Kurunthogai 262 – Future in a footprint

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ஊஉர் அலர் எழ, சேரி கல்லென,
ஆனாது அலைக்கும் அறன் இல் அன்னை
தானே இருக்க, தன் மனை; யானே,
நெல்லி தின்ற முள் எயிறு தயங்க
உணல் ஆய்ந்திசினால், அவரொடு-சேய் நாட்டு,
விண் தொட நிவந்த விலங்கு மலைக் கவாஅன்,
கரும்பு நடு பாத்தி அன்ன,
பெருங் களிற்று அடிவழி நிலைஇய நீரே.

‘I see you there’ is the core thought of this verse. In the opening words ‘ஊஉர் அலர் எழ, சேரி கல்லென’, there’s much uproar for it means ‘gossip rises in town and commotion starts in our locality’. The oft-employed epithet for a Sangam mother who has made her daughter angry, makes an appearance in ‘அறன் இல் அன்னை’ meaning ‘mother, who lacks fairness and justice’. ‘நெல்லி தின்ற முள் எயிறு’ talks about ‘sharp teeth that tasted gooseberries’. Even saying that zaps the mouth with a tangy feeling! An element of the land soars majestically in ‘விண் தொட நிவந்த விலங்கு மலை’ meaning ‘a mountain rising to touch the skies’. From that wild scene, we turn to domesticated land in ‘கரும்பு நடு பாத்தி’ meaning ‘mud bed on which sugarcane is sown’. Ending with the words ‘பெருங் களிற்று அடிவழி நிலைஇய நீரே’ meaning ‘the water collected in the footprint of a huge elephant’, the verse welcomes us to explore more.

An elephant’s footprint seems to hold a world of meaning within! The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a love relationship when the man realised that the only way to protect their relationship was to elope away together. He conveys this decision to the lady’s confidante and she accepts to help him. Going to the lady, the confidante says, “As slander rises in town and as uproar resounds in the neighbourhood, let our unjust mother, who ceaselessly torments us, remain alone in her home; In a far away country, near the hills soaring to the skies, appearing akin to a mud bed where sugarcane is to be sown, there lies a huge elephant’s footprint. I’m thinking now about how after eating gooseberries, which make the teeth shine, you will drink, along with him, water from that elephant’s footprint!” With these words, the confidante indirectly conveys to the lady that she has acceded to the man’s request to help with the lady’s elopement and presents this plan as the right path to follow.

Time to explore the nuances. The confidante starts by talking about the situation of their surroundings, both the immediate domain of their locality as well as the extended regions in their village. In the outer areas, rumours are spreading and close to home, there’s the din of uproar. Travelling inward, the confidante shifts the focus to the lady’s home, and to their mother, whom she says has been tormenting them incessantly by placing the lady under guard, and who lacks all sense of justice because she’s not doing what she should be doing, which is bringing the man and lady together. And, this mother can be seen sitting all alone at her home, when around there is uproar because the lady has eloped with the man. The way the confidante narrates this scene reminds me of many striking opening shots in modern movies, where the camera starts outside a town and slowly zooms closer and closer to the protagonist’s home. A fascinating visual technique that starts with a wide angle of what’s happening in the world outside and moves inward to zoom on to a single point of conflict in the mind.

After capturing the state of affairs at their hamlet, the confidante transports us to a totally different domain, that of soaring hills. From the peaks that seem to touch the sky, the confidante plunges downwards and points to a muddy bed that appears as if laid for sugarcane planting. When we peer closer, there’s a huge elephant’s footprint etched on this dried-up bed. Pointing to the little pool of water that has collected in this footprint, the confidante tells her friend that in her mind’s eye, she can already see the lady savouring the water here, along with her loving man, after eating gooseberries in the drylands path. With that single image, the confidante takes the lady from her suffering-filled present surroundings and projects her on a pleasant scene in the future. After such a visualisation, how can the lady say nay to the confidante’s insistence that she leave with the man? 

One of the highlights of this verse is the visualisation technique that the confidante employs to perfection. Note how she brings every element of the future in a deeply sensorial way before the lady. As the awe-inspiring hills are seen by the eyes, the confidante stresses on the sweetness of the scene before the lady. Even when employing a simile, she brings a sugarcane into the picture. While one may ask isn’t the bite of the gooseberry sour, it is only to show how sweet the water in that elephant’s footprint would taste after this sourness. And, herein lies an effective instance of visualisation – a powerful technique to motivate oneself or others to move with enthusiasm in a positive direction. 

The other highlight that impressed me was the mention of the elephant’s footprint. When I searched more on this, I learnt that this is no shallow poetic reference, made for the sake of aesthetics. The elephant’s footprints, be it in the forests of Uganda or in the wetlands of Myanmar, serve as ‘biodiversity spots’, being the fountain of life for tiny invertebrates as well as frogs and toads. All this gentle giant has to do is walk and it blesses the land with niches for life to sprout. Fascinating how this ancient piece of poetry mentioning an elephant’s footprint led me to see elephants as ‘ecosystem engineers’, as described in this modern article of the ‘Scientific American’. A verse to tell us that inspiration awaits in the world around and all we need to do is, like the elephants, walk on, eyes open!