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In this episode, we unearth fascinating facts about nature and culture, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 202, penned by Perungkadungo. Set in the drylands of ‘Paalai’, the verse speaks in the voice of the man to the lady, motivating her with a promise, as they elope from the lady’s village.
புலி பொரச் சிவந்த புலால் அம் செங் கோட்டு
ஒலி பல் முத்தம் ஆர்ப்ப, வலி சிறந்து,
வன் சுவல் பராரை முருக்கி, கன்றொடு
மடப் பிடி தழீஇய தடக் கை வேழம்,
தேன் செய் பெருங் கிளை இரிய, வேங்கைப்
பொன் புரை கவளம் புறந்தருபு ஊட்டும்
மா மலை விடரகம் கவைஇ, காண்வர,
கண்டிசின்-வாழியோ, குறுமகள்!-நுந்தை,
அறுமீன் பயந்த அறம் செய் திங்கள்
செல் சுடர் நெடுங் கொடி போல,
பல் பூங் கோங்கம் அணிந்த காடே.
A splash of red greets us in the verse ‘சிவந்த புலால் அம் செங் கோட்டு’ meaning ‘a crimson tusk, shaded by the red of flesh’. ‘ஒலி பல் முத்தம்’ meaning ‘luxuriant pearls’ is intriguing, because this is being said in connection with a ‘வேழம்’ or ‘elephant’. What could be the link between elephants and pearls? Let’s find out. The phrase ‘கன்றொடு மடப் பிடி தழீஇய’ meaning ‘embracing the young mate and the calf’ brings forth an image exuding familial joy from the animal kingdom. ‘வேங்கைப் பொன் புரை கவளம்’ describes ‘the golden food bowl in a Kino tree’, referring to the leaves and yellow flowers, savoured by the denizens of the jungle. The word ‘நுந்தை’, said to the lady, meaning ‘your father’, holds a special significance in the verse. The melodious phrase ‘அறுமீன் பயந்த அறம் செய் திங்கள்’ packs within it, the reference to a cultural festival from Sangam times, which we will explore in detail shortly. In addition to the Kino tree we encountered earlier, there’s the ‘பல் பூங் கோங்கம்’ or ‘many flowered silk-cotton tree’ gracing this verse. Time to move on from glimpses of this rich world to the meaning it holds within.
The man and lady had been in a love relationship and they discover that the situation doesn’t seem favourable for the man to seek the lady’s hand from her parents. So, they decide to elope to the man’s country to unite as man and wife. As they journey on, the man turns to the lady and says, “With crimson tusks, glowing with the red of tiger flesh, the elephant strides with luxuriant pearls in its tusk resounding. Brimming with strength, it twists the trunk of the tree situated on high ground and fells it down. Then, that long-armed male elephant embraces its young mate and their calf, and scattering away those honeybees on the dark branch, it provides its mate and child with the golden food basket of the ‘vengai’ tree’s flowers and leaves, standing guard for its family. Look at this scene in the clefts of the great hill, my young girl. May you live long! On the full-moon day of the ‘Karthikai’ month, the day suited for performing righteous deeds, lamps are lit. Like those long row of lamps, aglow with dancing flames, glows the many flowers of the ‘Kongam’ tree in your father’s forest!” With these words, the man conveys to the lady, promises for the future and urges her to walk with him, as they cross the forest belonging to the lady’s father.
Even with mere glimpses, we can sense that there is a poetic abundance in this verse. Let’s unravel these elements one by one. The man first talks about an elephant, that emerges from an attack with a tiger, reeking of the animal’s flesh, and with its tusk glowing red. As this powerful elephant strides by, we hear a musical sound originating from its tusk. This turns out to be the elephant pearls, a rare occurrence wherein globules form within the root of tusks. I read that the elephant has to be at least sixty years of age, for this change to happen and that too, it’s said to be the rarest of happenings. Perhaps, it has become like that over the years, where such elephants have been poached and felled to gather these pearls, that are supposed to bring good luck to the wearer. No such good fortune to the elephants, for sure! In the Sangam times, perhaps it was not such a rare phenomenon, for in this poem, we hear the matter-of-fact phrase that as the elephant walked, the pearls resounded within. Returning from our precious pearl detour, we see the elephant, then walking to a Kino tree and felling it down, so as to feed its young mate and calf with the favoured food of golden flowers and leaves. The man mentions this scene in the mountain clefts as a metaphor for the life he’s going to lead with the lady. Like the elephant, he promises to protect not only his young wife but also the child they will have together, and provide them with all they need for a comfortable life. Words that tell us that he sees that strong elephant within him!
Then, we encounter the phrase about the full-moon day in the Tamil month of Karthikai, when six stars in the sky are prominent, which is known in the western world by the name of Pleiades. This verse gives us two facets about this day. One, that it was a day for doing righteous tasks and two, a day when rows of lamps were lit at homes. The celebration of ‘Karthikai’ goes on to this day, more than two thousand years later, in Tamil homes across the world. While there has been some fusion with the North Indian festival of Diwali, and the slaying of mythological demons, as we remove these later-day influences, we can still glimpse at the core concept of spreading light and joy, as reflected in this Sangam festival. Returning to the poem, the man mentions the row of lamps lit on this day, as a simile to the flowers of the silk-cotton tree, glowing in neat rows in the forest. And, this is the man’s way of illustrating how the lady will glow with joy and light up her world by performing her familial duties in the near future. And finally, the man finishes saying that all these scenes are from the forest belonging to the lady’s father and with that, he lets the lady know that there’s still a chance of being discovered and thus, they should hurry to move forward to the man’s country. Evoking rich images from nature to symbolise a promising future, the man illustrates the power of visualisation that propels one forward with positivity.
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