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In this episode, we listen to an expression of desolation about time, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 234, penned by Milaiperunkanthanaar. The verse is situated in the forest regions of ‘Mullai’ and speaks in the voice of the lady to the confidante, as the man continues to remain parted away.
சுடர் செல் வானம் சேப்ப, படர் கூர்ந்து,
எல்லுறு பொழுதின் முல்லை மலரும்
மாலை என்மனார், மயங்கியோரே:
குடுமிக் கோழி நெடு நகர் இயம்பும்
பெரும் புலர் விடியலும் மாலை;
பகலும் மாலை-துணை இலோர்க்கே.
‘It’s all evening to me’ declares a voice in this verse. The opening words ‘சுடர் செல் வானம் சேப்ப’ meaning ‘the reddening skies as the sun sets’ brings before a time of the day when colourful murals appear on the canvas of the sky. Bursting our bubble of joy appears the words ‘படர் கூர்ந்து’ meaning ‘suffering spreads’ and hints that parting and pining are afoot. The phrase ‘மாலை என்மனார்’ meaning ‘they say it’s evening’ distances the thoughts of the speaker from the others. A quaint expression for a rooster appears in ‘குடுமிக் கோழி’ meaning ‘a cockerel with a tuft’. In ‘பெரும் புலர் விடியலும்’ meaning ‘the dawn that awakens the long night’ and ‘பகலும்’ meaning ‘the afternoon’, we see other times of the day. Ending with the words ‘துணை இலோர்க்கே’ meaning ‘those who are companionless’, the verse beckons us to listen with empathy.
Sounds like a time-table for the separated! The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a married life when the man parted away to gather wealth. The lady languishes in his absence. One day, after the promised season of return arrives, the lady turns to her confidante and says, “As the sun sets making the skies redden, suffering soars and in this lightless time, blooms the wild jasmines. This is evening, they say, those who are ignorant about the truth. The time when night ends, when the cry of the tufted rooster is heard all over the huge mansion – that time of dawn is evening too and the afternoon is evening too, for those who are parted away from their companions!” With these words, the lady conveys to her friend that all time seems the same to her, when not in the presence of her beloved.
In countless Tamil movie songs, the suffering of the evening has been reiterated. There is indeed something about dusk that seems to evoke feelings of one’s beloved. Could it be a very Tamil thing, for I do not recollect reading about how the evening is specially tormenting in other cultures and languages? How is the lady defining her situation in this particular Sangam song? The lady talks about how certain people seem to say that only the time when the red-orange hues spread on the sky and the sun bids adieu as the evening time. She declares that these people are confused in their categorisations. To explain further, she adds even the time, at the opposite end of the spectrum, the time, which ends the long night with the sound of a rooster’s wake-up call, that early morning and midday, when the sun blazes on high, are all evening times too, but to who? Those who are separated from the ones they love, the lady concludes.
When I read this verse, I was so reminded of the lockdown period during the corona epidemic that the world entire went through. In many cities of the world, being locked inside one’s homes, people spoke about losing sense of time and day. This very feeling that most of us might have experienced in recent years of the twenty-first century is what’s being echoed by this Sangam lady. Isolation, no matter why, when and where, seems to evoke the same feelings of despair, and points to us, yet again, the world within us has so much more power than the world outside of us. Just like we may say to the lady, look how lucky you are to have a friend to share your thoughts with, there may be things in our current world that we are privileged to have, but may take the future to point it out to us. Perhaps, if we can soar above the present, we may gain the eyes of the future to acknowledge and appreciate the ignored blessings that surround us!
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