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In this episode, we perceive an intricate technique of persuasion, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 225, penned by Kabilar. Set in the mountains of ‘Kurinji’, the verse speaks in the voice of the confidante to the man, pressing him to return without undue delay from his journey to gather wealth.
கன்று தன் பய முலை மாந்த, முன்றில்
தினை பிடி உண்ணும் பெருங் கல் நாட!
கெட்ட இடத்து உவந்த உதவி கட்டில்
வீறு பெற்று மறந்த மன்னன் போல,
நன்றி மறந்து அமையாய் ஆயின், மென் சீர்க்
கலி மயிற் கலாவத்தன்ன இவள்
ஒலி மென் கூந்தல் உரியவால் நினக்கே.
‘Remember to remember’ is the curious thought in this verse! The opening words ‘கன்று தன் பய முலை மாந்த’ meaning ‘for the calf to drink from its useful udders’ sketches the motive of a female mammal. We learn more about the mammal in ‘தினை பிடி உண்ணும்’ meaning ‘female elephant that eats millets’, the predominant animal and food of the mountain country rendered together in a few words. The phrase ‘கெட்ட இடத்து உவந்த உதவி’ meaning ‘the happy help rendered in a time of adversity’ is an abstraction of much significance here. In ‘நன்றி மறந்து அமையாய்’, we see a double negative statement echoing a positive message, for it means ‘if you don’t thanklessly forget the good done to you’. A picturesque simile smiles at us in ‘மென் சீர்க் கலி மயிற் கலாவத்தன்ன’ meaning ‘soft and shining feathers of a dancing peacock’. Ending with the words ‘உரியவால் நினக்கே’ which means ‘belongs to you’, the verse welcomes us within!
Munching elephants and dancing peacocks bring alive the hills of yore! The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a love relationship and were trysting for a long while. Soon, the man realises the need to part away from the lady to gather wealth for their wedding. As he prepares to leave, the confidante says to him,”For her calf to drink from her fruitful udders, the female elephant munches on millets in the front yard of homes in your mountains, O lord! Unlike a king, who, after he gains his right to reign, forgets the joyful help rendered to him in times of hardship, if you don’t forget your gratitude, her luxuriant, soft tresses, akin to the silky and lustrous feathers of a delighting peacock, is yours!” With these words, the confidante hides a plea for the man’s prompt return to claim the lady’s hand in marriage.
Tiny words pack a ton of meaning in this one and it’s time to delve into those nuances! The confidante starts by talking about ‘useful udders’ in connection to a calf, and stresses on the milk-producing purpose of this important organ in mammals, and defines it as existing to end the hunger of the little one. The udder in question belongs to a female elephant that’s eating up millets in the man’s mountain country. It seems as a mere description of the man’s land by the confidante but whether there’s more, we’ll know as we explore. Then, the confidante moves on to talk about a king who, after he attains the right to rule, forgets the ‘happy help’ rendered when he was in the midst of misfortune. A moment to pause and ponder on the nature of help said to be rendered to this king. It’s not something that they were forced to do, for it wouldn’t be ‘happy help’ then, would it? So, seeing this to-be king in some hardship, some people seem to have come forward to his aid on their own, out of the goodness of their heart. But then, this king seems to have forgotten that timely assistance after he attained prosperity. The confidante continues by using this scenario as an ‘anti-simile’, in the sense, she connects it to the absence of the trait in another. Saying that if he doesn’t forget like that ungrateful king, then, for sure, the lady’s luxuriant tresses, radiant like a peacock’s feathers, were his to claim, the confidante says to the man.
As we have seen in a few other verses, Sangam people believed the tresses of a woman were her husband’s to own. In essence, the confidante is saying to the man as a farewell message, ‘Don’t you forget how she has made you happy in these times of trysting’. Reverting to that description of the man’s land, the image of a female elephant eating millets, so as to feed its young one, is a metaphor for the man to remember that he’s taking up the difficult journey of earning wealth, so as to return and claim the hand of the lady, who waits akin to that innocent calf. The confidante says that one may say the female elephant eats just to sustain itself but looking deeper, it eats so that it can provide to its little one. Likewise, it may be the man’s duty to earn wealth, but the reason he does it, is to seek the waiting lady’s hand, the confidante implies, in a pointed message, asking the man never to forget that in his wanderings. Through that, the verse shines a spotlight on the ‘why’ of what we do. Our endeavours may hold within, many other questions such as ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘where’ but no other question can be as important as the ‘why’, stresses this wise voice from the past!
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