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In this episode, we explore the Tamil Sangam Literary work Natrinai 15, written by the Pandya king Arivudai Nambi, set in the ‘Neythal’ landscape or the coastal regions. This verse is in the words of the lady’s confidante to the lady’s man, urging him indirectly to formalise his relationship with the lady.
முழங்கு திரை கொழீஇய மூரி எக்கர்,
நுணங்கு துகில் நுடக்கம் போல, கணம் கொள
ஊதை தூற்றும் உரவுநீர்ச் சேர்ப்ப!
பூவின் அன்ன நலம் புதிது உண்டு,
நீ புணர்ந்தனையேம் அன்மையின், யாமே
நேர்புடை நெஞ்சம் தாங்கத் தாங்கி,
மாசு இல் கற்பின் மடவோள் குழவி
பேஎய் வாங்கக் கைவிட்டாங்கு,
சேணும் எம்மொடு வந்த
நாணும் விட்டேம்; அலர்க, இவ் ஊரே!
The first word that called out to me in this verse was ‘திரை’. The most commonly attributed meaning to this word is ‘screen’ or ‘curtain’ and it cannot fail to remind any Tamil movie buff of ‘திரைப்படம்’, the Tamil word for a ‘movie’, literally meaning ‘a picture on the screen’. Only that this ‘திரை’/ screen has changed over the years, from elaborate theatres with intricate hanging curtains to the comfort of one’s home TV screen and even to the omnipresent mobile screen. However, the word ‘திரை’ is not used to mean a screen or a curtain in this verse. I found that it means a ‘wave’ and the only connection I could place was in the way a curtain folds, in the shape of a wave. And that reminds me…Every movie wants to soar high on the wave. Perhaps, I’m seeing some thread in the different meanings of this word but a thread, so fine, like the ‘நுணங்கு துகில்’, fine silk. Which brings to mind another movie connection – those translucent shirts that Actor MGR would wear in some of his movies! Moving away from the movies…
In this verse, the personality of the lady’s confidante is in focus. This far, we have seen that she is a wise character employed to console, to lead the way and most importantly, to make sure the man formalises his relationship with the lady in a marriage. It’s this latter role that she seems to be playing in this particular verse. She starts her address to this ‘Neythal’ man thus: ‘O lord of the seas, in whose domain, the booming waves carry sands along and heap these on to make sand dunes, and where the cold breeze lifts these sand particles and scatters, giving an appearance of a fine silk attire, bending and folding in the wind!’ After this imagery-filled warm address to him, the lady’s confidante then drops the bomb on the man saying, ‘You are not who you used to be when you first united with her and stole away her flower-like beauty. Yet, she bears that pain and holds the love for you in her virtuous heart. Like a naive woman, who let her child be stolen away by a demon-spirit, she has let go of her modesty that travelled with her for so long. The village, for sure, will roar with scandal!’
Walking a little further into the poem, one needs to stand and admire the way the flying sand is compared to fine silk. I can only infer that the beaches were so pure that the wind had nothing to pick up but fine sands which then, radiated beauty like smooth silk. In the beaches of today, the wind has so much indeed, to pick up and toss back at us! A wish for those serene sands of the past, once again! The other thing is the simile of the mother losing her child to a demon spirit, which captures the feeling of losing something precious in a foolish manner. Finally, the verse speaks of a fascination for things that are fresh and new and that seems to fade away as the days roll on. I’m sure this is a universal feeling we all can relate to. The kind of excitement something offers in the beginning is not always there. So how do we retain our engagement with these things that once gave us so much joy? Perhaps, as the lady’s confidante stresses, we too must find new ways of relating, in order to see the ‘new’ in the ‘old’!
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