It is this mode of recitation that the translator has adopted. The entire 22,795 lines run in this akaval form. Sivalingam narrates Kalevala with ease and the manner he does it draws the Tamil ear close to the epic. It should however be said that the 'literariness' so to say, of the lines is seen rather sharply. One other feature also brings this oral epic quite close to the Tamil ears.
Translation is inevitably transcreation.
Sivalingam brings the Kalevala images into Tamil in a Tamilian manner. At least one name among the characters, looks very close to the Tamil tradition, Viz. Sivalingam renders the name as Kuyilikki. Kuyil in Tamil is the cuckoo, the ever-singing bird. The strength of the work lies in that the translator has drawn from the original Finnish and has not translated via English translations.