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In this episode, we perceive a technique to effect acceptance, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 350, penned by Aalathoor Kizhaar. Set in the drylands of ‘Paalai’, the verse speaks in the voice of confidante to the lady, asking her to bear better with the man’s parting.
அம்ம வாழி-தோழி!-முன் நின்று,
”பனிக் கடுங்குரையம்; செல்லாதீம்” எனச்
சொல்லினம்ஆயின், செல்வர்கொல்லோ-
ஆற்று அயல் இருந்த இருங் கோட்டு அம் சிறை
நெடுங் காற் கணந்துள் ஆள் அறிவுறீஇ,
ஆறு செல் வம்பலர் படை தலைபெயர்க்கும்
மலையுடைக் கானம் நீந்தி,
நிலையாப் பொருட் பிணிப் பிரிந்திசினோரே?
The core statement herein is ‘had you said that then, you wouldn’t be worried now’. In the opening words ‘அம்ம வாழி-தோழி!’ meaning ‘listen, my friend, may you live long’, we experience the laudable quality of Sangam folks that seeks attention from another by rendering a blessing to them. The phrase ‘இருங் கோட்டு அம் சிறை நெடுங் காற் கணந்துள்’ talks about ‘a lapwing that lives in a huge flock and has exquisite wings and long legs’. This is a bird that’s found only in two Sangam verses – this one, and the other in Natrinai 212. ‘ஆள் அறிவுறீஇ’ is a significant coinage about this bird, for it means ‘it announces the presence of people’, about which we will learn more shortly. Ending with the words ‘நிலையாப் பொருட் பிணிப் பிரிந்திசினோரே’ meaning ‘he, who parted away, afflicted by the need to seek transitory wealth’, the verse turns philosophical and welcomes us to understand more.
What could be those regretted words not said earlier? The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a happy, married life, when the man decided to part away to gather wealth. After the man left, the lady languished and noticing this, her confidante says to her, “Listen, my friend, may you live long! Standing before, had you said, ‘It’s the cold season of dew, which will cause great suffering. So, please don’t go’, would he have left? Near the path, living along with its huge flock, having beautiful wings and long legs, the ‘kananthul’ bird, announcing the presence of people, disperses the group of wayfarers and makes them head in a different direction, in the dry jungles of the mountains, to where, he left, afflicted by the desire to seek impermanent wealth!” With these words, the confidante tells her friend that there is no point in worrying now, after the man had parted away.
Let’s explore those assertive words of the confidante by listening to her carefully. The confidante comes directly to the core of the matter and says that, had the lady gone before the man and told him of how the cold season was approaching and how it would be unbearable without the man’s company, and thereby, asked him not to part away, the man would not have done that. But instead the lady bid him farewell and now he was off to those drylands, traversing paths, where the ‘kananthul’ bird cries aloud, when spotting strangers, and because of this, wayfarers become aware of the presence of hiding highway robbers and change where they are heading. Indeed, the man was faraway, deep in his quest for fading wealth, the confidante concludes.
In the image of the ‘kananthul’ bird crying aloud to alert the wayfarers and change their path, the confidante places a metaphor for how the lady should have expressed her sorrow and thus avoided the man’s travel. Curiously, the contemporary word for this ‘kananthul’, which scholars identify to be the ‘red wattled lapwing’, is ‘Aal Kaatti’ which literally means ‘the one who points to people’, talking about the very nature of the bird as illustrated in this poem. Delving into the psychological dimension, the verse illustrates how a person could have avoided some distress coming their way by foreseeing it and when that has not been done, the only alternative is to accept the distress that has indeed come their way. Be it then or now, a trivial or critical decision, make sure to see the consequences clearly, the confidante tells us all, with conviction!
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