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In this episode, we understand perceptions about women taking up travel, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 162, penned by an anonymous poet. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or drylands region, the verse speaks in the voice of the man to his lady, as he sets out on a journey.
”மனை உறை புறவின் செங் காற் பேடைக்
காமர் துணையொடு சேவல் சேர,
புலம்பின்று எழுதரு புன்கண் மாலைத்
தனியே இருத்தல் ஆற்றேன்” என்று, நின்
பனி வார் உண்கண் பைதல கலுழ,
”நும்மொடு வருவல்” என்றி; எம்மொடு-
பெரும் பெயர்த் தந்தை நீடு புகழ் நெடு நகர்
யாயொடு நனி மிக மடவை!-முனாஅது
வேனில் இற்றித் தோயா நெடு வீழ்,
வழி நார் ஊசலின், கோடை தூக்குதொறும்,
துஞ்சு பிடி வருடும் அத்தம்
வல்லை ஆகுதல் ஒல்லுமோ, நினக்கே?
Opening with ‘மனை உறை’ meaning ‘residing at home’, the poem sets the scene of domesticity. ‘காமர் துணை’ is a quaint expression that denotes a ‘desirable companion’. The oft-repeated phrase in a mood of separation ‘புன்கண் மாலை’ meaning ‘troubling evening’ makes an appearance. The rhythmic equivalent ‘உண்கண்’ brings to our mind’s eye, the ‘kohl-streaked eyes’ of the lady. ‘பெரும் பெயர்த் தந்தை’ talks about someone’s ‘well-known father’ and ‘மடவை’, a ‘young, naive maiden’. We learn of a new tree called ‘இற்றி’, referring to the ‘Indian Bat Fig tree’. ‘வேனில்’, the season of summer and the accompanying hot breeze ‘கோடை’ fills the atmosphere with heat and dryness. The poem ends with a question involving ‘வல்லை’ or ‘strength’. Wonder whose strength the question intends to ascertain!
The man and lady have been leading a happy married life when the time comes for the man to leave on a mission. As he prepares to leave, he tells his lady, “You turn to me with mist-filled eyes and shedding those tears, you say, ‘Among the doves that live in the household, as the male joins with its red-legged, desirable mate, during those misery-evoking evenings filled with loneliness, I cannot bear to be apart from you’. You then add, ‘I want to accompany you’. O innocent maiden, still so young, the only life you have seen is a life of comfort with your mother in that wide mansion of your famous father, whose name will live long. In the harsh summer, whenever the hot wind blows, the ‘ittri’ tree’s long aerial roots that do not touch the ground, oscillates like a swing, and brushes against the sleeping female elephant, waking it from its slumber. Do you have the strength to bear, with equanimity, the harshness of such a path?” With these words, the man intends to discourage the lady from accompanying him, explaining that the journey will not be suited to her delicate nature.
Time to unravel the deep-rooted beliefs within this verse. The man first explains the situation from the lady’s perspective. As we have seen in other poems too, the lady seems to suffer whenever she hears pigeons cooing to each other, in the evening when she happens to be away from the man. These pigeons, as the poem suggests, are reared in affluent homes and live within the same, all their life. The lady, thinking ahead to that evening when she will find herself alone as the man travels through the drylands, declares that she cannot bear that misery. She insists to the man to take her along with him. But, the man turns to the lady and tells her that all that the lady knows is a life of luxury in her mansion, where she lived with her mother, until a while ago. The man implies that they are newly-wed and the girl is young, having seen nothing of the world. He talks about the glory of her father, whom he declares to be an illustrious person with long-living fame. The reason the man brings up the lady’s father into the picture is perhaps to hint that she must bear the separation to let the man travel and earn wealth and fame, akin to that of her father. He says this, without saying so!
The man then turns to describe the path he will journey on and brings forth, a scene where a hot wind joins hands with the harsh summer sun, making the aerial roots of the ‘ittri’ tree oscillate, thereby waking up the female elephant resting beneath. He mentions this as a metaphor to say that the comfortable life of the lady will be disturbed by the harsh world of that journey. Saying this, the man tries to dissuade the lady from accompanying him, for the moral texts of his time forbid the man to journey in the company of women. Looping to the beginning, we find like those pigeons that live in affluent homes, the lady too is expected to remain within the confines of her home, as her man travels on his mission. Returning to the present, women today have come a long way, breaking shackles of such long-standing beliefs about their strength or the lack thereof. A few days back, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch completed the first-ever all-woman spacewalk. And so, my Sangam ancestor, not just a journey away from home, not just a difficult path through the drylands, not just in the company of a man, today you can even walk in space, all alone. Woman, your time has come!
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