I have been wanting to write this for some time now because I keep quoting them and for some I know their meanings and for others I know the context but not etymology of it.
So here is the first. I will write about others as and when I get the full details on them.
Sozhiyan kudumi summadu aagumaa !!!
We generally say this in another way and in another context (even I was doing it till last week).. Sozhiyan kudumi summa aadumaa ? - That means does the Sozhiyan's kudumi (small hair tail) will shake unncessarily. (enna artham idhu ???) .. what I understood with that was (and I read it somewhere also) that sozhiyan are very cunning people and that avanga kudumi aadichunaa edho kaaranamaa thaan aadhumnu.
Initially I read that Sozhiyan are brahmins who are based from Tanjore (sanga kaalam and raaja kaalam time period)
But the other proverb that actually means the above (sozhiyan kudumi summa aadumaa.. ) is "Aathoada Chettiar aadhaayam illaama poavaanaa.." That means (no offence to chettiars.. this is just a proverb which I am quoting here..) Chettiars are the businessmen of those days and they wont do a thing without any gain in it
But the actual meaning of the mentioned proverb (Sozhiyan kudumi summadu aagumaa) is this.
Summadu is the cloth stuff that people use when they have to carry huge load in their head. I am sure you might have seen in tamil movies where heroines use their mundhanai as the way to keep the sothu (food) paanai in their head when they carry food for their athaans/maama's working in the vayal veli. (U get it right..adhaaan..adhedhaan..)
Now you got the proverb right isnt.... How can the kudumi of a Sozhiyan become a summadu ?? (kudumi is so small and summadu should be little bigger to carry the load on the head.. Summadu is basically used to have a uniform surface to carry anything on the head...head is circular right ? so we cannot balance anything on it..that is where summadu comes into picture...idhu meleyum puriyalainaa .. either you are dumb or I am bad in explaining things.... ) Just because they have a kudumi they cannot use it as a summadu is how it should be read. (rombha overaa explain panniteno... oru aarva koalaaru dhaan...)
Now you can get the context from it for yourself.
Rest later..Ciao
