybody has the details?

2 comments:

മേല്പത്തൂര്‍ said...

in Portuguese vara means a stick or rod; it is used for two English measurements 'ell' (45 inhces c.) and 'cubit' (measured variously from 16 inches to 27 ). I am not sure which measurement corresponds to the Malayalam vaara.

The English yard (36 inches) which is normally translated as vaara in Malayalam is considered historically a larger cubit.

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