Pathinarum petru peru vazhu vazhga
Pathinarum petru peru vazhvu vazhga, is a common blessing in Tamil Nadu, especially while blessing the newlyweds. This blessing translates to, "Lead a great life by acquiring sixteen kind of wealth".
Oftentimes, people misunderstand this and conclude the meaning as "Give birth to sixteen children and lead a prosperous life". Even movies get in comedy act add such dialog and suggest we follow the government recommendation for only two children in the family. The reason for this confusion was the word "petru" (often said "pethu" in this context), which means "to give birth".
What are these sixteen kind of wealth? The origin of these sayings were not clear, but can be attributed to two sources: Kalamega Pulavar and Abirami Battar (Abirami Pathigam).