Ullurai Uvamum

In Tamil literature, this is a way of alluding to something else than that which is specified in the poem. That is the meaning goes beyond the literary meaning (hidden meaning). A good example is what I found in the book "Smile of Murugan": (page 109).

" Look there my lord,
Near that lovely pond
With its broad green lotus leaves,
The heron
Motionless and without fear
Stands shining
Like a white and golden
Conch".

Heron is a white bird (naarai). Conch is sangu.

The above is a poem, a lady love tells her hero.

The first layer of meaning is the above.
The second layer of meaning comes from the fact that the bird stands motionless and without fear. When a heron stands motionless and without fear, it means no one is around. That is, the place is deserted.

The next layer of meaning that the author states in the book is that, the lady love indicates that the place is deserted, and hence is ideally suited for making love.

Thus, in the poem, the lady love, very elegantly and indirectly conveys her emotions to her lover. This is ullurai uvamum.  The other stunning part is the acute observation that the heron stands motionless and without fear only when there is no one around. How much they have observed nature!! 

Features of Akam Poetry

There seem to have been some rules/committment that has been followed in the Akam poetries:

They are: 

1. Men and women in the poems should not be mentioned by real or imaginary names. They can be referred to by as "turaivan", "natan", "ulavan" etc. - the general names or as pronouns "avan, aval". 

2. Not to deal with the dead and the supernatural. As Kamil puts it, they are the unliving and uncreative. "...great poetry should  be that which generates life, relives and recreates the splendour and music of life, at the living moment." 

These commitments render these poems a cosmic effect, that which is perennially alive. 

Another unique feature of these poems is the metaphors used. Almost all of the metaphors are related to the immediate natural surrounding of the hero/heroine. For instance, in Kuruntokai 399, the poet says: 

ஊருண் கேணி யுண்டுறைக் தொக்க
பாசி யற்றே பசலை காதலர்
தொடுவுழித் தொடுவுழி நீங்கி
விடுவுழி விடுவுழிப் பரத்த லானே.

Translation from the source: 

My pallor is like the green algae 

growing on the pond

where the village gets its drinking water; 

every time my lover touches me

it disappears;

every time my lover leaves me

it spreads back again. 

Here, the poet compares the changes in the pallor of the "talaivi" to the movement of the algae in the pond when one touches it. Thus, it implies that people were acutely observant of the natural surroundings and lived a life of harmony with nature.  Perhaps this is a message in itself to the people - live in harmony with nature!

(source: Literary Conventions in Akam Poetry by Kamil V Zvelebil).