Natrinai 100 – A spark on the still waters

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In this episode, we relish nature’s influences, cultural practices and patrons’ glories in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 100, penned by the historian-poet Paranar. Set in the agricultural landscape of Marutham, the poem speaks in the voice of a courtesan to her friend, the dancer, as the lady’s confidante listens by.

உள்ளுதொறும் நகுவேன்-தோழி!-வள்உகிர்
மாரிக் கொக்கின் கூரல் அன்ன
குண்டு நீர் ஆம்பல் தண் துறை ஊரன்
தேம் கமழ் ஐம்பால் பற்றி, என் வயின்
வான் கோல் எல் வளை வௌவிய பூசல்
சினவிய முகத்து, சினவாது சென்று, “நின்
மனையோட்கு உரைப்பல்” என்றலின், முனை ஊர்ப்
பல் ஆ நெடு நிரை வில்லின் ஒய்யும்
தேர் வண் மலையன் முந்தை, பேர் இசைப்
புலம் புரி வயிரியர் நலம் புரி முழவின்
மண் ஆர் கண்ணின் அதிரும்,
நன்னர் ஆளன் நடுங்கு அஞர் நிலையே.

The verse greets us with a heartwarming word ‘உள்ளுதொறும்’ meaning ‘whenever it crosses my mind.’ A potent word that can start off nostalgic remembrances many. We meet with an interesting feathered friend in ‘மாரிக் கொக்கு’ meaning ‘a rain stork’. More about this ancient creature in a little while. Flora follows with this quaint expression ‘குண்டு நீர் ஆம்பல்’. In contemporary times, the word ‘குண்டு’ has become associated with either ‘fat’ or a ‘bomb’ but here, it means ‘deep’ and specifically, a ‘deep water white-lily’. Yet again, we glimpse at ‘ஐம்பால்’ or ‘five-layered braid’ we encountered in Natrinai 96, testimony to the thick tresses of Sangam women. Rhythm resounds from the latter part of the poem not just in words like ‘இசை’ meaning ‘music’, ‘முழவு’ meaning ‘drum’ but in the sounds of the words ‘தேர் – பேர்’, ‘புலம் புரி – நலம் புரி’, ‘மண் – கண்’ and ‘நன்னர் – நடுங்கு’. So, with a promise that a treat awaits, let’s tread into this poetic town. 

As we have seen in many poems situated in the ‘Marutham’ landscape, the theme revolves around various angles of a love-quarrel between the man and the lady. The reasons for this argument, in most of the cases, is the man’s relationship with the courtesan. Being a land of plenty, with resources at hand, the man ends up visiting courtesans and when he returns to his lady, a conflict arises between them. In this poem’s situation, the man has left the courtesan he was visiting to go back to his lady. Knowing that the lady’s confidante and her friends are in earshot, the courtesan turns to her friend, the dancer and says, “I laugh whenever I think about it, my friend! This is about the lord who comes from a town with cool streams and ponds, filled with water-lilies, rising from deep waters, looking like the sharp beak of a sharp-clawed stork, seen in the rainy season. He grabbed my honey-fragrant, five-layered tresses and then he pulled my exquisite, white, shiny bangle from my hand. In the quarrel that resulted, I turned to him, pretending to have an angry expression on my face but with no anger within, and said, “I shall go and tell this to your wife right away!” Remember those well-made drums, smeared with mud, that belong to the skilled musicians who travel from other lands to perform in the court of the generous king, famous for his chariots, Malaiyan, a skilled marksman, who seizes many herds of cattle from enemy lands? Like the skin of those well-made drums, our lord with many a good quality, started trembling with fear, the moment I spoke those words!” With these words, the courtesan intends to create trouble at the man’s home, by passing on a message to the lady, through the listening confidante, that the man has left the courtesan to go to the lady, not out of love but out of fear for the lady. 

Let’s move beyond mere understanding of the meaning to unravel facets of life that lie hidden in verse. Turning to nature first, we see the reference to a ‘rain stork’. Researching more on ‘storks and rain’, I learnt that even now, farmers in India look up to the skies to catch a glimpse of the ‘painted storks’ that herald the rainy season. Whether it’s in the reference to a ‘rain stork’ in two-thousand year old literature or a twenty-first century farmer in the Chintapalli village, gazing at the sky, praying for the arrival of the ‘painted stork’, it’s nature that seems to remain a soothing constant in our lives. The reference to the stork is only to say that the beak of these storks and a bud of the white-lily are one and the same. From nature, we move towards cultural aspects. The man apparently arrives from a farming village with plenty of water resources with such lilies blooming about and rain storks paying regular visits. The courtesan mentions about an incident with this man. The courtesan says here that the man pulled her pretty bangles and she, in turn, with fake anger, told him that she would go tell this to the man’s wife. Then she laughs and tells her friend, the dancer that the minute she said that, he started trembling like the skin of a drum! More about that drum soon. The courtesan assumes that the lady hearing this from her confidante will fly into a fire of rage, disturbing the calm union between the man and the lady and with this devious plot, hopes that the man will return back to her fold! 

Coming back to the simile of the drum, through that, the poem leads us to a different path, that reveals the glory of kings who patronised poets and in turn, helped create such literature. Paranar, being a historian-poet, talks of many such kings and events in real life, in his poems. In Natrinai 6, penned by him, we met ‘Ori’, the skilled marksmen and in this poem, we meet ‘Malaiyan’, who also appeared in Kabilar’s Natrinai 77. In this poem, he’s described as one, famous for his chariots and for his skill to bring home, herds of cattle, won in battle. What’s the connection between the king and the courtesan’s story? Apparently, knowing of his generous nature, musicians travelled from other lands to play in Malaiyan’s court and it’s the well-made drums of those musicians, smeared with black mud paste, that the courtesan is talking about, when detailing the trembling lord from the farming village. With a few lines, facets become engraved in our minds from fields as vastly different as history, biology and psychology. In a time, when we segment subjects into specialities and super-specialities and are merely focussed on hard facts, this world of Sangam poetry illustrates an interconnected and holistic view of knowledge. All is indeed one and as these poems on inner life proclaim, everything begins with one, within!