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In this episode, we gaze at soaring mountains and falling stars, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 357, penned by Kabilar. The verse is situated in the hills of ‘Kurinji’ and speaks in the voice of the confidante to the lady, passing on a hidden message to the man, listening nearby.
முனி படர் உழந்த பாடு இல் உண்கண்
பனி கால் போழ்ந்து, பணை எழில் ஞெகிழ் தோள்,
மெல்லிய ஆகலின் மேவரத் திரண்டு,
நல்ல என்னும் சொல்லை மன்னிய-
ஏனல்அம் சிறு தினை காக்கும் சேணோன்
ஞெகிழியின் பெயர்ந்த நெடு நல் யானை
மீன் படு சுடர் ஒளி வெரூஉம்
வான் தோய் வெற்பன் மணவா ஊங்கே.
The core thought herein is ‘you were better off before you met him’! The opening words ‘முனி படர்’ meaning ‘a hateful suffering’ talks about a deep pain afflicting a person. In the phrase ‘பணை எழில் ஞெகிழ் தோள் மெல்லிய ஆகலின்’ meaning ‘those exquisite shoulders, akin to bamboo, have become thinned down, we glimpse at a prominent symptom of pining. A character in the mountains makes his presence felt in ‘ஏனல்அம் சிறு தினை காக்கும் சேணோன்’ meaning ‘the hillman, who guards the little millets in the field, sitting atop a loft’. It’s a world for animals too, declares the ‘tall and fine elephant’ in ‘நெடு நல் யானை’. The phrase ‘மீன் படு சுடர் ஒளி’ meaning ‘the glowing light from a falling star’ is a record of a meteorite fall in the Sangam era. Ending with the words ‘மணவா ஊங்கே’ meaning ‘before you embraced him’, the verse welcomes us to explore more.
What does the lady’s pining have to do with an elephant and a shooting star? The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a love relationship and that the man was trysting with the lady for quite some time. The confidante decides it’s time to shift his heart in the direction of a permanent union. One day, observing him arrive for his tryst with the lady, pretending not to notice him, but making sure he’s in earshot, the confidante says to the lady, “Owing to a terrible suffering, languishing in worry, the sleepless kohl-streaked eyes shed tears, which streak across those bamboo-like, beautiful arms. And so, those arms have thinned down, but before, these were rounded and attracted many a good compliment. The mountain farmer guarding little millets in the field, sitting atop the loft, lights a firebrand, which scares away a tall, handsome elephant. After a while, seeing the bright light of a shooting star, this elephant is terrified in the sky-soaring mountains of the lord. Your arms were beautiful indeed, before you united with him!” With these words, the confidante conveys the distress in the lady’s mind during her prolonged courtship with the man and indirectly, bids him to seek her hand in marriage.
Time to explore the nuances. The confidante comes straight to the matter and says that the lady is in a deeply pained state, making her kohl-adorned eyes shed tears that seem to run down and fall on her exquisite bamboo-like arms. In such a state, as can be expected, those arms have thinned down and lost their lustre. Stressing that it’s a recently changed state, the confidante says before these very arms were rounded and used to make people around exclaim in appreciation at their health and beauty. Then, leaving the lady’s appearance, the confidante turns to a scene in the man’s high mountains. Here, a mountain farmer sits atop a loft and guards the millet field. Seeing a tall elephant approach, he lights up a firebrand. Upon seeing this, the elephant scuttles away in terror. Later, the elephant sees a faraway shooting star and is reminded of that firebrand and feels the same fear rising inside, the confidante elaborates. She then concludes saying, before the lady met and became one with the man, those arms of hers were praiseworthy indeed!
These words are meant to strike at the man’s heart by revealing the distressing situation the lady finds herself in, after she met him. Instead of joy and contentment, here it was, tears and sorrow. This would make the man realise that he has been delaying seeking her hand for too long. In the scene of the elephant being frightened by a faraway falling star, the confidante places a metaphor for how the man too was afraid to seek the lady’s hand from her kith and kin, as he was in fear of them during his courtship with the lady, much like how the elephant was frightened by the farmer’s firebrand. With these many clues, the man is sure to get the message and alleviate the lady’s suffering.
The highlight for us though is how fear of something makes one fear everything similar to that. In contemporary Tamil, there’s a phrase which goes ‘அரண்டவன் கண்ணுக்கு இருண்டதெல்லாம் பேய்’ which in English, translates to, ‘In the eyes of one who’s spooked, even his own shadow would seem a ghost’. In a way, it shows the constant vigilance of the mind, which keeps scanning the surroundings for threats. A lesson crucial for survival indeed! On the other hand, in a safer world, this very strength becomes the weakness called ‘paranoia’. Like the man needs to see how the lady’s kith and kin, who are against his trysting, would not have the same stance if he were to approach them for the lady’s hand, we too need to be able to distinguish between the hot fire-brands and the harmless falling-stars in our lives!
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