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In this episode, we understand a curious social custom, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 146, penned by Kantharathanaar. Set in the mountain country of ‘Kurinji’, the verse speaks in the voice of the man to his heart, passing on a nuanced message to the confidante, listening nearby.
வில்லாப் பூவின் கண்ணி சூடி,
நல் ஏமுறுவல் என பல் ஊர் திரிதரு
நெடு மாப் பெண்ணை மடல் மானோயே!
கடன் அறி மன்னர் குடை நிழல் போலப்
பெருந்தண்ணென்ற மர நிழல் சிறிது இழிந்து
இருந்தனை சென்மோ, வழங்குக சுடர் என,
அருளிக் கூடும் ஆர்வ மாக்கள்,
‘நல்லேம்’ என்னும் கிளவி வல்லோன்
எழுதி அன்ன காண்தகு வனப்பின்
ஐயள், மாயோள், அணங்கிய
மையல் நெஞ்சம் என் மொழிக் கொளினே.
Opening with the intriguing phrase ‘வில்லாப் பூ’, meaning ‘flowers that cannot be sold’, the poem promises to be rich in intricate details of an era long-gone. ‘ஏமுறுவல்’ then talks about a ‘confused state beyond the limits of sanity’. An exquisite simile smiles at us in ‘கடன் அறி மன்னர் குடை நிழல் போல’ meaning ‘like the rule of a just king’. Seeing ‘மையல் நெஞ்சம்’ meaning ‘an infatuated heart’, we get a vague sense that it’s about the man’s attraction towards a girl. What he proposes to do about that, is what forms the crux of this verse!
The man has seen a lady and fallen in love with her. To gain an audience with her, it was custom for the man to seek the help of the lady’s confidante. The confidante keeps refusing to heed to his requests. Dejected because of these repeated rejections, perceiving that his love shows no signs of being requited, the man one day, speaks as if to his heart, while making sure the confidante is listening. He says, “Wearing a garland of unsellable flowers, making many towns around remark about the excessive lunacy of your action, you roam, O rider of the tall, dark palm-stem horse! For a little while, take refuge in the great, cool shade of this tree, akin to the reign of a just king who knows his duty well. Then leave, to make those curious bystanders bless and say, ‘May good things happen’. O heart, all this is because you have been ensnared by that girl with a beauty akin to an artist’s painting that draws praise, that dark-skinned, gentle girl. Pray, do heed my words!” With these words, the man is conveying a subtle threat to the confidante that he sees no other way but to take up the tabooed act of riding a palm horse and declaring to the town about his love for the lady.
Taking a detour to do a deep dive of this mysterious custom, we learn that the man is referring to what is known as ‘madaleruthal’ or ‘madalooruthal’ in literature. To elaborate, this is the state of desperation, wherein the man sees no possibility of his love being reciprocated and finds no other go but to make it public in a ritual. The ritual involves the man applying ash all over his body, wearing a garland of weed flowers (those flowers that are preferred by none and hence unsellable) and standing on a mock horse made of palm stems, holding a painting of the girl he loves in hand and declaring her name out aloud. Seeing this, the townspeople would take pity on this man and thus take his case to the lady’s parents, so as to marry them. Some scholars believe that this ritual did not belong to Tamil societies but rather it was an imaginative device, employed to convince the lady’s confidante into helping the man win the lady’s affection. Winning a lady’s affection seems to be high on a man’s list of priorities in the Sangam age. In this song, the man finds himself in a similar situation. He has not yet taken up the ritual but he lets the confidante know that he’s thinking about the very thing, at the moment. So, as if speaking to his heart, which is ahead of him and has climbed onto that palm horse already, he calls it to rest a little while under the cool shade of a tree, to quench its fiery flames of love. The shade of the tree, he likens to the reign of a king who knows the duty to his subjects fully well. This calming simile in the midst of what’s considered an extreme act by the man, is to make the confidante reflect on her role and render the justice that the man thinks is due to him. Like the tree that gives cool shade to those resting beneath it; like a king who rules all his subjects with wisdom, the confidante too, must help the man win the lady’s affections, the man implies.
A poem that evokes confusing thoughts in one. Is it right that the man threatens the confidante so? What could be the confidante’s reasons for refusing the man? What is the lady’s say in all this? Is it really love if you win it by coercion? So many questions seem to arise! We may never get clear-cut answers from the past for the same, nevertheless these questions can guide us to challenge ourselves about the things we take for granted, when it comes to love.
அனைத்து காதல் பயணங்களும் மென்மையானவைகளாக இருந்திருக்க வாய்ப்பில்லை. தொகுத்தவர் காதலின் பல்வேறு வழிகளையும் உள்ளடக்கியுள்ளார். அணுகுமுறை சரியா தவறா என்பது காலம் மற்றும் சூழ்நிலையைப் பொருத்தது