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In this episode, we listen to a solution suggested for a sensitive situation, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 333, penned by Uzhunthinaim Pulavanaar. Set in the mountains of ‘Kurinji’, the verse speaks in the voice of the confidante to the lady, expressing her idea to reveal the lady’s relationship with the man to her kith and kin.
குறும் படைப் பகழிக் கொடு விற் கானவன்
புனம் உண்டு கடிந்த பைங் கண் யானை
நறுந் தழை மகளிர் ஓப்பும் கிள்ளையொடு
குறும் பொறைக்கு அணவும் குன்ற நாடன்
பணிக் குறை வருத்தம் வீட,
துணியின் எவனோ-தோழி!-நம் மறையே?
‘Cornered and chased’ is the core of the verse! In the opening words ‘குறும் படைப் பகழிக் கொடு விற் கானவன்’ meaning ‘short arrows and curved bow of the hunter’, we see a portrait of a mountain country person and his weapons of choice. A setting being rich in wild life, we get to see ‘பைங் கண் யானை’ meaning ‘tender eyed elephant’ and ‘கிள்ளை’ meaning ‘parrots’. The phrase ‘குறும் பொறைக்கு அணவும்’ meaning ‘looks up to go towards the short hill’ sketches the intention in the mind. Ending with the words ‘துணியின் எவனோ-தோழி!-நம் மறையே?’ meaning ‘what if we reveal our hidden truth, my friend?’, the verse intrigues our curiosity.
What could be that hidden truth? The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a love relationship and the man was trysting with the lady for a long while. Realising it was time to seek the lady’s hand, the man approaches the lady’s family but he is not favourably received. At this time, the confidante goes to the lady and says, “The fresh-eyed elephant, driven away for feeding on the millet fields by hunters having a short bed of arrows and a curved bow, and the parrot, chased away by maiden wearing fragrant leaves, look up to go towards the little hillock in the mountains of the lord. To allay the worry of his unheeded request, why don’t we boldly reveal our secret, O friend?” With these words, the confidante expresses that the only way out of the troublesome situation at hand was to convey the lady’s prior relationship with the man to the lady’s family.
Seems like there are many intricate stages in the love and marriage of a Sangam lady! Let’s understand a little more by following the confidante’s words closely. She starts not by talking about the man or the lady but instead paints a scene of hunters holding bow and arrows, in the act of chasing away an elephant that had been feeding on their millet fields. In that picture, we see a changing lifestyle of these mountain dwellers from being hunters to becoming farmers. Next, she turns to zoom on to parrots being chased away, this time by maiden wearing fragrant leaves. It’s as if the chasing of little birds is beneath the men with their weapons and they have outsourced that task to the ladies! Returning, we find that just as how both the elephant and the parrot are being chased away, both also seem to be looking up towards a little hill in the man’s mountain country, the confidante details. Having talked of the man’s place, she now talks about the man and how he seems to be filled with angst because his request was not accepted. She concludes with the question, as to what could be wrong if the lady were to reveal her love relationship with the man to her family.
Would that really help the lady in her cause? The confidante thinks so, for then the lady’s family would be more welcoming to the man as he seeks their daughter’s hand. In that image of an elephant impeded from the millet fields, there’s the metaphor for the man being prevented from meeting with the lady by guards, and so also, in the image of the parrot being driven away by the mountain maiden, there’s the metaphor for the lady being obstructed from her trysts with the man by the lady’s family. Just as how both the elephant and the parrot look up towards the little hill, so also the lady and the man were hoping for a future of marital bliss, the confidante implies. What impresses me about these Sangam verses is how seeing oneself in the natural world comes so naturally to those ancients! To see that the animals and the birds in the world around are not so different from us, humans, is the only way we can preserve the much threatened diversity of life!
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