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In this episode, we relish the imagery-filled scenes from a mountain country, portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 151, written by Ilanaganaar. The verse is set in the ‘Kurinji’ landscape or mountainous regions and speaks in the voice of the confidante to the lady, passing on hidden messages to the man, listening nearby.
நல் நுதல் பசப்பினும், பெருந் தோள் நெகிழினும்,
கொல் முரண் இரும் புலி அரும் புழைத் தாக்கிச்
செம் மறுக் கொண்ட வெண் கோட்டு யானை
கல் மிசை அருவியின் கழூஉஞ் சாரல்
வாரற்கதில்ல-தோழி!-கடுவன்,
முறி ஆர் பெருங் கிளை அறிதல் அஞ்சி,
கறி வளர் அடுக்கத்து, களவினில் புணர்ந்த
செம் முக மந்தி செய்குறி, கருங் கால்
பொன் இணர் வேங்கைப் பூஞ் சினைச் செலீஇயர்,
குண்டு நீர் நெடுஞ் சுனை நோக்கிக் கவிழ்ந்து, தன்
புன் தலைப் பாறு மயிர் திருத்தும்
குன்ற நாடன் இரவினானே!
The poem opens with a supposition in ‘பசப்பினும்’ meaning ‘even if it pales’ and ‘நெகிழினும்’ meaning ‘even if it thins’. Thereafter, it’s a jungle out there, in every sense of the word, for we see ‘புலி’ meaning ‘tiger’, ‘யானை’ meaning ‘elephant’, ‘கடுவன்’, a male monkey and ‘மந்தி’, a female monkey. Leaving not the flora behind, we glimpse at ‘பொன் இணர் வேங்கை’, referencing the ‘kino tree with golden flowers’. The phrase ‘கறி வளர் அடுக்கத்து’ talks about ‘a mountain on which pepper grows’ and, this reveals the true origin of the English word ‘curry’ for Indian spicy dishes, no doubt, in a reference to this ancient pepper blooming in the hill country. As we have seen in another Natrinai poem too, the word ‘குண்டு’, which in contemporary language relates to ‘fat’, means ‘deep’ in this adjective of an ancient ‘mountain spring’ or ‘சுனை’. Having seen the star-studded cast of this verse, let’s move into the plot line.
The man and lady have been in a love relationship for a while and the man relentlessly, seeks the company of the lady through nightly trysts. Observing that the man is not too keen on formalising his union with the lady, the confidante decides to communicate the seriousness of the situation in an indirect manner. One night, when the man comes to tryst with the lady, pretending not to notice him, making sure he’s listening, the confidante tells the lady, “O friend, even if your fine forehead becomes pale, even if your robust arms become thin, let your lord not come by, through the slopes where a white-tusked elephant, after attacking a bloodthirsty, ferocious, huge tiger, washes the red stain in its tusk in the waterfalls flowing from the mountains! The lord of the mountains comes from a land, where the red-faced, female monkey, after trysting with the male monkey, fearing that its kith and kin, which feed on tender leaves, will come to know of this, climbs onto a branch of the black-stemmed ‘vengai’ tree, which are filled with gold-like flowers, and looks down into the deep waters of the wide mountain spring in order to smoothen the ruffled hair on its gentle head. May the lord not come by, at night!” With these words, the confidante talks about the dangers in the mountain path and the danger of discovery by the lady’s kith and kin, thereby, subtly nudging the man to seek the lady’s hand in marriage.
Time for a frame-by-frame review of this visual delight! The confidante brings forth two different scenes in the mountain country, laden with intricate details. Let’s explore the scene with the monkey first. There’s a red-faced, female monkey climbing up a kino tree, which has a black trunk and contrasting, golden-yellow flowers. The monkey finds a good spot on a low branch of the tree, with a clear view of the mountain spring beneath it. It then proceeds to look at its reflection in the waters below and pat down the disheveled hair on the top of its delicate head. This may be an image that the poet has witnessed in his travels, for recent scientific studies do indicate that many species of monkeys possess self-awareness and may react similarly when encountering reflective surfaces such as a mirror. What’s interesting here, is the way the monkey’s behaviour is given a human quality. The confidante explains the reason for this action, by saying that the monkey fears that its kith and kin would find out about its relationship with a male monkey and takes care to hide the signs of their tryst. In a realistic sense, it’s true that a monkey may not have such cares but it makes so much poetic sense in hiding the lady’s mind through this imagery. Indeed, the scene is a metaphor for how the lady worries that her relationship with the man will be discovered any day. So, she too needs to take pains to conceal her joy and the changes in her appearance to keep the relationship, a secret. The man is made aware of the lady’s mind by the description of this natural scene from his own land.
Then, moving on to the scene with the elephant, we first observe a fearsome tiger on the forest path being attacked by an elephant. In this fight between titans, the elephant seems to have the upper hand and having won over the tiger, walks to the flowing waters of the mountain spring and is said to wash away the red blood in its white tusk. The confidante talks about this as if she was merely outlining the dangers in the path the man traverses but we know that there’s more hidden. This scene is a metaphor for how the man must slay the tiger of slander and wash away the blots on the lady’s reputation, by seeking her hand in marriage. An exquisite instance of interleaving the inner message within a mesmerising capture of the natural world!
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