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In this episode, we relish the rich imagery from the fragrant hills of ancient times, as portrayed in Sangam literary work, Natrinai 176, penned by an anonymous poet. Set in the mountain country of ‘Kurinji’ the verse speaks in the voice of a courtesan to her friend, the dancer, passing on a hidden message of warning to the friends of the lady’s confidante, who are listening nearby.
எம் நயந்து உறைவி ஆயின், யாம் நயந்து
நல்கினம் விட்டது என்? நலத்தோன் அவ் வயின்
சால்பின் அளித்தல் அறியாது, ”அவட்கு அவள்
காதலள் என்னுமோ?” உரைத்திசின்-தோழி!-
நிரைத்த யானை முகத்து வரி கடுப்பப்
போது பொதி உடைந்த ஒண் செங் காந்தள்
வாழை அம் சிலம்பின் வம்பு படக் குவைஇ,
யாழ் ஓர்த்தன்ன இன் குரல் இன வண்டு,
அருவி முழவின் பாடொடு ஒராங்கு,
மென்மெல இசைக்கும் சாரல்,
குன்ற வேலித் தம் உறைவின் ஊரே.
The poem opens with a double dose of ‘நயந்து’ which means ‘being considerate’ and tells us there’s a lot of thoughtfulness going around. The curious habit of Sangam poets to symbolise a character as their character comes to play with the word ‘நலத்தோன்’ meaning ‘he who cares for another’s welfare’. Still on the theme of qualities, the word ‘சால்பு’ talks about ‘one’s virtues’. While the first half of the poem dwells on abstract attributes of human nature, the latter part focuses on the living with words like ‘யானை’, ‘elephant’, ‘செங் காந்தள்’, ‘flame-lily’, ‘வாழை’, ‘plantain’, ‘வம்பு பட’ ‘spreading fragrance’, ‘வண்டு’ ‘bees’, and ‘அருவி முழவு’, ‘the roar of the waterfall’. How do these abstract thoughts of the mind and the real elements of the wild blend together to make meaning? Let’s find out.
In this luscious mountain land, the man and lady had been leading a happy, married life. In the period when the lady was pregnant with the man’s child, the man took to visiting a courtesan. Hearing that the lady had given birth, the man left to his home. Seeing him return, gave happiness to the lady’s confidante and her friends. One day, when the friends of the confidante were passing by the courtesan’s home, she turns to her friend, the dancer, and says, “As she has been considerate to me and I too want to be considerate to her, I sent him to her. What could be wrong in that? I sent the lord who takes care of me to his home, because of my good nature. Not realising this, they say, “She has so much love for the lady!” Is this right? Tell me, my friend! Indeed, these are the words of this village folk, in whose domain, like the marks on the faces of elephants standing in line, with buds breaking open, blooms the radiant red flame-lilies in heaps, spreading fragrance on this mountain slope filled with plantain trees, and where bees buzz like the music of a lute, which resounds in tune with the roar of the waterfalls. A slope filled with the music of such gentle sounds on which stands this pleasant town, fenced by mountains!” With these words, the courtesan is sending a message through those listening, to the lady’s confidante, and to the lady, indicating that if her ire increases, she would recall the man back to her home.
All we can see is the description of the mountain hamlet. To hear how the threat is concealed within, we have to trek further up the hill. The courtesan establishes that she’s merely being nice to allow the man to leave. Then, she warns them saying that it’s not because of her love for the lady. This poem is unique because there is no direct correlation between images and metaphors, as we have seen in other poems. Here, the meaning arises only in the mood of the description, akin to the splashes of an artist’s brush. There are fragrant flame-lilies blooming, adorned with the simile of elephants to evoke the strength within those gentle flowers. Then, there are bees buzzing around, making gentle music in tune with the roar of the waterfalls. The courtesan indicates that it will not take much for those flame-lilies to attract the bees, away from the waterfalls, meaning that she could pull the man from his home in that mountain village to her abode, if she so wishes. It’s the courtesan’s anger at being abandoned by the man, that emerges in this word of warning.
When we reflect on the reason for the portrayal of these negative aspects of the mind, perhaps it could be the poet’s way of educating the mature children of the lords or a source of amusement for the lords themselves. The one truth to be gathered could be that in those war-ridden times, men may have been killed in large numbers in the battlefield, resulting in an imbalanced society, where there are more women than men, owing to which such competition and conflict could have arisen. This reflection about the past makes me wonder how a student of sociology will assess our society today, two thousand years from now!
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