Kurunthogai 280 – Love more than life

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In this episode, we listen to the ecstatic declaration of a man in love, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 280, penned by Nakirar. Set in the mountains of ‘Kurinji’, the verse speaks in the voice of the man to his friend, in response to the friend’s admonishment about the man’s changed behaviour.

கேளிர்! வாழியோ, கேளிர்! நாளும் என்
நெஞ்சு பிணிக் கொண்ட அம் சில் ஓதிப்
பெருந் தோட் குறுமகள் சிறு மெல் ஆகம்
ஒரு நாள் புணரப் புணரின்,
அரை நாள் வாழ்க்கையும் வேண்டலன் யானே.

‘Nothing more I need’ is the euphoric thought encased in here. The opening words ‘கேளிர் வாழியோ கேளிர்’ meaning ‘my friend, may you live long, my friend’ seeks the attention of a friend by rendering a blessing unto them. Love seems to smile in the words ‘என் நெஞ்சு பிணிக் கொண்ட அம் சில் ஓதி’ meaning ‘the charming maiden with fine tresses, who has enslaved my heart’. Ending with the words ‘அரை நாள் வாழ்க்கையும் வேண்டலன் யானே’ meaning ‘even a half a day of life, I shall wish not’, the verse intrigues our curiosity.

Love and life seem to dance a duet in this one! The context reveals that the man had met the lady and fallen in love with her and the lady too returned his feelings. Being in the first rush of love, the man appeared to be acting different from his usual composed state. Observing this, the man’s friend scolds him. To the friend, the man says, “O friend! May you live long, O friend! If only I could be one with the soft and delicate skin of that beautiful young maiden with fine tresses and fleshy arms, the one, who has captured my heart forever, beyond that, even for a half a day more, I shall not wish for life! ” With these words, the man relates to his friend that he needs nothing more in life than moments together with his lady love.

A tiny verse shining with the light of expressed love. When the friend berates him for acting below his station in life, the man turns to this friend and says one simple sentence. And, that is, if at all, he could unite with the lady’s beautiful skin, the one who has bound his heart and the one who has soft, fine hair and thick arms, for a single moment, then he would ask not to live for even half a day beyond that. One forceful sentence to silence his friend!

To this young man, even life seems to pale when compared to the passion of love. Science would call this as oxytocin at work! Research studies indicate how this hormone soars in the first stages of romantic love and seems to remain elevated for upto six months later. The need to procreate and spread one’s genes seem to be written in the inner code of organisms that even the basic instinct of survival takes a back seat here, as expressed by the poetic words of the man in this verse. In a tangent, this verse brings before my mind a tree I glimpsed this very morning. On this tree, there was not a single leaf – that life-building, essential component of a plant – but at the end of all those bare branches, smiled white flowers many, many, and I thought to myself, ‘more than food, more than life, this tree wants to spread its progeny’. Be it the tree I saw this morning or this man from the ancient past, they seem to echo the same timeless thought about the force of love that makes life go on!