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In this episode, we gaze with awe at the story that unfolds in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 42, written by Kudavayil Keerathanaar, set in the ‘Mullai’ landscape or the forest regions. This poem is expressed in the words of the man to his charioteer, sharing an anecdote about a prior moment of joy.
மறத்தற்கு அரிதால்-பாக! பல் நாள்
வறத்தொடு வருந்திய அல்கு தொழில் கொளீஇய
பழ மழை பொழிந்த புது நீர் அவல
நா நவில் பல் கிளை கறங்க, நாவுடை
மணி ஒலி கேளாள், வாணுதல்; அதனால்,
”ஏகுமின்” என்ற இளையர் வல்லே
இல் புக்கு அறியுநராக, மெல்லென
மண்ணாக் கூந்தல் மாசு அறக் கழீஇ,
சில் போது கொண்டு பல் குரல் அழுத்திய
அந் நிலை புகுதலின், மெய் வருத்துறாஅ
அவிழ் பூ முடியினள் கவைஇய
மட மா அரிவை மகிழ்ந்து அயர் நிலையே.
What an unforgettable opening line! With ‘மறத்தற்கு அரிதால்’ meaning ‘it’s hard to forget’, the poem seems to beckon us to become engrossed in what is to unfold. And unfolds it does, with style! This is a poem packed with melodious rhythms and poetic contrasts. We find ‘மறத்தற்கு’ & ‘வறத்தொடு’, in that unique rhyming scheme in Tamil called ‘ethugai’, in which the second letters of words rhyme. There are other rhythmic elements like alliteration or ‘monai’ as it’s referred to in Tamil, wherein the first letter rhymes – as in the phrase ‘வறத்தொடு வருந்திய’. In addition to these rhythmic effects, we have contrasts painting a word portrait in ‘பழ மழை’ and ‘புது நீர்’. Before I explain the contrast, I have to deviate a little. On reading ‘பழ மழை’, the first thing that came to my mind was ‘fruit rain’, because the word ‘பழ’ brings images of a fruit immediately rather than ‘old’, which is the meaning in which it’s presented here. The contrast depicted here is ‘old rain’ and ‘new waters’. Why ‘old’? Let’s delve into that, a little later. Another discovery was the word ‘குரல்’, which we have seen in Natrinai 13, to mean not the ‘voice’ but the ‘spiky ears of the millet.’ Here, they take on yet another meaning of ‘flower clusters’. With all these shining atoms of the poem calling us to heed to them, let’s indulge them with a smile and move on to experience the poem, at a higher level.
As seems to be the case in the previous ‘Mullai’ or forest region poem we encountered in Natrinai 21, the man is returning home to his lady, after completing the task he set out to do. On the return journey, he turns to his charioteer and in a reminiscent tone says, “It’s impossible to forget, my dear charioteer! Those moments that transpired that day, many moons ago. It was a time when the lands had been lying dry and barren for many days. And then, as if to let the world green and prosper, that old rain poured and new waters filled the barren pockets of the earth. Welcoming this change in scene, the frogs that lived together with their many kin croaked in celebration. Fearing that my lady will fail to hear the bells of my chariot amidst the din of these croakers, I bid my servants to hurry to my home and inform my lady of my imminent arrival. When they did so, she immediately rose from her dejected state to wash her unwashed hair, removing those sad sediments flawlessly. Having done that, when she was in the process of wearing those small budded flower clusters on her hair, I entered the house. Seeing me, hiding her pining body, her tresses fell open and flowers scattered as she rushed to embrace me, forgetting herself. Oh! The blissful state of my innocent lady that day, I can never forget!” Saying this, the man, in a hidden message, is urging his charioteer to take him home quickly to his love.
Now, let us soar even higher, forgetting now and then, our sense of time and place, in order to relish this poem from a different perspective. The poem shows the outer world and the inner world at a point of transition. For the dry, barren lands are filling with the ‘new waters’ of the ‘old rain’. Now, what might ‘old rain’ mean? Two possible things! One is that rain clouds are filled with waters from yesterday gathered from the oceans. The other is that, the rains have been pouring not today, not yesterday, but for centuries together and maybe, that antiquity is what this ‘old rain’ refers to! In an exquisite parallel to the inner world, the poem paints in our mind’s eye, the state of the woman. There’s a phrase here which goes ‘மண்ணாக் கூந்தல்’ which means ‘unclean hair’. This leaves us to imagine the pain and pining of this lady, who does not even have the energy to wash her hair when her man is away, on work! Seeing it with our twenty-first century eyes, we cannot help but chuckle a little, imagining this lady with matted, dirty hair, waiting to hear the bells of her man’s chariot, to spruce herself up. Girl, get a Skype, you want to say! No matter how far apart people in love are, today, they can look at each other every day, why, even every hour, if they so wish, with the tools of technology. And yet, in those innocent days, wasn’t love so rich? Hearing this man say he can never forget the way his lady rushed to him, letting her hair and flowers fall, and how she held him in an embrace, the same twenty-first century mind in us says, ’Aww! How romantic!’ Blissful indeed is remembering a moment of love in the past. I leave you to muse on your own ‘I can never forget…’ story!
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