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In this episode, we relish an apt and picturesque simile that etches a feeling in the mind, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 309, penned by Uraiyoor Challiyan Kumaaranaar. The verse is situated in the farmlands of ‘Marutham’ and speaks in the voice of the confidante to the man, allowing him entry into the lady’s house.
கைவினை மாக்கள் தம் செய் வினை முடிமார்,
சுரும்பு உண மலர்ந்த வாசம் கீழ்ப்பட,
நீடிய வரம்பின் வாடிய விடினும்,
”கொடியோர் நிலம் பெயர்ந்து உறைவேம்” என்னாது”
பெயர்த்தும் கடிந்த செறுவில் பூக்கும்
நின் ஊர் நெய்தல் அனையேம்-பெரும!-
நீ எமக்கு இன்னாதன பல செய்யினும்,
நின் இன்று அமைதல் வல்லாமாறே.
‘Hurtful though you are, can’t live without you’ echoes this verse. The opening words ‘கைவினை மாக்கள்’ which means ‘people who work with their hands’ does not tell us right away what kind of profession these people are involved in. Are they potters, weavers, jewellers, handicraft makers, or something else? Let’s hold on to that question and catch the other glimpses. The bright sight of flowers greet us in ‘சுரும்பு உண மலர்ந்த’ meaning ‘budding open for bees to savour’. In ‘நீடிய வரம்பின் வாடிய விடினும்’ meaning ‘although left to wither on the long banks’, we see the sad image of flowers fading. When we take in ‘செறுவில்’ meaning ‘in the fields’, we get the answer to the question about who those people working with their hands are! That exquisite flower that has given an entire landscape its name – ‘நெய்தல்’ referring to ‘a blue lotus’ blooms in this verse too. Ending with the words ‘நின் இன்று அமைதல் வல்லாமாறே’ meaning ‘not capable to be without you’, the verse intrigues our curiosity.
Who could be that indispensable person? The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a married life when the man took to keeping the company of courtesans. Understandably, the lady is angered by this action of the man. One day, intending to set things right with his lady, the man returns to their home and seeks permission to enter through the lady’s confidante. To the man, the confidante says, “Those who work with their hands, intending to finish their jobs well, throw the flowers, which have blossomed for bees to savour, on the long bunds, and leave it to wilt. Although they do that, thinking not, ‘They are evil. Let’s leave to another land and live’, they bloom in the very fields from which they were weeded out of – those blue lotuses in your town, O lord! Akin to those blooms, though you have inflicted many a wrong on us, we seem not capable of living without you!” With these words, the confidante highlights how inspite of the wrong done by the man unto the lady, the lady chooses to accept him back into her life.
Time to explore the nuances. The confidante starts by talking about people who work with their hands and these people turn out to be farmers. She says how wanting to do their work in a perfect manner, these farmers pluck out flowers growing in the fields and throw them on the bunds, making the fragrance of these flowers fall to the ground. Even though these farmers do this to them, those flowers do not condemn those farmers as ‘wicked people’ and decide to go live elsewhere. After a while, those flowers bloom back in the very fields they were weeded out of, the confidante says. Revealing these flowers to be the striking blue lotus of the man’s domain, the confidante concludes saying that the lady was exactly like that flower, for though the man has done many a wrong to her in forsaking her and choosing to be with the courtesans, the lady seems to not have the ability to live without the man!
Hearing that, the man would bow down his head, repenting, no doubt, humbled to be in the presence of such love and magnanimity. Although the confidante presents this acceptance as if the lady has no other way, I was constantly reminded of a Kural couplet, one of my favourites, which goes,
“இன்னாசெய் தாரை ஒறுத்தல் அவர்நாண
நன்னயஞ் செய்து விடல்.”
translated as,
‘To punish those who have done wrong unto you,
make them ashamed by doing good unto them.’
Be it that blue lotus that blooms again or the lady who welcomes the man after his errant behaviour, it’s this very goodness in action. Sounds like a beautiful philosophy, yes! But is it doable? Does it agree with your approach to life? If faced with such a situation in any walk of life, would you consider this path? A verse that serves quite a helping of food for thought!
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