Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More
In this episode, we relish a picturesque parallel to the feeling of love, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 99, penned by Avvaiyaar. The verse is situated in the forests of ‘Mullai’ and speaks in the voice of the man to the confidante, in response to her question asking whether he thought of the lady when he was away on his mission.
உள்ளினென் அல்லெனோ யானே? உள்ளி,
நினைந்தனென் அல்லெனோ பெரிதே நினைந்து,
மருண்டனென் அல்லெனோ, உலகத்துப் பண்பே?
நீடிய மரத்த கோடு தோய் மலிர் நிறை
இறைத்து உணச் சென்று அற்றாங்கு,
அனைப் பெருங் காமம் ஈண்டு கடைக்கொளவே.
‘The wonder this thing called love is’ croons the lines of this verse! Initially, the poem dwells on the mind and its processes in ‘உள்ளினென் அல்லெனோ’ meaning ‘didn’t it strike me’ followed by ‘நினைந்தனென் அல்லெனோ’ meaning ‘didn’t I think about it?’ and finally ending with ‘மருண்டனென் அல்லெனோ’ meaning ‘didn’t I feel confused?’ As is the case in many Sangam poems, from the internal landscape, the verse leaps to the outer world in ‘நீடிய மரத்த கோடு’ meaning ‘the branches of a tall tree’ and ‘மலிர் நிறை’ meaning ‘a huge flood’. Ending with the words ‘காமம் ஈண்டு கடைக்கொளவே’ meaning ‘love that meets its end here’, the verse beckons us to listen intently to this expression of emotion.
A mind at work and love’s end – what could that mean? The context reveals that the man and lady had been leading a married life, when the man parted with her, to fulfil a mission. After a long while, the man returns home to his wife and the lady’s confidante asks him whether he ever thought about the lady when he was away. To the confidante’s question, the man says, “Didn’t thoughts of her strike my mind? As it did, didn’t I think deeply about her? And, didn’t it make me confused about the ways of this world? Akin to how an overflowing flood that soaks even the branches of a tall tree dries up to be cupped in a hand and drunk up, upon arriving here, that immense feeling of love finds its end!” With these words, the man expresses how his mind was flooded with the thoughts of the lady even as he was away.
The incredulity in the man’s voice at being asked such a question is evident from his reply! In modern lingo, he would have replied ‘What do you think? Of course, I was thinking about her!’ He goes on to relate how these thoughts appeared in his mind as well. As many of us would have experienced ourselves, a thought pops in as a single image or a word, and the man says this is what happened to him. From that simple flashing of a thought, he goes on to say how he dwelt on cascading memories of the lady, for a long time. Following these deep thoughts of the lady, arose his confusion with the world and the man, perhaps, means the rules of this world which dictate that he has to leave the tangible joy of being with his beloved and go towards something transient so as to fulfil his duties!
Leaving aside these tremors of the mind, the man zooms on to the scene of a heavy flood, wherein waters soar high enough to drench the branches of the tallest of trees. The man asks us to imagine this entire flood being shrunk to the size of a drink in a cupped hand and concludes by saying that has how his feeling of love appears on arriving near the lady. The nuance to be understood is not that the man’s love had met its end and that it’s over but his amazement at how the very thing that was unmanageable like a soaring flood in his mind, something which he thought he could not rise up from, was now tamed enough to quench his thirst. The awe at this feeling of love, which becomes a submerging flood in parting and turns a delightful drink in togetherness, is captured vividly in this insightful song from the past!
Share your thoughts...