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In this episode, we learn about cultural and religious notions, as portrayed in Sangam literary work, Natrinai 173, penned by an anonymous poet. The verse is set in the mountain country of ‘Kurinji’ and speaks in the voice of the confidante to the lady, conveying a hidden message to the man listening nearby.
சுனைப் பூக் குற்றும், தொடலை தைஇயும்,
மலைச் செங் காந்தட் கண்ணி தந்தும்,
தன் வழிப் படூஉம் நம் நயந்தருளி,
வெறி என உணர்ந்த அரிய அன்னையை,
கண்ணினும் கனவினும் காட்டி, ”இந் நோய்
என்னினும் வாராது; மணியின் தோன்றும்
அம் மலை கிழவோன் செய்தனன் இது” எனின்,
படு வண்டு ஆர்க்கும் பைந் தார் மார்பின்
நெடு வேட்கு ஏதம் உடைத்தோ?-
தொடியோய்! கூறுமதி, வினவுவல் யானே.
Opening with the words ‘சுனைப் பூக் குற்றும்’, the poem whisks us away to ‘a mountain spring’, and we see hands reaching to ‘pluck’ flowers that bloom there. While the word ‘பூ’ is a generic term for a ‘flower’, we then glimpse at a specific flower, ‘செங் காந்தள்’ or ‘flame lily’, a flower said to be special to god Murugan and also, happens to be the state flower of Tamilnadu. The word ‘நெடுவேள்’, an epithet given to God Murugan, makes one’s memory echo with religious songs that throng the air in the many mountain temples dedicated to this god. The verse ends with ‘கூறுமதி, வினவுவல் யானே’ meaning ‘Reply to my question!’ and resounds with an urgency of someone waiting for an answer. Let’s step into the inner sanctum of the verse to understand its meaning.
The man and lady have been in a love relationship and the man has been trysting with her by day and night. Although happy whenever she’s in the man’s company, when parted away from him, the lady suffers with the disease of pining. The confidante watches with worry troubling developments at home as a consequence of these changes in the lady. One day, when the man arrives to meet with the lady, pretending not to see him, making sure he’s in earshot, the confidante turns to the lady and says, “Plucking flowers from mountains to weave them as garlands, stringing flame lilies to make a head garland, mother, who always does what she decides, looking at you with kindness and affection, has decided that this is an act of god Murugan and thus, prepares for the ritual dance to cure your malady. If god Murugan, who wears fresh garlands on his chest, inviting bees to buzz around, were to appear in front of mother’s eyes or in her dreams and say, ‘This disease is not because of me. The one who made this happen is the lord from those sapphire-hued mountains’, would that great god incur any fault? O lady with tinkling bangles, please reply, I ask you!” With these words, the confidante indirectly urges the man to seek the lady’s hand in marriage, to avoid dishonour upon his name.
How can a ritual dance to Murugan bring disrepute to the man? A deeper analysis of those religious beliefs will bestow the answer we seek. The confidante first takes us on a flower-picking tour on the mountains and we happily gather assorted flowers and specifically, the flame-lilies. I read that this flame-lily has been added to the ‘endangered list’ owing to climate change. Apparently, not many realise the value of this delicate flower with its many medicinal benefits, for it is rather slow to grow and perhaps doesn’t match the fast pace of the material-minded, modern world. Returning to the poem, we are delighted to see this flame-lily gloriously blooming on the mountainside. So much that there is enough to weave many head garlands! But, why have we been gathering these flowers and weaving these garlands? All this is in preparation for a dance that mother has arranged to appease god Murugan. Mother believes that it’s the god who has taken possession of her daughter and that’s why changes have suddenly appeared on her form. The confidante imagines a scenario when that god would appear before mother, either directly or in her dreams, as he so wishes, and declare ‘No, my child. I’m not the reason for your child going through all this. It’s that man from the mountains, those that look like sapphires.’ She asks innocently to the lady whether there could be anything wrong if that all-knowing god were to do that. Not stopping with a mere question, she demands that the lady answer her.
Why the insistence on the lady’s response? A peek into the cultural beliefs in the Sangam age will aid us in this discovery. It was not considered right, even for a god, to refuse a lady. Knowing this, the lady would answer saying, ‘No, god Murugan is not going to do that. Before something happens, it is I, who needs to go to mother and explain’. Again, the honourable thing for a man was not to have his name thus exposed by the lady, but for him to go to the lady’s family and seek her hand in marriage. Packing these socio-cultural beliefs in the wrapper of a religious query, the confidante urges the man to avoid these socially awkward moments and take steps towards a formal union with the lady. The core of the verse that I would like to zoom into, is how there is a clear understanding about the true reason for something happening, no matter what the world thinks or says. Changes appear in the physical form of the lady and those around think it’s the anger of god but the confidante knows the deep truth. A cue for us to understand that whenever we are beset by unexplainable changes in our own health or behaviour, the true answer and cure is not to be found only in the all-knowing explanations of technology and medicine, but by deeply and silently looking within.
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